#i was sleeping in your bed (upside down for some reason) while you were sleeping elsewhere in the apartment but the dogs were in with me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justmystyles · 10 months

Text

Now You're In My Life - Part 3

part 1

part 2

pairing: Harry Styles x plus size reader

word count: 1.8k (it's a shorty, but I promise the next one won't be)

summary: a chance meeting at a diner turns your world upside-down.

warnings: some curse words, but other than that it's tame.

a/n: i am absolutely blown away by the reception i've received over the last couple of days. i just had these stories in my brain that i wanted to write down to get out of my system, i never in a million years thought anyone would read them, let alone actually like them. i'm so thankful for all of the likes, comments, reblogs, lurkers. thank you thank you thank you! 🖤

i say it's a plus size reader, while i don't focus a lot on that aspect (because your size should not define you), it will come up, so i just wanted to be upfront about it.

tag list: @bethanysnow @cute-as-ducks420 @gem1712 @golden-hoax @groovychaosavenue @iceebabies @indierockgirrl @jerseygirlinca @jooniesbabie @kaverichauhan @tenaciousperfectionunknown @thechaoticjoy @theekyliepage @youknowwhaaat

The day after your night with Harry, you sat at your desk willing your eyes to stay open as you reviewed the end of month report. By the time you got home, and the adrenaline of the evening had worn off, you only really got about an hour and a half of sleep. You figure you probably should have called out, but you had been holding onto your PTO so that you could end the year with two months of short weeks.

You were startled by a soft knock at your cubicle wall. You turned to find one of your coworkers, hiding half of his body and displaying a suspicious smile on his face. “Hi Y/N.”

“No way that’s a good greeting,” you reply cautiously. “What’s wrong?”

“You always think the worst of us,” he chuckled. “I’m just here to hand off the delivery that just came for you.” He stepped to his left, revealing an elaborate flower arrangement.

Your eyes went wide and you reached out to take the vase, pulling it up to your face to inhale the scent of fresh sunflowers, orange roses, safari sunset, and yellow solidago. The perfect combination of fall colors.

“You guys got me flowers?” You ask. Sure, you worked with some great guys, but they were typical mid-forties construction guys, you didn’t think it would ever cross their minds to get you flowers. Especially for no reason.

“Not us.” Your coworker shrugged before returning to his desk.

Even more confused than before, you place the flowers down on your desk, and remove the attached card. Pulling it from the envelope, her heart leapt as she read over the words.

Thank you for last night. Especially that last bit.

-H

PS - This should also cover your train ride. ;)

They were from Harry. He was thanking you for kissing him.

That’s it, you clearly never made it into work, you’re still at home in your bed. This has to be a dream.

You sat back down, and reached for your phone on the other side of the desk. You didn’t want to bother him, but it would be polite to thank him for the flowers, right? Just one text, that’s not too much of a bother. He can read it when he has a moment and respond whenever he wants. If he wants. You take a deep breath, building up the courage, and quickly open up your message app, typing Harry’s name into a new message.

Thank you sooooo much for the flowers. Completely unnecessary, but very much appreciated. :)

Before you even had a chance to lock your phone, a FaceTime call from Harry lit up the screen. Your eyes went wide, you weren’t even really expecting a reply text, let alone a FaceTime.

You swipe to answer, and before you know it, you’re staring at Harry who’s looking into his phone with that wide, dimpled grin.

“Harry, you really didn’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I wanted to. Do you like them?”

“They’re beautiful. Really.”

“Well, let’s see them then.”

You swap the camera view, the flowers coming onto the screen. You see Harry’s brow furrow and his head shake in disapproval.

“No no no, this won’t do at all. I’m going to have to let you go. I’ve got to give that florist a piece of my mind.”

“What?! Why? They’re so beautiful!”

“I made it very clear to them that I wanted the flowers to be as beautiful as you are. These aren’t even close.”

Your heart melts immediately, but you’re quickly snapped out of it by the sarcastic ‘awws’ and kissy noises from the cubicles around you. Everyone was listening to your call. You were mortified.

“Y/N, can you flip the camera back around, please?” Harry’s voice rings out over the taunting of your coworkers. You quickly comply, and he starts to chuckle. “There’s that adorable blush. I wish I were there to pinch those cheeks.”

You cover your eyes with your free hand before rushing into a nearby conference room for some privacy. You take a seat at the table, placing your elbow down and burying your face in your hand.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Harry says before taking a brief pause. “Well, maybe a little.” He chuckles. “But more than that, I wanted to make sure you know that last night meant a lot to me.”

His words pull you from your spiral of embarrassment, you stay silent for a moment, making sure you heard him correctly before uncovering your face. “Really?” You ask tentatively. Harry nods his head with a sweet smile. “Me too.”

“Yeah? Excellent! I’d really like to see you again, would you like that?”

“Yeah, I really would.”

“Great, New York City isn’t that far from you, right?”

“No, it’s a few hours. Not a bad ride, I’ve done it a few times.”

“Would you like to do it this weekend? I’m at Madison Square Garden Saturday and Sunday, I would really like you to come.”

Your smile widens at the thought of spending the weekend with Harry. “Yeah, that sounds really great. I would love to.”

“Great! Can I book anything for you? Travel? Hotel?”

“No Harry, I’ve got it. I’ll book everything and let you know my itinerary.”

Harry smiles, and you can see the excitement in his eyes, even through the phone screen. “I can’t wait. Oh! And don’t forget your costumes!”

“Costumes?”

“Yeah, it’s Harryween! You’ll need to have costumes for the shows.”

“Harry… ween?” You question.

“Yeah, it’s Halloween, and my name is Harr--”

“No no no, I get it,” You interrupt him, waving your hand at the camera. “I just… it’s cute.” You smile.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. I’m a sucker for a good pun.”

You see a sparkle in Harry’s eyes, and his dimples re-appear. “I knew I liked you, Y/N.” He joked. “The costumes don’t have to be too elaborate or anything, you can just reuse one of your old ones.”

Your chuckle at his suggestion. “I don’t think that’s going to work, I haven’t had a Halloween costume since I was like twelve.”

Harry’s jaw dropped at your confession. “You don’t go out on Halloween? No parties or anything.”

You shrug in response. “Never get invited anywhere.” You pause for a moment, suddenly remembering the one time you actually did get invited to a Halloween party. As a plus one. You were dumped two days before the party, and it was too late to return the costume, so you threw it in one of your basement storage bins. “Actually, I may have something.”

Harry could see the sadness in your eyes as you recalled the memory. He hated the sight, and silently swore to himself that he’d do everything in his power to make sure you never made that face again.

“Perfect. I’m sure you’ll look stunning in whatever it is.”

You grin through your blush, a knock at the door brings you back to the present. “Well, I uh… I should get back to work. I’ll see you this weekend.”

Definitely. And I’ll be texting and calling you well before that. You don’t really think I’m just going to go three days without talking to you, do you?”

“I mean, you went all those years without talking to me before we met.” You shrugged.

“Then I guess we’re going to have to talk all that much more to make up for lost time.” The sincerity in his voice makes your heart race. “I’ll talk to you soon, Y/N.”

“Bye, Harry.” You smile before ending the call and returning to your desk.

When Harry said you had to make up for lost time, you didn’t think he meant it literally. But he would text you often throughout the day. He would let you know what he was up to, ask you what you were doing and tell you how excited he was to see you this weekend.

He had a show Wednesday night, and he had been texting you right up until the last moment before he went onstage. He asked if he could call you after the show, you told him of course. You figured it would be around eleven or so, which was pretty late for you, but you’d just go to bed and leave your ringer on. The sound of the phone would wake you up, and you could talk to Harry and hear all about the show before going to bed properly.

The plan worked… mostly.

The sound of your phone woke you from your slumber. Still half asleep, you reach over to your nightstand, swiping to answer the call. “Harry?” You say groggily.

“Y/N? I can’t see you.”

See?! It’s a phone call, what is he talking about? You pull the phone from your ear and look at the screen, you sit up with a jolt when you see Harry’s face on the other end.

It wasn’t a phone call, it was a FaceTime. He was on your screen, hair perfectly tousled from performing onstage. He looked amazing. You were in bed, hair in a sloppy topknot, no makeup, a couple of pimple patches, probably some eye crusties. And Harry wanted to see you.

“I… uh… I thought you were going to call?”

“I was, but I missed your face. I wanted to see you.”

Harry wanted to see you. Not if he knew the horror show that was waiting for him on the other side of that phone. “That’s really sweet Harry, but I wasn’t expecting to see you. I don’t have any makeup on, I’m all gross and night face-y”

“Turn on the light, darling. Let me see you.”

Darling. He called you darling. Nothing that had happened over the past three days felt real.

How could you say no now? “Alright, fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You sigh and reluctantly lean across your nightstand, turning on your lamp. You look into the phone, Harry’s eyes soften when he finally sees you. A look of adoration spread across his face.

“You’re so beautiful, Y/N.”

“Harry…”

“I’m serious. Thank you for being vulnerable with me.” He had seen it the night you met, but your insecurities and difficulties letting people in became even more obvious to him the more he spoke with you. He wanted nothing more than to be trusted with your heart. He wanted to know everything about you; the good, the bad, he wanted you to let him in, and he was willing to take as much time as you needed.

You talked for a few minutes, getting a recap of his show, talking about your schedules for the next day. But Harry could see you were tired, he didn’t want to keep you up too long. You said your goodnights, and he blew you a kiss through the phone. You smiled shyly and ended the call, placing your phone back down, turning off the light, and snuggling into your blankets. You drifted off, replaying your conversation in your head.

Especially the part where he called you darling.

#harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles x plus size reader #harry styles headcanon #harry styles meet cute #harry styles fluff #harry's house #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry edward styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #love on tour #harry styles blurb #harry styles fic

537 notes · View notes

alicerosejensen · 11 months

Text

Shades Of Cool

So here is the angst as promised. I have a lot of requests in messages and I will try to fulfill them, but now I want to write something sad. There was already a similar text, but it did not say exactly how the reader died.

Warning: mention of suicide; the reader has suicidal tendencies; longing with a bad end; Leon is hurt but holding on; Leon!Vendetta

(Depression is my profession, huh.)

Leon knew you had a failed attempt in the past. Everything has been documented for a long time and is in your medical file, the information of which Hannigan requested at the request of Leon when you first met him. Just to make sure you has nothing to do with Umbrella or other bioterrorists. Of course, you did not have any dark spots in your biography that would have made another chip on his heart if he knew that you were one of those who create bioweapons or have any dealings with them.

Except one.

“Suicide attempt…two years ago. Poisoned by sleeping pills. According to the medical records, she was barely resuscitated." Hannigan's voice came out with a sly grin as Leon's heart sank.

But why?

Leon did not ask you because he realized that he opened that page of your life about which you did not want to tell him yet and had every right to do so. However, you still remembered that sad look of his when he came to your house and hit his shoulder against the door frame. You never told him about it, but you suspected that he knew. You had a few cuts on your arms, but you lied to him that your cat left them for you as a child. Complete nonsense and Leon, holding your wrist in his hand, ran his thumb over deep footprints, looking intently at them.

"Never do that again" from his serious tone, everything inside turned upside down and, meeting with the blueness of his eyes, you lost all words and thoughts, feeling only shame in front of him. As if your problems are too small compared to his and how could you do such things with your body when he sees horrors literally every day? Goosebumps ran down your spine as Leon's lips touched each of your scars as he kissed them. “If something is bothering you, we can solve it differently”

But you didn't know how to decide otherwise. This is something that Leon should have understood before the irreparable happened. Leon was afraid to build relationships, and you didn't believe that someone could love you. Like it was impossible. But if Leon dared to let you get closer to him, to his heart broken into many parts, then you inflicted another knife wound on him.

Pictures of your meeting, communication, joint meetings, ringing laughter, everything revolves before his eyes as a bright kaleidoscope around one colorless event.

His indifferent face seems to show no emotion as he stands in front of the bed, peering down at your lifeless body sprawled on the clean sheets.

He didn't come home to you to find you dead.

But you're so tired of everything. Always not good enough. Never smart enough or pretty enough. There was always... there was always something missing. Eventually something started telling you to stop everything again.

Leon didn't need you. He preferred to while away his days in bars or in correspondence with Ada Wong, which he probably thought you knew nothing about. For everyone, you were too stupid and naive to notice clearly obviously, but you noticed ... you just didn't always show it. Maybe of course you took everything to heart, but even your family constantly inspired you that you were not as good as the rest. This was the reason for the first attempt. But love is short-lived, like a candle in the wind. So you went out like a candle, leaving behind only a dissolving haze. This sea of endless self-loathing covered you in endless waves, plunging you deeper and deeper into a dark abyss from which you no longer wanted to get out. At some point, you just realized that no one will even notice if you leave.

Suppressed by childhood fears, these deep wounds never healed. And the pain was too real, even though you somehow charmed Leon with your inner light and agreed to be with him, you were still alone with this pain.

There was so little good in your life that in the end even Leon turned out to be something negative that finally knocked you off your feet, made you drown, even though he remained your most beloved person. You were always very close to him and very far at the same time, because it was Leon who set the distance. The only woman he could let in without fear and looking back was not you at all.

And yet there was something that brought a smile to the face until the very end. Moments when Leon said that you belong to him and he is obliged to take care of you but in fact even he threw you away as an unnecessary thing.

You are so tired... Leon finally pushed you away after the death of his entire squad. He didn't need you anymore, no matter how hard you tried to help him, he just left without a word, taking the bag with his few things, leaving you in the middle of the room broken like a doll.

With slowly flowing tears on your cheeks, broken from the inside, and only when the door finally slammed shut behind him, you felt pain in your knees when you fell, hitting them on the floor. No word could describe how you felt when he left "us" behind. It hurt more than any betrayal, forcing you to roll onto his side of the bed and touch his nonexistent face. No one could help you forget him, and you were so tired of falling asleep thinking about him, unable to stop loving him. It was so cruel. You literally choked on your own howling and coughing, choking on tears.

He didn't even have anything to say to you. He just left when he saw fit, kicking you out of his life.

You thought pain was the worst feeling, but worse was the endless silence inside you that followed Leon's departure. Not even going to delve into the reason for the distance, as if out of spite, your whole family began to put pressure on you again, condemning you for a small mistake. As if a huge black cloud clouded whole life. You didn't want anything else. There were no tears, no sadness, no joy. You have always been worse than others. From early childhood. Even at your crappy job, you were considered worthless, which eventually led back to the only solution to the problem.

But even if you died, you would create unnecessary problems for your family with a funeral, and they certainly would not want to do this. The guilt was precisely because of this: the knowledge that someone would take the time to prepare your body for burial. But the upsides of your death seemed to far outweigh the few downsides when you were holding a full vial of sleeping pills in your hands.

That's why you corrected yourself. Cleaned up the house, had a nice chat with the upstairs neighbor while she complimented the dress you bought, thinking you were probably going on a date; made the bed with new linens, took a shower and put on light makeup before pouring a full glass of water and drinking sleeping pills one after the other until you emptied the whole vial and your poisoned body collapsed on the bed, staining the pillow with a thin line of blood running from under your nose and mouth.

However, even outwardly you did not look like a sleeper. The heartbeat gradually slowed down, and you plunged deeper and deeper into the dark bottom, from which there was no longer a single chance to get out. There was not even a farewell note, although you wanted to apologize to everyone for the fact that those around you spent so much time on you, but all their hopes were crushed. So death really was a deliverance from all problems.

You just finally solved all your problems in one single right way.

And Leon hated himself for leaving you for months without saying a word. However, something affected him in New York that he rushed to you as soon as the plane landed back, banging on the door of your small apartment to no avail.

This time he wasn't even drunk. Beaten, bruised, but completely sober and alive, unlike you. Because your heart hasn't beat in at least four hours, so your lips have taken on a bluish tint.

"Sweetheart, I know I acted like a fucking asshole but please let's talk. Open the door, I know you're home"

The comic of the whole situation was that the door was actually open, you deliberately did not close it so that in the morning your friend would find you.

"I love you... I was afraid that I might lose you too if I was by your side, but now I understand that I was an idiot! Please, let's talk, I don't want to lose you anymore."

Nothing.

Leon took a deep breath, resting his forehead on the door, trying to hear your steps or movements. Silence. But he knows that you are at home - he saw the open window. He knew that he acted like a son of a bitch, he knew that you had every right to hate him, and yet he wanted to return you.

Another series of knocks followed by no response. Leon accidentally put his hand on the door handle, and then with a click it opened, causing him to freeze in place in amazement. Leon pushed open the door into a dark hallway, and the dim light from the next room made him move further inside, shuddering slightly as the chill of the night ran down his spine.

"Sweetheart?" He slammed the window to a distinctive click, but you still did not respond to his voice.

Your phone was on the table, and next to it was an empty vial of some pills with an almost empty glass of water. Leon unlocked your phone by looking at the list of recent messages, but there was nothing interesting about them. However, taking a vial in his hand and reading the name on the label...

You definitely didn't have any sleep problems! A flash of insight, backed up by the knowledge that you've already had one failed attempt in the past, made Leon's heart sink and freeze as he entered the bedroom and saw your silhouette lying on the bed.

"Baby..." Leon quickly ran up to you, after a few seconds of silent stupor.

Leon turned your body towards him, feeling for a pulse, rubbing your shoulders. The sight of gore on your face for some reason raised a flash of accumulated negative feelings. Pressing your head to his chest, Leon flipped the lamp button to light up the bedroom a little and swallowed the bitter lump in his throat when he saw the lifeless pallor.

"Don't you dare die, do you hear me?!"

You didn't hear. Leon scooped you into his arms, hugging you, whispering something in your head while he searched for the phone in his pocket. While the ambulance was coming, those minutes seemed to drag on forever. Any attempts to bring you to your senses, to at least open your eyes a little, were not blamed for success.

But it was unbearable when the doctors declared death in an unimaginably dry voice without even trying to do anything, despite his furious cries after your body was immersed in a black body bag. Leon just watched silently as the ambulance drove away and the police considered that death by suicide was not worth close attention. "Unrequited Love" would then be whispered among themselves as Leon read a copy of the autopsy report that Hannigan got for him, looking at him with a regretful look.

The following days passed in black despondency and alcohol. Leon would like to burn out all the feelings from his heart for you along with the endless guilt for leaving you. It feels like it's rotting from the inside. There is not the slightest desire to look at you dead, but he comes ... He comes and looks with an empty, otherworldly look at the same serene you. Already in a different dress, but still beautiful, albeit lifeless. he would like to make love to you now, hold you in his arms and luxuriate in bed. Count your moles, cover your back with light kisses and hug you. He would like anything now, but not to see you dead. His hand covered yours with his thumb, running over your knuckles as if remembering what it was like to hold your hand. Some looked at him in bewilderment, but Leon didn't care anymore. He gently stroked your face, trying to ignore the urge to smash everything around from the purest rage and despair that filled it.

But in the end, when all other senses recede, when the lid of your coffin closes forever, only a black, empty nothing remains inside Leon.

#leon kennedy #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon x reader #resident evil #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #leon s kennedy x reader #resident evil x reader #reader #resident evil vendetta #resident evil fanfiction #leon kennedy resident evil #leon kennedy angst #leon scott kennedy x reader #I cried when I wrote this #I want Leon to suffer #Death of a Reader

632 notes · View notes

andvys · 2 years

Text

Love will tear us apart // part eight

Warnings: angst, mentions of anxiety, some fluff, mentions of drugs

Pairings: Eddie Munson x fem!reader // slight Steve Harrington x fem!reader

series masterlist

You didn't sleep a wink last night, your mind was racing with thoughts, keeping you from falling asleep and forgetting all about what happened, even if just for a few hours or even minutes.

You didn't think about your brother or his friends and their disgusting behavior towards you. In a way, you were so used to all of this- to your brother’s abuse, to the pain he put you through that, that wasn't even the reason which kept you awake all night.

You were thinking about Eddie. As always. You thought about the way it felt to be with him, just him, with no one else around, for a moment it was just the two of you in this world. Just him and you.

“You okay?” Steve asks, glancing at you.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Steve nods, hand tightening on the steering wheel. He knows you’re lying about your wellbeing, about your injury, about, a lot of things. You might think that you’re a good liar and you might think that he is clueless but he is your best friend- he can see right through your lies even when you seem to think that you are good at hiding things.

“You don't have to lie to me, you know?” he says, gently.

“I’m not lying, Steve. I’m good, just tired- couldn’t sleep last night because of your loud snoring.” you say, smirking at him “could hear it all the way from the guest room.”

“I never snore!” he exclaims, turning to you with wide eyes, a blush making it’s way on his face.

“Uh- yes you do, Stevie. Every movie night, you fall asleep and all I hear is your loud snores, can’t even hear the damn movie.”

He scoffs, shaking his head “not true.” he mumbles “but, you’re talking in your sleep.”

You scoff, shaking your head “t-that’s not true!” you mumble, nervously. If you do talk in your sleep, you hope that you are not talking about him- or saying his name.

“It is though!”

“Well, what am I talking about then?” you ask.

“You’re telling me all your secrets.” he smirks, glancing at you.

You laugh, “oh shut up- tell me one of my secrets then.”

“No, I’ll keep it to myself.” he chuckles.

“Come on.” you whine, looking at him with a pout on your face.

He smirks at you “you mumbled my name in your sleep.”

“You wish.” you chuckle as you lean back in your seat.

“It’s true! You totally had a crush on me when we became friends.” he says with a glimmer of hope in his eyes as he glances at you for a moment.

Your lips part in surprise, you blink as you stare at him. He doesn't turn to look at you, a blush is coating his cheeks as he grips the steering wheel tightly.

He wasn't completely wrong, you did have a little crush on him or maybe you convinced yourself that you did, just to forget about a certain metalhead, which obviously didn't work even when Steve was always around, even when he was there for you when no one else was, even when he treated you so well while Eddie treated you like shit.

Steve was the only person who came to visit you when you and Will have made it out of the upside down. After Hopper and Joyce came looking for Will, they had brought the two of you to the hospital where you had passed out immediately.

You woke up to an empty room, no one was there next to you, no one came to see you. Not even your own parents, a call from Hopper telling them that you were found and safe was apparently enough for them.

So you sat there alone, all by yourself, surrounded by nothing but silence and loneliness. It was horrible but it wasn't anything that you weren't used to already.

Until Steve walked in with bruises all over his face. To say you were surprised to see him was an understatement. You haven't been close at that time, hell, you didn't even like him back then.

But he came to see you, telling you that Will was awake. You expected him to walk away after this but instead he sat down on the chair next to the bed and asked you if you’re okay, it wasn't even a forced question to fill the awkward silence, it was truly, a genuine question.

A friendship has blossomed from that night on. Steve has never left your side ever since, he had a special place in your heart.

“T-That’s what I talked about in my dreams?”

“Totally and uh, I have a-” whatever Steve was about to say, gets caught in his throat as he glances at you “I have a question.”

“Sure- w-what is it?” you ask, you notice the way his expression changed.

“Speaking of movie nights- wanna have one tomorrow?” he asks slowly- almost nervously.

Furrowing your brows, you turn to look at him. His cheeks are red and he runs his fingers through his hair, clearing his throat. You don't understand why he’s so nervous, movie nights aren't new for you, you have them almost weekly.

“Uh- sure, wanna ask the boys too? I haven't seen Dustin in a while.”

Your words cause his shoulder to slump down in disappointment, pressing his lips together, he just nods as he pulls up into the school’s parking lot.

“Pick out a good horror movie, please.” you say, giving him a soft smile.

“Sure.” he smiles, exhaling softly as he stops the car.

“Thanks for driving me a-and for last night.” you say softly, eyes meeting his.

“Of course, y/n.” he whispers, reaching out to touch your hand, he squeezes it, eyeing your face slowly, his eyes stop at your lips for a moment. He looks like he wants to say more but before he can do so, you grab the door handle “I'll see you later?” you ask.

“Yeah, later.” he nods.

Giving him a soft smile, you slip your hand out of his and get out of the car.

Steve sighs as he watches you. He doesn't want to have a movie night with his friends, he wants one with you, as a date.

A scowl reaches his face as his eyes settle on Eddie who stands by the entrance, eyes locked on you. It’s clear that he is waiting for you.

Steve is overcome by anger and jealousy, he thinks back to that party. Not only did he find you and Eddie all close together- he could also see how you were looking at Eddie all night and how Eddie was looking at you all night.

Even when Steve had his hands on you, even when he pulled you against him, kissed your cheek and kept you close- your attention was never on him, it was always on Eddie.

He watches as Eddie walks towards you, meeting you halfway. His eyes flicker to Steve’s car for a moment before his eyes settle back on you. To both Steve’s surprise and Eddie’s- you rush towards him the moment you saw him. You wrap your arms around him, startling him a little.

Steve watches as Eddie hugs you back, wrapping his arms around you as well, he pulls you close against his chest. Glancing at Steve who watches with a jealous glare on his face, he forces himself to look away from you the two of you. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he takes a deep breath. Eddie might be the one that you want but Steve knows that he doesn't deserve you.

You surprise both Eddie and yourself by your action.

You were unsure of how he was going to react to seeing you today after everything that happened yesterday, but the moment, you saw him waiting for you, you couldn’t help yourself. You let your emotions guide you. Your promise to stay away from him flew out the window the moment your eyes met his.

His eyes are soft, filled with concern as he watches you walk towards him. He meets you halfway and is about to speak up when you suddenly, wrap your arms around him and lay your head against his chest.

Eddie’s eyes widen, his body stiffens for a moment, not because he’s uncomfortable but because he’s surprised. His heart flutters in his chest. He was so anxious before, not knowing how you would react to seeing him again.

Too many ‘what if’s’ are going through his mind. What if, you still don't want him around you? What if, you will push him away again? What if, you are still hurt and won't ever forgive him for what he did?

Eddie realizes that he’s not hugging you back and you’re about to pull away when he finally wraps his arms around you and pulls you closer against his chest.

Feeling eyes on him, he lifts his head to find Steve staring at the two of you with a glare on his face, looking anything but happy.

Eddie doesn't blame him, he felt the same way when he just watched you get out of his car, wearing his clothes. He doesn't know what this means, he doesn't know why you came here with him when you went home last night.

He can't stop the burning jealousy that is creeping up on him, the anger at seeing you with someone else, but this time, he doesn't let it control him, he won't let his anger overpower him and ruin things once again. He looks away from Steve and hugs you tighter.

Neither of you notice the other students looking at you as they walk past you with confused and curious glances. Eddie doesn't notice nor does he care- all he cares about is you and how right it feels to hold you in his arms.

But it’s over too soon.

You pull away slightly and look up at him, soft eyes meet his “hi.” you whisper.

“Hi, y/n.” he murmurs, scanning your face, his brows furrow as he sees the small bandaid on your cheek, he raises his hands, cradling your face in his large hands “what happened?” he asks, anger flashing in his eyes.

You look into his eyes as he glides his thumb over your cheek.

He eyes the area around the little bandaid, a very obvious bruise was prominent on your skin, someone hit you; your brother hit you- it rose his anger. Hatred was burning in his chest and he wanted nothing more than to drive over to your house right now and beat your brother to a pulp.

You stare at him, not knowing what to say, not knowing what lies to come up with. You might be able to lie to Steve or even Robin, they didn't know about your brother’s abusive behavior but you know you can't lie to Eddie.

“Nothing, it was an accident.” you mumble, looking away from him.

“Y/n..” he murmurs, brown eyes meeting yours. Eddie isn't stupid and he isn't clueless either, he grew up in a toxic household before he moved in with Wayne. He knows exactly what happened to you “stop lying.”

"I’m not lying.” you say, looking up at him again to see him eye you with such concern, it almost makes you cry. The caring look in his eyes makes you both happy and anxious.

You can't stand this, you can't stand lying to him, you can't stand the way he looks at you as if he didn't put you through so much pain and heartache, you can't stand looking at him and not tell him how much you love him, how much he means to you.

“You can tell-”

“I gotta go.” you mumble, stepping away from him. His hands fall from your face and he looks at you with his sad eyes.

You walk away from him before he gets the chance to say anything. He stares after you for a moment. You are running away from him, again. You are slipping through his fingers but he won't let it happen.

“Y/n!” he calls out to you as he rushes to catch up with you “don't walk away from me, please.”

You walk past a group of students who stare at you the moment Eddie catches up to you, you huff in annoyance as they direct their stares at Eddie, the stupid word ‘freak’ leaves their lips as they whisper amongst themselves.

You really aren't a violent person but you would love nothing more than to slap their stupid scowls off their faces as they stare at him with glares and disgust in their eyes.

Eddie pays no mind to them, his attention is all on you, ignoring the prying eyes.

“What do you want, Eddie?” you ask quietly, not wanting to pull more attention towards you and him.

You stop at your locker and throw your backpack down before crossing your arms and turning towards him “I want you!” he blurts out, his own eyes widen at the words that just left his lips, his cheeks getting red, slowly.

You part your lips in surprise, arms falling to your sides. You can’t ignore the butterflies in your stomach “you- what?”

Clearing his throat, he steps closer to you “I-I just want to talk to you, y/n.” he says.

“W-Why? I- told you, it’s better we stay away from each other.” you say hesitantly.

A few days ago, you told him that because you believed that it might protect your heart from breaking further but now, now you said this because you want to protect him, even if you are breaking your own heart in the process.

Eddie shakes his head at your words. He can’t just act like nothing happened, especially after last night. You almost kissed, you held his hand, you let him in- there's no way, he's gonna stay away from you after what happened.

“I don’t want to stay away from you.”

You furrow your brows, sighing, you look into his eyes. You can see that he's genuine, that he regrets his past actions, that he wants to do better and you want to let him, you want to let him in but you also want him safe.

All these years, you wanted nothing more than to have him by your side, you wanted nothing more than to be around him, hear his voice, make him smile and hear his laugh but now, now you realized that it was selfish of you to wish for something like that.

You would only pull him into something that would hurt him in the end, or worse kill him.

It wasn't just your brother that worried you it was also the connection to the upside down that was still deep inside your soul, a part of you, stayed there and you felt deep in your bones; that it isn't over yet.

“But it’s better this way.” you whisper, breaking your own heart “you said so yourself at that party, you were right.” you say.

Eddie sighs, his eyes are desperate and filled with fear- fear of losing you.

“No, please, I was wrong, I was angry and dumb and jeal-”

The ringing of the bell interrupts him and he sighs in annoyance. He closes his eyes.

You watch him with furrowed brows, his hair was messy, again, just like yesterday and the day before. There’s still dark circles under his eyes- giving away his lack of sleep. He looked like that since your fight last Friday.

A sudden guilt hits you, it rushes through you before you can stop it.

He is in this state because of you. Because you pushed him away and he feels horrible for pushing you away with his behavior, for causing all of this.

You can’t do this to him, you can’t push him away, you can’t have him suffer because of you but how will you keep him safe if it comes down to it?

You are irritated and conflicted. Not knowing how to deal with your emotions and him, puts you into a deep state of anxiety, once again.

“I- we gotta get to class.” you mumble.

Eddie only nods, he looks sad, shoulders slumped down in defeat- once again, he looks like sad and kicked puppy.

You sigh, he is about to walk away from you but you grab his hand “w-wait.”

He looks down at your hand before he looks back at you.

“Walk with me?” you ask, shyly.

You know you must be the most confusing person right now, pushing him away only to pull him back again- but, you just can't, you can’t push him away from you, no matter what.

Eddie could rip your heart out, crush it with his bare hands and walk away from you and you would still love him, you would still choose him, time after time.

“Yes, of course.” he whispers.

You’re about to pull your hand away but he holds it tighter, not letting go just yet.

Your heart flutters at his action, there’s a hopeful glimmer in his eyes and just like last night, he intertwines his fingers with yours “is that okay?”

“Yes.”

Eddie slams his lunchbox down on the table, startling the three teenagers. Eddie looks around in confusion “where are the others?” he asks, noticing the lack of his bandmates.

Dustin and Mike shrug as they watch Eddie.

“Heard they got in trouble, apparently some of the guys from the basketball team were messing with them.” Lucas says.

“You mean your new friends?” Eddie asks.

“T-They aren't my friends.” he mumbles nervously.

Eddie raises his brows as he looks towards the table occupied by the jocks, noticing a few of them missing.

“Maybe they send them home.” Lucas shrugs.

Eddie nods, sighing in annoyance. He was used to all the bullying, to the popular kids treating him and his friends like shit and while he may be good at hiding it, he had to admit to himself that it did hurt, sometimes.

It was one of the main reasons why he refused to believe that you wanted to be his friend. Someone as pretty as you, someone who could easily blend in with the popular kids wanted to be his friend? Yeah, it seemed like a joke at that time but now he knew that it never was. It was never a joke, it wasn't a bet or a plot to get to him, to break his heart and humiliate him. No, now he knows that you have always been genuine about your intentions.

He read your notebook, even though it was wrong and left him feeling extremely guilty and horrible, he invaded your privacy and you didn't even know it.

Reading your notebook was like trying to solve a riddle. You talked of monsters, of worlds beyond this one. You also talked about... him? He knows you did, he just doesn’t what any of it means. You made a reference, a reference to a song that he only played yesterday, at the hideout.

He had never played it before, at least at no public place, except for Gareth’s garage.

“Are you excited for spring break?” Dustin asks.

“Yeah-”

“Of course, he’s excited, he finally gets to see his girlfriend.” Lucas teases after interrupting Mike.

Mike just shakes his head with a blush on his cheeks.

Eddie wasn't paying attention to their conversation, too busy thinking about you and your notebook. He had questions, too many of them but how was he going to ask you all these questions without telling you how he found out about them in the first place?

One thought lingered in the back of his mind- that you would hate him for this, that you would get angry and push him away for good.

“I’m also excited to see Will.” Mike points out.

Eddie narrows his eyes at the mention of Will Byers. Him along with the upside down and all these monster that you have talked about, were mentioned in your notebook more than once.

“I miss him.” Dustin mumbles, sighing sadly.

“Me too, I wish he would come to Hawkins instead.” Lucas says before biting into his sandwich.

“I don't know, I’m pretty excited to go to California.” Mike shrugs, grabbing the little milk carton, he looks at Eddie, furrowing his brows as he notices the irritated and confused look on his face.

“Dude, I wanna go too!” Dustin exclaims.

“Yeah-”

“What’s the upside down?”

Lucas drops his sandwich and turns towards Eddie with a shocked look on his face.

Mike starts coughing violently as he chokes on the milk.

A high pitched “what?” leaves Dustin’s lips as his eyes widen in shock.

“W-What?” Lucas stutters, gulping nervously as him and Mike look at each other in shock and confusion.

“What did you say?” Mike asks.

“The upside down?” Eddie repeats, eying the teenagers in suspicion.

For a moment, there's just silence surrounding the four of them. No one knows what to say. How did he even find out about it? The boys made sure never to talk about it on school grounds, knowing that they can get into serious trouble if it somehow reaches the public.

“W-What?” Dustin squeaks out again, glancing at Mike and Lucas with wide eyes before they settle back on Eddie.

Eddie squints his eyes, leaning his elbows on the table, he stares every single one of them down. He knows that whatever is gonna come out of their mouths, is gonna be some made up lie. By their reactions, he knows it’s something more serious, something they will try to keep from him.

Dustin looks as though he’s desperately trying to come up with a lie while Lucas looks about ready to just blurt it out.

“And don't lie to me.” Eddie says as he looks at Mike “what is it? Is it a place or-”

“A country!” Dustin exclaims proudly.

Everyone turns towards him with confused expressions.

“A-Australia.” Dustin nods “it’s Australia! The upside down is Australia; down under, get it? Like t-the song!” he says with wide eyes “do you come from a land down under, where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.” he sings quietly, his face is red and he looks about ready to just disappear.

Eddie looks too stunned to speak, he just blinks as he sits in silence.

Mike and Lucas snicker under their breaths.

“So.” Eddie starts, taking a deep breath “you’re telling me that y/n and Will were stuck in Australia and fought not demogorgons but kangaroos?”

This time they all screamed out a “what!” simultaneously.

While Eddie spent his lunch break in the cafeteria as always. You finally met up with Max, after promising Lucas that you would talk to her. Sitting on the bleachers, you’ve done some catching up the past twenty minutes as you enjoyed the sunny weather. It was finally getting warmer again, making it easier for you to relax.

Ever since that one winter, you started hating it, the cold weather was just a reminder of everything that you have gone through and you hated it.

“Are you okay?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” you say.

Max turns towards you with a confused expression “me? I’m totally fine.” she shrugs, playing with the strings of her hoodie. A nervous habit she picked up.

You raise your brows as you tilt your head “you’re a bad liar.” you mumble.

“So are you.” she chuckles “still didn't tell me what happened and I asked like three times.” she says as she eyes the bruise and the bandaid on your cheek.

“I ran into-”

“Oh, don't give me that bullshit!” she scoffs “we’re friends right?”

Your eyes soften “of course we’re friends.”

“Well, El always says friends don't lie so.. please don't lie.”

Sighing, you turn away for a moment. You look out onto the football field. You never said it out loud, that your brother hits you but Max was one of the people who figured it out right away. She had an abusive brother herself, she was no stranger to the situation you are in.

“It was your dickhead of a brother, right?” she asks, slowly.

Your breath hitches in your throat and your heart stops for a moment. You dig your nails into your palms as you turn towards her, and without having to speak up, she knows, the look in your eyes tells her everything.

“What a piece of shit!” she exclaims in anger “I should beat him up with my skateboard- I’d do it right now!”

You can’t help but chuckle at her words “it’s okay-”

“No, it’s not! You should do something about it, tell Steve-”

“Steve?” you chuckle “Steve has never won a fight.” you point out.

She rolls her eyes “okay, fair.” she chuckles.

Comfortable silence fills the air, neither of you speak up for a moment.

Max clears her throat and you glance at her in questions, already knowing that she’s about to say something.

“How come you always stand up for other people when they are in danger but you never stand up for yourself?” she asks with a sad look in her eyes “I-I mean, from what I know, you have fought or attacked a demogorgon before he was about to get Will and when Billy attacked Lucas and Steve, you punched the shit out of him! And you stood up to Billy more than once- even when he was possessed! You are a total badass and your brother, he’s just a loser.” she exclaims, taking a deep breath after all her rambling “and you should start caring more about yourself, seriously you’re like El, always standing up for other but never for herself.” she adds.

It was easier for you to stand up for others. You always felt the urge to protect the ones you love, not caring about yourself getting hurt in the process.

You never hesitate to jump into the line of fire when it means saving someone you love.

“I guess it’s just easier for me stand up for someone else- especially if they can't do it for themselves.” you say “maybe a naive part of me hopes that someone might do it for me too, someday.”

No one has ever stood up for you, no one has ever fought to protect you even when you did it for them.

“Someone will.” she nods “but you should do too, you shouldn't let anyone treat you this way, you don't deserve this.”

A sad smile tugs at your lips as you watch the younger girl. “Enough about me.” you mumble “how are you?”

She narrows her eyes at you “good.”

“Hey.” you nudge her “friends don't lie.”

The carefree and happy look in her eyes was gone, her eyes were dull and she just looked sad. Lucas was right.

She snorts, shaking her head as she looks down at her hands. You know she struggles to open up, you are the same.

“You don't have to talk to me, if you don't want to but just know that I’m here and that I care about you.” you say, putting your hand on her shoulder “you’re like a little sister...almost.”

“Almost?” she asks, lifting her head to look at you.

“Yeah, little sisters are usually annoying, I think. But you aren't annoying, you’re pretty cool, really badass.” you smile.

She smiles at you “you’re pretty cool too.”

“Thanks.” you chuckle.

“And to answer your question, I’m- okay, not good but okay, I guess. I don't know how to- I don't know how to express myself without saying the wrong thing, like, I want to but I end up saying the complete opposite and then I just get so angry at myself and-”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” you interrupt her, you could tell that she was overwhelmed and stressed.

She raised her hand, rubbing her eyes, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

“I totally understand what you mean. I struggle with trying to explain myself all the time so I usually just keep quiet b-but, I don't want this for you, it’s gonna make it worse and then you’ll just explode.” you say as you think back to all your mental breakdowns in the past two years, she is the first person you even tell about this “it’s not easy but, if you want, you can still try to talk to me, doesn't have to be now or even tomorrow, just know that I'm here.”

“Thank you, y/n.” she mumbles, giving you a small but sad smile.

It breaks your heart to see her struggle so much, to see her so sad.

“Do you want to get milkshakes after school? I know I’m not as cool as El but..”

“I’d love to.” she smiles.

Your house was dark and empty when you walked in that night. You sighed in relief when you realized that your brother isn't home. After you ran out on him last night, you were nervous to come back. You had already come home this morning to grab your stuff for school just as he was about to leave but Steve was with you, so he didn't say or do anything.

Walking into your bedroom, you dropped your bag on the floor and turned on the lights, sighing at the mess you made when you were looking for your notebook two days ago. It wasn't dirty, just a complete mess, clothes wearing hanging out from your drawers. A few books scattered around on the floor. A few boxes knocked over.

You sit down on your bed, rubbing your eyes, you lean your elbows against your knees as you close your eyes for a moment. The headache has returned once again and you felt like pulling your hair out from how bad it was hurting. No amount of painkillers could get rid of it.

You are still convinced that it’s a symptom from all the anxiety you have been feeling lately.

Your mind was overwhelmed by all the events that have unfolded since the past week. After all the fights and all the overwhelming emotions both Eddie and your brother have put you through, you weren't surprised that your body was putting you through all this pain as a result from both anxiety and maybe even sadness.

You hoped that a distraction would help, so after a long and hot shower, you went back into your room and put on some music. You started cleaning your room. Getting rid of some of the old things that you have thrown out of your closet when you were desperately looking for your notebook that you have most likely lost somewhere.

Putting all your clean shirts back into the drawers, your eyes caught something sticking out from behind the drawers. You furrow your brows as you open it further, reaching for it, your hands touch the soft material of a flannel. Pulling it out, your eyes widen immediately. The red and black flannel that you thought you had lost was tucked away all this time, hidden away.

You blink as tears well up in your eyes.

The flannel didn't belong to you.

It belongs to Eddie.

You took it from the upside down.

When you were dragged into the upside down, the very first place that you had managed to find shelter in was his trailer. You were shivering from both fear and the cold. The flannel was laying on his bed for you to take.

You kept it, even after you had gotten back. In the cold nights when you were scared and your mind was plagued by horrible thoughts and nightmares, this little thing was one of the only things that provided you at least some sort of comfort.

It was also the same flannel that he wore just a few days ago when you had seen him at family video.

The longing feeling returns once again and as you think about the way he looked at you this morning, the way he pulled you into his arms and told you that he doesn't want to stay away from you, tugged at your heartstrings. This, was all you ever wanted. He, was all you ever wanted and now that there was finally a chance for the two of you, you were the one who was pushing him away?

You feel stupid, so so stupid.

The sudden urge to see him, to feel his arms around you again overcomes you and you find yourself, rushing out of your room and downstairs. You grab your car keys and leave the house, slamming the door shut behind you.

You don't let your thoughts or all the ‘what if’s’ stop you from seeing him. You don’t let your brother stop you from seeing him, or the thought of what he would do if he found out. You would deal with it, later.

The drive wasn't long enough for the little devil on your shoulder to convince you to stop you from seeing him.

Your heart is pounding in your chest as you raise your fist to knock on the door. You look around the dark streets, tugging at the sleeves of your sweater.

Eddie opens the door abruptly, startling you slightly. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion until his eyes settle on you. His lips part in surprise and his eyes widen “y/n?”

“Hi.” you say shyly.

He looks down at you with both confusion and adoration. You look so cute standing there, looking at him with a soft and shy smile on your lips as you look up at him.

Steve’s sweater is replaced by one of your own, your hair is slightly wet, indicating that you just recently took a shower.

“Hi.” he smiles, softly. “W-What are you doing here?”

“Uh- I..” you stutter.

I wanted to see you.. I wanted to hug you.. I wanted to tell you I love you..

“Y-You said something about.. weed helping with anxiety.” you trailed off, mentally slapping yourself for not being honest, this isn't what you came for “I wanted to try?”

Eddie almost chuckles at your stuttering. He is a little disappointed that you didn't come to just see him but he is happy to see you here in the first place.

He was thinking about you all day. Staring at your notebook while he was practicing a new song. He didn't touch it again, he felt bad enough for reading most of it in the first place.

After the weird conversation with the boys at lunch he felt even more confused. They kept coming up with more lies, mainly Dustin. Lucas and Mike kept stuttering like crazy while Dustin just rambled away, even when the other two teens kept telling him to shut up, he just spilled everything in hushed whispers.

Eddie didn't believe them a single word, though. Monsters and a different world, a different dimension? Yeah, no. He knew they were messing with him, they had to.

He moves aside “come in, sweetheart.”

The nickname makes your stomach flutter as a blush makes it’s way onto your face. You glance at him as you walk past him and into the warmth of his trailer.

He closes the door behind him and turns towards you, watching you as look around the trailer. A smile tugs at your lips as you see a picture of Eddie and his uncle on the wall.

You remember the trailer. It’s still the same as it was only that there’s even more mugs on the wall now.

“That’s a lot of mugs.” you mumble.

Eddie chuckles, scratching the back of his neck “yeah, Wayne- my uncle, he loves them. Can’t get enough of them.” he laughs.

You smile as you turn to look at Eddie “understandable, I have a big mug collection as well.” you chuckle.

“Really? So, two mug addicts in my life then?” he jokes, raising his brows at you.

You can't help but laugh at his words, shaking your head.

Eddie’s eyes light up at the sound of your laugh, the little twinkle in your eyes as you look at him makes his heart race like crazy.

“Aren’t we all addicted to something?” you ask, tilting your head.

Eddie stares at you, longingly. A soft smile resting on his lips, eyes flickering with something “yeah.” he whispers with a blush on his face.

“C-Come on.” he murmurs, surprising you by taking your hand in his, just like earlier.

You smile to yourself as you follow him into his room.

“It’s uh- a bit of a mess.” Eddie mumbles as he let’s you walk in first.

“A mess? You should’ve seen my room earlier, that was a mess.” you chuckle as you look around his room. Your eyes fall on his guitar, it’s still in the same place as it was two years ago “I love your room.” you whisper, you truly do.

Even when you only knew the different version of it, you still loved it. It was your only comfort besides him.

“Really?” Eddie asks.

You turn to look at him, eyes stopping at his plump lips before they lock with his pretty brown eyes “yeah, I love.. it.” you whisper.

His own eyes flicker down to your lips, staring at them, he wants to kiss you, just like he wanted to kiss you last night. You squeeze his hand, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He blinks, clearing his throat “r-right, let me get your stuff. How much do you want?” he asks as he lets go of your hand, unwillingly so. He walks towards his dresser, turning his back to you as he opens the drawer.

“I- uh, I don't know, I have never done this before.” you say as you look around his room, stepping in a little further.

“Okay uh, do you wanna do this alone?” he asks with concern in his voice.

You glance at him, to find him looking at you, you shrug “I guess.. I don't know.”

Eddie nods, “w-well if you want, I can show you how to do it, be there, in case you need something?” he offers.

He doesn't want you to be alone when you’re high for the first time and he also wants a reason to be around you.

“I-I mean, only if you want to, Eddie.”

“I want to.” he says, giving you a small smile before he turns back around.

You look at all the posters in his room, there's more than there were before. A second guitar on the floor. His leather jacket along with his vest, thrown over a little chair in front of his desk.

You furrow your brows as a familiar object catches your eyes.

“Alright.” Eddie mumbles, closing the drawer.

“How much?” you ask.

“Uh- it’s free for you-”

“No, Eddie.” you mumble, the soft tone in your voice gone “how much did you read?”

Eddie’s heart stops in his chest, a cold shudder rushes through him and all the color drains from his face as he turns back around, a guilty expression making it’s way on his face already as he finds himself staring at you holding your notebook. Your shoulders slumped in disappointment and your eyes flickering with both hurt and anger.

#eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things imagines

1K notes · View notes

redheadspark · 9 months

Text

Fifth Floor Prt. 1

A/N - I wrote this out and it ended up being SO long! Part two will come soon enough, and that HAS the SMUT in it!

Summary - You and Oliver reunited after the Battle of Hogwarts, and old flames are rekindled again

Warnings - Just some fluff and angst in this part, Part Two is found here

"Alright, make a perch right here,"

Madam Promfrey helped place you on one of the old Great Hall benches, at least the one that wasn't destroyed and still standing. You groaned a bit, your head throbbing from a wound that was inflicted on the top of your forehead, your energy dropping by the minute and your adrenaline was no longer evident. The rest of the students and teachers around you were in no better shape either, trying to mend their wounds and unwind from all the chaos that happened within the last several hours. Not to mention the bodies that were being moved and placed in a secluded area on the other side of the Great Hall. It was heartbreaking to see, both Death Eater and those in the Order. They were all the same: lifeless. But it was worse since some of those bodies were of the students.

You both felt lucky and cursed to be alive.

Coming back to your old school Ala Mater, you wanted it to be more of a blissful reunion and not a bitter one. But you were called back too, thanks to the enchanted Galleon you were given. The world was already turned upside down when You-Know-Who took over the Ministry of Magic, his followers running around all over Europe to capture half-blooded and muggle-borns, the safety of the medical world was now critical. You even had to go into hiding since you were a half-born witch, your mother being a witch and your father a muggle. Luckily, they both were out of the country on Holiday over in America visiting family when the Ministry Fell, and you can get in contact with them to stay across the Pacific until further notice.

With your parents safe and out of harm's way, you were not focusing on yourself and going into hiding at your cramped little flat. It was a bit hard, thinking that when you would go to sleep you would be awakened by a Death Eater leering over your little bed with a wand at your throat. Plenty of people were disappearing in the night. You were glad to have escaped a few close calls, seeing Death Eaters going among the streets in packs and causing chaos for no random reason.

Thankfully, you learned a thing or two when it came to blending in and staying under the radar. You kept your eyes on your neighbors, especially the older couple that had no one else to turn to. Thankfully, they were not a target to any Death Eaters or even the Ministry of Magic. They would go for anyone, and to make sure you were not a min target, you made sure any communication with anyone was going to be minimal.

Yet the one person who you were still talking to since you graduated together, was Oliver Wood.

Being from the same House and in the same year, you both were thick as thieves throughout your years at Hogwarts and in Gryffindor House. Ever since you were first years, you and Oliver were sticking together when it came to classes and studying. It was nice to have another friend in your year since you were on the shy side, though Oliver was a bit cockier and a sports enthusiast. Especially with Quidditch, which was his obsession and life.

Speaking of which, you saw him helping bring in some of the bodies of the fallen to the corner of the Great Hall, placing them gently on the ground and covering their bodies with some of the blankets from the Hospital Wing. He too looked worn from the Battle: his clothes were disheveled and covered in dust, and blood was evident along his jaw and a bit in his hair. But you were glad he was walking around and alive, in a much better state than others. It made you smile, seeing him alive and alert.

The older you two got while at school, the deeper your friendship was going, and with the deep friendship, you developed feelings for him came along too. You had no clue when it happened, whether it was your 4th or 5th year when it shifted, but you started to look at him in a different light. How he would fly as the Keeper on the quidditch team, you watched him a pinch longer during practice or a heated match against Slytherin. You two were still friends, going to Hogsmeade on certain weekends to get butterbeer and catch up together, or go out on the ground studying together for Potions or Herbology.

You were catching feelings, whether you liked it or not.

"Hey!" You saw him make his way over to you, weaving his way around the other survivors who were walking around and trying to catch their breath. His eyes were right on you, and you gave him a small smile as he finally sat down next to you. Before you could say anything, he engulfed you in his arms, you clinging onto him while you both were sighing in relief and happiness that you both were alive.

You were beyond glad to see him there with all his limbs and functioning, the last time you saw him was still in the wee hours of the morning and he was making his way over to the courtyard with some of the other Quidditch players, You were taking one at least two Death Eaters that were trying to kill a group of 1st years that were caught in the middle of battle and couldn't hide out in time. Of course, the rest of the night you were thinking about Oliver and if he was okay, if he was going to make it to the morning and survive that whole ordeal.

He did, and you two were reuniting again.

"You okay?" He asked as he pulled away abruptly and scanned your appearance frantically, "Nothin' broken?!"

"I'm okay. I promise I'm okay," You reassured him as he gave you another hug, this one felt gentler and a pinch intimate. Just being hugged by Oliver alone made you feel at peace for the first time since you arrived at the school on the threshold of chaos and death. His hugs always made you feel calm through a storm, peacefulness in a chaotic world, and most of all love in a lonely time. No matter how many times you two hugged, whether it was a simple hug or something more intense, you felt love.

You both again pulled away and you took in a long breath, looking away from Oliver for a moment, seeing the Great Hall still trying to heal and digest all that happened. People were weeping, others were clinging onto each other in hopes of feeling consoled, and the rest were simply sitting, saying nothing with longing gazes on their faces.

"I can't believe that happened," You said in a long exhale, tapping your fingers rapidly on your leg as Oliver was watching you carefully and with a hint of concern, "He almost killed all of us, didn't he?"

You-Know-Who, filled with rage and power that it seemed that you were losing hope in winning this war. All of the horror stories you knew about him and his followers were in effect that night. You knew it would take some time for you to heal, you didn't know if it'd take months or years, but you weren't the only one. Everyone in that room would need to heal.

"Aye, but I'm glad we're all alive," Oliver murmured next to you, sitting back a bit on the bench, "Thanks to Harry,"

You gave a small smile at the mention of the Boy Who Lived, remembering him as merely a fellow Gryffindor and someone who flew with Oliver on the Quidditch Team. You've ran into him a few times, being one of the plenty who knew of his story before he even did. But he was kind, a bit brash at times but kind and willing to stand up to the bullies. Harry Potter was a true Gryffindor, and for him to lead the battle against the very Dark Lord who tried to kill him as a baby, he was beyond brave.

"Thanks to Harry," You repeated as Oliver shifted in his spot. He gave you a serious look.

"Where are your folks?" He asked, you rolling your shoulders.

"In America, visiting my Aunt and Grandfather," You replied, "They left two weeks before the Ministry fell, and I told them not to come back,"

"Good," He replied in relief. Oliver met your parents a few times, the first time was at Platform 9 and 3/4 when you were going back to Hogwarts for your second year. Your mum and dad thought of Oliver as a great fiend inviting him to come to your home over the summer once or two to both use your backyard to train for quidditch together and to simply talk quidditch with your dad.

"Your folks?" You asked him with a raised brow.

"Fine. They…um.. they went into hiding as I did, but they're safe with some old colleagues of theirs," Oliver explained to you, you smiling in return.

"I've always liked your mum and dad," You stated, "They've always been so kind to me, especially your mum. And your dad is just like you,"

"Or I'm just like my da?" Oliver asked as you smiled and shrugged.

"Don't know, but I'm not complaining," You joked half-heartedly, hearing him laugh in return. Such an odd thing to do at a time like this, almost dying from Voldemort, almost seeing the school that you grew up and loved become dust. Yet you two were laughing as if you'd never parted after graduation. Some people were looking over at you in confusion, wondering why two young adults covered in dust and blood were laughing like teenagers all over again.

But it felt good to laugh, it felt good to let that emotion come through like a wave that was crashing on the shore. You remembered laughing like this with him when you two would study together in the Common Room, or chat side by side during dinner in the very Great Hall you two were at. You missed this, being with your old best friend and not having a care or worry in the world.

For the briefest of moments, you forgot about the war and how you almost died.

After the laughing died down and you two were quiet again, Oliver looked down at his attire and grimaced a bit, "I don't know how much dust I have on my blazer,"

"Me neither," You agreed, looking at your coat and noticing all that it took on with the battles. Some wear and tear along your sleeves, your shirt ripped at the bottom from a Dead Eater nearly ripping it off of you while you were trying to escape, blood splattered along your pants and boots that you threw on, and even your hair was a bit matted and barely staying together from the braid it was in over your shoulder.

The last thing you wanted to do was move from the bench you were on since it felt like you could fall over in exhaustion, but you also wanted to scrub down all the filth from your skin. Your mind didn't know what you wanted to do, and thinking of traveling back to your small cramped apartment seemed too stressful.

"I need to wash this off," You grumbled, flicking off some dry blood that was stuck on your thumb.

"And I doubt there's anything here in the castle to rinse off in," Oliver added in agreement, then pausing with a tense look on his face. You looked back at him with a questioning gaze. You knew that look on his face, plenty of times in the past when he had a bright idea, whether it was during Quidditch practice or knowing what to do in his homework.

"What?" You asked him, seeing him then gaze at you while pointing to the Great Hall doors that were barely propped open and showing the battered hallway.

"You think the fifth floor is still intact?" He asked you, having you cock your head at him.

"The fifth floor?"

Oliver got the door open, with a gentle nudge of his shoulder as he had to give it a shove. After you followed him through the small opening of the door, your eyes went wide from the site in front of you. Of course, with some debris everywhere and a few cracks in the wall and windows, most of the room itself was mildly damaged from the battle. Perhaps there was some enchantment in this room, with all the minor damages that were evident all around the room. You had no clue, you've only heard of this place through some gossip with some friends.

The Prefect Bathroom.

A massive tub that took up half of the room itself was built into the ground, aligned with cool step stones and marble that wrapped around and melted into the stone walls. Stain glass windows that were floor to ceiling were on the other side of the tub, different shades of greens and blues illuminating the room from the sun that was already rising over the Scotland mountains and countryside near Hogwarts.

Along another wall, there were facets, dozens upon dozens of bronzed facets perched over the tub ready for use. A shelf that was splintered had some white towels that were tossed to the floor, along with some vials that looked to have stored oils and perhaps scented substances for use in baths.

Shocked was not a word you would use in your everyday vocabulary, but this time you were going to have to use it.

"Merlin's Beard," You gasped as Oliver walked over to where the facets were, you were scanning the whole room as Oliver was checking the damage of the tub. The surprise and shock of this massive room were still reeling in your mind, you've never seen any kind of bathroom like this in your life. The ones in your old dorm back in Gryffindor Tower had no tubs, simply shower stalls that were decent enough. But this tub was the size of your entire bathroom at your home.

"How do you know about this bathroom?" You asked him as he was kneeling next to the facets and scanning the tub.

"Quidditch Captains get access along with the Prefects and Head Boys and Girls," He explained, "You don't know how many times I would hide out here and soak in this tub after a match,"

"No wonder you fled after the games rather quickly," You hummed as you were staring at the gorgeous stained glass over the tub, the image of a Mermaid from the Black Lake was along the glass and looked hauntingly beautiful.

"Let's test it out, shall we?" Oliver asked, you looking over at him with a hint of shock as he was turning a few of the facets. Some gurgles were heard, and you thought that the facets were going to be broken and water wouldn't come out. Sure enough, a huge flow of water was coming through at least 5 facets. Oliver chuckled turning a few more facets with ease.

"What if someone sees us in here?" You questioned in worry, looking at the door that led out of the room thinking someone was going to walk in on you and Oliver in the Prefect's Bathroom. Of course, you two were grown adults, not longer students at Hogwarts, but it would still be a bit of a shocker if a passerby happened to stumble on the pair of you alone together. You were no prude, but you would hate to be caught in an awkward situation.

Oliver gave you a raised brow and a glare, "You think anyone's gonna wander up here after what just happened here at school? To the Prefect Bathroom of all places?!"

You glared, "You know what I mean,"

"Aye I do, and you're a bit paranoid," He replied, you huffing and pointing to the running water from the enchanted faucets.

"How is it still working?" You asked in shock as you watched the water flow into the massive tub. Each facet was giving out a different color in the water but once it was in the tub, it was all clear again.

"Don't know, but I'm not goin' to complain," Oliver huffed as he sighed and stood back up. Walking over to you, Oliver cleared his throat and gestured to the tub that was being filled up with hot water, "I'll just…umm…let you go first."

You blushed and fiddled with your fingers. Now hitting another wall In this situation, taking turns in a bath with your old best friend. It was already risky enough for you to be venturing amongst the school grinds, right after a massive battle that almost took out the entire castle.

But another risk was being there with Oliver, the very Quidditch Captain that you both adored as a friend and secretly had a crush on. No matter if you two were adults, covered in blood and dirt, still running on adrenaline and stress from nearly a handful of times within a few hours, exhausted in both fatigue and mental pain, you were getting those butterflies in your stomach again. Just like you were teenagers, sitting together during a meal or in a study session, those fleeting emotions seemed to be coming back on overdrive.

Perhaps you were thankful he was alive and with you, finding you in a massive crowd of survivors and making sure you were okay and safe. Or maybe it was the fact he reached out to you hours before everything happened, telling you Harry was calling all of the ex-Quidditch players to help defend Hogwarts. You were both barely in contact with each other since you graduated, and seeing him at your doorstep with that glint in his eye and the look of panic and pain on his face.

But you would follow him anywhere, even if it meant into battle. Placing your life on the line for the sake of helping your old friends defend the school you grew to love. Oliver had a way about him, the way of being able to give you a sense of security and vulnerability that no one else could ever do. He knew your deepest secrets but held them to his heart with no sign of exposing them to others, his own unique joy and humor made you laugh more than anyone else ever could.

There was no denial for you, you did love Oliver.

"Thank you," You replied, seeing him give you a small smile. He was about to walk past you, leaving you in the Prefect Bathroom when you suddenly grabbed his arm. Oliver stopped, looking at you as if something was wrong. But you were giving him a kind smile, still holding his arm gently within your fingers and remaining close enough to almost feel the heat radiating off his skin. It made you wonder if he could hear your heartbeat going up a bit faster.

"You okay?" He asked, his voice was low and subtle, almost sounding gravely, and yet warmth was mixed in his tone.

"I'm just….I'm glad we're both okay and alive," You said in a stammer, Oliver saying nothing but staring down at you, "Mostly, I'm glad you're okay,"

Oliver gulped, giving you a short nod, "I'm glad you're here too,"

"And I know we haven't talked in a long time since we left Hogwarts, but you were my best friend. All of the best memories I have ever had within these walls were because of you. I never had a chance to tell you, and I wanted to tell you now," You explained with no hesitation in your voice. It was selling out of you before you could stop yourself or dial it down.

"I'm just glad we're both alive and that I told you how I felt. It would have killed me if I didn't," You said calmly, then being a bit bold by leaning up a bit on your tiptoes and giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek. It was brief, the fog that would roll over the Black Lake outside of the castle on an early Autumn morning. But the feeling alone made you feel experience sparks under your skin, that teenage sensation was back tenfold as you were about to turn back around and grab one of the towels that seemed decent to use.

Oliver turned you back around with a gentle grab on your arm, kissing you soundly on the lips.

You've been kissed before, yet not like this. This felt like a new level of a kiss, his chapped lips along your own that almost shuttered from the sensation. Other kisses felt clumsy or out of place, maybe failed attempts to make you feel swooned. You hated those kisses, they seemed uneasy and stumbled. But not this.

This felt like the sensation of flying on your broom for the first time, drinking a butterbeer on a cold winter day in Hogsmeade, and the feeling of snow touching your cheeks during the first snowfall. Kissing your best friend, the one friend who was your true north and compass in the bad times, the one friend who knew how to make you laugh and feel overjoyed, and the one friend who was your number one fan and supporter in any choice you made.

He pulled away slightly, you still in a daze from that simple touch of the lips as you slowly opened your eyes and watched him gaze at you. With him being slightly taller than you, his brown orbs were pouring into yours as he was almost wishing to read your mind.

But you knew that the same broke inside of you.

"Merlin," You whispered, leaning back up and kissing him back.

You both melted into one another, hands grasping each other's clothes as Oliver kissed you over and over as if he was both starving and yet taking his time with you. You were letting him, his fingers brushing along your neck as he cradled your face close to kiss you soundly, his body pressing against you with the right amount of pressure that your head was spinning. Everything about Oliver was consuming you, your fingers were clinging onto his blazer in fear that he was going to drift away from you. He wouldn't, you knew that deep down that he wouldn't leave you like this.

One of his arms moved from your neck to lower your body, wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you in tightly as his kisses evolved into deeper and more sensual kisses. It felt like a drug was kicking in with no sign of slowing down, maybe the knowledge of almost losing each other hours before when the castle was in flames and people were dying around you was still igniting in you.

Before you both knew it, hands were roaming as you were leaning into him more and more. His hands moved to strip off your jacket letting it fall to the ground in a heap as your tongue moved out to trace his lower lip. A small sharp inhale was heard from him, his fingers were dancing along your worn down shirt and his other set of fingers were digging into your hair while your hands attempting to push off his blazer. Oliver grinned against our lips, moving his hands away for his blue blazer stained in blood and grime was now on the ground.

"What are we doin'?" He asked against your lips as you kissed his hotly and smiled.

"What we should have been doing for some time," You murmured back as his arms were around you again.

"Aye, we should have done this a long time ago," He confessed as he pulled away again to look down at you again. You saw how plump his lips were, his dilated his brown eyes looked, and even the flush on his skin and cheeks. This was a unique look on Oliver, who always seemed to have his cool and calm demeanor even the most stressful of times. But now he looked undone, stripped open and bare, and it was all from kissing you.

"I think this is crazy," you admitted with a soft smile, though the smile on Oliver's face never left as he shook his head.

"We just survived a war at the hands of Voldemort, and you think snoggin' in the prefect's bathroom is crazy?" He asked you in a breath, you staring deep into his eyes and seeing him reach into his back pocket where his wand was snug in. With a twist of his wrist, you heard the door snapping shut and locking automatically.

"What's crazy, is that I never said a word about how I felt about you all those years we were friends," He explained with a gulp, his eyes never leaving yours as he went on, "I was afraid to say anythin', but not anymore. I wanna be with ya, only ya, and after what we went through last night, I'm not lettin' ya go,"

You would have melted to the floor from hearing those words from Oliver, and you knew then and there you would never be able to let him go either.

Reaching down to retrieve your wand that was on the floor with your blazer, not losing your gaze on Oliver who was still giving you an alluring gaze, you licked your lips and gripped your wand tightly. Finally, you turned around and aimed at the door. With a flick of the wrist, magic shot out of your wand and landed against the door and the wall, giving a shimmering light.

“What did ya do?” Oliver asked in a tentative tone, thought you grinned and looked back at him with a soft grin.

“Imperturbable Charm” You answered, seeing him grin widely as you dropped your wand onto your jacket that was on the floor.

“Bloody Hell,”

To Be Continued....

Tagged - @a-lumos-in-the-nox

#oliver wood x female reader #oliver wood prompts #oliver wood fanfiction #oliver wood x reader #oliver wood x y/n #oliver wood x you #oliver wood smut #fanfiction #writing #my love #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fandom #harry potter smut #harry potter writing #hp fic #hp smut #hp fanfic

389 notes · View notes

neonghostlights · 4 months

Text

Warnings: blood, death, angst, open-ish ending?

You heard him move in the night like you had the past three nights.

Sleeping had been hard since you came back from the upside down nine months ago. Every creak and noise of your old house would startle you awake, reminding you of the bats that ripped apart Eddie.

Oh, how you missed Eddie.

Someone you had loved your whole life, your best friend, gone in an instant while protecting you and Dustin. You regretted every moment in your life where you never admitted that you were in love with him.

And you thought it was too late to tell him until you started hearing the rustling in the woods surrounding your house three nights ago.

You threw your legs over the side of the bed, two bare feet touching the cold hardwood floors of your upstairs bedroom.

You smoothed the front of your night gown before you reached the window, self conscious of the way you would look to him.

Your red painted nails, a color you had put on fresh only a few hours ago because you thought he might like it, moved away the flimsy white curtains of your window that over looked the wooded area of the back of your house.

You watched as he stepped into the clearing, one long leg before the other. His movements were jerky, unnatural but you couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him.

He wore the clothes he had on the last time you saw him but they were hardly recognizable by the way they were torn to shreds.

Tonight the moon was full and it illuminated him only slightly better. His hair was wild around his head and you wanted desperately to clean him up but for some reason you were frozen in this spot, night after night.

You’d have to wait for him to come to you.

“I love you,” you whispered to him through the glass. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t hear you or even if he didn’t feel the same. You needed him to know.

And when he smiled at your words, two long fangs dripping a dark substance into the moonlight you knew it didn’t matter that he had never seen you before.

Because now he did.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson au #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x you #eddie stranger things #eddie munson angst

76 notes · View notes

madamemachikonew · 1 year

Text

This Mortal Coil - Adeptus Baizhu x Chronically Ill Fem!Reader (3k)

A repost from my old account since I'm not sure how many people actually saw it what with all the visibility glitches. I wrote this for me to commemorate the year anniversary of my MS diagnosis, but sharing with all of you; a lot of Baizhu fans are chronically ill/disabled yet weirdly nobody seems to write for a sick reader...

The frail owner of the Bubu Pharmacy is secretly a snake adeptus, in the final phase of his life. While everyone knows of his quest for immortality, nobody knows the true reason why.

As he watches you, his sick mortal lover, sleep, he is alone with his thoughts and reminisces - both with joy and sadness - on your time together.

+++ Contains much angst and portrayal of degenerative chronic illness +++

It's on AO3 here.

__________

In the still of the night, Baizhu sits perched on the side of your bed as you slumber. With a gentle hand he caresses your brow and head, taking comfort in the feeling of the silky strands of your hair as they run through his fingertips like sand through an hourglass. It reminds him of the precious gift of time. As he watches your steady breathing in the flickering lanternlight, he cannot help but reminisce in this quiet moment of respite from the bustle of the Pharmacy.

Looking down at you through long eyelashes, the glow of the lantern catches his amber eyes, which exude a kindness he shows to nobody else.

As he sits with you, he recalls the first time that you, his favourite patient, had sat in his office and told him “It feels like I’m disappearing.”

He had looked at you with a quizzical expression until you had described your confusion at how your limbs had become numb, tingling and weak, your brain foggy and forgetful. The mysterious numbness had started to creep up your body.

“Like you are disappearing?” he had replied, his voice hollow as he recognised only too well the symptoms you had described.

It had been an apt description, for it was in some respect, true. The incurable illness that was silently ravaging you was destroying your body, and with it, your very essence of self. Not only was it disabling the switches that allowed you to feel and control your body, but your very personality would slowly erode, not just from the weight of your troubles, but because your emotions were also becoming harder to control.

Baizhu’s heart aches at the recollection of how you had wrung your hands in the face of his sombre words that had turned your world upside down. And how his heart had broken that he had been the one to deliver the news that shattered your dreams before his eyes. With a painful look in his eyes, he thinks back to how he had relentlessly tried a multitude of remedies to bring you relief; pushed needles into your supple flesh to release the flow of your Qi energy, given you pills and tinctures, salves and ointments, massaged and stretched your muscles to release their painful tight spasms. And you had borne the discomfort of his treatments without any complaint. Unlike his other patients, not once had you ever complained of the bitterness of his medicines. Over time, he had realised that his desire and passion to heal you was not just that of a doctor, but as someone who loved you.

A loving gaze in his eyes as he beholds your sleeping form, he recalls how you had asked him what his favourite flower was. His heart swells with emotion at the thought of how you had brought him those flowers as a thank you gift for his efforts. He laughs softly to himself at the recollection that he had eaten them because he had not realised that they were a gift to display in his office. His heart had fluttered with joy when, in the course of your frequent charming conversations during your consultations, he had discovered that you enjoyed floral teas and infusions, because it meant that despite him being an Adeptus, you both had something in common.

As the lantern flickers once more in the silent bedroom, he remembers the day he had summoned enough courage to blushingly confess his love for you with soft and quiet words. Back then he had dreamed of you sleeping by his side as you do now, but had never dared to believe that it would one day become a reality.

“You’d love me, even with my illness?” you had replied in shock and disbelief, your eyes filled with tears. “Even knowing what is to come? Even knowing that I will one day lose myself and suffer the indignity of becoming nothing more than a shell?”

Your reaction had startled him, for it had never occurred to him not to love you or take care of you until his dying day. You were no less worthy of love just because your body had decided to destroy itself and it had wounded him deeply to hear you speak that way about yourself, as though there could be people in the world who would see you as a burden.

“You will always be you.” he had replied with misty eyes as he caressed your cheek. “No matter what comes to pass, I will always see you as you are now, radiant and full of life, for that person will always be in here. ” He had pressed a gentle fingertip over your heart before holding your trembling body close as you sobbed on his shoulder at his words, clinging painfully to him as your fingertips dug into his back as though your life had depended on it.

With a slender finger, he wipes his eyes before caressing your head once more, pulling the covers up a little around your neck, around which hangs a protective Adeptus amulet he made for you; his first gift to you that wasn’t medicine.

As he delves further into his vivid memories, he feels the same butterflies as he did on the day that he had revealed that he was in fact an Adeptus. He had done so with apprehension in his heart, for he knew only too well that a snake did not have the beauty or majesty of other Adepti. Unlike a crane or a deer, most people would shudder and recoil at the idea of a snake spirit. And your reaction had startled him once more; you had cupped his face in your hands, repeating his own words to him – that the person you loved was still inside of him, no matter which physical form he took.

A smile blossoms on his face as he recalls the first time he had unveiled his true snake form to you as you had knelt on the grassy mountainside under the moonlight. How you had giggled when he had coiled his large scaly body around you, given your cheek a soft boop with his nose and rested his head in your lap, his flickering tongue tasting your happiness in the air. Instead of running in fear, you had hugged him tightly and called him beautiful. Your gentle hands had given him headpats for hours and scratched under his chin as he purred with blissful contentment and nuzzled against your soft warm body. Your soothing touch, so replete with love, had sent him into a deep, almost hypnotic meditative trance. In this way, chastely holding one another under a blanket of stars, you had spent your first night together, both knowing true peace for the first time in your lives.

That night had been the first time in a long time that he had shown his true spirit to a mortal, and even longer since he had been touched with any degree of affection. He had wept hot happy tears at your unhesitating acceptance of his fearsome form. Since then he had been your constant companion as well as the guardian of your health and your heart.

A warm feeling washes through Baizhu as he thinks of how much he loves coiling around you as you sleep, emanating a healing frequency that vibrates and hums through you, relieving your pain and fatigue, soothing your frayed nerves and easing the tension in your muscles. It brings him so much joy to envelop you in the vibrant purr of pure love, knowing you can feel a sense of peace in the knowledge that you can entrust all of your fears, weariness and anguish to him.

With a soft smile, he remembers how you had excitedly asked him about Adeptus cuisine, wanting to make him something he enjoyed, and the eagerness with which you had been willing to try his dishes, no matter how unconventional to the human palate. He had replied that he liked to eat flowers with a pleasant scent for breakfast, as they bring him a good feeling inside, calming and relaxing his soul. You had laughed melodiously and told him how cute it was. He had never been called cute before and it had made him feel as warm inside as an afternoon nap in the autumn sun. He wondered if you knew how cute you had been in that moment, with your bright and honest smile. You had giggled even more when he had bashfully confessed that he had eaten the flowers you had given him so long ago.

In the days when you were more mobile on your feet, you would go for walks and fill baskets with his favourite flowers for him to eat, or infuse them as a fragrant tea for the two of you to share, or stuff them into his pillow so the calming scent would help you both relax as you slept. The scent and the sight of these flowers would forever remind him of you.

As he continues to caress your head, he recalls the nervous flutter in his heart when he had told you all about the four sacred Adeptus love rituals marking the various stages of commitment to one another and his joy when you had shyly asked if he wanted to perform those rituals with you. To mark the first attraction and your burgeoning connection, you had fed each other orchids and lotus seeds at the Ritual of Pink Clouds, so-named after the clouds at dawn and the satin blush on the cheeks of shy new lovers. The Ritual of Flowing Waters symbolised your intent to deepen your relationship, irrevocably entwining your lives and sharing all your joys and tribulations. You had both gathered purest spring water from two different mountain streams and solemnly poured it into a single cup from which you both drank. Then the handfasting Ritual of the Blossoms, tying a cord he had woven himself from auspicious and medicinal plants and flowers, pledging yourselves to one another in this life and all of the lives to come. And then, after he had meticulously prepared the room with incense, lanterns and ceremonial foods, and you had both bathed to purify yourselves in accordance with the sacred tradition, you became an entanglement of limbs on a soft bed of silk and flowers as you consummated your love with his human form during the Ritual of the Red Moon, bringing each other to the heights of divine pleasure with happy tears as you bonded yourselves to one another for all time, the Blood Moon demurely hiding its face to give you privacy as it eclipsed itself in shades of warm carmine. It had been a moment so intimate, it had felt as though your very souls had touched.

Replaying these memories in his mind, it devastates him that your physical vessel, which houses such a kind, loving and honest heart, is disintegrating before his very eyes. It is being ravaged by an illness that has swept through you like wildfire, bringing untold destruction in its wake as it eats your body, mind and soul from the inside, like an Abyss curse. When he had first met you, the Bad Days were few and far between, but lately they have been increasing in number, and starting to outweigh the Good Days. You are but a prisoner inside your own body, which has become your jailer and your torturer. Your own mortal enemy. It is as though your body is possessed of a maleficent spirit with a mind of its own, hellbent on wreaking some sort of revenge for a sin unknown.

As he looks down at you nestled in the cosy bed and hand-knitted blanket, he reflects on how he had encouraged you to be creative, to preserve your neurological function and manual dexterity and help brighten your mood. So you had learned to knit, and had made a purple scarf for him out of the softest yarn, a physical manifestation of your love that he could wrap around himself to keep warm during the winter months, his snake spirit being sensitive to the cold. With great fondness he had run his fingertip over the irregular stitches, where your fingers had faltered; the imperfections making its charm. He had given you baoding balls to manipulate, and the gentle peals of their magical chimes were a source of comfort to him - as long as you could turn them, it meant that things hadn't gone too far.

And now your loving hands are numb and weak, barely able to grasp a teacup or open a jar. The baoding balls have fallen silent. It pains his heart to relive in his mind how you had cried the day you had irretrievably lost the feeling in them in the space of a few hours, but not because of the loss of function. The biggest woe of your selfless, loving heart was that you could no longer feel him as you caressed him. With a tear in his eye, he remembers how he had coiled helplessly around you to comfort you and how you had both wept as you once again petted his head in your lap, unable to feel his ivory scales rippling beneath your fingertips.

While his fingers continue to absent-mindedly caress you, Baizhu’s eyes glaze and become distant as he recalls how, with despair in his heart, he had prostrated himself before the Lord of Geo himself, begging him for help. The stoic dragon king had looked down at him and told him dispassionately that this pain was a sign that it was a most sincere love indeed. But that the pain was simply a natural consequence of living an immortal life. He recalled how, his forehead pressed into the dirt at Morax’s feet, his tears had fallen, causing glaze lilies to sprout from the ground. In his desperation, he had picked the flowers and brought them home to you to grind into medicine, but their taste was bitter and they had had no therapeutic benefit.

In accordance with his contract, Baizhu had protected the mortals of Liyue in his own way – unlike other Adepti he was never a warrior, but a healer.

But the many centuries spent in service of his obligations have taken their toll, and his body is now weak and decrepit, as frail as the mortals he has served for so long. Even more so. Even Rex Lapis himself is not immune to erosion. And yet, the insolent logic of nightmare had brought you – the woman he had waited an eternity to meet – into his life when he was least equipped to protect you, when his healing magic was at its lowest ebb. He spent every day wracked with regret at his past actions. Perhaps if he had been less selfless, he could protect what he truly loved now.

The cruelty of the world pained him. The cruelty of seeing you suffer, the inability to relieve your sickness or cure you in any meaningful way, the tragedy of only finding you when he was at his most vulnerable and weak. He was not even strong enough to carry you to your bed. All he could do was slow the progression of your illness and keep the inevitable at bay for as long as possible, and each time it would sap his own body of its strength. But he would gladly give every drop of his life essence to preserve your joy of living and bodily integrity just a little while longer. Seeing your smile and hearing your laugh echo in the world for just one more day would be more than worth it. How could he know that you would gladly give up your own health if healing you meant losing him?

And now he finds himself maligned by the citizens of the Harbour, their ungratefulness manifest as they mutter behind their hands and mock him for his quest for immortality, besmirching his name with rumours of experiments and cruelty against the apprentice he sheltered from Director Hu. Being an Adeptus, he had known of Qiqi’s story and had felt indirectly responsible for her plight, having seen her mortal form shivering with cold and fear in that cave so long ago, when even he had been forced to reluctantly pick up arms. And so, despite not being a man of high calibre or courage, he tried to relieve his karmic burden by taking her in. Robbed of her memory in her immortal form, she had no recollection of him.

What the two-faced gossipmongers who kowtow to him whenever they need healing do not know is why he seeks to unlock the elixir of immortality. How he longs for them to understand that it is for his true love, so that her fragile mortal vessel may hold her soul to accompany him for the rest of his days. And it is for himself, so that he may live long enough to find a cure for her suffering and, if he cannot, so he may continue to infuse his essence into her weakened body, to preserve her a little while longer.

Tonight, he curls his frail human form around you, spooning you as you sleep, a look of serenity on your beautiful face. Today had been A Bad Day. But not The Worst Day. The plane of unconsciousness is the only place where you have any respite from the daily struggle. But of course, in the morning you will wake once more. With the sun always comes the painful feeling of dread in his heart. Will today bring more deterioration? Will today be the last day that you can feel a limb or walk unaided? Will today be the day that your sight will finally fail, or you will suffer the indignity of losing control of your bodily functions? Every cursed dawn will herald a day closer to your inevitable fate, which is why you both take refuge in the tranquility of the night.

For now, all this cold-blooded reptile can do is absorb your warmth as he presses his face into your fragrant hair, smelling of the flowers he so adores. And weep bitterly.

148 notes · View notes

randomreadingtimewithtsuki · 6 months

Note

Hey I saw your response to my post and figured I'd send. A little request, I was thinking maybe just some fluffy cuddles with Toge after a bad day. If you don't mind gender neutral reader is preferred but anything is fine.

Hi!

Thank you for trusting me with this one!

I hope you enjoy what i have to offer! Let me know what you think!

Tsuki's note: I didn't know if you wanted a sorcerer!reader or not... so i went with a sorcerer! Reader, hope that's ok? Also second year! Reader too.

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

It has been a horrible day, really. All that could happen to hinder it happened, i guess you could say you were headbutted by murphy's law.

You knew you had a mission so you woke up early, while getting dressed your foot got caught on your clothes and you managed to knock your phone out of the nightstand.

Such a short fall wouldn't hurt right? right? Well...The screen cracked a bit on the corner. This was just the start of a series of unfortunate events that happened to you.

Among others there was: tripping on the entrance of building, having the curse you were suppose to exorcise spit something that smelled foul on you, it started to rain heavily before you got to Ichiji and so on.

The first thing you did upon arriving at school was ignoring Maki's greetings and going straight for a shower. Needless to say she was a bit annoyed, but your face didn't look the best so she let it slide.

After your shower you suddenly felt so drained, so much drained that you has you had to drag yourself to the dinning hall. The hall was as noisy as ever, having Yuji and Nobara arguing about something, Megumi sitently trying to eat but failing miserably as Maki slammed the table - when she grabbed the salt it was actually placed upside down with the lid on the bottom. So yeah, all the salt fell into the table - she was mad at Panda and Toge, it wasn't hard to figured one of them did that.

You sat between Megumi and the angry Maki across from Toge and started grabbing your food, so you soon joined Megumi in trying to eat silently.

Megumi asked you about your mission, he looked terribly concerned for you:

Megumi: Y/n-senpai, How was the mission?

Y/N: ... Fine...

Megumi: Were you hurt?

Y/N: No... why?

An unexpected and hurtfully honest comment came from your right:

Maki: Because you look like shit.

You paused for a moment before replying noticing some new attention on you:

Y/N: Thanks... It was a lovely day.

Panda: A rough day, huh?

Nobara: Was the mission that difficult?

Y/N: No...

You could see Yuji fidgeting when he tried to console you:

Yuji: Senpai don't look that bad... maybe a little tired.

Toge: Shake, shake!

You sighed heavily. How bad did you look?

Soon after that they all find different reasons to be loud again, it was like a vicious cycle. Soon after you were done eating you were ready to go to sleep before something else happened.

As you were saying good night to everyone, Toge offered you a dessert. You politly declined, which coming from you was a bit weird, so he exchanged a look with Panda, who shrugged it off.

On you way back to your room, you felt your body very heavy so you were pretty much dragging your self and making a mental note to buy a new phone.

Unfortunaly for you, your wave of bad luck haven't ended yet. You got to your room, got into more comfy clothes and started to make your bed to sleep when... CRASH!

You felt your soul leave your body. you turned around to see a shattered mirror. oh great! You soon heard a knock on the door:

??: Konbu, Konbu!

You sighed as you opened the door to see a very worried Toge:

Y/N : It was just the mirror ...

You stepped back and showed him the million pieces on the floor:

Y/N: guess this means more... like, seven years of bad luck?

The sighed in relief and offered to help you clean. As you both were done picking every single shard, Toge smiled happily at you - a mission accomplished kind of smile.

But you burst out in tears. The poor boy was left terribly confused as you proceeded to explain between sobs and mumbled words all that happened today.

Toge sat there and listened to you cry out your bad luck while rubbing your back. His head was going a million per hour trying to find a way to comfort you.

He can't say anything nice, it didn't seemed like you would read anything he wrote as of right now - and it might make you even more upset, your phone is broken after all - so he decided to go for the only thing he could do: Hug you.

You completly melted in the hug still sobbing a bit, Toge still rubbed your back unti you calmed down:

Y/N: And to top it off, I ended up holding you here, for like an hour!

Despite your sobs having died out you were still clinging to him, and you did not exactly leave any openning for protest either:

Y/N: I just want today to end!

Toge: Shake...

He patted your head and sighed. This time he had to grab his phone and write something. After a bit of typing he showed you the message, that was sent to you:

"It's ok, i don't mind! I can stick around for as much as you want. Are you feeling better?"

Y/N: ... Yes... but it doesn't feel right to take your time like that.

He was typing something again:

" All that matters is that you are better. Besides, i can come around and cuddle whenever you need"

Y/N Cuddle...?

You felt your cheeks burn. The reply made you jump out of your skin:

"Well, a hug is broken off after a while right? This is a cuddle"

Seeing you jump made him laugh silently. You quicky got up and sttuter out something:

Y/N: T-t-that's... true, b-but! We should take this bag full of boken glass away now! It's late...

You couldn't see it, but his ears were red. He giggled watching your nervous self walk away with the bag.

Toge got himself up from the floor and helped you tae the bags outside.

It was a silent trip - you couldn't look at him. But on the way back, before returning to your dorm you thaning him shyly for spending this time with you.

Toge smiled and patted your head. He waved you good night and you wished him the same. When you arrived again in your room, you sighed and saw the messages he had sent you earlier.

Scrolling throuh them you found a more recent one:

" You are welcome, if you need anything say it. The hugs are free for you! Good night"

You felt your face heat up again, but you smiled.

Maybe the end of the day wasn't that bad right...?

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

Thank you for reading! I feel like i got carried away :D

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #inumaki toge x reader #inugami x reader

55 notes · View notes

essencering · 10 months

Text

↳ summary: Monsters and Humanity have slowly started to interact with one another the lines blurring a bit, but still, both sides stubbornly remain in the past with some things. So when your peaceful life is suddenly turned upside down when a storm sweeps through, you find that a monster has crash landed into your life. Moreso.... crashing into your attic.

↳ Tags: Gender Neutral Reader, Mammon (Obey Me!), Harpy Mammon.

writer's blurp: had this floating around in my brain for a bit, i really just want to write some of the OM boys as monsters. first... a pretty birdy mammon.

The border between your world and monsters is as simple as a line of stones carved with runes. Parents would often whisper to their children horror stories, and reasons to never step over those stones no matter what the reason might be.

You would be safer to remain on the other side of those stones. Same for the monsters, they would remain safer on their side of the stones, but as time has slowly marched forward things have changed.

Monsters and Humanity have slowly started to interact with one another the lines blurring a bit, but still, both sides stubbornly remain in the past with some things. You're family has lived on the border between both worlds, and you've seen many monsters leave to trade, to live amongst humans, and even seen some humans do the same.

Yet you've never stepped across those stones into their world, after all, you feel as if what you've seen from monsters once they cross over is fitting to what lay on the other side. So when your peaceful life is suddenly turned upside down when a storm sweeps through, you find that a monster has crash landed into your life.

Moreso crashing into the attic, the wind and rain seemingly too strong for the monster to handle, and your roof was an unfortunate victim, but one you could live with. The monster seemed to be unharmed, a ball of puffed-up feathers, with a mixture of trilling and clicking. Piercing eyes watch you while you try you're best to cover the hole till the storm passes.

the monster in question is a harpy.

a very pretty one at that, and also very cautious of you, not that you can blame it. after all, if you suddenly had a crash landing into someone's house you would also be on high alert as well.

the harpy stays in the attic, tucked away in a corner far from the hole in the roof, surrounded by bundles of packed-up blankets and such that you didn't need in the springtime.

you assume it made a nest for itself to feel more comfortable and help to keep it from stressing out.

you couldn't get close to see if it was hurt, so you would simply poke your head up into the attic and look at the harpy, but the moment it started to puff up and hiss you would leave.

the storm lasted for three nights and four days, so to say that you were surprised to see the harpy in your room was very starting. it simply looked at you, dazed, before simply dozing off on your bed.

the harpy stuck around even after the storm, but there was always a good bit of space between the two of you. with the harpy watching you, and you just trying to do day-to-day things.

the harpy would sometimes trill, or chirp randomly at you. sometimes even when you were cooking, often stealing bits of whatever you might be cooking. a small blessing since you were unsure of when it had last eaten.

the harpy has taken to sleeping on your bed, a happy little ball of feathers and limbs on your bed during the day, and would sometimes carry some of your things up into your attic. during the day and at night.

to find that it was making a nest and the attic into its own little space was surprising, as you believed it would leave after the storm. yet it was making itself at home.

"hey, shouldn't you.... go back home?" you asked, the harpy making it turn away from making its nest to look at you. it blinked at you, shaking its head before smiling. the talons tapping against the wooden floorboards, tail feathers moving in a way that reminded you of a dance all while it walked over towards you.

a little sigh is all you hear before the harpy starts to nose at your hair, happy little trills and chirps.

"hmmmm, like it here. like you." hearing the harpy speak was shocking, as it had simply chosen to use only sound, its feathers, and expressions to communicate.

The Harpy's name you learned later is Mammon. A sweet guy, a huge dork in his own way, a lover of shiny things, but most of all a giant softy. Despite how big and bad he seems when he's all puffed up.

He would go out and bring you back little things. Trinkets, some wild game for dinner that night, or something that you could wear. He would puff up with pride right after putting it on you or seeing you wear whatever he brought home for you.

He could be a bit greedy for your time, and even greedier when it came to either sleeping in your bed with you or having you in his nest. Where he would ruffle his feathers, move things around and trill happily when everything was just right before curling up around you to doze off.

A smile on his face, and the cutest little noises to lull you to sleep.

#obey me! memories #gender neutral reader #reader is gender neutral #sfw #obey me! x reader #reader insert #mammon x gender neutral reader #mammon x reader #harpy mammon #haha sorry if this isn't the best start to this stuff #very much just wanted to write a little bit for this cause i am weak to the thought of harpy mammon just #crash landing then just feeling so at home in your space he just sticks around

113 notes · View notes

hunted-moth · 2 months

Text

Just Like Him: The Before Times

Word count // 7k

Summary // Y/n is just a normal girl who loves to hunt with her dad. She has a loving and attentive mom. Her relationship with her brother is rocky at best but she still loves her small little life. That is until it's all turned upside down after she gets into an accident, with her dad passing away and her mom flushing her life down the toilet how is she supposed to manage when the world ends with it?

Warning // Language, character death(not twd cast), Talks of death, violence, the killing of walkers,

Special Thanks to @catbunblue302 and my friend for editing/proofreading this with me, it would be a disaster if they didn't lol

OTHER STUFF// This is just the prologue, it's kind of important but you don't have to read it. But I gave Y/n the nickname Bear, idk why but I love it so im keeping it. She also has shorter hair in the beginning and in my mind is Biracial but her race isn't brought up very much. But things like hair texture, skin color, and eye color aren't mentioned or described so it is up to you how Y/n looks to you

A/N // its in gods hands now. this is like half edited by someone who knows what they're doing and the other half done by me at like 11:00 at night.

***: Major time Skip/scene change

*: small time skip/scene change

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~2005~~~

It was early in the morning, maybe five or six. You were fast asleep dreaming about nothing and everything, but while you lay sleeping, a figure crept into the room being careful not to wake you.

When he got to your bed, he hovered over it ready to pounce on you. You were snoring into the night, unaware of what was about to happen as he snaked his hands under the cover skillfully and-

“Wake up, bear! We got lots to do kid.” Your Dad tickled your sides as you yelped and writhed from joy.

“Dad! Sto-stop I can't brea-breathe,” you laughed.

He smiled down at you before he got up, releasing that classic dad grunt while laughing quietly.

“Alright, get dressed, then get something to eat.”

You smirked up at him and flung your cover off yourself.

“Already one step ahead of you,”you say, revealing to him that you were already dressed in your hunting clothes, minus your boots.

He chuckled quietly, careful not to wake up his wife and stepson. He nodded his head, telling you to get up and go to the kitchen. You rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and spoon, and had some fruity pebbles. Your dad just had a pop-tart that he popped in the toaster.

While he was waiting for it to ding, he looked at you. He saw you scarf down your food as fast as you could.

“You know you can enjoy it, right?” he teased, but you just looked up at him while the spoon was still in your mouth.

“I know, just eager to leave.” Your mouth was full and milk streamed out of your mouth.

Your dad just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

POP!

He grabbed his food and went to sit with you. Looking up, you asked him a question. “So what are we doing today?”

Your dad took a bite of his pop-tart. “Hmm, well I was thinking about going into town and getting some more snacks for the trip. Maybe some extra bug spray.”

You nodded at that. “Yeah, they love me for some reason.”

He smirked. “Yeah, it's ‘cause you got sweet blood, they like it.”

Your eyes widened. “WHAT!” You practically yelled.

You covered your mouth hoping not to awaken your half-brother and mom.

But it didn't help.

“The hell’s all this racket!?” Your older brother, Jason, stormed in with an annoyed and tired look on his face.

You looked at your brother when he walked over. He was three years older which made it easier for him to ignore you. He was indifferent towards you, like you didn't matter to him. The only time he gave you any attention was when you irritated him, like you were bothering him with your existence.

Jason and your dad had a hard relationship. For some reason, Jason was always rude to him. Whenever your mom wanted to tease Jason she would explain how when she and Dad had started dating Jason would throw fits when Dad came over. And how Jason would stare at your dad with a mean glare. Jason had the meanest glare, it could put the old judgy ladies at church to shame.

“Sorry, son, me and your sister were just talking about our trip.”

Jason seemed to glare at the word ‘son’. Your brother looked at the clock on the wall with a sleepy stare. “It's five in the mornin', so stop yellin' in the house, Y/n.'' He looked down at you as he walked over and made a bowl of cereal, the same as you.

“O-okay, sorry.” You looked down meekly at your nearly empty bowl.

Your dad sighed, “Well, we're about to leave.”He looked at Jason. “You sure you don't want to come with us, Jason? Wouldn’t be any trouble.”

He responded with a quick “No.”

Relief washed over you.

“I’d rather shoot by myself than with her.” He glared at you.

You looked away from his glare and shrank into yourself.

Your Dad sighed and got up. You copied him and went to put your bowl in the sink. You rushed to your room and went to get your bag and put your boots on. By the time you left, it was about five-thirty in the morning, and the sun was already starting to rise as you and your dad got into his truck and started driving to town.

Looking out the window, you could see the familiar trees and a few birds flying by. You always loved the woods. It was quiet, yet the singing of birds could still be heard in the distance. Looking into the rearview mirror, you could see your cabin disappearing in the distance.

“You excited, kid?”

Turning your head, you looked at your dad with a smile, “Yes!” you exclaimed excitedly.

Your dad chuckled. “Oh, I bet, bear, but uhh, been wanting to talk to ya ‘bout something.”

You tilted your head with curiosity. “What, Dad?”

He sighed lightly. “Yer teacher called your Momma and me yesterday to discuss your schooling. They said you were falling behind in yer work, withdrawing from other kids, and advised me to talk to you. Can you tell me why, bear?”

You looked out the window without answering.

“I won't push you right now, but if you ever want to talk,” he trailed off and rubbed your shoulder the best he could while driving.

***

By the time the truck made it to town, the sun was up. The truck pulled into the mini-mart. You jumped out of the truck and waited for your dad, before sprinting into the mart and grabbing different snacks you liked. You had an armful by the time you returned to your dad at the counter.

He looked down and his eyes widened at your selection. “Jeez, Bear, you going into hibernation?” He let out a hearty laugh. Grinning at him, you put your snacks on the checkout counter.

“One thing I love about you two coming in here-” The owner started to ring up your stuff, “I always make money.”

Your dad waved his hand at them dismissively before grabbing the bags and handing them to you.

“Let's get a move on, don't want to miss any of the good spots.” Hopping into the truck, Dad started it and headed out to your campsite.

***

A few hours had passed by the time you made it to the site. Hopping out of the truck, you went around back to the truck bed and grabbed your bag and bow. Your dad set up the tents and you set up the fire pit, gathering some rocks and stacking them, then went to find some sticks.

When it all was done, your dad came over and patted you on the shoulder. “Ready, Bear?”

You looked up at him. “Yeah!”

You grabbed your bow and followed him into the woods. Stopping at a clearing, your dad put his stuff down and stood next to you.

“All right, Y/n, you remember what I taught you?” He knelt as you grabbed an arrow and drew your bow back.

“Where do you want me to shoot?” You looked at him.

He thought for a moment, looking around, till he stopped his gaze at a certain tree with a unique-looking branch that hung low on the ground. He pointed. “See the knot in the tree? Shoot that.”

You nodded your head and tightened the bow once more.

You held your breath and focused on the knot on the branch, taking a second before you released your arrow. You heard a thunk as it hit the tree and you looked to see if you had hit the knot, but sadly your aim was a little off. It was a few inches to the right. “Aww, I missed it.” You kicked the dirt slightly.

Your dad stood up and went to retrieve the arrow. “It’s ok, sweetheart, you're getting better just remember that.” He tried to cheer you up. “Remember when I first took you out here? Your arrow would be two or three feet away from the target.”

You smiled to yourself.“Thanks, Dad.”

He walked over and crouched down to your height. “Now let's try again.”

He handed you your arrow and ruffled your hair. You smiled to yourself. Regaining your stance, you drew back your bow and released another arrow. You hit it closer every time. And when you finally manage to hit it after your third time, you jumped up and down in joy.

“Good job, Bear, why don't we try something harder hmm?”

You nodded, and he took your quiver, put it over his shoulder, and took your hand, leading you deeper into the woods.

***

It took hours before you returned to your camp, the whole time spent practicing your aim on things besides the normal target. By the time the sun was down, your dad decided it was time to head back.

Your dad had started the fire and was cooking some hot dogs for the two of you. “You have fun, Bear?”

You look at him. “Yeah, I got better at my aim I think. What about you Dad?” You ask, tilting your head at him.

“Hmm, it was amusing to see you miss sometimes.” He pulled out your food from the fire while you groaned with embarrassment.

You ate your food while looking up at the stars. “Hey Dad, what's that one called?” You pointed up at the sky.

“Hmm, I think it's Orion. He was a skilled hunter who used a bow, and some say he managed to woo the heart of the virgin archer. He even claimed that he ‘could hunt any and every animal’, but Momma Gaia heard this and sent a mighty scorpion after him, which is why–” he lead your head to another part of the sky. “–If you can find him, you’ll see Scorpius, the very same scorpion that killed him.”

Looking at the stars, your mouth was agape. “Wow,” you whispered under your breath and rested your head on his shoulder.

After a few hours, you and your dad went to bed.

***

The end of your weekend trip went by fast, and before you knew it, you were on your way home eating a bag of chips while listening to the radio.

Your dad was focused on the road, but the conversation about your schooling was still playing in his head. "Bear, we still need to talk." He said. You paused for a moment, not wanting to have this conversation. Since starting school, you've had trouble keeping up with the other kids. Since you were behind, your classmates would treat you differently.

"I don't want to talk about it," you said, looking down at the floor.

Your Dad looked over, sadly. "Can you tell me about it? You don't have to tell me everything."

"The others treat me differently, and I don't know why.” You looked out the window again, trying to focus on the songs the birds were singing.

Stopping the truck, your dad pulled you into an embrace. “It’s ok, Y/n, I'll tell your Momma and we’ll talk to your teacher, okay?” He looked down and rubbed your shoulder, waiting for an answer.

“O-okay.” Your voice was muffled

The truck started again and you both drove off toward your cabin.

***

When you got home, it was around dinner time. Since it was a Sunday your mom was making your favorite for dinner. Your truck pulled up, and you ran out of the cab and into the arms of your momma.

“MOMMA!” You tackled her, sending her stumbling back a bit.

“Hey, baby, how was your trip?” she asked with a loving smile.

Looking up at her, you gave her a big grin. “It went awesome! I got better on my aim and distance.”

She smiled down at you. “Well, that's amazing, maybe one day you’ll be better than yer daddy.” She ruffled your hair. “Now come on, supper’s cooking, want you and yer daddy to get washed up.” She shooed you away into the house.

Running to your room, you grabbed some shorts, a T-shirt, and other stuff and ran to the bathroom, but your brother was walking by and had a sour look on his face.

“Yer back.”

You looked down. “Yeah, how was it here?”

He glared down at you. “Peaceful, shoulda stayed that way.” He walked past you and bumped your shoulder.

***

When you got out of your shower, you went to the kitchen to help your mom cook but just ended up sitting on the counter and telling her about your trip with your dad.

“Then Dad told me to shoot an apple that was still on the tree.” You told her excitedly.

“Wow, baby, did ya hit it?”

You nodded. “Yep, it fell and knocked down some apples with it. Dad and I ate them on our walk back to camp.”

“Sounds like you two had quite the adventure.” Your mom said as she stirred the pot.

She took the pot off the burner and walked to the dinner table. You followed her and sat down.

“Yep, it was.” While your mom grabbed other things for dinner, you helped set the table.

“BOYS, DINNERS READY!” she called.

Dad came out of the garage and Jason came out of his room. You sat next to Mom, across from Jason, and Dad across from Mom. After everyone was seated, Mom said grace and you all ate dinner. You ate yours quickly while Jason picked and prodded at his.

When you finished dinner, you kissed your Mom and Dad good night and went to bed. You lay under your blanket, looking at your glow-in-the-dark stars, and drifted off to sleep.

~~~ 2005, A few weeks later~~~

It all happened in a blur. You and Dad were driving back from your trip in the forest, and you even managed to bag a rabbit all on your own. One minute you were on your way to register what you had, then you were waking up in a hospital with your Momma by your side, crying and a local sheriff on your other side gearing up to ask you a few questions

“Momma…” Your voice was weak. “What happened?”

She grabbed your hand and kissed it. “You were in an accident, baby.”

Your eyes widened the best they could but you were still loopy. “What?” You looked around the room, your heartbeat picking up. “Where’s Dad?” Your voice was starting to hurt.

Your Momma cried, her tears falling on your hospital bed. “He-He didn't make it, baby.”

You looked up at the ceiling and silently cried with your Momma.

“Mrs Myers, I’d like to speak with your daughter alone, to get her account of the story.” The sheriff gently led her out of the room, then sat next to you and asked you a series of questions.

“Now, Y/n, I understand you and your dad were driving, do you know where?”

You choked back a sob before you answered. “The a- the game warden's office.”

He wrote that down. “Can you tell me what you and your daddy were doing before then?”

Licking your lips, you replied, “We were out camping like- like we always do. He was showing me how to hunt.”

He nodded and wrote that down too.“Do you remember anything while you were driving to the game office?”

You thought for a moment. “I was talking to Dad when suddenly he threw his hand in front of me then…everything went black.” You started to cry, all your emotions catching up with you.

The sheriff looked down at you with sympathy and leaned over you to rest his hand on your head. “Just get some rest, Y/n, we’ll talk later, ‘kay?”

You nodded, and he took his leave, and your mom rushed to your side once again.

***

The day you were discharged from the hospital was bittersweet. You were leaving and going home, to sleep in your own bed. But you were leaving without your dad, and in a few days, you would be giving him a send-off for his funeral in Oklahoma.

The drive home in Mom's car was different. It didn't have that old dusty truck smell, and it didn't rumble as it drove down the dirt road. No, Mom's car was clean, quiet, and smelled like pine. You hated it.

The drive was quiet, only the sound of the radio filling the car, but that quickly got turned off, much to the displeasure of Jason, who quickly turned it back on, which upset Mom.

“Quit it.” She turned it off again.

“I want to listen to the radio,” Jason protested.

“NO, Jason, stop it!” Silent tears were running down her cheeks, but Jason just scoffed and looked out the window

When you got home, Jason went to his room and you sat on the couch and curled yourself into a ball. Your mom went straight to the kitchen and came back out with the champagne bottle that had been saved for their anniversary.

Her dark green eyes were dull and wet with her tears. She took a good look at the bottle before she took a swig and sobbed. You didn't know how else to comfort her, so you just crawled over and cuddled under her arm.

“It’s ok, Momma.” You whispered to her.

That just made her cry harder– the fact that her baby had to comfort her.

She took another drink while the two of you just sat on the couch and watched TV.

It wasn't long before she passed out. The bottle she'd been drinking fell to the ground and the rest of the contents spilled out, the sound of the bottle hitting the ground woke you up. You looked up at your mom and kissed her good night, before you cleaned up the mess she'd made, and went to bed.

Laying in your bed, you looked up at your fake stars. You turned over to look at a photo of you and your dad, It was taken when you were five, first learning how to use a bow.

You smiled sadly and went to sleep.

***

It was just like that for years. You would wake up, go and eat whatever Jason made, and find your momma on the couch, passed out with a bottle of some kind in her hand or on the floor. And as always, you would clean it up before you went to school.

Sometimes she would wake up and tell you to have a good day. You always said you would but you never did.

When you went to school, some would be nicer. You didn't know whether it was because they felt bad or because they'd been told to. It didn't matter ‘cause the alienation continued and you were still by yourself. The boys still asked mean questions, but now they were about your dad, questions like “Did you see his mangled corpses in the road?” Others would reply with “Yes.” or “It was disgusting.”

Some of the nastier ones started to say that you should’ve died. One group even cut a chunk of your hair off. It was a choppy pixie cut. Your poor teacher tried her best to make it look nice.

But it didn't matter, ‘cause when you got home, you would put on a smile for your mom and tell her you had an amazing day. Your hair? Well, you got gum in it, that's why it was short.

Your momma cried a bit when she saw your hair. It was exactly like your Dad's, long and beautiful, but now it was cropped short. Just one more thing she had loved and lost.

***

You supposed your Momma must have been feeling lonely. Instead of drinking on the couch, she started to go out to drink, sometimes with her coworkers or sometimes just alone.

And when she was out late at night it was Jason who had to take care of you. He would make you dinner, and make sure you did your homework. He wasn't nice about it but he did it. He also started to take you hunting, and in Jason's fashion, he was harsh and rude with his remarks unlike your Dad had been.

“Y/n, shoot the squirrel over there, you see it?” You roughly pointed in the direction.

You nodded and aimed your arrow at it. You released it, but you missed and it scurried away.

“DAMNIT!” He shot up to his full, towering height. “Can't ya do anything! Jeez, a rock has better aim than ya!” He went to retrieve the arrow. You followed him to find more quarry.

“Ya know, what if som’ happens and we got to provide for mom, huh? What if I can't hunt and you have to hunt fer us, and ya can't hunt shit and we die?” He liked to be overly dramatic with his lectures.

But his “lecture” did nothing but stab your already bruised ego, but to prove him wrong you had to get better.

When you saw a rabbit, you both got down low on the ground. You drew back your arrow and aimed, making sure it was perfect before shooting. The arrow flew past different branches before it finally sunk into the rabbit's abdomen. The rabbit kicked, using up whatever strength it had left before it finally died.

You ran towards the rabbit and picked it up to show Jason. “Look I got it, it's big too!” You showed him proudly.

He caught up to you and scoffed. “Jus’ a rabbit, nothing to get worked up over,” he said, giving you an unimpressed look. “Itz big though,” he admitted under his breath as he walked away. It was a small comment, but it brought a smile to your face.

He looked down at the ground, looking for any tracks that could lead to bigger animals. You took the arrow out and put the rabbit in your animal satchel, and followed him.

It was the same cycle that lasted for three years, but then your momma did what you thought she never could. Something that rocked your world, and made you look at her a bit differently.

Remarry.

~~~ 2008 ~~~

It was late, really late at night, maybe three in the morning. You and Jason were up watching movies and eating what was left in the kitchen. Your mom had the car most of the time so Jason couldn't go out and buy more food.

You were currently watching an old zombie movie called Dawn of the Dead, one that your dad and Jason both seemed to like. The only thing they could agree on was movies.

It was almost over when you heard a rapid knock on the front door. The suddenness surprised you, making you jump a bit, spilling the remaining popcorn.

“BABIES! OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE!” Some smaller knocks could be heard. “PLEASE, I FORGOT MY KEYS! AND WE’RE COLD!”

You and Jason looked at each other before he got up to open the door for your Momma. Her hair was messy, along with her makeup. And behind her was a man with blonde shaggy hair and a beard. He wore a blue button-up and was shivering.

Your Momma walked past your brother and so did the man. You and Jason gave him a strange look, almost like he had a second head.

Your Momma seemed to notice the looks and stopped to introduce him on her way to the kitchen.

“Oh um, guys this is my fiance, Steven.” She looked at him with puppy eyes.

“Ah, Steven these are my kids, Jason and Y/n, but we call her Bear.” She had a goofy grin on her face as if she didn’t realize she'd dropped a bombshell on you and your brother.

Your brother just huffed and went to his room to sleep.

“I wonder what that was about” your Momma uttered his breath “Hi baby! What were you two just doing?” she rushed to your side and sat on the floor with you.

You looked up at her “Just watching a movie with Jason” you glazed at the awkward and clearly drunk Steven before watching the movie again.

“Ooo looks scary, think im gonna make me and Steven some drinks” She kissed your cheek and got up “ooo Stevie why don't you sit and talk with Bear Bear?”

His head shot up in confusion “Wha-what oh um yea of course baby” he walked to the couch and sat down nervously. He looked around the room and then landed on some old photos of you and your dad hunting.

“So, you uh hunt?” you turned your head towards the man you may call ‘dad’, his eyes dart to yours than back to the TV.

“Uhh, yea, my Dad taught me, but haven't caught anything ‘sides som’ rodents” You glanced at him and he just looked somewhere else, he looked so out of place in your small home.

You decided to try and “bond” with him “What about you? You hunt?” His head shot towards you in surprise.

“Ah no, no I don’t hunt. I find it uh too much, to be honest” he laughed awkwardly, you looked away and at your mom who walked back into the living room

“Hey guys! Whatcha talking about!” she said in her drunk cherry, In one hand, she had some snacks and some beers “Sorry we don’t get much, we don't have a lot in the house” She laughed.

You shifted awkwardly, cause she was the reason for no food “Maybe we could go shopping tomorrow Mom?” she stood there thinking,

“yea-yeah sure, me and you. Ya know just a girl's day!” You smiled and got to kiss your mom's cheek and went to bed Hopefull she’ll get better with this new guy around and fulfill a promise to you.

~~~ 2010 ~~~

You woke up rather late one morning. You walked out of your room to see the TV was on and some trash around the living room, you went to clean it up but your eyes grew when your mom past out on the couch with Steven, in a rather awkward position. You turned around to go to your room when Jason came out too. He seemed to notice the mess to and went to clean it up

“You don't wanna be in the livin' room” You stopped him, and he gave you a weird look.

“The hell do you mean?” you cleaned your throat.

“Umm, ste-steven and momma were gettin’ comfortable if ya know what I mean” he just shook his head and went to the kitchen.

“Whatever, im going to get food, you coming?” He grabbed the keys and walked to the garage doors.

You nodded your head and went to get dressed and were quickly out the door to the car. The sun was up, it was a warm day in August, a week before school started. You looked out the window while the radio played, some news guy was mouthing off about some world problem, it was enough for your brother to turn the radio to something else.

When Jason pulled into the parking lot you could see it was packed but was dead silent. You got out of the car when another car whizzed by almost hitting you.

You and Jason walked into the store questioning what happened when you noticed the store was dead quiet. You could see carts abandoned some of them being tipped over with groceries all over the floor.

“What tha” Jason looked at the scene in front of you. Jason looked at his watch and half decided to leave but you needed food he just pushed it to the back of his mind.

You grabbed the basket and walked to the food aisle grabbing milk, bread, eggs, and other stuff you needed. But your brother stopped you, grabbing your shoulder roughly

“Wait” you turned to him.

“What? What's wrong?” he pointed down the clothing aisle, it was destroyed and the clothes were everywhere. “Th-the hell happened there? And why hasn't anyone fixed it yet” You started to walk over to investigate but Jason grabbed your arm to stop you

“Don't, I don't like this” he pushed you forward to the front of the store. Jason grabbed your arms as he speed walked passed the alise of food thrown around the floor. But one alise made you stop in your tracks, making you drop the basket to cover your mouth.

There in the middle of the floor was a dead body, what was worse was that it looked like it was gored on. Her face was eaten, her abdomen was torn open and her intestines and blood were all over the floor.

You could see blood tracks near the body, leading away to the next aisle. Your brother pushed you down to the ground, telling you to keep quiet. He looked over to the next aisle and went back quickly.

He dropped down to the floor as well, he gestured you over to him while putting a finger up to his lips. You rushed to him.

“What's going on?” you asked panicked.

“I don’t know, but there's someone over in the next aisle with blood ‘n shit all over 'em” You looked at him with scared eyes.

“Wha-what do we do Jason” you looked to your brother for protection.

“We're gonna slowly and quietly leave the store, don't want to attract the cra-” He shot up, pushing you out of the way and kicking the woman's head out of the way. She flew back giving you and your brother time to run as fast as you could out of the store. While you were running you saw more and more blood and gore, you just didn't seem to notice.

You got to the car and speed home. The radio was still on, with it blasting the current news:

“IT APPEARS THAT A VIRUS IS SPREADING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, KILLING THE INFECTED, AND BRING THEM BACK TO LIFE AND ATTACKING OTHERS!

THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE AGGRESSIVE AND IF YOU COME ACROSS THEM EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY AND CALL LOCAL OFFICERS!”

“What- what does this mean” Your eyes started to water “What are we gonna do Jaso-” you were cut off-

“JUST BE QUITE and let me think” his grip on the steering wheel was turning his knuckles white as he stopped the car to think,

“Here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna go home, then pack our shit and leave! Head into the woods and wait this shit out” You nodded and jumped when a hand slammed on the window on your side, you shrieked causing Jason to jump when he saw the thing he floored the car.

Not once did he stop the car, not even when other cars were around. When you turned into the driveway of your home you hopped out and ran in to see your mom and Steven watching the TV. She leaped off the couch and hugged you tight.

“Oh baby, baby are you okay where were you guys!” she was crying, her already smudged makeup rubbing off.

“We were at-at the sto-store and w-we saw this woman all-all over the palace” you cried in her arms and hugged her arms

Jason busted in the door “Ma pack yer shit we’re leavin’ NOW! Y/n get our bow stuff, I'll get the campin’ stuff, Steven gets as much food as you can, Ma get essentials and anythin’ else we need”.

You ran to your room, grabbing your bear bow, quiver, and arrows. Doing the same and grabbing Jason's hunting bow and equipment. You grabbed your school bag and some clothes.

You were about done when you thought of something. You rushed to your mom's room and grabbed your dad's coat, you loved your dad's coat. It was a bit big but it'd be good in the winter or as a blanket.

By the time you were done, everybody was running out the door. Jason and Mom were packing the food and camping gear in the trunk of the car. Steven was “the lookout”, he was holding your dad's old shotgun when he saw a figure walking down the driveway,

“H-hey there’s someone comin'” Jason turned his head to see someone limping down the drive way. The man had half his arm ripped off.

“Shit, shoot it” Steven looked at Jason like he was crazy.

“Th-the hell you mean to shoot it? THATS A DAMN PERSON!” Jason slammed the trunk closed, and stormed over to Steven, and snatched the gun from him.

“Those things aren't people! They won't hesitate to eat ya!” he turned to you and your mom “Get in the car and start it, we’ll leave soon”

Your mom ushered you to the back seat furthest away from the thing as your brother called them. Your mom got in next and started the car. She looked panicked, gripping the stirring wheel out of nerves.

You heard the crack of a gunshot not that far away

“SHIT!” Jason yelled.You turned to look at the commotion, to see the figure with a giant hole in his chest, but he was still walking as if nothing happened.

“Sh-shoot it in the he-head Ja-Jason” Steven could barely talk but he tried to help the best he could. Jason re-aimed the gun and shot the head, well the best he could.

The thing finally went down and Steven and Jason hopped in the car, Jason in the front and Steven in the back. Your mom started the car and drove into the city, taking the path to the local campgrounds.

It seems that while your family was getting ready to leave, things got crazier. There were crashes everywhere, fire, smoke, and screams could be heard, and these, groans or moans could be heard if the things were close to the car.

When you got to the campsite it was quiet. Nothing could really be heard, not even the birds in the trees. Silent, just like the store.

***

“THE CDC HAS ISSUED A NATIONWIDE QUARANTINE ALL CIVILIANS ARE ORDERED TO STAY INSIDE OR GO TO THE ATLANTA REFUGE CAMP IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE ARE IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA

FOOD, MEDICAL SUPPLY, SHELTER, AND MILITARY PROTECTION WILL BE SUPPLIED”

The radio chatter went on and on, spouting the same things. It's been a week since the “outbreak”, as they’re calling it, happened. And in that small little window, your family and Steven have had to move twice, going deeper and deeper into the woods.

“D-do you think we should go to Atlanta? It's not that far from here” Your mom had been suggesting it, but your brother always dismissed it.

“Naw, too risky” he poked the fire “Eaters be everywhere and we’d be sitin’ ducks” You were torn on where to go, staying here you'd be by yourselves but at the same time you didn't have to worry if your neighbor was crazy enough to kill you for bread. But if you went to Atlanta you wouldn't have to worry about eaters –the new name for them– attacking you.

“We’re low on food, Y/n grab yer bow, were goin’ hunting” You nodded and hopped off the opened trunk. Running to your tent and grabbed your bow and quiver and hurried to your brother who was already leaving.

When you went hunting Jason made a rule that you couldn't make too much noise, not since he spotted an eater while he was hunting. You kept your eyes down on the forest floor to keep an eye on any tracks, while Jason kept an eye out for eaters and any animals.

When you found some faint deer tracks you tugged on his shirt and pointed to them. He kneeled down to inspect them and shook his head “Too old, probably dead by now” nodding your head you continued, but stopped in your tracks when you saw a doe looking at you.

She was beautiful, her eyes hadn't noticed you yet, but you had. Jason got up behind you “Guess ya were right, why don't ya bag it” he nudged you forward and you drew the bow back. The bow itself was new, you bought it yourself after cleaning your neighbor's yard for her, she was old frail, and couldn't do it herself.

You released the bow and it landed in her abdomen. She ran off deeper into the woods with whatever strength she had left. You and Jason chased after her, her blood leading her to you.

She was stronger than she looked because it took about twenty minutes before you caught up with her. Jason loaded his bow and shot it and hit her just below her shoulder blade killing her.

“Common, let's go get her and bring her back” You shouldered your bow and walked up to her with Jason. Since he was bigger he took up the grunt work and shouldered her while you carried his bow.

“Now, ya need to find our tracks” he huffed while trying to position her right “Should be easy enough since we were running” You nodded and glued your eyes down looking up when ever you heard something in the distance.

It took about an hour before you got back to your camp. You ran to your mom and hugged her “We bagged a doe, Jason gonna clean ‘er up the we’ll eat it” Jason dropped her by Steven “ya know how to clean a Doe Steven?” Steven looked from Jason to the Doe, back to Jason.

He swallowed deeply before answering “I-uhh I've never done it no” Joson rolled his eyes then sat down next to him and started to show him how.

It was one of the little things your dad never taught you. You've seen him do it, but he never shown you how. Jason had to teach you, and he did that in your kitchen, if your mom was there and sober she would've freaked out.

You sat next to your mom who was still paying attention to the radio. All it did was worry her as she bit her nails with her legs pulled into her chest.

“You okay momma?” you put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a bit but eased up a bit when she saw you.

“O-oh ye-yea baby, im good” she smiled “How’d your hunt go with Jason?” you pulled your knees up to your chest

“it went fine, I found really old tracks and Jason brushed them off and when we looked up BAMB there she was!” you told the story of how you found the Doe.

Your mom softly clapped for you “Wow, you're a real Orion aren't you bear?” you smiled, your Momma loved Greek Mythology, and she always said if she could be a professor, teaching students about the great tales of the Greek gods and heroes.

“Ya know where your nickname comes from?” you shook your head, but you knew why, this was the closest you got to your old momma from before the accident, plus you loveed the story.

“Artimiss was the goddess of the hunt, and she swore off marriage—one of three goddesses to be exact– she would hunt on the earthly grounds with other women and nymphs. One of these women was a woman named Callisto, she was a hunter who was sadly assaulted and fell pregnant at the hands of Zues.”

you had a sad expression as if this was the first time you heard this “and Hera and Artemis found them. Artemis cast Callisto out and Hera turned her into a bear.” you gasped playfully, and she smirked.

“well she gave birth and Artemis guided the baby to civilization, and he grew to be a mighty hunter. And he came across his bear Momma and went to kill her, but Zeus saw this and before he could kill her, he put Callisto and her sun the stars” You rested your head on her shoulder and she hugged you. You sat there for a while as you looked at the stars.

“Well it looks like you brother is about done with the deer, shall we go sit by the fire?” you nodded and grabbed your bag which had your remaining books and sat by the fire

Jason started to put some meat on the fire. The blaze reflected in his dark green eyes, he looked like he was thinking about something. He checked his watch and figured it was time to take the venison off the grill. He gave it to you.

“She found it, she gets to eat it first” was his reasoning when Steven asked why you got it. Steven was very whiney, you suspect he’d be dead if he was alone.

***

It was deep into the night, and you just finished your comic book. Your Momma was looking for batteries for the radio, it had died about an hour ago and your Momma had been going crazy looking for them. When she finally found them she cheered with triumph and put the new ones in the radio. The radio roared to life with the same news as before.

Jason was poking the fire a bit while Steven was getting something from his tent. You got up and went sit by Jason. He gave you an odd look which you ignored and picked up your bow and began fiddling with it

“What are ya doin’ Y/n” he stopped what he was doing and looked at you.

“Jus’ sittin’ is all” you fiddle some more “and wondering” he went back to the fire

“about what?” you looked around your makeshift camp.

“if all of this will be over soon, and when we can go back” you looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Jason stayed quiet, he didn't know. But if he was honest, he didn't mind it all that much–could go without the living dead though– it was like an extended camping trip.

SNAP

Your blood ran cold when you heard the groans and snarls coming closer. You shot up when you saw them closing in on the car. Your mom was running towards you as you held your stuff.

She grabbed your arm and ran to the woods as Jason and Steven stayed behind to fight them off. Your Momma dragged you into the woods further and further. You kept looking back to see other eaters staggering toward you

“Mo-momma, they’re behind us!” your mom just ran faster “I-I know baby but we just need ru-” Out of nowhere an eater came and attacked her.

She let go of your hand when another one latched its dirty maw on her shoulder. Her screams were horrid, you imagine it was the same scream she let out when the love of her life and baby were in the hospital. Just filled with horror and dread.

“Y/n, Y/n YOU NEED TO RUN!” you shook your head with tears in your eyes “NO LISTEN AND RUN NOW!” hearing the groans of another eater behind you made you run off into the woods. Crying as you heard the cries of your momma.

~~~ 2010, A few weeks later~~~

You had been on your own for a few weeks since your camp had been overrun. You thought about going back to it, to see if Jason or Steven got out okay. Well if Jason got out, you were sure Steven did. And you knew if he got out safe then Steven was safe–probably.

But you were on your own, so you had rules now: Always move, Stay in the trees at night, And NEVER stay if it's too quiet.

That's how you made it all these weeks alone. You rationed the food you managed to hunt on your own. It was small, with rabbits, birds, and a raccoon once. It was odd but it kept you fed.

At night you'd find a tree with a sturdy branch, climb it, ruffle in your bag for something to tie around you and the branch, and sleep. And repeat the cycle again the next morning.

You were currently in a tree, just waking up from sleep. The denim jeans you used to keep you tied to the tree were a little loose. You gathered your things, putting your bow around your torso, same with your bag.

You nimbly climbed down the tree and leaped out on the last branch and landed on the forest floor, you fumbled a bit but were fine nonetheless.

You made a small fire and cooked the last of the rabbit meat you had. After that, you put the fire out and continued on your way to nowhere.

You suppose you were in a good part of the woods, cause you could hear the birds singing some little tune they came up with. You humed along to it while walking on a fallen tree, balancing on it like a tightrope walker.

You stopped walking when you noticed deer tracks and debated on following them or not, but decided to just do it anyway, no set direction and all.

You followed them to a clearing, there wasn't anything there though so you just sat on a log. You figured it was safe enough to relax a bit. With an arrow, you start drawing random things in the dirt. You liked drawing, it was a pastime you did before.

You started drawing hearts, butterflies, and flowers, pretty things really. Then you drew your Momma, she was beautiful in your eyes, with long hair that reached her midback, and her beautiful green eyes.

You stopped what you were doing when you heard something in the distance, it sounded like something talking. You quickly loaded your bow and stood up aiming your bow at the noise.

There you saw two men. One was old, with short-cropped grey hair. He was bigger than the other one. The other guy was younger and more scrawny, he had squirrels tied around a rope, he had a crossbow, also aimed at you, and the old guy had a hunting rifle

“Well well well, what do we have here baby brother,” Old Guy said with the meanest grin on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next // I Met Two Old Guys In The Woods

Previous //

Taglist //

// Masterlist //

if you want to be added to the taglist lmk :D

#fanfic #twd #daryl dixon #x reader fanfiction #this took my fucking months and the fact i have to proof read like two-three other chapters #i also start my new job on sunday so thats fun #teen reader #platonic reader

24 notes · View notes

ficthots · 1 year

Text

About You

A/N: Go listen to "About You" by the 1975 before reading this. Go do it. That's what it's based on. Go. It hurts, it yearns, it aches, it burns. As always let me know what you guys think and enjoy!

Warnings: SMUT. DNI if you are under 18. 18+ Only.

Word Count: 6.6k+

I know a place

It’s somewhere I go when I need to remember your face

We get married in our heads

Something to do while we try to recall how we met

Everyone talks about soulmates. Mainly in a fashion that describes the utter yearning and passion one desires theirs. We’ve been told about them since we were children. How when you meet the person, you just know they are the one meant to partner with you through the hellscape that is life. They hold your hand and make it better, enjoyable, excitable. Your soulmate is who you crave. Spending most of your life dreaming of them and patiently waiting for them to make their grand appearance.

What no one does talk about is when you have your soulmate and lose them.

It’s far more common than people realize. Many errors that become irreparable over time, fearing the next big steps that accompany life long partnerships, not being able to communicate well enough with one another. Perfectly reasonable and common mishaps that can cause you to lose your soulmate.

But those weren’t any of the reasons why you lost yours.

A year long tour, a brand new album, another impending tour meant he was happy to be home for the prolonged break they had been anticipating. The last year of their lives had been upside down and thrilling, but left him numb in a sense he did not entirely understand. Plus, he had never wanted to sleep in his own bed more.

Quick pitstop to his own dwelling in Nashville to ensure his house hadn’t burnt down since he had last laid eyes on it a few months prior was not as comforting as he had been hoping. Jet lag, pure exhaustion, and looming seasonal depression that never failed to take him in his grasp had him eyeing the darkened rooms with contempt.

He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but the disappointment that sat low in his stomach and burned the back of his throat as his eyes wandered over the belongings in his home weighed heavier than ever before. Maybe it was because it was only a week until Christmas and he hadn’t seen his parents for too long.

Yeah, that’s what it was.

Turning on every light as he moved through the space, quickly turning on music to drown out the silence that screamed at him, and moving to the laundry room to throw his suitcases contents in the wash. A monotonous night.

Over the following days it didn’t change. He found himself checking his phone to see when his flight was to get back to his hometown for Christmas. After being surrounded by people everyday all day for as long as he had, he grew bored unbelievably fast. TV didn’t interest him, no good books sat on his light wood shelves, and mediation seemed ridiculous with how high energy he was.

It all seemed pointless.

As the plane's wheels skidded across the tarmac and he saw the flurries continuously falling outside, his excitement stirred in him again. Some sense of home was going to be offered to him to enjoy the holiday with his family that he hadn’t had since it happened.

He baked with his mom, watched every movie he could with his siblings, wrapped the presents he had picked for everyone meticulously as he traveled around the world, was so busy that for the first time, his mind didn’t wander to where it normally did.

When he laid in his childhood bed that night, he realized it had been almost a full forty-eight hours since he had thought about what he swore to everyone he didn’t anymore. He quietly sobbed, guilt wracking him as he battled within himself.

It was what he was supposed to be doing. Healing and regaining pieces of his soul that he had lost along the way. Letting joy seep into aspects of his days that hadn’t peeked out for so long. Continuing on with the motions of life. Forgetting.

Yet he felt nauseous, sick to his stomach with anger. Feeling like he had betrayed a section of his life that was over that he wasn’t ready to let go of. Furious that those he loved the most seemed to have moved on without him.

Staring at the poster covered ceiling, face hurting from the tears shed that had dried in the warm room, he made a decision. Slipping into warmer clothes, grabbing the bag of supplies that he had hidden in the back of his closet like a shameful secret, he made his way to the place.

The warm glow of Christmas lights hugged the living room, parents opting to leave the tree on for Christmas Eve. He walked. He walked all the way to it. He could’ve driven, should’ve driven. It wasn’t safe to walk this far at night in the snow, but he didn’t care. Couldn’t find it in himself to care.

He had never felt such misery as he did in the moment when his eyes set sight on it for the first time. He had to stop his movements, body hunching over, forcing him to take a breath and calm his breathing down.

He didn’t know what he was expecting, but disappointment sat low in his stomach as he approached it. Pulling out the dollar store garland and beginning to wrap it around the wood, he hummed to Darlene Love.

“Stay here, honey. I’ll grab you a hot chocolate,” you plopped onto the chair as your mom wandered off. You knew you wouldn’t see her for the rest of the night until it was time to go home. You hated these events.

Christmas work parties that your parents forced you to tag along to, feeling bad for leaving you at home during the holiday season. Your mom loved to say how this time of year was for families and that meant you sitting in the corner of the ballroom your dad's company had rented from some swanky hotel for its employees to get so drunk they couldn’t remember the new year.

“Which of your parents works here?” You startled lightly at the random voice that appeared next to you. His brown hair almost sat in his eyes, the most perfect smile you had ever seen graced his features. Dimples.

“Uh, my dad,” he perked up, eyes going wide. “Mine too!” You giggled at how easily excitable he was. Nerves sat in your chest, not knowing how to carry a regular conversation with a boy your age. “I’m Josh,” he nudged your side, elbow slightly poking into you as he did.

You gave your name and before you knew it, the two of you were fast friends, giggling as you pointed out the train wrecks of the holiday party together. Christmas music blasted through the room and you two watched as coworkers writhed around on one another, even though this was supposed to be a family friendly work social, they never were.

Eyeing the refreshments table, you grabbed his arm and nodded over in the direction of the table. “Want some eggnog?” You wagged your eyebrows suggestively and despite how obvious you were being, Josh didn’t realize what you were getting at and agreed.

He followed you over and when you grabbed the ladle of the adult eggnog, he grabbed your wrist. “That has alcohol in it!” He whisper screamed to you. You rolled your eyes, looking around to see if any of the adults near the table noticed and handed him a cup, forcing him to walk away with it.

“Be cool!” Your hand landed between his shoulder blades, turning him back towards your seats. His hands trembled as he held the small plastic cup in between them. You sipped it and laughed at the burn that went down your throat as you swallowed.

Cheersing his cup as he watched you with the biggest doe eyes you had ever seen, you offered him a soft smile. “I like you, Joshua. Think I’ll keep you around.”

He had never heard anything better in his life.

Snowflakes fell heavy and landed on your hair and eyelashes as you dragged Josh through the field to get to the secret hiding place. It was where you two went when everyone else became too much and you needed to be sequestered from them for just a little bit.

A small glimpse of heaven reserved for just the two of you.

The gazebo was already decorated for Christmas despite Thanksgiving still being just a few days away. You halted as you took in the sight before you, tears welling as you saw the decorations littering the space. His arms wrapped around you from behind, icy cheek squished against yours as he laughed at your reaction.

“Figured you had been talking about Christmas for so long that I would surprise you,” you broke from his grasp in a full blown sprint to get to the covered deck. A small Christmas tree sat illuminated on the far side, the railings were wrapped in garland with bright warm lights tangled in them, bows took up the posts.

A burrow of blankets and pillows were along the center of the floor, waiting for its visitors to wrap themselves in. When you turned and saw him approaching you, cheeks a dusty rose, tip of his nose like Rudolph’s, the beanie sitting low on his brow doing little to keep him warm, you fell in love all over again.

Josh had a way of doing that. Forcing new feelings of love to bubble up every time you saw him. You couldn’t even remember how many times you had fallen for him, far too many reasons now to pinpoint what they all were.

He pulled you to him, reclaiming his personal space heater since he was always freezing unlike you who constantly radiated heat. Your arms wrapped around his neck, locking wind chapped lips together as you pulled him to lay down with you. The fuzzy blankets encompassed you, sheltering you from the outside as you felt him shaking from the cold despite your attempts to keep him warm.

Giggles mixing as your mitten clad hands cradled his cheeks. He laid flush on top of you, breath coming out in puffs between you both as you beamed at him.

He was in awe, entirely mesmerized as he looked at you. The soft glow of the Christmas lights danced on the glassy irises that peered up at him with enamored love. Beanie nearly falling off the messy locks that rested below it. Heavy breaths escaping your aching lips as you pulled him to you.

Moaning in utter relief, your lips a safe haven that embraces him with warmth and desire upon each meeting, eyes instantly shutting as he savored the feeling. Nothing in the world would offer him the same semblance of safety than you did when you merged and became one with him.

It was dark out, the only light that held the area was from the small lights he had put up just for you earlier that week. Your hands escaped your mittens, finding his pressing hard on and palming him through the sweats that covered his ice-like legs.

His breath stuttered in his throat, eyes shooting open as he looked at you like you were insane for even suggesting what you were. That mischievous grin that set his stomach alight with nerves that he had grown far too accustomed to spread across your face.

“You little gremlin, we are outside!” His worried tone mixed with laughter as you undid the tie of his pants, nodding eagerly at his words. “Oh I know, snowflake, but I need you so bad. You can’t wear these pants and not expect me to pounce on you.”

His eyes widened as you pulled his dick from the confines of his briefs, but quickly shut as you pumped him. “Make it quick for me, okay?” He nodded in response, hastily removing his hands from his gloves and immediately tucking into the waistband of your own sweats, subtly telling you to lift your hips so he could pull them down.

Lips colliding in a messy kiss, teeth clacking together, freezing tips of noses pushing against each other, clawing at one another to get as close as possible. Josh whimpered out as his tip slipped in, nudging against your walls, savoring the superior warmth that wrapped around him.

As he started moving, you encouraged him, legs spread, uttering praises to shower over him. Head rolling to the side, fighting the urge to let your eyes shut because watching him perform for you like this was captivating. His brow would furrow in focus, tongue constantly swiping across his plump lips, chest rising and falling rapidly as he grew closer and closer to his climax.

Your hand moved to the spot between his unruly eyebrows, smoothing out the skin that bundled together in thought. He stopped his movements as you did and couldn’t fight the large smile that took over his face, the miniscule gap in his front teeth displayed for you.

“What are you doing, flake?” Your teeth sank into your lip as your smile grew, feeling him nestled deep in you, tip brushing your g spot. “Admiring my beautiful man,” his cheeks flushed even deeper at your words, unable to hold eye contact as embarrassment coursed through him.

Fingers dipping under his chin to pull his attention back to you, you pulled him to you, murmuring out against his lips. “I love you,” as he said it back, complete euphoria took you over, all muscles in your body momentarily tensing before relaxing as bliss circled around you.

He finished seconds after, covering your entire face in kisses as he pulled your sweats back up, adjusting himself back and pulled you into him, nuzzling his face into your neck.

“What do you want for Christmas?” He finally spoke out after you two laid entangled in silence, watching the snowfall together. You smiled at him and sighed, shrugging. “I don’t think you’re ready for this,” his fingers dug into your sides, a laugh flowing from him as he did.

“Oh yeah? Gonna bleed me dry this season?” You sat up, straddling his lap and laughing out loud. “Absolutely. You’re a huge rockstar now. I want a whole lot,” his arm tucked behind his head, a smile taking over his features, eyebrows shooting up as one hand held your hip.

“And what is a whole lot? What do you want, mama? I’ll get you anything you want.” Your hands rested on his chest and looked out to the snow blanketing the grass, your footsteps from earlier long since covered, eyes looking around the gazebo at the decorations.

You spoke quieter, not wanting anyone else in the world to hear what you were going to say. It was meant for Josh and Josh only. That’s how it was supposed to be. “Well for starters I want a new sweater because you ruined mine last month when we were getting our Halloween makeup on,” he laughed and nodded wanting you to continue your list.

“Then, I want a new pair of earrings. I lost my hoops that I got from Target so I need another pair,” you leaned down, lips pressing against his as you spoke, “Can’t forget the car. I want that Mercedes that I saw in town in Nashville last summer,” his body shook with laughter at your words.

“That’s quite a jump. Sweater, earrings, and a car,” you nodded, sitting back up with a jolting force. “Oh, that’s not even it, baby.” You jumped off his lap and went to the snow despite his attempts at keeping you with him.

His eyes lit up as he watched you move back to the covered space, moving to the far side of the deck where the Christmas tree sat. “I want a winter wedding,” his arms propped himself up, gaze softening as he listened intently.

“I want a big poofy dress that makes me look like a pastry,” his head tipped back, laughing as he nodded. “I want Christmas lights everywhere. Maybe even a big Christmas tree,” his hand grabbed your own as you moved around the space, mind wandering into a dream state as you pictured it.

He pulled you back down to him as he let you finish. “And I want it right here. I want my big winter Christmas wedding right here,” Josh nodded, nose brushing yours as both your fingers tangled together. “Anything you want. Just tell me when and I’ll give it to you.”

You giggled, resting your forehead against his. “It’ll have to live in our heads for a little while longer. I still have too many details to figure out about it first, like how the hell we’re going to get ten ice cream cakes out here.”

The tangled Christmas lights had his frozen hands struggling to undo the heaped mess that laid before him. He cursed himself for not wearing a thicker beanie, tips of his ears like ice. It wasn’t meant to be decorated this late in the year.

Every year it was supposed to be done three days before Thanksgiving. When it was still cold, the chance of snow was present, but not near as blizzard-like as what he was sitting in. He was upset with himself for not doing this sooner.

He should’ve been here a month ago to do it. Why the hell had he not been out here to do it? Because it wasn’t his responsibility anymore, he spoke to himself, but breathed out in frustration. He hated himself for caring so much.

Even after all this time, he still cared. Cared to decorate this shitty gazebo that no one was going to see but himself in the middle of a freezing night. Cared because he promised to do this. He couldn’t not do it. He promised to.

No matter what, he was going to do this. Even though it was late. Because he hoped he wouldn’t be the only one to see it.

You and I

We’re alive

With nothing to do I could lay and just look in your eyes

Wait

And pretend

Hold on and hope that we’ll find our way back in the end

You hated summer. Despised it. What was so great about sweating buckets every time you stepped outside? It made everyone irritable, ruining any and all plans because heat exhaustion was such a large risk. You just hated it.

You used to feel the same way about spring. Until Josh made you fall in love with it.

The random rain showers that would tamp down the rising temperatures. The gorgeous flowers that were blooming for the first time that he would place at your front door every Sunday without fail. The soft breezes that would make the grass wave in the afternoons.

Spring was Josh. That’s why you loved spring.

He had found a park that you two had never been to, planning an entire afternoon for it, to drink a farewell to the spring season. That’s how you found yourself laying on a blanket after one of the most delicious lunches you had ever had, hand playing with the curls of your partner's hair as his head rested on your lap, feeling the breeze cascade against your skin.

When you looked down at him, his dimples were deep as he smiled at you. His deep brown eyes stared at you, gold flecks only visible from this close. You felt your heart skip a beat as you realized what you saw.

Your entire future with him. It was everything that was going to happen for you two. Spending the rest of your days with him by your side. What you didn’t anticipate was that future not happening.

There was no realm of possibility for you that did not include Josh as your person. That’s why when that became reality it sent you into some sense of purgatory.

Staring at the offer letter in your inbox, you felt like you were on cloud nine. All of the hard work that you had put in was being recognized. It wasn’t what you had been expecting, a raise and new job offer wasn’t even on your radar, but now as you looked at it, you were thrilled.

Josh wasn’t due home for two more days, allowing you plenty of time to figure out the most exciting way to tell him your news. Until he told you his.

It had been a week since he had told you. A year long world tour, a new album to follow immediately after, and another impending tour afterwards. Josh wanted you there for it all.

A week of trying to make a decision. A week of playing the overjoyed tone he had as he told you, grabbing your face and hearing the information tumble out of his lips in rapid speed. A week since he assumed you would be going with him.

He didn’t ask. He just told you. Told you when the first concert date was and when you all needed to be there by. He had an entire itinerary planned for every country they were scheduled to be in. It was going to be the time of your lives, he said.

Which was why you weren’t going to go.

Josh had gotten home from a meeting with their managers that encompassed planning out as much of the tour and responsibilities as possible, practically floating into the house and you sat on the couch waiting for him. His eyes lit up as he took you in and you offered as genuine of a smile as you could.

“Can we talk?” You spoke out as he leaned in to kiss you, letting him, but seeing the confused look take over his features as you spoke. “Of course, my little gremlin,” he chuckled as he sat on the coffee table, knees hitting as he tried to keep the situation light.

“Josh, I can’t go.” You forced out, eyes staring straight ahead, trying to gauge his reaction. “Go to what?” His smile never faltered, not understanding what you were saying. “The shows. The tour. All of it,” you could feel tears welling in your eyes, throat going tight as you spoke.

“What do you mean, baby? Of course you can. Don’t worry about the money part, I got that covered,” you cut him off as he tried to wave off your statement, pulling his wrist back as he tried to stand, shaking your head.

“I’m not going.” You sounded as sure as possible, voice still cracking as you said it. His face morphed into a look of bewilderment at you. “What do you mean you’re not going?” He was getting angry, emotion overpowering any logical thoughts that could have happened.

“I got offered a new job and I took it,” your chin wobbled as you watched his jaw set, ripping his wrist from your grasp and standing as he rubbed his eyes. It was quiet for far too long as he tried to figure out what to start with. “How long have you known about this?” His voice was even, unwavering.

“Since before you got back. I wanted to tell you, but you were so excited about the tour and I didn’t want to make it about me and I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier,” your words were tumbling as tears made tracks down your cheeks, hiccuping as guilt pummeled you.

He sighed, moving back towards you and taking your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him. “Baby, I’m not mad at you for taking the job. I’m mad that you didn’t tell me before I started planning all of this out,” his hands moved to his hips, seeing your reaction before sitting back down where he had been just moments before, “We’ll figure this out, okay?” His gaze had relaxed as he took in your wrecked state, trying to reassure you that it would be okay.

You shook your head at his words, eyes darting down to look at where the skin of your knee rubbed against his, feeling the scratchy hair brush against your leg. “I don’t think so,” you mumbled, but it was like you had just burned him. His hands moved from his hips, landing on your forearms.

His words were hastened, tripping over themselves as they rushed out like if he spoke quicker it would change what he knew was happening before his eyes. “What are you talking about? Of course we’ll figure this out. I’m going to have breaks during this, you can come see me on weekends, we’ll make it work,” your eyes locked with his and more tears flooded your vision as you sniffled.

“For how long? You’re gonna be gone for how long? I can’t do this for the foreseeable future until you’re back in a year and with me working a new job. It’s too much,” a sob wracked your body as he pulled away from you, moving to the other side of the living room, hands landing in his hair, eyes wild with shock and fear as it dawned on him what you were saying.

He scoffed, shaking hands landing on either bicep as he crossed his arms and faced you. “So, what? This is it? Are you saying we’re done?” Your head fell and rested on your knees as you heard his voice crack for the first time, knowing he was fighting the tears until he heard what your response was going to be.

You calmed your breathing down, wiping at your eyes and taking in the gorgeous boy before you. He was supposed to be your future. Your everything. He’s your soulmate. You were losing your soulmate and you felt like you were slowly ending yourself as you did.

“I think for now. We both have things we need to do. You need to go do this tour with your brothers and I need to go do my job. I don’t think that while we’re doing this we can manage our relationship, too.” His eyes shut, not able to look at you anymore. Despising you for saying what you were. Giving up so easily on what you two had. Hating you for making this happen.

But he knew you were right.

Deep down he knew that you two living apart for the better part of a year and some odd months was going to be too much to handle. Not with you taking a new job, him traveling and working, and just trying to manage life. It was too much.

He didn’t say anything else as he crossed the room to you, taking you in his arms, and letting you both cry until you just couldn’t anymore. You let Josh comfort you as you attempted to envision some semblance of a future that didn’t include him. You comforted Josh as he tried to understand what his life was going to be like without the tornado of a person you were.

When the sun rose that morning it was like a timer going off, telling you both that it was over. You clung to him, hands tangled in his hair as he crushed you to him, breathing each other in, trying to memorize the features that were going to be gone in the blink of an eye.

As you left that morning, Josh stood and watched as you waved to him as you drove off. He wanted to scream and chase after your car, begging you not to leave. Do anything he could to not let this course of actions happen.

But he didn’t.

Instead you both hold on to the hope that you would find your way back to each other in the end.

There was something about you that now I can’t remember

It’s the same damn thing that made my heart surrender

And I’ll miss you on the train

I’ll miss you in the morning

I never know what to think about

I think about you

It’s hard to pinpoint when you truly fall in love with someone. When all of their little quirks become your favorite aspects of them. Too many memories to recant when it could have been.

You, however, knew what it was that made you fall in love with him. There wasn’t an exact moment that you could think back on that you would be able to tell someone else. It was a plethora of memories.

How everyone despised game night with you two because you were so incredibly in sync that it was borderline unfair to the other teams. You could draw a circle during pictionary, nothing more, and he would know exactly what you had drawn.

“Beanbag chair!” Josh would scream the answer out before you could even finish. You would turn, dropping the marker and jumping into his lap as another point was marked down for you two. His brother would yell over everyone, “There’s no way they’re not cheating! How the hell did he get a beanbag chair from that?” Pointing at the drawing you would give a shit eating grin, planting a huge kiss on Josh as you cackled.

“Sorry, Jakey, we’re just too damn good. I know it can be frustrating losing so damn bad time and time again,” you teased him, feeling Josh’s hands tighten on you, prideful in how true it was. He would kiss the underside of your jaw as you sat on his lap until it was your team's turn again.

You two had so many inside jokes that it was downright annoying to everyone else around you two. Sitting at a dinner with friends, you and Josh would burst into a fit of laughter that had you gasping for breath as the waiter did something that no one else caught.

Shooting a look to each other, you snickered out, “At least he didn’t have the can opener,” and within seconds you were wiping tears from your eyes as Josh clutched at his side that ached from laughing so hard. Danny would roll his eyes at you both. “You’re so weird.”

No one got it, but it didn’t matter because he did.

That was what had you falling in love with Josh. How insanely paired you two were. It wasn’t uncommon for one of you to pick up what the other was saying, finishing the thought for them and giggling as you did.

He was your true person. Your soulmate.

Even months after it had happened you found yourself thinking of him far too often. It had been a horrible day at work. You had to fire your first person today and it had you rethinking every decision you had made in the past that led you to that position.

As you sat on the train home, you cried. People eyed you like you were absolutely crazy and maybe you were, but you didn’t know how to deal with it. His contact stared at you, daring you to make a move and do it.

This new responsibility was a lot to handle and you knew he would offer comfort. You exited out of that screen, going to Twitter and typing in his name. Immediately, pictures flooded the timeline of him being out at bars with friends.

One person talked about having just met him within the last few minutes. Your heart clenched, the decision ultimately being made for you. Josh didn’t need to be bugged tonight. Not while he was out having a good time with friends. You could deal with this.

Instead, you quietly cried to yourself the entire ride home.

Being told that time heals all wounds was an utter lie. It wasn’t true because with how much time had passed since you and Josh had last seen each other you should’ve been completely healed by now. Not the same as you were the morning you left.

It was an early Sunday morning and you were up with the sun. You didn’t know when it had changed that you were waking up so early, but you hated it. It made you think of him. The sun was starting to stream in through the curtains, coffee in hand, as you looked at the quiet and foreign space. Despite having lived in this apartment for as long as you had, it still wasn’t home. Nothing would be home.

When you put the record on that you did, you silently cried in your kitchen at your island. All you wanted to do was spend the morning like you always did with him.

Josh would have been up long before you, wanting to meditate and take in the energy of the morning as early as possible to replenish for the upcoming week. He would have fresh flowers sitting on the kitchen counter with your coffee right next to it.

Of course he knew you were not a morning person so he would let you slowly wake up as you went to the common space, steely demeanor changing as he would wrap an arm around you, singing to whatever he had playing through the house and forcing you to dance with him.

All you wanted was that back.

Your mind would drift off while doing mundane tasks and they would almost always go to him. Wondering what he was doing at that moment. If he was as bored as you were. Of course, he wasn’t. He was traveling the world while you sat in an office.

Despite all efforts to eliminate him it was no use. You couldn’t.

Do you think I have forgotten?

Do you think I have forgotten

About You

Christmas came far too quickly. What had once been your favorite time of year had you now feeling like a complete grinch. Your mom had begged you to fly out to spend the holiday at home with them. It was going to be good for you, you knew that.

It didn’t stop the pain though. Seeing the world having carried on with the glamor of the holiday season, not caring that it hurt you like it did. It was quiet at your parents house, only them and you. Your dad kept your spirits high, having bought gingerbread houses for you both to make a village out of. He had movies on deck for you. Had you help wrap presents.

It didn’t work.

That’s why on Christmas Eve you found yourself trudging out to the spot that you swore you weren’t going to go to no matter how much you wanted to. Bag of decorations in tow to do what you promised yourself you wouldn’t.

Your jaw fell slack as you saw the lights already wrapped on the railings, garland paired with it, but it was missing the bows and tree. Then you saw him. He stood behind it, finishing with the lights, but had come back around afterwards.

You both froze as you took each other in for the first time in over a year. He spoke first, dumbfounded that you were actually standing in front of him. Honestly, a bit worried that he was hallucinating from the freezing temperatures he had been in for so long.

“Hi.” You didn’t know what to say, worried your voice wouldn’t work even if you tried, so you offered a small wave back to him. He had cut his hair and it was the first time you had seen it in person. You had seen it online, unable to break that tie, but now that you were seeing it in real life, you saw how mature he looked.

You let your head fall, not wanting to let him in your vision, not sure what to do. “I didn’t know you were going to be here,” you finally choked out and it was like Josh had reached heaven. There had been nothing he missed more than the comfort the sound of your voice brought.

He cleared his throat, eyes darting around to remember what he was doing, how to talk to you again. “Yeah, my mom wanted us all together for Christmas,” you nodded, letting yourself move to the covered deck, wanting to get out of the snow.

“Of course,” you awkwardly laughed, feeling stupid for saying what you did. He chuckled with you, seeing you had the bag he had been missing. “Ah, you have the other stuff. Thought I lost it,” he scratched the back of his neck, cheeks burning crimson.

“Oh, yeah no. I had the other bag.” Neither of you said anything as you took the contents out, getting down on your knees to decorate the small tree. “So, why are you out here?” You finally spoke out, brow furrowing out of curiosity as to why he was here too, not wanting to overthink the possibilities that could have resembled yours.

“I always decorate it.” You hummed in response, eyes looking out of your peripheral and seeing his sharp features so close to yours, putting a small ornament on the tree branch. Awkward small talk was hard to force out between you two, but as you finished decorating, you didn’t want it to end.

Didn’t want to lose his presence. Didn’t want him to leave again.

You both stood back, taking in the gazebo, and smiling triumphantly at it. “Thank you for helping,” he spoke out, eyes taking you in as he tried to figure out how to end this encounter and leave despite every instinct in him telling him to stay.

“I gotta get back. Everyone will be up soon,” you nodded, throat closing and trying to fight the tears that were welling as you realized he was trying to get away. He was getting away again. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll-um, see you around.” He turned on his heel, walking in the direction he came in, but you couldn’t do it.

Couldn’t watch him walk away again.

“Josh!” You yelled it out, voice meak and screamed in desperation. He stopped, turning back towards you. “Please don’t go,” your hand was held out, like you were trying to grab him and still his motions, “I miss you.”

He didn’t know what to do. He took you in and couldn’t believe you were actually there. He felt like he was dreaming, like he was going to wake up from a nightmare that he had more than he’d like to admit. He didn’t want to ruin this. But he didn’t know what to do.

“I fucked it up. I was scared. So much was changing and I was scared. You were going to be gone for over a year, I was starting a new job, and I didn’t want to ruin your time while you were traveling, but it was stupid. I was stupid. I wanted you to have space so you could forget about the responsibility of me. But, I can’t do it without you, Josh. I can’t,” you were trying to catch your breath, but he had crossed the space so fast that you had no reaction time.

His lips collided with yours, hands pawing at you to get you as close to him as possible, and you were returning the urgency, terrified that this was all in your head. Desperate to keep him and do whatever you could to keep him.

Your kiss was the safe haven he had remembered and dreamed about. The all enveloping love and warmth that he had missed and craved for the entire time you had been apart. What he craved and needed.

When he pulled away, his forehead rested on yours, eyes squeezed shut, hands gripping yours. “Do you really think I could forget about you? I have spent the last year of my life miserable. I have missed you more than you could ever understand. I need my gremlin,” a wet laugh bubbled from you as he sniffled, chuckling with you.

“We can figure this out. We’ll figure this out.”

#ficthots #josh kiszka #joshua kiszka #greta van fleet #greta van fleet smut #greta van fleet fan fiction #josh kiszka fanfiction #josh kiszka imagine #josh kiszka fanfic #greta van fleet imagine #josh kiszka smut #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka x you #josh kiszka x y/n #josh kiszka x reader smut #jake kiszka #sam kiszka #danny wagner

377 notes · View notes