#like. he spent fifteen YEARS having nightmares about killing his dad and hes just.

[unusual-raccoon]

Modern!Osferth Headcanons

(Plus bonus drabble)

Guess who's rewatching The Last Kingdom for the 63rd time? I'll give you a hint - it's me! Guess who also had the brilliant idea at midnight for a modern babysitter!Osferth x Uhtred idea? Also me.

So, without further adieu, here are some modern!Osferth rambles/headcanons:

Osferth is still devout in his faith. It keeps him sane in a way, it's been a touchstone for most of his life. He's in between jobs and living alone.

He doesn't have much in the way of family. His father got his mother knocked up when she was young, and his father was married.

His mother was sickly and died when he was young.

He spent a lot of time in orphanages/churches under the care of nuns (Has been praying the gay away ever since) until he was taken in by his uncle.

His uncle Leofric, worked as a Prison Officer in London, got stabbed in the neck and killed during a riot when Osferth was only fifteen.

He has a sizable chunk of change in his name from a wealthy father he never knew. (He refuses to touch a dime).

Osferth spent a lot time in soup kitchens (eating & volunteering), spent many a year cutting his own hair to save money (forgive his bowl cuts), and just overall scraping by on odd jobs and the like.

He reconnected with his half-siblings as an adult, or tried to. He and Edward don't really get along (he thinks Edward is a terrible father - not that being a bastard gave him much ground to stand on). He and Aethelflaed absolutely clicked right away.

He is the bestest uncle to Aelfwynn!

Very good with kids, he is a big baby himself at heart, but also super independent because he's used to doing things on his own.

Aethelflaed is super supportive of Osferth (she just think's he's neat) and runs the "Osferth needs a DILF" fanclub

Have I mentioned he is very good w kids, loves trashy romance novels, can cook quite well, is modest about it (secretly thinks he'd be a kick ass housewife)

--- (How he's gotten involved with Uhtred)---

he met Gisela at the soup kitchen - it's a hike for him, but nothing compares to the loving atmosphere.

Was secretly intimidated by her.

Accidentally thought he had fallen in love w her when she showed him pictures of her babies and they made meals together and she asked him about his life - then he realized he has not known motherly affection in a long timeeee ;_;

Gisela would tell him about her lovely little family and how Stiorra was a nightmare to potty train in comparison to her brother

Gisela would show him pictures of the family and he would 'ooh' and 'aah' over pictures of the babies - promptly reminded he is gay when he saw a picture of her husband.

He'd been devastated when he discovered she had passed. She had been to the soup kitchen in a few weeks and he'd sent a few texts to see if she was well, but had merely chalked it up to being a mom of two youngsters.

He misses the funeral service, but figures it was private and reserved for family only.

Osferth, himself, imagined he landed somewhere between a work friend and gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

Still, he kept her in his prayers every night.

They hold a small gathering in the soup kitchen amongst other volunteers that have heard the news of Gisela's passing.

He mourns in his own way, and figures he should be better at it by now.

Still, he manages.

Until he sees Gisela's family walk into the soup kitchen...

Bonus Drabble:

Uhtred is a young, freshly widowed (fuck cancer) single dad to two beautiful children. Young Uhtred (Junior) is four and Stiorra is two. He misses his wife dearly and as a result ends up revisiting many places that remind him of Gisela.

He ends up at a soup kitchen where she often volunteered, the soup kitchen was supported by a local church and while Uhtred had his gripes about Christianity, his wife never did. Gisela loved all people, sometimes with a warm embrace, sometimes with a stern rap of her little knuckles.

The place is small and cramped and he recalls the scent of whatever's being doled into bowls because it used to stick to Gisela's clothes. It's warm in the air and heavy in his lungs, like thyme and bay leaves and sweet carrots and his heart aches.

There's a man - well, a boy who doesn't look older than 17, gangly, awkward, flaxen hair that spirals around his head like a halo, bowed as he chats with an older woman while he pours a heaping ladle's worth of soup into her bowl. The boy's face is familiar, vaguely. There's a spot next to him behind the counter where Gisela should've been.

A woman on line lets him ahead with a sympathetic face - the kids are with him, Stiorra held on his hip, her arms around his neck, and Junior holding his hand. He feels mortified, guilty.

Uhtred tries to back away, feeling terribly out of place and mourning every inch of the woman he loved. When the boy behind the counter spots him, his eyes are blue, startlingly blue - it's like a peek of the sky through a blanket of fog. A soft, angular face like looks like it belongs in a Renaissance painting with high cheeks and sharp cheekbones and pink rips.

Someone else waves them over, Junior gets a bowl, Stiorra does too, the woman that serves them tries to give one to Uhtred but he politely declines.

They sit, they eat. He blows on the little spoon for Stiorra and offers a small smile when she demandingly tugs on his hair, squirming, doughy little fist swinging for the spoon. Junior is able to handle eating on his own, like a big boy, (mostly).

Uhtred is cleaning the kids up and preparing to leave when he noticed someone had come over.

"Um, excuse me, sir," A timid voice begins, high and boyish, pale long fingers wring the sleeves of an aged brown sweatshirt, "I don't mean to - a-are you Uhtred?"

Uhtred stares warily at the boy, at his flaxen hair and ears that have since turned pink.

"Yes," He answers flatly, and he instantly feels cruel for the way the young man winces.

The nuance of conversation bypasses the children and Junior's hand springs up with a wave, as he says, "Me too!"

The boy smiles a timid, growing thing - less afraid.

"You volunteer here?" Uhtred asks though he knows the answer. Gisela had spoken of the friend she had made at the soup kitchen, and realizes why the boy's face seemed familiar. He'd never been bothered by it, his Gisela was a lovely woman and charmed many.

"Um, yes, sir, I...do." The boy answers, he swallows thickly, Adam's apple bobbing along the pale, elegant stretch of his throat.

He casts considerate blue eyes over to the children, to Junior who babbles about wanting to visit Thyra and Beocca, and to Stiorra who is dozing against Uhtred's shoulder...

"I," The boy begins, slim, pale hands listless as he tugs on a loose thread in the sleeve of his sweatshirt, those high sharp cheekbones that appeared chiseled from marble, redden, his lips, his very pink lips twitch with words unspoken, "My deepest condolences."

Gods, how many time had he heard that same sentiment over the weeks since his wife's passing? How many people had meant it? Uhtred's nostrils flare with every breath he struggles to take in and out with the fissure of pain that splits his chest.

He clears his throat roughly. He blinks away tears that makes the earnest blue eyes of the boy standing across from him dance like sapphires.

"Thank you," He says, it's a genuine thing that bubbles up without him meaning for it too. Many people loved Gisela, it was an easy thing to do, but it finally felt as though someone knew. Knew the agony of losing her. Like the sun had been torn from the sky.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, it's Hild. It could be a thousand things, a lapsed permit or zoning issue, the company has had enough hiccups, let alone after the death of his wife.

"I need to-" Uhtred motions to his phone, the boy nods politely.

"Of course," He says instantly in understanding.

He's still holding Stiorra when he stands, it was late and raining and it's too loud inside the hall.

"I can watch them," The boy offers, sort of perking up like a moping flower kissed by sunlight - it only becomes obvious then  how tall he is. Rightfully, he should be distrustful. He struggles, but his phone buzzes in his hand another time and Uhtred reluctantly hands his daughter over. He watches as the boy gingerly supports her weight, Stiorra's open mouth drooling on the boy's shoulder. He sways gently with Stiorra in his arms, bending and shifting like a reed in the wind.

"Uhtred?" He hears the boy call gently, "do you think you could help me keep an eye on your sister?"

"I can!" Junior answers eagerly.

"Clever boy," Uhtred can picture his son's wide smile, "I can be so forgetful - Oh goodness, where has she gone?"

"Right there," Junior begins to giggle, "Where? Uhtred are you trying to trick me?"

"There!" Junior squeals in laughter that Uhtred hadn't heard in weeks. It's a balm for his soul.

Uhtred answers Hild's incoming call, the phone pressed to his ear.

"How are you holding up?" Is her first question, he strives to be noncommittal with just about everyone but Hild. So, when he answers, he does so honestly, openly. He can hear the tightness in her throat.

"Did you want me to order something? I can be over in," there's rustle over the speaker, "twenty."

He smiles, he loves her all the more for the effort.

"Not tonight, but soon," He swears. He knows, despite everything he's going through, there are still people in his corner, his sister, Beocca, Hild: his relentless supporters.

"I know you're going to ignore me because you always do-"

"-I do not"

"But, have you considered hiring a sitter?"

"Hild," He sighs, he'd abhorred the idea for a time. His own fragmented upbringing left a general distrust of strangers that was easy to default to under duress.

They bicker for a bit, back and forth was their way and the normalcy alleviates some of the ache in his chest.

He wants to reject the idea of needing help, of shouldering responsibilities alone, of being anyone's burden. He rubs at his eyes, a cool sheen of rainwater on his skin.

Inside the soup kitchen, the scent of thyme and bay leaves and sweet carrots is in the air, the warmth in the room fells buttery in the comfort it provides. He can hear his son's voice, laughing, can hear other laughter too.

Stiorra's asleep on the stranger's shoulder. Little hands drowsily clinging to the brown fabric of the sweatshirt.

Hild's voice rattles in his head.

The boy's smile is wide, unbidden, so very youthful. He see's Uhtred and his smile dims, a coy curl of his lips lingers, like an echo, throat bobbing, tongue catching on pink lips, eyes like sapphires still dance.

"Papa!" Junior yelps, delighted, clinging to Uhtred's leg in an instant, "I counted more than Oz!"

"He did, I'm afraid - you're too clever for me." The boy answers, a sheepish way about him, he sways like a reed, right on over to Uhtred's side. Stiorra is very carefully handed over.

"Did you?" Uhtred asks, "How high?"

Junior makes a pensive little face, beside him, the boy, Oz, mouthes fifteen exaggeratedly.

"Oh! All the way up to fifteen!"

"Fifteen?" Uhtred gasps, "Auntie Hild isn't going to believe it."

The children had already been ready to leave before Hild had called and it doesn't take much to tug the lapels of his coat around Stiorra and hold out his hand for Junior.

The boy offers a polite smile, pink mouth pressed together, the scent of thyme and bay leaves and sweet carrots hanging on his sweatshirt, a patch of drool on his shoulder where Stiorra had slept.

"Well, um, goodnight." He says eventually, crouches down to bid a separate farewell to Junior. He rummages through the pocket of his sweatshirt, and pulls out a biscuit wrapped in wax paper.

"I nicked this from the kitchens," He admits, Junior looks affronted, scandalized, but the boy laughs, "It was supposed to be my treat for after, but," Junior's eyes go terribly wide, hopeful, "You did count to fifteen - so, I suppose, you've earned it."

"He can't, he's-" Uhtred begins, but that gangly boy looks up at him from the floor with smiling sapphire eyes and pink lips and says "It's gluten-free."

Uhtred feels...odd.

"Are you allergic as well?" He asks as Junior asks endlessly if he can eat his treat now.

The boy flushes, "Er, no, I-" He rises to his full his height smoothly, hands pushed off the faded knees of his jeans, "I grabbed it after I saw you come in, Gis-" His jaw tightened, tendons flutter under the pressure, "Another volunteer mentioned how someone in her family also had Celiac's..."

The odd feeling persists, its pressure, its hands stemming the flow of blood the open wound the passing of wife had left in him.

"Anyway, I-I only wanted to pay my respects," the boy sighs, flaxen head hanging before he offers a small, sad smile.

"Wait." Uhtred calls, his voice carves through the air.

The stranger turns towards him again, fluorescent lights catch on the delicate braid of a golden chain just barely visible around his neck, tendons jump in neck and the chain dances like motes of sunlight.

"What's your name, boy?"

Those pink lips part in a gentle smile.

"Osferth, sir." He answers.

"Osferth," He repeats sagely.

Hild's voice rattles in his head. Uhtred extends his hand and the boy examines it before shaking hands with him. The touch is soft and lingers in his palm like silk.

"Good to finally meet you."

This was just a silly little headcanon/drabble (1.8k still counts as a drabble, right?) idea, but like, idk, i might be tempted to add more?

#my writing #my drabbles #the last kingdom #osferth #tlk osferth #uhtred of bebbanburg #uhtred ragnarsson #my headcanons #modern au

[urkapaw]

turnabout for tomorrow is absolutely sending me rn

#i just. athena :( phoenix :( apollo :( #im really liking this case EXCEPT for #miles being just. so cold about athena #like he starts out being all ‘im trying to be sensitive’ but then he just kinda drops it and digs in his heels abt her guilt #and like. yeah we’ve seen him act like that before its not surprising what IS surprising is just #how similar her situation is to his own #like. he spent fifteen YEARS having nightmares about killing his dad and hes just. #not even a little hesitant about all this? or like?? even a little sympathetic??? #hes like the one character who truly gets how conflicted and confused shes feeling and he doesnt seem to react to that at all #but otherwise im vibing so hard with this case #personal

[mayabooowrites]

Betrayal///J.P

Summary: Peter betrays you and James, hoping only James would have died.

You walk upstairs and see your husband smiling at the little boy baby fast asleep in the crib "Let him sleep James." You say and James looks over at you and smiles even wider seeing you, you just make him so happy your his amazing beautiful wife

"I know darling but look at his chubby cheeks so cute." James says as he was just so happy, he's been like this since Harry was born and Harry is now one so your wondering if this is gonna go to when Harrys a teen, James saying 'aww look at our fifteen year old sons cheeks so chubby and cute.' And Harry is just sitting there like why is he my dad

Maybe just maybe James will grow out of it before then and not do it when Harry is a teenager "I know he's cute but he needs to sleep ok?" You say and James nods and you drag him out of the room. You both spent most of the night not doing much, but Harry started to cry probably a nightmare

"I got it." James says kissing the top of your head and you smile as he walks upstairs and gets Harry, then walks downstairs and sits beside you on the couch "It's ok you can hangout with mommy and daddy until you fall back to sleep." James says as he rubs Harrys back as he had to get up and get a blanket for Harry, so he handed Harry to you

"Sweetie it's ok it's time to calm down and go to sleep." You say and James came back and wrapped the blanket around Harry as you calmed him down

"Maybe try getting the stuffed puppy Sirius got him, he loves it so maybe that will clam him down James." You say and James nods and thinks where Harry had it last

So James walks around the house trying to find it, he found it in Harrys crib where he put it so Harry could sleep, James just laughs at his absentmindedness 'Man having a kid really makes you forgetful huh?' James thinks as he grabs it and walks downstairs, and then gets Harrys attention "Look it's padfoot." James say and yes Sirius did name it after himself, he wouldn't allow you and James to call it anything different

Harry stopped crying as he looked at James as he tries to get harry laughing, which works and Harry starts laughing then hugs his stuffed animal

"Well I'm glad he's finally stopped crying." You say and James kisses Harrys forehead, then James kisses you and you kiss him back, you love your life so much, you got the best husband ever and the best kid ever and yesterday you found out your pregnant again, which you haven't told James yet you were gonna a different day, and make it special but your done waiting and decided to tell him now "James by the way I found out yesterday I'm pregnant." You say and James was shocked

"Wait really?" He says and you nod your head and James kisses you again and you were so happy, yes it's a bit too early to have another kid but well Harry will have a brother or sister close to his age to hangout with at least.

"I know were already stressed out enough with Harry, but at least he'll have a sibling close to his age to hangout with right?" You say and James nods as he was extremely happy, he just wanted a perfect happy life with you, and that's what he's getting he has you, Harry and now another one on the way best life ever

"I can't wait to tell remus, Sirius and peter about the baby this is amazing." James says as he couldn't wait to raise Harry and another kid with you, your his soulmate and he's so glad he found you and is with you, everyday is a gift for him to be with you and have this amazing life

"Well I was gonna make it more special but I decided who cares." You say and James nods he was just happy to know, he didn't care if it was a special way to tell him, he's just glad he knows that's all

"I love you so much y/n." James says as he caresses your cheek and you smile

"I love you too James." You say but then as James was about to kiss you again, a knock on the door was heard

James and you were confused who was here? And why? No one knows where you both are to protect you both, well expect peter also it was very late so why would peter be here?

But James opens the door holding his wand and sees a disheveled peter, he looked terrified you and James were obviously confused, why is peter here late in the night?

"You weren't followed right?" James asks and peter shakes his head no and James let's him inside the house, as James looks around outside and sees nobody, then walks inside and locks the door behind him "Oh peter hey y/ns pregnant again just wanted to say that, now why are you here?" James says as he seemed so happy and peter nods as he looks at you holding Harry smiling at Harry, you were so happy and peter hated it

"I.....See.......Congrats." Peter says as James wasn't looking, since Harry starting saying baby gibberish, and James looked over peter glares at him and stops when James looks back at peter

"Why are you here?" James says and peter doesn't answer which confused James and you so james asked again and finally peter answers

"I had a bad feeling, and came over to check on you three." Peter says and James nods

"Oh well we're good, you know the four of us." James says smiling at you and you chuckle "Harrys just having a rough night tonight happens, especially after he has a nightmare he doesn't get much sleep then, and well neither do we." James explains and peter nods as he kept looking out the window which you noticed, it was like he was looking for someone or waiting for someone?

Wait was he followed? If he was followed why did he lie and say he wasn't? Also why does he look like a mess? What is going on?

"Peter why are you a mess?" You ask seeing how terrible he looked and he smiled hearing the worry for him in your voice

'Voldemort just needs to kill James that's it I can get y/n out of here, I don't care what happens to Harry but as long as y/n is safe I don't care, y/n is all I care about she's all that matters to me.' Peter thinks and that's why he was here to see to it that James dies and you don't "Sorry I was so worried for you three for the past few days." Peter says and James hugs peter

"Your such an amazing friend peter." James says and peter felt like cringing when James said that, because peter was really only a good friend to you he doesn't care about James at all

'I wish y/n never met James then I'd be with her, I loved her first! So why does James get her? It's no fair.' Peter thinks as he felt so jealous of James he got the life he wants, you as his wife and kids with you, but no James get it like the spoiled brat he is 'James potter getting exactly what he wants, of course he always gets whatever he wants, he has y/n and a perfect life for his perfect self. Like why didn't y/n love me! I was always so nice to her, I was the one who was there for her for so long! But suddenly perfect James Potter comes into the picture and she's so in love with him then! It's no fair!' Peter thinks as he hated James the moment he found out you liked him and James liked you back, Peter was there when you were getting bullied by Slytherins for being a muggleborn but no you go for rich perfect James Potter

"Well do you want anything? Tea?" James asks and peter shakes his head

"I'm good no thanks prongs." Peter says as Harry had finally fallen back to sleep

"He finally fell asleep so please be quiet." You say and James looks over and smiles at Harry, and then he kisses your cheek then goes back to talking to peter who looked angry? Why is he angry

Peter looks out the window then sighed relieved which James looked confused but then the door was broken down, immediately James grabbed a hold of you and his wand

"Y/n get upstairs!" James yells and you were stunned for a second as you looked at the hooded figure

"James we need to leave!" You say and James pushes you upstairs as he held his wand ready to defend you and Harry

"Protect Harry I'll hold him off!" James yells so you could hear him "I LOVE YOU." James yells as well and he heard you tell I love you too be careful

James just looked at peter knowing he betrayed you and him

"I thought you were my friend peter." James says and peter laughs

"The moment you took y/n from me our friendship was gone." Peter says and James was confused he never took you from peter? You both were friends yes, but you both weren't like dating and then he came in and got you both broken up

"She was never yours peter, you were friends, if you had feelings maybe you should have confessed before I did, she wa never yours, she is her own person and can fall in love and be with anyone she wants, she's not an object stop acting like she is!" James says as he was shocked that Voldemort was just letting him and peter talk it out, what did he think they could talk it out before James dies? Well he's not planning on dying

"Once your dead James y/n is mine then." Peter says smiling and James frowns he's not dying, James will see Harry grow up and be able to grow old with you, he will love out the future you both planned together

"She'll never love you peter you betrayed us."

||||||||||

You were holding Harry in your arms tightly as you heard yelling and fighting downstairs, then it stopped after someone yelled the death curse

Then you heard footsteps walking up the stairs and down the hallway to the nursery

"Harry I love you so much, if I don't make this out alive at least you will, Sirius will take good care of you he's a bit immature but you'll be happy, I love you so much and daddy loves you so much too Harry, we'll see you again some day darling." You say as you put a hand where your other child was as tears welled up in your eyes

You lay Harry down in his crib as you look in the doorway and see Voldemort "I won't allow you to kill my son, I'm gonna protect him with my life, I'll die before you touch him." You say and he nods

"Then die." He says as he raises his hand you take a deep breathe. You know your not gonna let him kill your son you'll die before that happens, even if your gonna have to sacrifice the baby in you, as long as the one that's been born stays alive it doesn't matter, Harry is way more important then the baby inside you right now, you'd willing die for Harry anyday, you did wish it could have become it's own person but well that won't happen will it? Your gonna die and if James is still alive then he can protect Harry, but if he's not which you don't believe he is, he'd be here now protecting you if he was, so now Sirius will protect Harry like the good godfather he is, you know Sirius will protect Harry the best he can. And you hope peter rots in hell for betraying you and James

"I love you so much Harry I'm sorry I won't be there for you to watch you grow up, I love you more then anything goodbye my baby." You say as you then hear avada kedavra and then peter yelling don't kill her

|Peters pov|

The dark lord had killed y/n and I fall to the ground crying as I held y/ns lifeless body, no! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! She didn't have to die! She could have lived, I love her and James was dead she would have loved me back I know it, he promised to keep her alive for the potters whereabouts, he lied to me he killed her

I watch as then the dark lord try to kill Harry and it didn't work, I watched as he I guess died as I just held y/ns body close to me crying, I can't handle it she's dead why is she dead, she's supposed to be alive right now. But it seems the only one who survived was Harry, which why did he survive the death curse? Why couldn't y/n have been that lucky to survive it! Why didn't she survive she shouldn't have died!!!!!

I see Harry sitting there saying some baby gibberish but I stopped as he then talked I guess his first word was said

"Momma." Harry says looking at y/n and he kept saying momma over and over, like he knew something was wrong with his mom making me cry even more, she was supposed to stay alive! I did this all so I could be with y/n and Voldemort betrayed me! He killed her! He said he wouldn't kill her! But he did why did he kill her? Because y/n said she'd rather die then let Voldemort touch Harry? Is that why?

'She wasn't supposed to die, she wasn't! She was supposed to live, I betrayed them for nothing but to lose y/n, why did he kill her? He promised! He promised he wouldn't kill her if I say where Harry is so he could kill him, and now I'm stuck with James's last world to me forever in my mind, and y/ns screaming before she died I'm stuck with that as well, y/n won't ever love you because you betrayed us, and I orphaned Harry I'm the reason he won't grow up with parents, and now y/ns dead and it's all my fault I betrayed them, and now there's nothing I can do to bring them back.'

#fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #hp fanfic #james potter x y/n #james potter x you #james potter fanfiction #james potter x reader #james potter #potter #hogwarts #James fanfiction #marauders #marauders fanfiction #marauders x reader #xreader fanfiction #xreader #x reader #james x reader #james x y/n #james x you

[mayraki]

“You deserve love”(3)

jj x reader

not my gif! credits to the owner.

summary: after an unexpected event on a rainy night, two friends find out they have feelings for each other.

MASTERLIST

“You think this looks good?” You asked Kie after trying one of her dresses for the fancy party.

“You look hot as fuck.” She said after giving you a look and standing next to you in front of the large mirror she had in her room.

You were in Kie’s huge room, because after trying to find something to wear for this party, you came to the conclusion it was pretty useless to look in your closet. You’ve never been to a party like that, so you didn’t have much fancy clothes.

So, after calling Kie for help she accepted excited and told you to come immediately to her house. After trying like four dresses you decided to wear the one you had on. It was a tight dark red dress that ended to where your thighs started and with very thin straps.

“Don’t you think is very short?” You asked Kie when you turned to her.

“Believe me, this is nothing compared to the dresses the girls use in this parties.”

You looked at yourself in the mirror again, you had to admit, you did look pretty hot. You were not used to seeing you like this, you were always wearing shorts and big shirts. Casual was your type of style.

“Well, who knows? Maybe I’ll get a kook boyfriend and mentally manipulate him so I can get all of his money.” You shrugged and then Kie give you a little smile.

“You’re scary sometimes, you know that?” She asked and you winked at her. “Here, have this.” she reached down and grabbed a pair of black high heels.

You shook your head “Uh oh, I’m not wearing high heels.”

“If you don’t use them, they won’t let you in and bye bye free food.” She said and you sighed.

“Fine.” You sat down in Kie’s bed and started to tied the shoes. You stood up and the feeling of being more tall made you lose balance for a bit. But when you got used to it, you walked towards the mirror and gave yourself a look to the finish outfit. Your legs looked longer than ever and the tight dress somehow became more shorter. Your hair fell in your back and the slight makeup Kie did for you made your skin glow. “Ok, I’m kinda feeling myself right now.” You said giving a spin and Kie let out a little laugh.

“Guys!” Kie’s mom yelled from downstairs “We’re going to get going! Don’t be late!”

“Ok!” Kie said and rolled her eyes. “My mom thinks that going to the party many minutes before it starts is going to affect our reputation.” She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. “I hate this stupid flower crown my mom makes me wear. If the guys see me like this I will never hear the end of it.” She said and let out a little laugh.

That’s when you remember what JJ told you, that her and Pope have obviously something going on. Kie and you have been friends since you could remember, you were kind of hurt if something was going on and she didn’t told you. So you figured this was the time to ask her.

“Hey, is there something going on between you and Pope?” She quickly turned to look at you and it took her a second to think of an answer.

“Y/n, you know the rule.”

“Yeah, but sometimes rules are meant to be broken.” You said and shrugged your shoulders.

She slowly turned closer to you and give you a smirk “Y/n, is there something you want to tell me?”

“What? No! I was talking about you a and Pope. Don’t turn this about me!”

“Well, I don’t know! Your question was out of the blue. You want to tell me something? Something that has to do with a boy named JJ?” She asked and she crossed her arms around her chest.

“JJ? Wha- No!” You said and were confused about how the conversation turned to you and JJ.

“He’s been flirting a lot with you lately.” She said. “More than before. You have to be pretty stupid to not see that he has a crush on you.”

You opened your moth offended “I’m not stupid! And JJ does not have a crush on me!” She give you a smile and you took out your tongue to her like a child.

“We have to go before my mom kills us for getting there late, but this conversation isn’t over!” She walked out the room.

“I should say that since I was asking about you and Pope!” You said. Clearly Kie was avoiding the question and found the way to turn it around.

You followed Kie downstairs with a thought in your mind. Did Kie really think that JJ had a crush on me or did she just said that to escape the question? The thought of JJ having a crush on you made you feel little butterflies in your stomach.

It’s not that I like him but... wait, do I like him? Those thoughts were now in your mind and you tried to brush them off while Kie was trying to find her keys.

“Hey pretty ladies!” You heard some guys whistling at you and Kie. You were ready to say something back at them but then you noticed it was the Pogues.

You walked up to them and you noticed that they were observing you and Kie very carefully.

“What? You guys never seen a girl in a dress before?” You joked and they looked up at you with embarrassment.

You noticed that JJ didn’t look up and was still looking at your really exposed legs and your curves in that dress. You felt his gaze and your felt your nerves go up, you never had him look at you like that and you didn’t know how to act.

“What are you doing here?” Kie asked concerned about the fact that they were on Figure Eight.

“We wanted to let you fancy girls know that we’re having a party on the beach tonigh, so when you are free to leave, you know were to go.” John B said and you two nodded.

“Thank god.” Kie said. You let out a little laugh and you noticed that Kie gave Pope a little smirk.

You crossed your arms at her but she didn’t noticed. You turned to JJ who was looking at your chest, and not hiding it very well.

“Hey, blondie, my eyes are up here.” You pointed at them and JJ quickly nodded and scratched the back of his head.

“Yep, noted.”

You followed Kie to her car and drove off to the party. Once you arrived, you started to notice all the fancy people who were entering the big house, and immediately felt that you didn’t belong there.

“Food!” You said once you entered the house and Kie let out a little laugh.

The party was slow, it feel like time wasn’t moving. The music was awful so you couldn’t even dance. Kie’s parents were talking about some bussiness with some people and you noticed that Kie was as bored as you were.

“Wanna go to the backyard?” She asked and you quickly nodded.

“Whatever to get out of this.” She wrapped her arm with yours and walked to the backyard of the house, that looked like a whole park. “I think this is bigger than my own house.” You said while looking at your surroundings.

“Look who we have here.” A voice said behind you and you rolled your eyes when you recognised it.

“Rafe.” You said when you turned to him.

“You look good tonight, Kiara.” He said walking closer to you and Kie, followed by Topper and Kelce.

“Rafe, don’t you have something better to do?” Kie said annoyed.

Rafe turned to you and gave you a little smirk. “You look hot too, Y/n. Too bad you decided to be a Pogue.”

Your father’s bussiness took off a while back and you weren’t a ‘Pogue’ since you were twelve years old. That’s why he needed to take bussiness trips a lot. But you weren’t a kook either. You didn’t care to talk about it with the rest of the group. Money wasn’t something that you wanted. You wanted to hang out with your friends and your weren’t going to let money separate you.

“I didn’t ask for your comment, Rafe. Now, go away.” You said and wrapped your arm to Kie’s arm and started to walk away.

“Wow, are going to forget that fast the days that we spent together? You’re hurting me sweetheart.” He said behind you and stopped quickly.

“I’m gonna kill him.” Kie said and turned to Rafe.

“Hey, stop.” You said but Kie was fast and she was already closer to Rafe.

“Why don’t you stop bothering us and go fuck yourself.” She said and you heard him and his friends let out a big laugh.

“No need to do it myself. I have your friend to do it for me.” He said and you felt your anger grow inside.

“That’s enough!” You said but when you were about to get closer to him Kie’s father stopped you.

“What’s going on here?” He asked.

“Nothing, dad.” Kie said and walked to him “Can we go?”

“Your mother is going to kill me if I let you leave the party.”

“I’ll do the dishes when mom asks you.” She said and her father hesitated. “Please.”

“Ok. But be home before this party is over.” Kie hugged him and wrapped your arm around hers and walked out the party before Rafe could do anything else.

“I can’t believe you had a thing with that asshole.” Kie said while driving to the beach.

“I was younger and stupid.” You shrugged your shoulders and sighed.

You couldn’t believe yourself either. You were fifteen and in love. You couldn’t see his truth colors. It started as a love story but then it turned into a nightmare story. All of this happened before there wasn’t so much rivalry between the Kooks and the Pogues. The guys didn’t knew the whole story, but Kie did. The way he treated you, how he got his anger out with you. How his reputation was way more important than you. That’s when he made you chose between the Kooks and the Pogues. Of course, you could never abandoned your friends. So you chose them but that costed a broken heart. But now you were thankful that it was over and you decided that. You couldn’t be more happy.

You got out of Kie’s car once you two arrived at the beach were the party was. You noticed your friends and walked towards them.

“The life of the party is here.” You said and let your arm go around John B’s shoulders.

“Finally!” Pope said and hugged Kie.

“Beer! Beer! Beer!” JJ said while walking towards the group and he locked eyes with you. “Y/n!” He walked closer to you and handed you a beer bottle without breaking eye contact. “See, I do know that your eyes are up there.” He said and gave you a quick kiss on your forehead.

You rolled your eyes and let out a little laugh. You took of your heels and started to hold them in your hand. The beer was cold and you enjoyed the feeling of it touching your lips.

The music was loud and Kie made you go with her to the were the people were dancing. After a couple of songs with Kie, you decided to go after another beer bottle.

As you were walking with your shoes in one hand and an empty beer bottle in the other, you noticed JJ talking to a tourist very closely. She touched his shoulders and your stomach turned. You didn’t understand why you felt like that and a part of your body wanted you to be the one who was touching his shoulder. He locked eyes with you and you didn’t know what to do. So you tried to ignore your feelings and pretended to be watching an invisible watch on your wrist, and nodded. “On time” you said and he let out a little laugh.

You looked at where the beer bottles were and tried to focus on the party and not in the fact that you were feeling jealous. As you opened the beer bottle you felt an arm go around your shoulders.

“Is this JJ or Jack?” You asked once you saw JJ next to you.

“Who’s this Jack guy? Do I have to get jealous or something?” He asked and you let out a little laugh.

“Maybe.” You said and gave him a wink. He opened his mouth offended and you gently punched him in the arm. “What happened to the tourist you were talking to?” You asked once you sat down on a tiny stairs the beach had.

“Not my type.” He said and shrugged his shoulders.

“You have a type?” You asked jokingly raising your left eyebrow. JJ let out a little laugh and locked eyes with you. He wanted to say something but then he stopped. He slowly went down to your lips and you felt your stomach turned. He looked up and then to the people dancing.

You felt a pain in your hands and looked down at your shoes. You sighed and started to tied one of them in your foot.

“Isn’t that going to make it difficult to walk on the sand?” JJ said and you finished putting on shoe.

“I got tired of holding them.” You shrugged.

“I’ll hold them for you.” You looked up to him and he had a little smile on his face.

“You don’t have to. Beside, I already putted one on.”

“Let me.” He got up and kneeled down in front you.

He grabbed your foot that had the shoe on and you felt your skin rise when you felt his hands touching your lower leg. He started to untied it and you noticed he was very concentrate. His lips were tense and his hand was still gently grabbing your lower leg. His hair was messy and some of it was falling on his face. You’ve never felt more attracted to him than right now. But you didn’t want to feel like that. So once he was over, you stood up and looked down.

“It’s getting late. I probably should get going, thank you.” You grabbed your shoes and started to walk towards your house, but an arm around your shoulders stopped you.

“You didn’t think that a was going to let you go alone, did you?” He said with a smile on his face.

The walk was silent. All you could hear was the air blowing and the trees moving. You didn’t know what to say. Should you talk about surf? That was always a win with JJ. You were about to say something but JJ cut out off.

“Was the party fun?” He asked you.

“No, it was pretty lame. The only good thing was Kook food.” You said and he let out a little smile.

“You can call me next time and I’ll save you.” You let out a laugh and JJ looked at you offended. “I could!”

“Oh, baby, I know. But not before those Kooks have your head in their plates.”

“I could fight them.” He shrugged and you gave him a smile.

“Yeah, sure, five against one. Sure, blondie.”

“Stop calling me blondie!” He said and you let out a big laugh. “Or I’m going to start calling you..” he started to think and you smiled at him.

“Yeah, take your time. Blondie.” You said and started to walk faster than him.

“Y/n!” He let out a laugh and you kept walking faster to annoy him. He gently grabbed your arm and pulled making you turn around to face him. You were extremely close to his body and the air that was coming out of your nose was mixing with his.

He got even closer and looked down at your lips. Her let go of your arm and gently grabbed your waist, making you take a step closer and he touched his forehead with yours. You closed your eyes at the enjoyment of his closeness. He was about to close the space between your faces when you heard someone walking behind you.

“This is new!” A familiar voice yelled.

Rafe.

***

PART 4

#rudy pankow x reader #rudy pankow imagine #rudy pankow #jj imagine #jj x reader #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank x you #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank imagine #jj #jj maybank #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks netflix #outer banks imagine #outer banks #obx imagine #obx fanfiction #obx netflix #obx

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch49: An Old Friend

Intro: After five years of more or less domestic bliss, Katie’s fear that their peace will be one day shattered comes to fruition as a man they long thought dead appears at the compound.

Warnings: Bad Langauge. Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

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

A/N: And so we begin the Endgame timeline...and as with all the parts, it has it’s own little banner as made by the talented @angrybirdcr​ who’s made another lovely edit for me here!

Chapter 48 Part 2

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

  May 2023

“Emmy this room is an utter disgrace!” Steve said exasperatedly as he looked around at the various items of clothing scattered around her bedroom. DVDs lay on the floor instead of in the designated rack, the bed was unmade and various school books were tossed onto the rug instead of at her desk.

“Chill Dad.” She mumbled as she sat cross legged, tapping at her tablet, music blaring from her stereo. “Chill?” He shot her a look “Seriously, we spent a fortune doing this room up last month. Get it tidied.” “Yeah, yeah.”

Steve grit his teeth, jaw twitching with annoyance before, after a moment’s deliberation, he crossed the room and turned off her music.

“Hey I was listening to that!”                                  

“Well, now you’re gonna listen to me.” He stood cross armed looking down at her. “I mean it Emily, get this sorted now, or you can forget going to Philadelphia with Brooke.”

“But, it’s all organised, we leave first thing in the morning!” “It can be unorganised.” His threat was simple but it had the desired effect.

“Fine.” She groaned, tossing her tablet to one side. “Thank you.” Steve replied, sarcastically before he left the room, shutting the door behind him. He made his way downstairs to the kitchen where Katie was prepping lunch, Jamie sat in a chair at the table on a booster seat, colouring in an activity book.

“Look, Daddy!” he pointed to his picture. Steve leant over, one arm on the back of the chair and glanced down at the elephant his son had coloured in purple.

“A purple elephant.” He nodded “Creative.”

“Like in Dumbo!”

“Of course.” Steve smiled, Jamie’s Disney film of the moment. It was one Steve could remember seeing at the theatre before he joined the army. It still creeped him out slightly, the scene with all the drunk elephants. So much so he was convinced the animator had been on some kind of mad drug fuelled trip when he drew it. He ruffled his son’s hair and then moved over to where Katie was slicing up a cucumber for the salad, reaching round to steal a piece as he dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“She tidying it?” Katie asked, her eyes not moving from her task.

“Only because I threatened to stop her going to Philly.” he snorted, leaning on the counter, looking at his wife. He reached into the salad bowl to snatch a piece of pepper and Katie slapped his hand. He grinned as she looked at him.

“Bet that went down well.” “Don’t care. Her attitude stinks.”

“She’s a teenage girl, Steve” Katie smiled. “That’s not the point.” “Honey, just shut the door if the mess bothers you that much.”

Steve sighed, and rubbed at his temple. “I’m surprised the door even opens with the amount of crap on the floor.” Katie gave a little chuckle before she looked at him. “Can you get me the dressing out of the fridge?”

He pushed himself off the counter and opened the fridge. “Caesar or Ranch?”

“Caesar.” She nodded after a moment’s deliberation. “Oh, and the cooked chicken please.” Grabbing them, Steve turned back to Katie and passed her the items, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Do you think I was too strict?”

Katie placed the knife down and looked at him. “Stevie, stop second guessing yourself.” She reached up to run a hand down his cheek “You’re a great dad. All I’m saying is it’s not out of the ordinary for her to have an attitude. She’s fifteen. I was a nightmare at that age, as I’m sure Tony will delight in telling you.”

“Speaking of your brother, what time is he expecting us to drop Jamie off?” “Oh he’s coming to pick him up.” Katie said. “They’re in town anyway so said he’ll be here later this afternoon. I just hope Emmy does as you told her.” “Huh?”

“Because if she doesn’t, you’re gonna have to carry through with your threat. And that means you’ve just flushed our night alone down the lav.” Steve let out a groan, he hadn’t thought about that.

A little while later Katie called Emmy down for lunch. She appeared in the kitchen with a scowl and Katie saw Steve bristle slightly so she decided to get in there first and back him up.

“Straighten your face, young lady.” She ordered sternly as Emmy sat down. “Your dad’s right. That room is an absolute dump.” Emmy sighed and reached over for a warm pitta bread, piling her plate with the salad before she took a deep breath.

“Sorry. I’ll tidy it, I promise.” Steve looked at Katie who gave him a wink as they began to eat.

“Emmy I colourded you a picture.” Jamie pointed to the book which was to his right, out of the way of his plate.

Emmy smiled, and looked at it. “Aww dude that’s awesome. Is it to pin up on my board?”

He nodded and she bopped his nose gently, smiling back.

“I staying at Moo’s tonight?” He asked, turning to his mom.

“Yeah.” Katie looked at him as he picked up a piece of the pitta bread she had sliced into smaller strips for him “Is that okay?” He nodded. “Uncle Nee gives me juice pops. The red ones are my bestest.” “I thought you liked the blue ones?” Steve asked, swallowing his food. “Because they’re the same colour as Cap’s Suit?”

“Red ones better.” Jamie nodded. “Like Iron Man.”

Steve looked at Katie who was biting her lip, trying not to laugh at the look of utter indignation on his face.

“This is good, Mom.” Emmy nodded at the food on her plate. “Better than the incinerated breakfast dad gave us.” Steve half-heartedly glared at his daughter. “I burnt one egg.”

“One too many.” She quipped, and Katie grinned, reaching over for the jug of water. Steve beat her to it and poured her a glass, sliding it over to her before he did the same for Emmy, Jamie already had his in a tippee-cup by his plate. 

“Thanks.” Katie smiled at him before she turned to Emmy “Hey, did you get your grade back for your English essay last week?”

“Oh, yeah, I got an A.” she shrugged.

“Emmy that’s great.” Steve nodded at her, smiling.

“Yeah well don’t get used to it. I don’t think I’ll get one again. I may have upset my tutor.”

“Why?” Katie frowned “What did you do.”

“Well, he’s assigned us a book that is totes inappropriate.”

“What book?” Katie interrupted to ask

“The Colour Purple. I mean it’s good but…”

“Yeah, that is kinda heavy…” Katie frowned, having read the book herself. “What’s the angle?” “Race, gender, and bigotry in the early twentieth century. ”Emmy shrugged “I would have thought To Kill A Mockingbird would have been better but when I voiced my opinion Mr Tozer didn’t like it.”

“So what did you say to upset him?” Steve arched his brow.

“Exactly that. And then he told me it was his way or the highway. Don’t worry, I refrained from calling him Hitler.”

“I guess we should be pleased then.” Steve snorted. Emmy flashed him a grin and went back to eating.

The family made chatter for the rest of their lunch until Jamie poked at his mom’s arm.

“Yes, Sweetie?” “I done now. Fankoo.” He grinned, his plate completely cleared.

“You’re welcome, honey” Katie ruffled his hair “Cake?” He asked hopefully.

“What do you say?” Steve prompted gently.

“Please.” Jamie nodded.

“Do you think about anything but food?” Emmy looked at the small boy.

“You know he doesn’t.” Katie sighed. “He takes after your father in that respect.” “That’s not all I think about.” Steve grinned, as he raised a suggestive eyebrow at his wife over his glass of water.

“Yeah well, thankfully he is way too young for that.” Katie winked as she stood up to get the fruit cake she had made the day before to cut everyone a slice. As she did, she had to bite back the smirk as Emmy sighed at Steve’s blatant sexual reference.

“Gross.”

****

Emmy did tidy her room, so she was dropped off at the coffee shop early evening with her bag which Steve was sure contained more clothes than she needed for the four nights she was away. He made a comment to that effect and the fifteen year old just rolled her eyes and explained she needed two outfits a day,  just in case. Just in case of what, Steve had no idea, and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know if truth be told. He made small talk with Jennifer over a coffee for a while, instructed his daughter to behave and loudly told Jennifer that if she was any trouble to pack her home straight away. Brooke rolled her eyes but gave him a hug goodbye anyway as he left.  By the time he had gotten home, Jamie had already been picked up leaving the two parents alone. Steve had been planning to take Katie out, but when he suggested it she shook her head and pulled a magnum of Champagne out of the fridge and held it up.

“I got a better idea.” She grinned “Hot tub party for two and take out.” “Champagne, pizza, you in a swimsuit.” Steve grinned, pulling her to him. “Baby, I’m sold.”

Needless to say there wasn’t much relaxing done in the hour they were in the tub, quite the opposite if truth be told. Hands and lips were all over the place, pawing at skin and kisses being exchanged with avaricious force. By the time they’d called for pizza, Katie was feeling thoroughly defiled as she sat on the sofa, wearing one of Steve’s button downs and tore into a large slice of pepperoni as if she hadn’t eaten for a week. Steve grinned, tucking her damp hair behind her ear and dropped a kiss to the side of her head. They settled down to watch a film, but Katie was flat out before it was even ten minutes in and she didn’t even stir bar to murmur something to Steve when he carried her up to their room.

Steve woke the next morning, wrapped around his wife, her warm body pressed to his chest, one arm under her neck, the other draped over her waist. He sighed in contentment, it was bliss, knowing there was nothing to get up for. No constantly hungry three year old to feed, no lunches to make, no school runs, no meetings until later, nothing. Snuggling into her closer, the arm that wasn’t trapped underneath her swept her hair away from her face, before his lips skated over her jaw and down the side of her neck. As her eyelids fluttered his large, gentle hand trailed down the curve of her hip and slid between her legs, caressing the inside of her thigh. Katie took a deep breath, shifting automatically, still half asleep, spreading her legs a little wider. She rolled her head over her shoulder, blinking and she was met with those blue eyes she loved so much, the owner wearing a devilish smirk.

“Morning.” He rasped, his voice low with sleep and desire.

“Good morning.” She grinned, biting her lip as his hand moved back up over her stomach to her breasts underneath the shirt she was wearing and he began to tease her softly, causing her to moan as he rolled a nipple between his fingers, the sensation burning in her stomach. She rolled onto her back and Steve settled between her legs, her arms winding around his neck as he captured her lips with his, soft and slow before he pulled back to peel his shirt off her body, tossing it down the side of the bed. He turned his gaze downwards, eyeing up her blue lacy panties before he groaned and lowered himself over her again, kissing her and sliding his tongue along hers. Katie wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding against him to get any friction that she could. His hands trailed down her sides and under her back, fingers gently grabbing at the waistband of the lace before he broke the kiss and unhooked her legs from around his waist. He gently pulled her underwear down, shimmying under the covers as he removed the garment and then kissed up her right leg, his lips hot as he made his way from her ankle up to her inner thigh, pushing her legs open wider.

His actions were controlled, slow. There was no rush after all. His mouth and tongue gently worked her to distraction, flicking at her clit over and over. She was a writhing mess within minutes, her hand fisted in his hair, the other grasping at the sheets, the noises flowing freely because they didn’t have to be quiet. Her fingers tightened on his scalp and she gave a cry of his name as her hips bucked upwards, her legs tensing slightly before they flattened against the bed, her breathing heavy and ragged. With a smirk at how easy he could undo her, Steve moved back up the bed, one hand pushing his sleep pants down. Without a word he lined himself up with her, letting out a loud groan as she slid a hand between them, stroking him before guiding him inside. He moved slowly, deliberately, until every inch of him was sheathed. Katie’s eyes rolled back as he stretched her, her groan was loud as he laced his fingers into hers. Steve let out a shaky little whimper as he moved his pelvis slowly, pushing back against her hands.

Every thrust was deep, slow, measured, his mouth moving from hers to her jaw, neck, collar bone. The house was quiet, nothing but the sound of soft cries and kisses could be heard as Steve continued his thrusts, whilst his wife purred into his ear, and he let go of her hands to bring one of her legs up round his hip. She let out a cry at the change of angle as he picked up the pace slightly, but not much, Katie’s nails raking down his back as her pleasure rose. The sensation made him shudder and he doubled his efforts, her hands sliding down, grabbing at his flexing ass, urging him on and, as always, he was happy to oblige.

“Shit, Stevie,” the cry of his name turned into a complete babble which died in her throat as she tightened and pulsed around, him, her body shaking with pleasure.

“God, Doll,” Steve was right behind her as he came with a low moan, his hips thrusting until he was completely spent, his head buried in the side of his wife’s neck.

Katie tipped her head back in satisfaction, sighing softly as Steve pushed himself up slightly. He gently ran his nose up her throat, taking her bottom lip between his and he let out a loud, satisfied sigh of his own. He loved his kids, beyond anything but man he enjoyed being able to take his goddamned time making love to his wife without the patter of little feet across the hall meaning they were about to be interrupted. “Baby,” he said softly, his lips gently smoothing the skin underneath her ear “Hmmm?” She asked, her hands creeping into his hair as her head rolled to the side, eyes still closed in pure bliss. “Look at me, kitten.” She obliged, and emerald green met ocean blue as she held her husband’s gaze. He gave her a soft smile, and she reciprocated, the affection on his face blatantly evident. “I love you,” he said, as she reached up and gently brushed the longer strands of his hair back over his forehead, “more than you can ever know”

“Will that still be the case when I’m old, grey and wrinkly but you still look like you’re straight out of GQ magazine?”

Steve frowned as he looked at her, this wasn’t the first time she had mentioned that. He shook his head and sighed softly, unable to do anything but repeat what he told her the last time she’d raised the issue.

“I told you baby girl.” he gave her lips a quick peck, “it’s me and you till the end of the line.”

After a lazy breakfast, Katie headed off to collect Jamie from Tony’s and Steve made his way into Manhattan for the two support groups of the afternoon. The first one was always the busiest and it took a little longer this week as they had a few new faces. This didn’t surprise Steve, people were still five years later coming to terms with opening up about their heartache or problems, but the core of the group were always welcoming. He had an hours break before the second, slightly quieter group so he took a walk. Their air was damp and there was a gloomy fog descending over the city, making it darker than it would normally be for the time of day, but it wasn’t cold. He grabbed a coffee from the shop round the corner and headed back to start the second meeting.

The meetings always followed the same format. There was ten or so minutes of everyone arriving, grabbing refreshments, saying hello and then they would form the usual circle and Steve would start the discussions with a chat about something he’d done or seen that week that was positive before moving to something he’d done or seen that week that wasn’t so positive, and then invite other people to comment and do the same, gently coaxing them into opening up.

“So, I went on a date the other day.” A man named David sighed. “First time in five years. I didn’t know what to talk about.”

“What did you talk about?” Steve pressed gently, patient as ever.

“Same old crap, you know? How things have changed. My job. His job. How much we miss the Mets,” David paused taking a breath, “then things got quiet. He cried as were serving the salads.”

“What about you?” Another man, Ian, asked hopefully.

“I cried,” David trailed off, “just before dessert,” There was a slight pause, “but I’m seeing him again tomorrow, so…”

Steve gave a small smile. “That’s great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn’t know where you were gonna come down. And that’s it, it’s those little, brave baby steps we gotta take, you know, to try and find purpose.” He paused and looked around the group, biting the inside of his cheek. “I went into the ice in forty-five right after I met the first woman I’d ever loved. Woke up seventy years later and met the love of my life. She gave me hope, she gave me a purpose, a reason to keep going in the crazy new world I’d found myself in.” He paused again and looked around at the attentive faces assembled in a circle. “You gotta move on. The world is in our hands. It’s left to us guys. We gotta do something with it. Otherwise, Thanos should have killed all of us.”

Steve let the meeting roll for a little longer, everyone discussing what he had said before it came to a natural end and, with a glance up, he saw Katie and Jamie pushing open the door, Katie holding a huge box full of brownies.

“Looks like you’re all in luck!” Steve nodded towards his wife as Jamie ran across to his father who smiled and swept him up into arms, planting a kiss onto his head before replacing him on the floor. He looked over at Katie and she smiled back, placing the box of treats down on the table. She often did this, popped into a few of his sessions over the week with some form of snack for them all when she had time, her way of helping out, and Steve loved her for it. 

Over the next ten minutes or so, various people drifted over to the side of the room, greeting Katie and grabbing a brownie. She gave David a hug and cheekily told him to behave on his next date as Steve wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead in greeting as they waved the man away.

“How long where you at the door?”

“Long enough.” She told him, knowing instantly why he was asking.

“I meant it.” He turned to look at her. “Every word you know.”

“I know, and for the record you’re the love of my life too.” She grinned “My husband, my baby daddy…” 

Steve smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. 

“Gross.” Jamie gagged, sticking his fingers in his mouth, an action he had learnt from Emmy.

There was a pause before Steve grabbed Jamie and launched into a tickle attack until the boy was screeching and running from his dad who chased him round the hall. Katie watched her boys as Jamie feinted left and Steve let him get away, before the little boy dived under a table and out the other side of it, cackling in a way so like his father.

“Don’t think that’s gonna save you, pal.” Steve easily vaulted the table, picking Jamie up, throwing him over his shoulder, patting his backside once with a large hand.

“Momma, help!” Jamie’s voice was punctuated with laughter and with a grin Katie strode forward and her hands went straight to Steve’s sides from behind, and she began to tickle him.

“Oh sh-stop it!” Steve cackled, his ridiculously ticklish nature was always his downfall. He let Jamie down as Katie continued her attack and he whipped round, grabbing her and spinning her round. He folded her arms across her chest, pinning her back to his front as he dropped his mouth to her ear.

“You’re gonna pay for that later.” “Promises, promises Captain.”

****

There was a presence to Katie’s right and she felt the soft weight of a hand against her cheek. It was too small to belong to her man, but the perfect size and weight to belong to her boy.

“James,” a soft, deep voice whispered, warning in the tone, “this is the second time I’ve told you and there won’t be a third. Leave your ma alone. She’s sleeping.”

Katie sighed and stretched. “It’s okay, I’m awake”  

Jamie giggled and surged forward giving her a peck before falling back onto his father’s pillow, "Morning Momma!”

“Good morning, Sweetie.” She yawned rolling onto her side, dislodging Lucky who had been asleep with his leg resting on the back of her knees.  As ever Jamie had his stuffed Cap bear with him, along with God knows how many other toys all which adorned Steve’s side of their enormous bed.

“Morning, Baby.” Steve bent over from behind her, pecking her cheek too.

“Hey.” She smiled, rolling her head to catch his lips, noticing his bare, damp chest from the shower. “What time is it?”

“Little past seven. Somebody-“ Steve glanced at Jamie, “-was awake at half Five.” “Not sleepy daddy.” “Really, I didn’t notice.” Steve replied, sardonically. Katie chuckled as Jamie frowned, the sarcasm utterly lost at him.

“Momma, we hided in the fort.”

Steve and Jamie had made a blanket fort in Jamie’s room last night in which they had hidden in for their bed time stories. Jamie had insisted they left it up, and considering it wasn’t in the way, Katie had been happy to oblige. Steve, who had gotten a lot better with dealing with the mess Jamie left around over the years had resisted the urge to fold away the blankets and his wife had pulled him out of the room when the pair of them had popped in to check on Jamie before he could change his mind.

“Mighty fine Fort it is too.” Steve ruffled his son’s hair.

“What time are your meetings today?” Katie asked, looking at Steve. His groups ran at different times during the week. This way, it made sure that there was a day or night everyone could attend at least one session a week.

“Last one finishes at four today. Why you ask?”

“Well, I thought seeing as we didn’t see Nat at the weekend, we should pop in.” “Auntie Nat-Nat, yay!” Jamie clapped his hands “Maybe she can come see my fort.” “You should tell her about it.” Steve nodded, before his attention turned to Katie. “Might convince her to leave the compound.” “Yeah, maybe.”

“What do you fancy for breakfast?” Steve swiftly changed the subject.

“I can bake some cinnamon rolls if you want?” “You don’t have to do that.” “I know, but they’re already made so just need to go in to the oven and I also I know someone id going to ask for pancakes and he isn’t having them three days on the run.” “Waffles?” Jamie whipped his head round, hopefully.

“No.” Katie shook her head. “Cinnamon rolls or cereal, your choice.”

“Can I have both?”

“You two will eat me out of house and home.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Yes, if you want both you can have both.”

“Cool, man.” Jamie nodded, in a way that was so like Emmy it made Steve turn back to face his wife from where he had ben stood at the dresser pulling out his clothes, a smirk on his face. The pair of them watched as their son announced he was going to get dressed and dropped onto the floor, heading out into the hallway, Lucky following.

Katie watched as Steve pulled on a pair of sweats and she cocked her head to one side.

“Did you seriously call me Jamie’s Ma before?”

Steve grinned. “Sorry.” “Makes me sound like I’m ninety” she snorted.

“Try actually being ninety.” Steve scoffed, and Katie laughed as he started to crawl over her in the bed, pushing her back gently.

“Hate to break it to you, Captain Badass, but you’re actually a hundred and five.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” Steve muttered gently, his lips pressing to hers. She happily melted into the kiss her hands straying up and down his bare chest, before she pulled away knowing that if they carried on she’d be wanting a lot more.

“Stop it.”

“What?”

“This.” Katie pouted.

“I only wanted a kiss.” Steve looked at her, eyebrow raised. “You have a dirty mind, Mrs Rogers.” “Years of being with you.” She shrugged and Steve laughed, standing up. As he headed across the room Katie couldn’t resist one last quip. “Nice ass…daddy” Steve turned round, a wicked grin on his face as he held his arms out at either side of him, as he walked backwards for a few steps. “It’s all yours, momma.” He smirked, before turning round and heading out to help Jamie get dressed.

The rest of Katie’s day was pretty much the same as it always was. She dropped Jamie in at the day-care and headed up to her office for her fifteen minute start up meeting with Soray. After going  over her diary for the day, she spent most of the morning sifting through the mountain of emails and responding to the ones she needed to. After a quick chat with Emmy at lunchtime, the girl enthusiastically telling her all about how her and Brooked had run up the Rocky steps and were eating a tonne of Philly cheesesteak, Katie headed up to the boardroom for the Monthly Financial Review. Escaping at little after three, she picked Jamie up and headed to the store to grab something she could make at the compound for dinner. Once Steve was home they all jumped in the car to make the hours drive up state owards the compound.

Steve drove easily down the highway, one hand on the steering wheel, the other laying on the arm rest in between the front seats, whilst next to him Katie hummed along to the John Legend playlist that was playing. Steve cruised the Audi onto the bridge which would take them out of Manhattan and frowned gently as he noticed that the cars ahead were all coming to a halt. As Steve slowed the car down, Katie too narrowed her eyes as people started getting out of their cars, heading to the side of the bridge, pointing.

“Wait here.” Steve instructed, climbing out of the car, Captain mode engaged.

“What’s happening?” Jamie asked.

“Daddy’s gone to see.” Katie turned to smile at him before she turned back, watching Steve approach the side of the bridge and speak to the nearest man before looking down. His mouth dropped opened and he turned, jogging back to the car.

“You’re not gonna believe this!” He shook his head, excitement all over his face as Katie climbed out of the car. “Come see.” He opened the back door of the car and unstrapped Jamie from his seat. Picking him up in his arms, Steve made his way to the side of the bridge, wife by his side and he pointed downwards.

Katie felt herself gasp at the sight- a small pod of whales leisurely making their way through the Hudson River.

“Wow.” She whispered.

“What are they?” Jamie asked

“Whales.” Steve replied. “Humpbacks, I think.”

Steve tried to keep the smile on his face genuine, but he hated it when Jamie saw something out of place in the new world that he was born into which would have been perfectly normal in the world that they once knew. Whilst a pod of whales in the Hudson was an astounding sight for sure, and would have been unheard of even before the Snap, the fact that it was Jamie’s first time ever seeing a whale made him slightly sad. They had been a pretty common sight around the ocean waters in and around the bays leading out into the North Atlantic. That was until Thanos had killed half of them.

Jamie giggled and pointed out that the biggest whale was being followed closely by a slightly smaller one, and then an even smaller one after and then a tiny one.

“Daddy, Momma, Emmy and Jamie.” He smiled at Steve who chuckled, smoothing Jamie’s hair back.

“Come on Kiddo, let’s go see Auntie Nat” When they arrived at the Avengers compound, the sun was just beginning to set. Steve drove round to the rear entrance and the gate creaked open as the ANPR scanners recognised the car. He parked the car in their old designated spot before he collected the bag of ingredients from the trunk that Katie had bought to make dinner with. Together the three of them headed inside, FRIDAY welcoming them all as they made their way towards the living area, and they could hear Natasha closing up a meeting.

“Nat,” Rhodey’s voice was almost pleading but Nat cut him off

“Please.” She begged.

Katie had a feeling she knew what she was talking about, or rather who. She glanced at Steve as they rounded the last corner to the large meeting-slash-living room and it was then that Katie could hear Natasha trying to stifle her cries. At that point Jamie ran in and jumped onto his Aunt’s lap hugging her tightly.

“Don’t be sad, Auntie Nat-Nat.” He whispered, and Natasha took a deep breath, leaning her head against her nephew’s with her eyes closed hugging him back.

Steve leaned against the bookshelf for a moment as Katie walked into the room, taking the bag of ingredients off Steve as she took in the sight of Natasha’s dinner of a peanut butter sandwich which rest on top of the table.

“You know, I’d offer to cook you dinner, but you seem miserable enough.” Steve opened, looking down at her with a smile.

“So I’m gonna do it instead.” Katie smiled, holding up the bag she’d brought, dropping it onto the table. “Chicken stew, dumplings and chocolate cake for after.”

Natasha looked at them, a smile playing on her face as Katie sat down across from her. “You guys here just to feed me?”

“And to see a friend.” Steve shot back.

Natasha leaned back into her chair, Jamie still on her lap. “Clearly, your friend is fine.”

“Bull.” Katie mimicked her stance, eyeing her. Natasha avoided her gaze and the room fell silent.

“You know we saw a pod of whales as we were coming over the bridge.” Steve broke the silence, changing the subject.

“In the Hudson?” Natasha raised her head slightly, sounding impressed.

“There was a Jamie whale and a daddy whale and a momma whale and an Emmy one!” Jamie gushed and Nat smiled.

“I haven’t seen whales in the Hudson ever, even before.”

"Well, there’s fewer ships, cleaner water.” Steve shrugged

Natasha sighed looking up at the ceiling. “You know, if you’re about to tell me to look on the bright side, umm, I’m about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich.”

“Sammich?” Jamie looked up hopefully and Natasha tore off half of one side before passing it to him.

“Sorry.” Steve sighed pushing himself off from the bookshelf, his jacket slung over his arm. “Force of habit.”

He tossed his keys onto the table, dropping his jacket over the back of a chair before sitting down next to his wife, glancing at Jamie who was now eating a small piece of the sandwich, then at Natasha. The woman looked tired, pale and such a far cry from the stoic, well-groomed Natasha Romanoff he had first known. But then again, they were all a far cry from the people they had once been.

“You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on, and forget what happened.” Steve crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair. “And some do. But not us.”

“If I move on, who does this?” Natasha asked simply with a shrug.

Katie sighed. “Maybe it doesn’t need to be done.”

“You know, I used to have nothing. And then I got this- this job, this family.” Nat smiled sadly and looked down at Jamie before she looked back up, the tears evident in her eyes. “And I was better because of it. And even though they’re gone, I’m still trying to be better.”

There was a pause as Katie wiped her eyes, a tear having escaped down her cheek and Steve gently placed his hand between her shoulder blades, rubbing softly.

"I think we all need to get a life,” he joked, breaking the sad silence, and Natasha forced a smile nodding to him.

“You did.” At her words, Steve gave a smile. She was right, he had. Whilst he and Katie had been extremely lucky over the last five years, that didn’t stop them thinking about the people that hadn’t, and the friends they had lost.

Katie reached for the bag she had placed on the table. “I’ll go start dinner.” She was mid-way through standing when a small, holographic screen popped up in front of Natasha indicating she had a notification of sorts. She flicked it to the side, bringing the video feed to life behind Steve, who looked over his shoulder as the video began playing.

“Oh, hi, hi! Is anyone home? This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport, in Germany. I was small, then I got real big.”

Katie left the bag where it was and whipped round, to see Scott on the screen, stood in front of his van. Besides her Steve stood from his seat, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“This…this is impossible.” Katie breathed, shaking her head. “He was…”

“Is this an old message?” Steve asked, his voice quiet, not taking his eyes off the footage.

“Ant-Man! I know you remember Ant-Man.”

Natasha’s reaction was much the same as theirs, confused awe as she sat up, breathing deeply. “It’s the front gate.”

“I really need to talk to you guys!” Scott continued to yell his voice becoming desperate.

The three of them remained frozen for a moment, absolutely lost for words, before Jamie broke the silence.

“Who’s that?” He asked, jumping down from Nat’s lap. “An old friend.” Steve swallowed, turning to Natasha who was fishing in a drawer for the key to the main gate which had been padlocked shut for years as no one used it anymore. She found it, tossed it to Steve and he caught it expertly before heading off to go meet Scott.

**** Chapter 50

 **Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers #katie stark #steve rogers fic #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

[soldrawss]

Ares kids giving percy shit and then they just see... luke... standing in the background... staring at them... and they suddenly decide to leave percy alone, because they 'just FEEL LIKE IT, oKAY???' jhgfgdhfdhggfjghg

Despite what everyone else thinks, Luke is always angry. He just also happens to be really good at hiding it. He probably had his dad to thank for that, being able to redirect and reassure others with a flash of a smile and a wave of his hand to disarm anyone who’d think otherwise. He hardly ever lets his temper get the best of him anymore. He’s too old for that. Too tired to let the little things get under his skin and leave bruises that the world could see. He can’t afford to wear his anger out like tattooed sleeves, the same way Silena Beauregard wore compassion on hers.

And it would be too easy. Too easy to just let his anger for the world and for the gods fuel and feed the hurt bleeding into his rationality and blaming all his problems on everything other than himself. It would be way too fucking easy to go about his days in a blinding rage that left nothing but empty holes in the places that should have held love and forgiveness and all the good he tries so desperately to instill in the younger campers. It wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t help the hurt and it wouldn’t end the suffering. Luke knew this. Luke knew the world didn’t need one more angry, unwanted kid adding that kind of gasoline into the fire. Kronos was wrong, even if his tempted whispers late at night tried so hard to convince him otherwise.

So he hides his anger. Buries it under daily counselor chores and making sure the Stoll brothers don’t get too rowdy during their free time and just keeps busy enough to ignore the pounding tremor in the back of his chest. It works for the most part. It’s easier to smile nowadays, he barely even has to force it anymore, and when he laughs along to campfire stories and songs, it’s something lighthearted and genuine.

But his anger is always right there, like it’s something second hand and lingering. There without him having to reach for it. 

And when he notices Percy get dragged behind the armory by the scruff of his neck by some older kids, he lets that all too familiar anger consume him in seconds. He pushes away from the handful of campers he was monitoring by the amphitheater, ‘Activity’s over. You have free break until lunch’, he calls over his shoulder, and doesn’t wait for a response as he marches his way in the direction of the armory with a speed Hermes would probably be proud of if he ever cared enough to check-in.

Luke doesn’t have special skills or powers like other Demigods. He can’t build things like Beckendorf and he can’t charm speak like Silena and he certainly can’t summon lightning from the heavens like Thalia could. But he was respected and feared in equal measure all the same, and no one could deny that he worked hard to earn the title of the best swordsman in camp. 

His was still a presence that demanded attention and authority. Even if he lets the seven-year-old from the Haphestus cabin ride on his shoulders after breakfast most mornings, or moves over on his already tiny bunk in the dead of night so that little unclaimed Lily Anderson can sleep with him after a bad nightmare.

He was a self-designated older brother to pretty much anyone who needed one, and Luke took a quiet sort of pride to that so many people liked and needed him.

But he was still a threat when he wanted to be.So when he saw Percy on the ground, with a nose bleed that stained the front of his shirt an awful rusty color, all Luke had to do was growl a low, ‘walk away. Now’, and the three boys took off at a sprint. He only vaguely recognized two of them from the Ares cabin and one from Aphrodite, but he didn’t care enough to do more with the information at the moment because Percy was staring up at him with green eyes electric and burning. 

And Luke recognizes those kinds of eyes. They’re the same as his. There's a light like dying stars in them. Angry and terrified and burning with something terrible and so full of single-minded devotion that it has to hurt. And it leaves something aching and red hot in Luke’s stomach when he takes a step forward only for Percy to flinch away out of reflex.

“I’m fine,” Percy said like a knee jerk reaction before Luke could even ask, barking it in a mean and biting way that Luke didn’t take any offense to because he remembers what if felt like to be twelve and have your pride hurt. So Luke doesn’t question it, because Percy is scrappier and stronger than anyone probably ever gave him credit for, and offers a silent hand and the gentlest smile he can muster. Luke does his best to ignore the thumping jolt of anger that vibrates through him when Percy takes it almost immediately and so desperately, like it’s his only lifeline in the world, and wonders what kind of people were in Percy’s life before camp that made him so hungry for a positive human connection. 

Percy apologizes a second later with a horrified expression, jumping out of reach when he notices he got blood on Luke’s hand.

“Don’t worry about it. Let's just get you to the Apollo cabin. Lee keeps a first aid kit and a jar of ambrosia superglued to him at all times after Cecil Markowitz’s third greek fire burn.” The comment was supposed to lighten the mood somewhat, but Percy’s face darkens as he takes a step back from Luke.

“Um, no thanks,” Percy says in almost a pained whisper, hugging his middle and trying to wipe the continuous flow of blood from running down his chin by holding his head back. “It smells too much like the infirmary in there. And I hate the way ambrosia burns down my throat. I’m good, Luke, really.”

And that should have tipped Luke off to some bigger problem, but he can’t concentrate on it because he’s already closing the distance between them faster than Percy could object, and softly pushing the back of Percy’s head down towards the ground. “Pinch here, just above your nostrils, and lean forward unless you want the blood to go down your throat.” He instructs, guiding Percy’s bloodied hand to his nose.

Luke can’t rightly blame Percy for his hesitance. The kid’s first moments of conscious grief since his new life as a half-blood began was spent in the camp infirmary, nursing the pain of losing his mom while also nursing actual physical wounds with acidic nectar and ambrosia that even Luke can attest to growing disgust for after the first few battle wounds of his own. Anyone would have some kind of underlying trauma from that, and Percy didn’t have to outwardly admit how uncomfortable he was at the idea for Luke to understand.

Being a 12-year-old without a mom was hard enough. The problems of a half-blood added on top of that was almost a cruel joke that Luke bitterly couldn’t believe was a reality for most the kids at camp.

“Annabeth used to get into a lot of fights too, I’ve gotten pretty used to fixing noses the old fashioned way. Come on, I have a spare medkit in the combat arena,” Luke says, pressing a hand to Percy’s back, not giving him a chance to escape because dammit, someone had to care for this kid. And Percy doesn’t smile, but something in those sharp green eyes turn leaf like and muted as he lets himself get led from out from behind the armory.

No one really bats an eye towards Percy as they walked, and Luke could only assume it’s because he looks like he’s about to kill anyone that tried with a stone-cold glare that could rival Medusa’s. 

No one was is in the arena when they get there, and Luke instructs Percy to keep the cold washcloth Luke had snagged for him on his nose for about ten minutes, keeping upright to help stop the bleeding. They don’t say anything after that, they just sit on the arena steps and watch the campers from the Demeter cabin try to flip the canoes of some Aphrodite kids with little success, while they wait. 

Luke doesn’t ask any questions on what happened or why, he feels like the answer wouldn’t matter anyway, but Percy eventually softens in the silence between them. Luke pretends he doesn’t notice Percy’s eyes get red and wet as he rubs at them angrily with the palm of his hand.

After about fifteen minutes, and a fresh camp shirt that Luke had given him to replace Percy’s stained one, Percy looked no worse for wear, at least.

“Thanks,” he says softly, like he was thanking Luke for a million things at once, and Luke was all too aware of the crack in his voice and the angry hunch of his shoulders that made him look whole years to young to be angry at the world.

“Don’t thank me just yet, I need your help with something,” Luke decides as he stands up and walks back into arena, not looking back to see if Percy is following him because he knows he is.

“Alright,” he says once they make it to the middle of the dusty pit, holding his hands out in front of his chest and adjusting his stance as Percy looks at him with a doe-eyed curiosity and confusion. “Come at me with all you got.”

Percy frowns, and sniffs once before rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. “What? Dude I already got my butt handed to me, I don’t need another nose bleed on top of a few broken bones.”

Luke can’t help but smile at that. “Come on, humor me. I have a few unchecked microaggressions I need to work out and you owe me. I promise I won’t aim for your nose.”

Percy frown deepens, but he sighs like the whole world is weighted on in and gets into a fighting stance of his own, keeping his fists close to his chest.

Now it was Luke’s turn to frown. “Aww dude, you’re breaking my heart here.”

He relaxes his stance and walks over to where Percy stood, dodging the lame attempt of a punch and catching Percy’s fist in the palm of his hand, readjusting Percy’s fingers. “Thumb goes here unless you want to break it. And you wanna keep your fists closer to bottom of your chin.”

Luke uses his own foot to shift Percy’s into a more stable stance. “Feet this far apart and bend your knees, or you’re gonna get knocked down no matter what happens. Try to punch me again.”

Frowning more out of concentration then confusion, Percy took another swing that Luke caught easily and without letting go, pulled it back towards Percy’s shoulder and used his other hand to straighten Percy’s back. “Use these muscles here and punch straight out. You keep swinging too wide and putting all your force behind it, leaving you open.”

He guided Percy’s hand with his own, twisting it slowly in the form of a punch. “You’re gonna feel the bones in your arm want to move this way. Let them and you’ll get more force out of it.”

Percy hummed something like acknowledgment, so Luke let go and retook his stance in front of Percy, mimicking his same posture from before. “Try it again.”

Luke still caught Percy’s fist in his own, but a smile broke his face in two when he, not unkindly, pushed Percy back aways. “A couple more hits like that, and my hand may actually start to hurt, Jackson.”

And the grin that crept upon the twelve-year-olds face was something bright and delighted and outshining the stars as easy as breathing, and Luke soaked in every inch as they continued for the better half of the morning sparing till the lunch horn sounded.

Percy was so much like a younger Luke that is actually scared him, but moments like this, where he knew practical methods of defense would help Percy better than any reassurance that bullies would eventually leave him alone ever could. And Luke knew that Percy wouldn’t be ok with anyone fighting his battles for him, even if it would have been so easy for Luke to channel some of that unchecked rage into beating the ever-living snot out of anyone who looked sideways at Percy again. Just like he knew that Percy wouldn’t ask for help if it wasn’t already freely giving, or that trust was a hard thing to earn when your whole life was built around people burning that bridge before you could ever extend it.

But Luke was prepared for the challenge, and with Percy chatting happily away from underneath where Luke rested his arm across his shoulders as they made their way to the dining Pavillion, Luke could feel the edges of his anger slowly quiet into something barely there. And it’s a feeling that carries him throughout the rest of the day. A feeling that he wants to bottle up and keep on a shelf whenever he wants to forget what hating the world feels like.

Because if it feels like it’s worth it just to keep kids like Percy smiling for the rest of forever, well then, Luke could handle forgiving some of his anger, and letting his heart rest on his sleeves just a little bit more.

#oh no he's 12 au #thats the name of this big brother luke au i'm creating #oh man i didn't mean to go on a big tangent but here we are folks #pjo #percy jackson #luke castellan #riordan #i have so many feelings on these two please ask me about them #thanks alex for getting me too hyped up now my home will know no rest

[almostxinnocent]

“Society wants to believe it can identify evil people, or bad or harmful people, but it's not practical. There are no stereotypes.” ― Ted Bundy Anyone who knows me also knows that I am a huge fan of true crime.  Even knowing that, it has taken me a long time to actually write about this, or maybe just fear at re-living it over again has held me back.  I figure if I don’t do it now I never will. It would be easier to simply do this as just another story.  So here we go.  (Part One)When I was fourteen other girls were reading Teen Beat and I was reading True Crime novels about Ken Bernardo, Jeffrey Dahmer and other serial killers no young girl should know about.  So when I stumbled across the address to actually write one of them it was no surprise that I jumped on the chance.  

For the sake of privacy and my sanity we will call him Mr. E.  A lot of people don’t even know about it but there is a place called J-pay where you can write to inmates and see if they respond.  I wanted to ensure a response so I included a couple of pictures of myself.  I was fifteen and throwing modesty aside, I thought I was pretty attractive. It had been a few weeks since I had sent my first message and I rushed home each day to see if there was a response. It had become a routine for me.  I quickly logged into the website and saw that I actually had a response.  I had only written one person and immediately I felt like a ten year old on Christmas morning.  I clicked to open it and greedily read what was inside.

“I have to say for a young girl you are not only intelligent, but beautiful as well.  I would be more than happy to answer your questions but if I am going to be nice to you, you need to be nice to me too.  I have a couple questions of my own.”

I read down further, scrunched my face up at some of the more personal questions like “How often do you bath” or “What does your hair smell like before a good wash” .  I knew he was highly intelligent, and I was sure he would smell bullshit from a mile away.  I can’t say I wasn’t nervous but it was more nervous excitement.  I was going to write my reply, but hesitation got the best of me.  I turned the computer off and went to drown myself in another book.  When I finally did sleep I was thrown into some pretty intense nightmares.  I woke up tired from the lack of good sleep I had gotten and rolled over in bed.  It wasn’t unusual to remember my dreams, but this time I would rather not have.  All night I had dreams of being visited by Mr. E.  They seemed so real that I actually decided I would not write back at all.

After a couple nights of not having any nightmares and scolding myself for being a sissy, I gathered enough courage to write back.  

“Mr. E,I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see your response, even if you do ask some pretty weird questions.  To show you that I will be an honest pen-pal I will answer them but first I want to ask a couple of my own.  Do you ever feel sorry for what you did to the family of your victims?  I already know how you feel about the girls that you killed.  There are so many books written about you! What is it like not being able to be free anymore?  What is your day to day like there?  Do you get a lot of fan mail?  Do you think I am a fan??”

I went down his list and answered all his questions, providing as little detail as possible.  It did give me the creeps to think about a real life serial killer who tortured girls to death so close to my age having knowledge of my personal bathing habits and odors.   Sometimes knowing someone is locked up isn’t enough, it’s wondering what they do with their time that can be unsettling.  We had been writing for about four months before things started to get even more uncomfortable.  Mr. E had always given me the answers that I wanted, although I tended to not ask any graphic details about his murders. Then suddenly he started to give me details on his own, some of them that I had never actually read in any of his books.  I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t more jumpy than usual or that the contents of his letters were not giving me nightmares.  The truth was I had been plagued by them, but I just could not stop responding.  

I knew if my mother ever found out what I was doing she would probably take away my computer and everything else that provided contact with anyone in the world, and I think that was putting me on edge as well.I wanted to believe that Mr. E trusted me, but I knew his mail was being read.  Since the details were just descriptions of his killing rituals and habits I guess it didn’t matter.  It wasn’t like he was revealing where more bodies were or anything.  His personal questions started to became more intrusive too.  The minute I started to feel too uncomfortable, or there was a lapse of response, I would get a kinder letter of assurance which motivated me to keep writing.  I was playing a game of cat and mouse but was starting to feel I was more the mouse than cat.

Finally, in one of our conversations he asked for my address.  He told me that he had a few drawings and poetry he wanted me to have.  In this message he especially made it a point to compliment me and thank me for keeping him company.  He told me about how most of the writing he received was from distasteful and rude women (I assumed grown-ups) that he would never consider responding to.   I have to admit I was flattered and less uncomfortable but looking back I see I was being manipulated.  I gave him my address.  I figured being locked up forever would prevent anything bad from happening to me.  I was safe, so why not? It was only a few days later that a small package arrived, and I ran upstairs before my mother could see what I had.  I opened it carefully, and my heart was pounding so loud it seemed like it was coming from across the room.  I almost lost my breath to be completely honest.  Here I was, a teenager getting mail from a notorious serial killer!  Who would believe it!  

Inside the package contained two poems, with what looked like dried blood smeared across them.  A lock of hair tied with what looked like some kind of frayed rope and three drawings.  One of the poems went as follows; “Her lips looked like two berries. I knew I had to touch but my touch was so heavy off her face the lips I plucked I kissed the bloody space where they once used to be a beautiful and gaping hole but then she tried to flee I wrapped her up in ribbons I tied them like a bow Her mouth kept making noises So the hole I had to sew” I am sure you get the picture.  In my young mind I wasn’t sure what to think, but I guess I thought it was to be expected.  I wondered if there were any rules about what you could send someone so young, but then again I had never mentioned my age.  I had only sent photos since you had to be eighteen to use the website.  We had made an agreement that when his arrived, I would send my own.  That night my nightmares were so intense that I woke sweating and feeling trapped.  The next morning I cut off a lock of my own hair, pricked my finger and smeared some blood across it.  I can’t explain how or why but Mr. E had some kind of hold on me. At this point you might be wondering what kind of laws they had back then about what you could or could not send into prison.  I didn’t realize that we lived in a world with such liberties or restrictions.   I was in a state of being embarrassed about my nightmares and thinking I was some hot shot getting details nobody else had gotten.  Two more weeks went by and I did not hear from my pen-pal.  I was confused and constantly checking my inbox.  I wondered if what I sent had gotten him into some kind of trouble, but was more worried my mom might find out if someone from the prison contacted us.   Then a week or so later, another box appeared and I once again ran upstairs to open it.  I was lucky that the mail was there when I came home from school.  I did not want to have to deal with a confrontation with my mom about strange boxes at our front door. I opened the box and was immediately confused.  What I saw put goosebumps all over my body, not just my arms.  It was almost painful.  There was only a letter, and the box was too big for just a letter.  That was strange enough.  The letter was short itself was short.   “I hope you are as excited as I am.  It won’t be long now.” The more I thought about it, the less scared I was.  I was actually angry.  I felt like I had been betrayed. Then I realized how ridiculous that was.  Why would I expect honesty from a serial killer?  I bet this was his new way of getting his kicks now that he was locked up.  I went to my computer and was ready to write a bunch of insults but when I got to the web page it would not load.   That happened a lot, so I decided to just cut my losses and move on.  I was embarrassed that I had been such an easy target, so even weeks later I never told my friends and obviously not my mother.One night I was out with my best friend and we went to our favorite spot, the playground.  Yeah, I know.  Juvenile, but it was the best place at night because it was private and nobody bothered you.  After the usual talk about boys at school, and general gossip we decided it was time to head home.  My mother was almost always gone on the weekends, and it happened to be the weekend my little brother and sister weren’t at home with me either.  I tried to convince Lilly to spend the night but she said her dad would freak out since she basically spent every weekend at my house anyways. This meant flicking through television channels until I got frustrated enough to read a book and then go to sleep.My walk back home was short but it seemed like the perfect time for my mind to start thinking about Mr. E.  It bothered me that I was so foolish and even though I knew I had nothing to be scared of I still felt a little jumpy when I was turning the corner onto my street.  I finally got home and shut and locked the door and let out a deep sigh.  It felt like I had been holding my breath.  I had to laugh at myself as I walked upstairs to start a boring routine of spending a Saturday night alone. My little yorkie Koby was running around my legs wagging his stub tail excitedly.  I picked him up and opened my bedroom door.   “Hello pal, I told you it wouldn’t be much longer.”   I felt dizzy and nauseous at the same time but I could not move. It felt like the entire room tilted.  I stood there trying to process what was happening.  He made no attempt to move from the bed.  He was holding one of my stuffed animals in his hands.  I kept telling myself this wasn’t real, it was another dream.  This wasn’t him.  This was not happening.  This wasn’t him.  The voice inside my head became more frantic and I put my hands on both my ears.  I felt like I was losing my mind because there could not possibly be a man sitting on my bed, holding my stuffed animal. “Don’t be upset, I know I’m not who you are looking for but I promise I can give you much more than some man stuck in a cell could anyway.  We have so much to talk about.  I knew you were the one when you sent that hair back to me.  I said to myself, here is a girl who isn’t afraid to do things out of the ordinary.”   His voice was vibrating though me.  I knew my only way to get out of this would be to either do what he said, or make him think I would. At the same time that thought was going through my head I also realized there was no way I was going to talk my way out of this. This wasn’t Mr. E, and this wasn’t a nightmare.  I could tell this man was very tall from the height of him simply sitting there.  His black hair was straight.  He looked ordinary.  He didn’t look like a monster at all. “How?....”  I barely said the words as if speaking too loud might cause him to do something. “Well, I could insult your intelligence for not making sure the website you were using was actually the real website, but most of you young ones usually don’t bother.  Let’s just say you were never writing to who you thought you were and start fresh.”  All the terrible details from his letter came back to me.  The way he stalked the girls, kidnapped them and then held for days while they were tortured.  Like dolls, he played with them until they were no longer breathing. 

“I thought I could trust you.”  I whispered, still frozen in my place.  I could attempt to run but he would just catch me on the stairs as I tried to go down.  There wasn’t any feasible way to get away.

“Oh you can trust me.  I never lied to you did I?  Now come over here and sit on my lap and I will tell you all the fun things we will do together.  I know you like the park, did you want to go back and swing on the swings again?  You looked so fresh with your skirt flying up your legs.”

I shook my head and back into my doorway which was at the exact moment that he lunged at me. The fact that he had been watching me made me feel violated enough.  I didn’t even bother to take time to think about how long he had been watching me but now assumed it was from the moment I sent him my actual address.

I let out a startled yelp as we both landed on the ground. He was quick and before I knew it he had my arms over my head was straddling me.  He leaned down for a kiss but I kept twisting my head back and forth with tears streaming down my face.  “Please don’t let him kiss me, please.” I begged God inside my mind to make it go away.  

The next thing I knew he slapped me so hard across my face that I was seeing everything in two’s with blurred lines.  I was no longer frantically twisting, but slowly going back and forth, still reeling from the hand that had rocked me.  I was so dazed I could barely feel his mouth drooling on mine until he sharply bit down on my lip.  It was so hard I came out of my daze screaming as loudly as I could before he clamped his hand over my lips and shook his head.

“There will be plenty of time for that.” 

#serial killers #writing #short stories #horror #scary #true crime #true crime stories #goosebumps #stalkers #teenage #nightmare #nightmares #jeffrey dahmer #ted bundy #paul bernardo #kidnapping #scary stories #horror stories

[kutemouse]

Caught (Part One)

Disclaimers: All “Save Me” webtoon and BTS MV/highlight reel/film references and plots belong to BTS and BigHit. All pictures of Kim Taehyung belong to BTS and BigHit, I just edited them for my header. The picture of BTS came from Vogue Japan, I just edited it for my header.

A Note from Kutemouse: I know, I know, this has been a long time coming, and I’m so sorry it took so long for me to post this!! I’ve actually had it written for a while, but today was the first day I was able to get up and do some stuff. Pregnancy is rough! Oh, that’s right, if you haven’t seen it yet, I made a Big Announcement earlier today that explains why I’ve been so inactive lately, and also explains my plans for the future.

Age Recommendation: 21+ (this is NOT one for youngsters, kuties, and is MOST DEFINITELY NSFW)

Genre: Mafia!AU w/ BTS, Jailbird!AU w/ Taehyung, Yandere!BTS

Warnings: Not many warnings for this part, kuties. Swears, I guess. Unsupportive SO? Kidnapping. Use of chloroform.

Word Count: About 3k

Summary: Kim Taehyung was the absolute love of your life… until he became a murderer. With him serving a life sentence in prison, you were finally free to live out the rest of your life however you wanted. Just when you thought you were at the top of your game, ready to take on the world, Taehyung reappears like a monster not even your worst nightmares could dream up. He gives you a year to fall in love with him, but now the question is, can monsters even be loved?

Master List

Tag List: @chocolatewolfuniversitytrash​ @btssmutheaven​ @taemaknae​ @rebeccawoodrow​ @sassysaxsolo​ @iconicgguk​

If you want to be added, just lmk!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Caught (Taehyung Series, Yandere, Smut, Angst) Part One

We were skipping class in the school greenhouse, enjoying the humid warmth and the earthy smell wafting from the plants. We were talking, I forget about what. What I remember most is fiddling with his large, rough hands, intertwining my fingers between his over and over again. I remember his deep laugh that seemed to rumble through the recesses of my soul. I remember glee blooming in my chest whenever he grinned at me. 

His tone was teasing, mine was indignant yet flirtatious. Again, I forget what we said to each other, but I clearly remember those two words. “Kiss me.”

I gaped at him. “What?”

“Kiss me,” he repeated.

I hesitated. “Here? Now?”

Taehyung leaned down, tilting his head, until his lips hovered over mine. I felt each of his exhales on my skin, practically heard my heartbeat speed up.

“Kiss. Me.” It was barely a whisper, yet it resonated through my body, down my spine and throughout my limbs.

Without another word, I pressed my lips to his, melding them to fit his, a thrill running through me at his appreciative groan.

He pulled back, his inky eyes somehow growing darker. “I love you, baby girl.”

I sat up, gasping. Blood rushed to my head, making me see stars. With a groan, I covered my face with my hands.

“Sweetie?”

My fiancé, Lee Chanwook, rolled over and peered at me. “You okay?” he asked, his voice husky from lack of use.

“Yeah. Fine. Just had a dream, go back to sleep.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. He rolled over, his breath growing deep and even as he fell back into the reaches of slumber. If I could be so lucky. I hadn’t thought about Kim Taehyung in… well, it had to be almost a year now. Or two. I wasn’t sure.

Either way, my life moved on without him after shit completely hit the fan. My aunt and I agreed I shouldn’t transfer schools, since I only had a month or so left til graduation. I graduated alongside Chaeyoung, who seemed to be my only friend after Taehyung got arrested. She held my hand tightly the entire ceremony, only letting go when I was called to accept my diploma.

As soon as I graduated, Aunt Sunhee and I moved into her place in Busan. It was a tidal wave of change. Compared to my mom’s cramped, two-bedroom apartment, my aunt’s large house was a mansion. She recently obtained a position as COO of a large company and applied for custody of me immediately after.

Before we moved, I found my aunt’s letters my mom had hidden from me. My aunt had tried to call me multiple times but was never able to reach me. She even flew out to see me a couple of times, but all it took was my mother calling me at school and telling me I needed to stay at a friend’s house for me to stay away. I guess my mom was scared she would lose me.

Yet that’s exactly what happened in the end. My aunt paid for my mom to go to a rehabilitation center, but after only a few weeks, the center called my aunt letting her know my mother had disappeared. Aunt Sunhee called the police and even hired a private investigator, but my mom was nowhere to be found. I succumbed to the realization that she was probably dead. I didn’t get out of bed for weeks afterward.

A year and a massive amount of therapy sessions later, I decided I wanted to do something with my life. I was already attending university to obtain a business degree, but I hungered for more. My aunt got me an internship within her company, and I learned a lot just by working under her. Four years later, with a bachelor’s degree in hand, my aunt hired me as her executive assistant, and I took a year off before going to graduate school to both work and plan my wedding.

I was introduced to Chanwook at a company get-together. He was the son of one of my aunt’s business associates, and he caught my eye almost immediately. Mostly it was the way he was the exact opposite of the boy I hadn’t been able to get my mind off of. He was a stickler for the rules, had a great relationship with his parents, and never, ever did anything that would cross the line or damage his flawless reputation. He was kind and funny, but there was no wild or daring side to him. At the time, he was exactly what I needed.

He helped me forget about Taehyung. In the years before then, whenever I had a spare moment for my mind to drift, Taehyung’s wide, boxy grin and deep voice would float into my thoughts. I spent days wondering what went wrong. When had he become a murderer? At what point did he crack? Why hadn’t I noticed sooner?

Chaeyoung and I kept in touch, and I heard some details of Taehyung’s trial from her. I heard he was sentenced to life in prison without parole, due to the one count of murder against him. It would have been two, but Taehyung’s dad’s body was never found. No one was even sure he was dead.

I spent many nights staring at the ceiling, thinking back to the night when Namjoon got that frantic phone call from Taehyung. When Jungkook wouldn’t let me see him. When he completely disappeared for that entire week.

I had no doubt he killed his father. I don’t think he did it maliciously or intentionally. I think he found the strength inside of himself to fight back, and it ended in a death. It didn’t make the murderous act any less horrifying, but it did make me wonder just how deep the darkness inside Taehyung ran. Was he really the monster the media made him out to be?

Aunt Sunhee caught me one night poring over article after article covering Taehyung’s trial. “Y/n, you can’t keep doing this,” she said, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You need to move on with your life.”

It took a long time, but eventually, I stopped surfing the internet for mentions of Taehyung’s story. My conversations with Chaeyoung grew few and far between until they stopped completely. Memories of Tae’s smile, his voice, his laugh, his lips, faded away. I even changed my last name to “Park” both so I’d be recognized as my aunt’s relative, and so no one from my past could find me. Four long years later, I was finally free of Kim Taehyung.

Or so I thought.

Apparently, my damn subconscious didn’t want to let him go. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to wipe away the image of his smiling face. I never imagined that, years later, he would still be haunting me.

I got out of bed, wrapping a robe around my body before stepping out onto our apartment’s deck. The cool, four-in-the-morning air roused my senses even further awake. I stayed like that until the sun began to peek over the edge of the horizon, thinking of Kim Taehyung and our shared past.

“Hey,” Chanwook said, coming up from behind to wrap his arms around me. “Have you been out here all night?”

“Not all night,” I replied. “Just since I woke up from that dream.”

“Mmmm,” he hummed sleepily in response. “Was it a good dream?”

I bit my lip, mulling his question over. “No,” I finally said. “It was more like a nightmare.”

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

That afternoon, I yawned as I re-read the same sentence for the umpteenth time, willing my brain to focus. “You look like you need a cup of coffee,” my coworker, Lisa, said.

“That would be nice,” I murmured in response, still trying to focus.

She stood and grabbed her purse. “I’ll get yours with an extra shot of espresso,” she said.

“Just so you know, I absolutely adore you.”

She blew me a kiss accompanied by a cheeky wink. “I know. Be back in fifteen.”

With the promise of caffeine on the way, I sat back in my chair and rubbed my temples, telling myself I’d get back to that report later. My cell phone began to buzz, and I picked it up, frowning at the unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Miss Park?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Hello, my name is Choi Yeonjun. I’m a representative of the company Bangtan Enterprises.”

“Never heard of it.”

A chuckle came through from the other end. “That’s because we’re a small start-up just breaking into Seoul’s business world.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“Miss Park, we’ve been made aware of your extraordinary skills and experience. Your aunt is COO of her company, correct? And you’ve been working under her for how long?”

“Well, if you’re including my internship, about five years now.”

“Excellent.”

“Mr. Choi, what is this about?” I asked as politely as I could.

“As a start-up company, we’re in need of experienced people to help run it,” he explained. “We’re prepared to offer you the COO position here at Bangtan, which comes with your own office, and we’ll double your salary.”

My mouth dropped open. “Double?”

“Double.”

I shook my head in an attempt to pull myself together. This opportunity was huge. I’d been accused of exploiting nepotism in order to get where I was today, but this could be my chance to prove all my naysayers wrong. I could show them I was entirely capable of forging my own path.

Still, I wasn’t going to just jump at this. I pulled my keyboard towards me and searched Bangtan Enterprises. Only a few results came up, but they confirmed my hopes into reality. Bangtan Enterprises was indeed a start-up, but it was based on a very profitable idea and, from the looks of it, had already lined up some high-end clients.

“And you said you’re based in Seoul?” I asked.

“That’s correct.”

So I’d either have to move there or split my time between Busan and there. I chewed my lip, wondering what Chanwook would think. “Your offer is very generous, Mr. Choi. May I have some time to think about it?”

He chuckled once more. “Unfortunately for you, you are not our only candidate. You’re our first choice, but there are others who are willing to start as soon as tomorrow.”

I clenched my phone. “No! I mean, that’s fine. I’ll take it.”

I knew I might regret it later, but this was a hell of an opportunity. Besides, it wasn’t like I signed a contract. I still had time to back out.

“Excellent. We’ll send you an official offer via email. When is the earliest you can start?”

“Don’t tease me, Mr. Choi,” I said playfully. “I thought you said my competition could start tomorrow.”

“That may be true, but—”

“Well, anything they can do, I can do better. I’ll send you my plane’s arrival time.”

“We’ll have a car waiting.”

I swiped off the call, anticipation flooding through me, causing a burst of excited energy to run through my veins.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

“You what?” Chanwook gaped at me.

“I said yes,” I replied nervously. I just told my fiancé about the new job, and he seemed to think it was great up until I said I accepted.

“Sweetie,” he groaned, placing his hands on my shoulders. “Are you serious?”

I frowned. “Yes, of course I am. I wouldn’t joke about something like this, Chan.”

“Well, you’ll just have to tell them you can’t take it anymore.”

I scoffed. “And why not?”

“Because we have a great life here. You make plenty, I make more than plenty. Why do you need another job?”

“Maybe I don’t need it,” I retorted. “Maybe I want it.”

“Want to move away from here? Miles away from your friends, your family?”

I scowled at him in response.

He sighed. “Y/n… answer me honestly. Is this about your mom?”

I snorted in disgust. “Seriously, Chan?!”

“It’s a valid question! Are you sure you don’t only want to go to Seoul to see if you could find her?”

“No, that’s not the reason I want to go to Seoul!”

“Then why?”

“Because! This is something that I earned, that I did on my fucking own. In fact, this will be the first and only thing that’s mine alone.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it? My job? Came from my aunt. My business degree? My aunt’s money. This apartment?” I said, gesturing around the room. “Your money.”

“So what?”

“So I want something for myself. We don’t have to move to Seoul, you know. I know your job is here, and I’d be willing to make the commute. You know, stay four days there, three days here, or something.”

Chanwook scoffed. “Do you even hear yourself?!” he shouted. “We are getting married! Planning on starting a life, here, in Busan! If you want a job based on your own merit and not because your aunt took pity on you, then find one here.”

I was rendered entirely speechless for a good few moments before I was able to gather myself back together. “I cannot believe how unsupportive you’re being,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m taking that job. It’s your choice whether you’ll let that affect our relationship or not.”

“Fine!”

“Fine.”

I turned and grabbed my suitcase before stomping out the door, intent on going straight to my aunt’s. If Chanwook was going to be a total ass, I didn’t want to be around him. Thankfully, Aunt Sunhee wasn’t there to ask prying questions when I entered the house with my spare key. I walked up to my old room and hopped on my computer to search for flights from Busan to Seoul. This was my dream. And nothing, nothing at all, was going to stop me from achieving it.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I walked briskly toward my destination, my heels clicking on the airport floor. As promised, a car was waiting for me, along with another passenger in the backseat. “Miss Park,” he said, extending his hand towards me as soon as I buckled up.

His voice sounded familiar. “Mr. Choi?”

“You can call me Yeonjun,” he said, his blonde hair falling over his left eye.

“And you can continue calling me Miss Park.”

He tossed me a smirk. “So, the boss would like to speak with you,” he said easily. “Nothing to be nervous for, he just wants to get to know you. However, he has an important meeting to attend over on the other side of town for which he’s requested your presence.”

“So this car is going straight there?”

“No, you’ll switch to his car once we get to the office. That way, you’ll have time to get reacquainted.”

I frowned. “Reacquainted?”

Yeonjun chuckled. “I meant acquainted. Slip of the tongue.”

“If you say so.”

We spent the rest of the ride in silence, something I was surprised over. I thought he would want to go over my contract or something, but I supposed that would all come later. The driver pulled the car into a parking structure, causing the interior to instantly darken.

“There it is,” Yeonjun said, pointing. A sleek, black SUV sat in the middle of the road, effectively blocking our way. “Go on. Mr. Kim is waiting for you.”

A shiver ran down my spine at the mention of my new boss’s name. Thoughts of Taehyung rushed through my mind, but I shoved them away. Kim was a common enough last name. I stepped out of the car, pulling my suitcase from the trunk before walking towards the SUV. Yeonjun did not follow. After stowing my luggage in the trunk, I opened the side door and hopped in.

A figure sat on the bench across from me, his face covered in shadow. “Mr. Kim? Hi, I’m Park Y/n,” I said, extending my hand. He did not take it.

“I know who you are,” he said, his voice an eerily familiar deep tone.

“Oh, of course you do. Yeonjun said you wanted to get to know me… What would you like to know?”

“I know everything about you already, baby girl.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to see through the darkness that covered his face. “S-Sorry?”

“I said,” he replied, leaning forward. The light caught onto his inky eyes, causing me to gasp. “I know everything about you already, Y/n.”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Kim Taehyung was leaning towards me, a smirk dancing around the corners of his mouth. Sure, he looked slightly different. Older. More mature. He had definitely filled out, and his hair was now a complimentary jet-black falling attractively into his dark eyes.

“Hey baby girl,” he said, his smirk widening. “You lost?”

My body suddenly jumped into full-blown panic, and I grabbed at the car door’s handle, shrieking once I realized it wouldn’t open. Taehyung forcefully wrapped his arms around me, pinning me hard to his chest, clamping a hand tightly over my mouth. “None of that now,” he hissed.

I bit him, causing him to yelp, and continued trying to escape, fumbling at the lock that stood between him and my freedom. Taehyung pulled a handkerchief and a bottle from his jacket pocket, putting a dab of whatever liquid was inside on the cloth before clamping it over my mouth. His chuckle came out as more of a wheeze as he held me to his chest. “Damn, baby girl,” he said. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to this, but here we are.”

With each one of his words, my field of vision grew smaller and smaller until my eyes rolled into the back of my head, and I felt myself falling into a state of unconsciousness not even the fear of death itself could fight off.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Part Two is Here! 😉

#bts #bts smut #taehyung smut #smut #kim taehyung smut #kim taehyung #bts taehyung #bts kim taehyung #save me webtoon universe #save me webtoon #bts angst #angst #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts mafia au #bts kidnapper au #bts yandere #yandere bts #yandere taehyung #yandere #bts mini series #bts series #bts one shot #bts one shot part one #part one #original header #taehyung x reader #taehyung x yn #kim taehyung x reader #bts x reader

[mcrpg-archive]

PHOENIX “P” TAYLOR

“Someone gave you a second chance.”

a f f i l i a t i o n : The Dream Thieves occupation: TBD

Born in Mid City, The son of the Chief of La Juve PD, and an author who touched heavily on the topics of the supernatural, Phoenix had spent the first fifteen years of his life cooped up in the safety that was Mid City. Confined within it’s imaginary walls. He kept his parents proud, stayed out of trouble for the sake of his father, was an honor roll student and shared his mother’s belief in magic. And it was that belief and interest that had finally beckoned him outside of Mid City for the first time, straight to the South District, the home of all things strange according to the news reports on the internet. Two years later and Phoenix has found his permanent place amongst the Dream Thieves. The second he started hanging around Rabbi and the rest of the Thieves, the change was almost instantaneous, one day the kid had never even touched a cigarette, the next he was crashing his car into the side of a closed down gas station with a BAC that was nearly four times higher than the legal limit. Or so the story goes. He barely survived the accident that had left him in a coma for nearly a month, some people called it magic, others called it a miracle. A second chance that shouldn’t be wasted. But Phoenix has for some reason seen it as a good idea to spend that second chance on the same people that almost got him killed. But is it really wasteful if you actually did die?

NEED TO KNOW

His parents split after the car accident that happened just a few nights before his sixteenth birthday, his mother now lives in the Upper East side where she owns a Bookstore called ‘Novelties & Remedies,’ his father remains the Chief of Police in Mid City. He picks up the occasional shift or two at his mother’s book store, despite having access to both of his parents’ bank accounts. 

His dad had originally been assigned to investigate his car accident, but eventually withdrew from the case, becoming obsessed with the idea that the severity of Nix’s injuries didn’t match up with the damage that had been done to the car. 

Drives a Volkswagen Golf R. 

Knows more of Rabbi’s secrets than anybody else, but keeps quiet about it. 

Coming out of that Coma should’ve never been a possibility, brain damage would’ve been to blame, Rabbi visited the hospital more times than he’d ever admit. And although Rabbi had something to do with Phoenix’s recovery, he never admitted that either. 

Sees ghosts from time to time, some terrify him, others don’t.

Has an unruly obsession with fire. 

He and Ronnie have meditation smoke sessions, they help combat his nightmare disorder. 

Goes back and forth between his Mother and Father, unable to choose one over the other, he still has a bedroom at both places. 

Was close to Noen Astor before the accident, but he’s seemed to have forgotten this, he blames his memory loss on the coma. The two met through social media. 

His father is leading the investigation of Baby Tremblay’s mysterious death. 

Somehow remains to be a full time student, he’s still pretty anal about his grades, but he won’t admit that he’s failing most of his classes now.

Related to Cora Taylor by marriage, (cousins), the two used to be close, they’ve sort of drifted away from each other over the course of the last year. Their parents don’t get along. 

He and Pope were already friends before they started to hang around Rabbi, they attend the same school. 

Doesn’t remember anything that happened the night of the accident. But he dreams about it. 

Bipolar and moody, he can go from being a social butterfly, to a sort of dissociative state of living. He feeds off the energy of others, like oxygen to a flame, and sort of sizzles out of existence whenever he’s by himself. It’s because of this that he’s rarely seen alone.

Age: 17

fc: Jaron Baker - negotiable

#Phoenix Taylor #south ward resident #( human ) #( dream walker ) #( dream thieves ) #( m ) #( all ) #all #created by: azriel rabinowitz #( c l o s e d ) #( closed male ) #closed

[band--psycho]

Sirius x Reader-Nightmare Comfort

People say that time heals all wounds; the truth is that it doesn’t, you just get used to them, you get used to the pain and over time they don’t hurt as much...but the memories stay..that’s something that unfortunately time cannot erase. When I was younger, I witnessed my abusive father kill my younger brother and my mother, he tried to kill me as well but the police stopped him (both of my parents and my little brother were Muggles) then I went into a care home and soon I was fostered by a couple, Owen (my foster dad) was a wizard and Gemma (my foster mum) was a muggle. They were lovely, they truly were. The first year I spent with them, was truly the best year of my life and then one day that all changed. When Owen was going to the shops he was hit by a car...he died on impact. Gemma tried her best to cope...but she couldn’t, four months after Owens death, she tried to kill herself-I found her before she could but she was then sent away to a psychiatric hospital. Since I was eleven I’ve been living with Owens mum (my foster gran), but I’m fifteen now and I’m looking after her more, not that I mind, it’s just not always easy...especially with her memory slowly declining. 

I still have nightmares...about all of it, no one really knows about it at Hogwarts, well except for Dumbledore of course...but that man knows everything. I kept to myself in my first three years at Hogwarts, but thenI got partnered with the one and only, Sirius Black in potions class and for the last two years I’ve been close to him, Remus, James, Peter and Lily; I often think about telling them about what had happened when I was younger...but I guess it hurts too much, the nightmares cause enough pain already without having to tell people. Over the years of being at Hogwarts, I’ve found multiple hidden places that I could go to, to think, calm down, or just be alone. However there was one place that I recently began to go to, it wasn’t exactly a hidden place because it was the Astronomy Tower, but the view from up there was breathtaking...and seeing that beauty always helped me, especially after a nightmare-which is why I was currently sat there now, looking at the stars and getting lost in my own thoughts.

“Y/N/N?” I was brought away from my thoughts as soon as I heard Sirius’ voice. 

“Why are you still up, Sirius, it’s late,” I said, turning around to face him.

“I could ask you the same question, Y/N/N?” he replied, his classic smirk sneaking upon his face, causing me to roll my eyes as he chuckled a little.

“The guys and I were playing a prank on Snivillus, the others have gone back to the dorm, but I looked at the map and saw that you were here,” Sirius explained, walking closer to me. 

“What’s wrong, Y/N/N? He asked, stopping infront of me. 

“Nothing, I’m fine,” I reassured with a smile on my face as I attempted to walk past him. 

“Y/NN,” he said, grabbing my arm, halting me in my movements. 

“Sirius let go,” I said trying to move out of his grasp but his hand remained around my arm, holding it slightly tighter than before. 

“Not until you talk to me,” he said looking directly into my eyes.

“About what?!” I snapped, causing his brows to furrow in confusion. 

“About why you rarely ever sleep,” he replied, a similar look of confusion came across my face as to how he knew I barely slept, until I remembered the map. 

“Y/N/N,please, just talk to me,” Sirius pleaded, and that’s when I fell apart and I just began crying. 

“C’mere,” he whispered as he pulled me into a hug, kissing the side of my head as I just continued to cry. After what felt like hours, I finished crying. When I did, Sirius took me over to the edge of the Astronomy Tower and we both looked at the view that was before us, That’s when I decided to tell my closest friend the truth; I told him everything about my parents, foster parents and my foster gran and when I finished I didn’t cry...but when I looked over at Sirius, I swear I saw a few tears fall from his eyes.

“Y/N/N..I don;t even know what to say…” he sighed, as he hugged me from the side. 

“It’s okay, Sirius,” I whispered to him. 

“It’s not...Merlin I can’t even believe you’ve managed to never say anything before,” he said, kissing the top of my head. 

“I guess, it just...it never felt right, blurting it out..plus I didn’t want you guys to worry about me,” I sighed. 

“Y/N/N...you’re one of our closest friends,if you need help, you know I’m always here, even if it’s just to talk,”he whispered as I pulled him back into a hug. 

“Anytime Y/N/N, anytime,” he said, returning the hug.

@glicabhainn00

#sirius black imagine #sirius black x reader #sirius black x oc #sirius black x you #sirius black x y/n #Sirius Black #sirius imagine #marauders era #marauders imagine #hp marauders #marauders fic #Marauders

[singledarkshade]

Accidental Hostages

Part Seven (Part One, Part Two,  Part Three,  Part Four,  Part Five and Part Six) Nora looked at herself in the mirror dressed in a jet-black pencil skirt, blood-red blouse, and suit jacket grimacing at what she saw.

“Something wrong?” Rip asked as he walked in the room.

“I don’t dress like this,” she told him, “Ever.”

Rip nodded in understanding before explaining, “But this is what he’ll expect. It’s in the same vein as how your father would dress. This is so when Mardon looks at you, he automatically feels the same intimidation that he’d feel in the presence of you father.”

Her nose scrunched slightly in disbelief.

Rip chuckled, “Trust me, I have done this before.”

Nora sighed, “I just wish I didn’t have to do this.”

“So do I,” Rip replied, “But unfortunately we have no other choice.” He stepped forward and rested his hands on her arms comfortingly, “You can do this, Nora. I saw you back at the house and you are stronger than you think you are. I will be outside the room watching and listening to everything so if you need out just signal me.”

She nodded.

“Sara is going to fix your hair and make-up,” Rip motioned to where the other woman was waiting, “Just to add to the look.”

Giving him a quick smile, Nora followed Sara out.

Rip rubbed his eyes, wincing as Ray appeared suddenly looking angry.

“This is insane,” Ray snapped, “Putting Nora in with that guy.”

He sighed, “Ray, Nora is the best person to put in with him. She is the daughter of one of the men he fears and right now fear is the best weapon we have to get the information we need in time.”

“You’re using her,” Ray cried angrily.

“I’m giving her the opportunity to help in a very real way,” Rip replied, “Ray, she’s not some fragile flower for you to swoop in and protect. Nora forced you into a car at gunpoint, remember? She can do this.”

Ray shook his head, “There has to be another way.”

“There are,” Rip replied, “But by the time we got the information, the police won’t be able to sit on the information regarding their innocence which means Thawne won’t need Dahrk anymore and will more than likely just kill him.”

Ray stared at him.

Rip sighed, “Ray, I need you to trust me. I know what I’m doing here, this was my life up until a few years ago and I was the best.”

With a grimace Ray told him, “I just hope that’s true.”

 Mark Mardon jumped when Nora walked into the interrogation room, her heels clicking ominously with each step.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked him the moment the door closed behind her.

Mardon nodded nervously.

“Good,” Rip said in Nora’s ear, “Don’t say anything yet, walk from one side of the room to the other studying him intently.”

Mardon watched her with fear in his face as she followed Rip’s instructions.

“Say this very slowly and deliberately as you continue to walk,” Rip told her.

“Since you know who I am,” Nora said, as prompted by Rip, “Then you know what I will do if you do not answer my questions correctly.”

She stopped directly in front of Mardon and stared at him.

“I can’t,” Mardon said shakily, “Thawne’ll kill me.”

Nora looked around the room before stating coldly, “He’s not here, Mr Mardon but I am.”

“He has eyes everywhere,” Mardon told her.

“I can assure you, Mr Mardon,” Nora stated, as Rip continued to prompt her, “Every person here is loyal to me. And trust me when I tell you that if you do not give me the information I want,” she paused and gave a small smile, “Things will become very unpleasant for you.”

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

 “Incredible,” Eve laughed as she listened to Mardon spill his guts on the recording, “Where is Miss Darhk now?”

Rip glanced up from the screen he was studying, “Back with Ray, who is making sure her small interaction with Mardon hasn’t traumatised her.”

“Be nice,” Eve chided him, “I remember you hovering over Miranda after your first mission.”

Rip frowned at Eve, “She’d been shot, not spent five minutes intimidating a suspect who was terrified of her.”

“Oh come on,” Eve laughed, “It’s sweet. Your friend is smitten, it’s really adorable to watch. Especially considering who her father is.”

“Eve,” Rip stated annoyed, “Are we planning this rescue mission, or do you want to gossip some more?”

“Oh I have plenty of gossip for you,” Eve teased before laughing at his annoyance, “Fine. From what Mardon told us, Darhk is being held in Thawne’s Star City Offices. We know the layout anyway so Sara will take a team and get him out.”

Rip shook his head, “Who knew one day we’d be rescuing that bastard.”

“Life is never what you expect,” Eve reminded him, “One thing, Rip you’re not going anywhere near Darhk.”

He frowned, “What?”

“After this,” Eve said, “You are returning to your life with Jonas. I will not put a target on your back by letting someone like Darhk know who you are.”

Rip stared at her for a moment before nodding, “I’ll be on comms for Sara then.”

 Sara motioned her team to follow her as she moved quickly and efficiently into the building.

“I’ve got elevator one waiting for you,” Rip said in her ear and she headed to the elevator waiting for them.

“Which button am I hitting?” Sara asked.

“None,” Rip told her, “I’m in charge of your ride.”

She waited as they moved down past the levels the buttons shown would take them to and into the secret sub-basement. Once there Sara and the team readied themselves for any resistance, but the doors opened to an empty corridor.

“When you reach the end of the corridor turn right,” Rip ordered, “The room you’re looking for is at the end of that one. It has six guards.”

Sara nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her before ordering, “Okay, we do this as quietly as possible. We don’t want anyone setting off any alarms.”

Turning to Lawson, Sara accepted the small silver disc. She pressed the button on the side and carefully slid it along the corridor, making sure she wasn’t seen by the men in it.

She counted to fifteen before looking round and finding all six men unconscious on the floor.

“That’s a little more potent than I remember,” Rip noted in Sara’s ear as they started towards the door.

Sara laughed quietly, “You know the tech guys, can’t leave things alone.”

“Make sure you don’t blow off the lock,” Rip reminded her, “We want this to be as clean as possible.”

“Rip,” Sara sighed, as Lawson and Everhart did just that, “You do know I’ve been doing this without you in my ear for years.”

“Sorry,” he apologised, “Old habits.”

“Okay,” Sara said, as the door unlocked, “We’re moving in.”

Entering the room they found it had been set up as a hospital room and unconscious on the bed lay Damian Darhk.

“He’s alive,” Sara reported, as Everhart their medic checked the unconscious man.

Unpacking the equipment they needed to transport him out, Sara watched her team move efficiently and without hesitation. She knew it was stupid, but she wanted to show Rip how well her team functioned.

He had trained her, and she had been a bit of a nightmare so wanted to let him know that all the work he had done had paid off in the end.

“We’re ready,” Lawson said interrupting her musing.

Sara nodded, “Then let’s get out of here. Rip,” she called, “We’re on our way. Make sure our lift is waiting.”

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

 “Thank you,” Nora hugged Rip tightly when he delivered the news her father was being brought to the base.

Rip gently patted her shoulder before stepping bacl, “He’s being settled in a room just now. The medical team are counteracting the drugs Thawne used to keep him unconscious. Nora,” he took a quick breath, “I’m going ask you to do something for me.”

“Of course,” she said instantly.

He sighed, “Not mention me to your father. I can’t be known as a former Argus agent by anyone when I leave here. I trust you, Ray and Gideon not to say anything but your father has reason to let it slip.”

Nora stared at him for several moments before she nodded, “I wish I could say you had no reason to worry, but I know who my father is. You have my word.”

“Thank you, Nora,” Rip smiled.

“Besides,” she added cheekily, “Gideon would never forgive me if something happened to you.”

At his slight blush she left the room with the guard who was waiting to take her to her father.

 Nora nodded her thanks to the guard who opened the door to the room where her father had regained consciousness.

“Where the hell am I?” he yelled at the medic.

“That’s enough,” Nora said walking over to the bed, “No yelling at the staff trying to look after you.”

“Nora?” her father stared at her surprised, he was about to hug her before he frowned, “Where are we?”

“It’s an Argus base,” Nora explained pulling a chair alongside the bed, before stopping him from pulling off the monitoring equipment, “They rescued you from Thawne.”

“And what are you doing here?” he demanded, “Why are you anywhere near these people?”

Nora sighed, “That’s a long story,” she hugged him tightly feeling her father wrap his arms around her, “I’m so relieved you’re safe, Dad. I was so worried he’d killed you.”

Stroking her hair, he hushed her, “He wouldn’t dare,” pushing her back so he could look at her, he demanded, “Now, tell me what happened to lead us here.”

 Damian Darhk listened his daughter explain everything that had happened to her and her friend in the past few weeks, anger filling him that Thawne had dared attack not only him but his child.

“What about Gideon?” Damian asked his baby girl, “Is she alright?”

Nora nodded, “We stuck together. I had to tell her about Thawne’s interest in her.”

Frowning Damian looked at his daughter, “What about this man you took hostage by accident?”

“Ray Palmer,” Nora blushed slightly, and he knew at that moment what this man meant to his baby, “He’s been so supportive since we explained what happened.”

“How did Argus find you?” he questioned, he knew who Ray Palmer was, but his intelligence had never suggested any connection.

Nora shrugged, “They were at his office at the same time we were. From what we were told, they were there to watch over Ray in case someone came after him because you’d been missing for so long.”

“Well, I look forward to meeting him,” Damian told her.

A soft knock on the door made them both turn to where Gideon stood.

“Is this a good time?” she asked softly.

Damian nodded and motioned her over to them, “Are you alright, Gideon?”

The young woman nodded, “I am. And relieved you’re safe, Mr Dahrk. Nora has been so worried,” she rested her arm around her friend’s shoulders, “We both have.”

“And now we have you back,” Nora said, “The police are going to release the fact we’ve been exonerated, and we can go home.”

With no intention of letting Thawne away with what he’d done to Damian’s daughter he put on a fake smile, “Yes, we can. Yes, we can.”

#fic #ripfic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #nora darhk #ray palmer #sara lance #damien darhk #alternate universe

[twoblueheartslocked]

Para: December/January Flashback.

Rating: PG.

Pairing: Seblaine. (And Seblaine is still very much the endgame.)

Sebastian: @colorsicantsee

Blaine: @twoblueheartslocked

Time: Four years before the events of ( Hold On To The Memories, They Will Hold On To You ) Events taking place in December/January of Blaine’s Senior Year and Sebastian’s Junior Year. Blaine (17) Seb(16).

Location: Sebastian’s House. Westerville, Ohio

Info: Blaine’s parents are tragically killed in an icy car accident on Sunday, December 28, the day after Blaine and Sebastian spend their incredible night together. A devastated Blaine deals with the aftermath of his parents death in the only way he knows how which results in two very broken hearted teenage boys.

Warnings(PLEASE READ THIS): This para includes mentions of parental death(Both) and a whole bunch of self loathing. There’s a break up and it does not have a happy ending for our boys. This was not fun to write at all, but remember they’re very much endgame- soulmates.

Extra Warnings: (This RP is not Kurt Hummel friendly. You’ve all been warned.)

Notes: Some canon events remain in place while others have been changed. Some things may even be out of order. You can consider this sort of canon divergent AU. A few changes are that Blaine’s parents are different from the show (His mother is Filipina), he didn’t cheat on Kurt or date Dave and Sebastian is younger than Blaine. Feel free to send a message if you have any questions!

Blaine’s POV:

“There was ice on the r-road. God, they’re gone, Blaine. I-I don’t know how else to say it. Mom and dad are gone…”

He could still hear his brother’s panicked, weepy voice ringing in his ear. Could still feel the icy chill run through his body as the words sunk into him, pulling him down into a darkness that he’d never felt before. That Sunday, after having the most incredible night, Blaine went from feeling the best he’d ever felt to feeling like he was suffocating in despair. It felt like someone had thrown him into the Arctic with nothing but the clothes on his back. He remembered waiting for Cooper to come home, remembered how quiet and too big the house had felt, how the silence had pushed into his brain and it was maddening...that fucking quiet. But, on the inside his thoughts felt loud and chaotic and he was screaming, screaming, screaming. But if you walked by and saw him you just see a teenager, small and lost just standing there numbly as people in uniforms and nice suits talked at him about what would happen to him next.

That had been two weeks ago. Will and Imelda Anderson had been laid to rest and Cooper had moved from California to Ohio while Blaine finished out his Senior year. All the therapists and people in charge had told Cooper it wouldn’t be fitting to take him out of school to move across the country at a time like this. So, against everything he wanted, Cooper was back in Ohio, miserable and trying to figure out how to be a parental figure while in mourning and in a house with nothing but ghosts and memories that were still too fresh- so fresh that they cut like knives to think about.

The weeks had gone by in a blur, he hadn’t been back to school yet, and was dreading the day that he’d have to. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to function as a person when his whole world had been shattered. The only thing he’d been able to bring himself to do was see Sebastian, and even that hurt him because he couldn’t even smile for him. He’d been at the Smythe’s almost every single day since it happened, he’d tried to go see Sam but all he got was pitying looks from Sam's parents and he couldn’t handle it. Sabine, Seb’s mom,  had simply pulled him into a hug and in her soothing lilt told him she was there for him and that was that.

Today was the fourteen day since they’d been killed, and it had been fifteen days since Blaine had last gotten to hug them, or speak to them in person,  and it was the twelfth day since his parents had been put in the ground . He wasn’t doing well at all. He was wrapped up in Sebastian’s arms on their couch in his basement, his back to the room, his face turned and pressed into Seb’s chest, his arms wrapped tightly around Seb’s slender frame, as he fought his hardest not to fucking cry again as the mumblings from some movie played in the background. Going to Seb’s house was the only place he felt a fraction of okay, but he also felt like absolute shit everytime he went there.

He always started out his trips promising himself he would find a balance and every time he went over there he’d tell himself today would be the day he’d smile for Sebastian, and today would be the day that he’d give him a real kiss, not just a peck, but a real one with that showed all the pent up feelings he still had for him- they had just been pushed down because Blaine didn’t know if he had anymore room for anything other than pain. He wanted to follow through, wanted to smile for Seb and kiss him properly because Seb deserved that. He’d been nothing but supportive and sympathetic, and had stood by him like a dutiful boyfriend (even though they didn’t say that outloud) throughout everything and Blaine was the worst kind of person because he couldn’t even muster a half smile for his person.

It occurred to him right then that he may never be able to smile again. He may never be able to properly kiss Sebastian the same way he had two weeks ago when everything was as perfect as a winter snow globe scene. Sure, Seb didn’t seem to mind and also seemed content to hold Blaine close and talked to him like a person instead of a ticking bomb, but it killed Blaine that Seb’s life was just put on hold because of him. Blaine’s broken heart ached impossibly more at the thought and he felt like the most selfish person in the world for dragging the other boy around. And all at once he found himself sobbing again, big,  loud, wailing and snotty sobs that sounded so raw and the front of Seb’s shirt would be wet again. Fuck, Sebastian didn’t fucking deserve this. He deserved so much better than this version of Blaine. This broken carbon copy. He felt like the old version of himself died with his parents, leaving his friends and person with a hollowed out, crybaby version of himself.

He cried, and struggled to catch his breath, and clung so tightly to Seb that when he finally stopped there were black spots in his vision and he felt weak. Possibly because he’d hardly eaten, but mostly because crying was exhausting and that’s all he did lately. Everything hurt, mentally and physically. His voice was high pitched and pathetic when he finally found it.

“God damnit, I’m so sorry, Seb.”

Sebastian’s POV:

Sebastian hoped he was being helpful. He had never had to console somebody, had never even attended a funeral before. Never had to stand in the back of a stuffy room full of too many black ties and random casseroles and  the scent of carnations heavy in the air. He did it all, though. Sebastian picked out his best suit and hung back until Blaine needed him, squeezed his hand during the procession to the graveyard, sent flowers by instruction of his mother and took a prayer card home and brought Blaine water and crackers when he cried so hard he started to heave. He did it all quietly and patiently and spoke his condolences in hugs and kisses on the cheek. Sebastian knew that saying sorry wasn’t enough and that Blaine needed time, which nobody could give him.

Sabine had made it clear that their home was open and that the other boy was welcome. Sebastian spent so many nights holding Blaine as random movie credits rolled in the background, his boyfriend sobbing until he fell asleep. He was thankful for the little slices of peace sleep brought to Blaine. Eating was pretty much out of the question but Sebastian always offered granola bars and fruit snacks. He never minded when his shirts got soggy with tears or sweat from a nightmare that Blaine had. He just wanted Blaine to feel better, just wanted him to survive this.

Seb clung tight to Blaine as he sobbed. He wished his hands could force the broken puzzle pieces of his boy back together again. He rubbed circles in Blaine’s back and kept quiet, just let him cry it all out as he stared at the flashing tv screen. Sebastian watched as Snow White ran through a haunted forest and thought to himself that it seemed like Blaine was stuck in the same place but instead of trees, it was all ice and crashing metal and broken glass.

“Hey, don’t be sorry,” Sebastian shook his head. “I have plenty of shirts.”

Blaine’s POV:

Blaine forced himself to sit up on the couch, he held onto Seb for leverage,  his body swaying a bit as the dizziness took over him. He knew he needed to eat something soon, knew that he needed to take care of himself if he ever hoped to feel better at all. The thought of food made him feel nauseated, everything he’d eaten in the last two weeks had tasted like dust on his tongue and had been even harder to swallow.  How long was he going to feel like this? A hopeless pit of despair that pulled him under more and more each day. Would he ever feel better? He looked over at Seb, embarrassment and pain evident on his face and the fact that his first thought wasn’t how happy the other boy made him feel anymore, but rather how miserable Seb must be sitting here with him day after day, all the hours blurring into one never-ending session of comforting Blaine as he cried or asked why over and over again knowing there wasn’t answer- was devastating to Blaine and he didn’t know what the fuck to do about it.

They’d been following this pattern for two weeks, Seb had come as soon as Blaine called him that day and had been by his side every single day since. Sure, Blaine knew this is what couples did, know that when you cared about someone you were there for them, you held them close and kissed their head and told them that you’ve got them the way Seb had been doing. But, Seb was a sixteen year old kid and his junior year was slowly slipping by him while he put everything on hold for Blaine. Lacrosse would be starting up soon, how could Blaine ask Seb to miss it? How could Blaine be so selfish to keep him here when he had no clue when he’d feel better.  Seb was going to hate him for this eventually. He just fucking knew it.

Still, the thought of being without him. The thought of not getting to touch him,  kiss him, or press close to him under the covers, or to eventually tell him that he loved him- Blaine still hadn’t gotten to tell him, made him want to throw up and again, he didn’t know what to do. He swallowed hard, his mind running wild with the thought that Sebastian was secretly sick of him and his breath hitched and another little sob escaped which turned into another one. It didn’t occur to Blaine to take a deep breath, and maybe tell Seb that he loved him now, or that Seb might say it back. Blaine couldn’t convince himself that Seb was okay just holding him, that Seb was happy to be there for him while he mourned. Blaine had been slowly convincing himself since the first time he sobbed into his shirt that Seb was miserable. And that he was just being selfish by keeping him around. He sniffled, Seb’s words making his bottom lip wobble in their sweetness.

“God, you’re perfect.” He sobbed out, not able to keep the control over his words like he needed. “I lo-” He wanted to say I love you so much, you’ve been amazing, I just don’t know what to do right now, you need to live your life…And his mouth wouldn’t let him say it, and all over again he felt sick, like he was actually going to throw up even though the only thing he had in his body were a few crackers and some water from hours ago.

“I can’t. God, I don’t know what to do.”

Sebastian’s POV:

Sebastian wished he could read Blaine’s mind. He couldn’t decipher anything on his tear stained face except for pain. He just nodded as the other boy struggled for words, rubbed his back in what he hoped was soothing circles.

“You don’t have to know what to do, B.” He knew his words were never going to be enough but he couldn’t let Blaine’s hurt hang in the air ignored. Seb was okay pushing his homework off until Blaine left, was okay with driving to Blaine’s directly after Warbler rehearsal, could tolerate watching one million Katy Perry videos and old movies in an effort to cheer the other boy up. He was down for anything even if it meant sitting in silence. Sure, he missed how Blaine was just a few short weeks ago. But, he knew he’d never get him back unless they dealt with the monstrous tragedy that clung to his guy. If that meant tear soaked hoodies and half drunk water bottles and cracker crumbs then so be it.

“Do you want me to go get you anything?” Sebastian hated forcing Blaine to eat but he knew he probably needed something soon, he could feel him shake. “I’ll get you whatever you want.”

Blaine’s POV:

Blaine could feel his breathing pick up, he was balancing on the edge of a full on panic attack and he didn’t know how to reel it all back in. He teetered there, and he knew in his hearts of hearts all he had to do was reach out and ask Sebastian to help him through it. All he had to do was lean on him for a little bit longer and eventually he’d be there, he’d get through all of this but… his brain seemed to be blocking him from accepting that. He’ll wake up one day and he’ll find that he hates you for ruining what’s left of his junior year. He could have been out having fun, but he stayed cooped up in a basement for god knows how long you feel like this and he missed out on everything good. He won’t be able to concentrate on Lacrosse or the Warblers because of you. He’ll miss out on dances and prom and touching and sex all because you’re sad, Blaine. You've got to let him go.

He looked at Seb, really looked at him- Taking his beautiful face, his green eyes wide and eager to please him, ready to help him however he could. And Blaine had never loved another person besides his parents as much as he loved Sebastian Smythe in this moment. Tears slipped quietly down his face as he cupped Seb’s in between his hands and leaned forward to press a kiss against familiar lips. The kiss tasted salty from his tears and Blaine wondered if he’d ever get to do it again.

“You, god Seb, you’ve been so perfect.” His words were choppy and his breath hitched and he felt so sick to his stomach. How was he supposed to do this? How was he supposed to be unselfish when all he wanted was to cuddle back up and let Sebastian take care of him? “I-I think we-” his words felt heavy and wrong and he stood up, wrapping his arms around himself and he felt so small and if only his mother were here, she’d help him understand why he was about to break his own fucking heart. She’d tell him how to deal with his feelings and keep what he loved in the process.

A little voice in his head that sounded very much like himself, only weaker spoke up, pleading with this new, sorrowful version of Blaine. You don’t want this, Blaine. He’s the best person for you to be around, he’s the only one that makes you feel halfway okay. Just fucking tell him that you love him finally and that you’ll feel better one day and thank him for being there for you. But, Blaine’s mouth said something different and what was left of his tattered heart broke right in two as he spoke and he sounded like a stranger to himself.

“I think we should maybe take a break for a bit.” He could hardly look at Seb, his person's handsome face went from confused to shocked, like he had been slapped, in a split second. “I want to be with you, I just don’t know how to be right now, Seb and it’s not fucking fair to you and I think maybe if I could just try to figure how to breathe maybe I could be better for you and I think the only way I can do that is if I-I do it alone.” You’re so stupid, Blaine. You’re so wrong. Don’t do this to him. Don’t do this to yourself… More miserable tears fell, this time wetting his own shirt and not Seb’s. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know how else to do this…”

Sebastian’s POV:

Sebastian kissed Blaine back but it didn’t feel like the kisses they usually shared. It felt too slow, tasted like salt instead of cherry, and it felt like the last one they’d share. He blinked a few times and tried to shake the empty, sunken feeling that started to fall through his body.  Suddenly Blaine was speaking but he didn’t sound like himself and Seb felt like he was having an out of body experience. Was he being broken up with? What had he done wrong? Blaine constantly told him how good he was but now it felt like he wasn’t good enough and that was too familiar of a feeling for him.

He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and closed his eyes for a moment, Sebastian really didn’t want to burst into tears, the thought made a swirl of anxiety rush through his head. He also didn’t want to beg but everything in him was screaming for another chance.  Sebastian put his hands up in an effort to stop Blaine from speaking. He suddenly felt so pissed off his hands trembled.

“You don’t get to decide what I need or want. Nobody gets to decide any of that except for me!” His voice was higher than he had intended and he hoped Blaine didn’t notice the warble of tears trapped in his throat.  Sebastian stood up from the couch. He wanted to punch the wall, wanted to knock the tv over, wanted to run to his room and burrow into the covers, wanted to scream and cry into his pillows.

“This makes no sense. I thought I was helping you. You….you said I was good. You just….get to throw me away like everybody else.”

The tears finally fell down his face and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He was so mad at himself for giving into crying, for looking weak in front of the only person he wanted to impress,

“Get. Out. Get out! I don’t fucking want you here anymore.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could take them back and his feet stomped up the basement stairs, past his mother in the kitchen, his back was pressed to his bedroom door before he let himself take a deep breath that ended in a sob. 

Blaine’s POV:

Blaine watched as Sebastian struggled through what he’d said, the other boys face breaking his heart just that little bit more and Blaine wanted to reach out to him and pull him close and tell him that he didn’t mean it. Because he really didn’t mean it, he didn’t want to do this. He knew that with his whole heart that he shouldn’t have done this, that there had to be a better way to deal with his hopelessness, but he didn’t know what it was. He was just trying to save Seb from the inevitable catastrophe of being stuck with someone that was only half living. He wanted more than anything, except maybe to have his parents back, to stay right here and let Seb bring him back to life one day. But, he knew it was selfish, even if Sebastian couldn’t see it right now.

“Seb you are good, please, that’s not what this is about. You did everything right! I’ m not doing this beca-” The rise in Sebastian’s voice cut him off and his breath hitched at his angry words and Blaine tried to reach for him as he pushed past him and took off up the stairs, but Seb was fast and his words were still echoing in his ears minutes  after he had left. The space where he’d been still felt charged and full and Blaine wondered if he’d always feel him there.

The air around him felt suffocating and and the room was so still, so quiet that the voice in his head was screaming desperately at him to go up the stairs and to find Seb and tell him that he’d been wrong to say that, that his head was just messed up and that he needed him by his side while he figured everything out. But, his self hatred had already started to settle and he had already convinced himself that he didn’t deserve that comfort. If he could make that wonderful, beautiful boy sob like that how could he ever think he deserved to keep him around? His body ached as he forced himself to put his coat on and then his shoes and each step up into the main part of the house felt like glass on bare skin and he prayed to a god he didn’t know if he believed in that Sabine wasn’t still in the kitchen. He hoped she’d gone to Seb, hoped that he wouldn’t have to see her disappointed face. Though a tiny little part of him hoped she might hug him like mother’s do but he knew he didn’t deserve that and that it was selfish to want it.

He managed to get himself out of the house without running into anyone and without looking at anything, lest the memories grab hold of him and pull him under. It didn’t occur to him until he was outside in the cold January air that he hadn’t driven here. He’d been too nervous to drive since his parents' accident, so afraid that he’d slide off the road too so Seb had been picking him up and bringing him to his house. Blaine’s bottom lip quivered at the thought, how sweet it was that Seb would go out of his way like that so he wouldn’t have to think further about his mom and dad. He pressed a hand over his mouth as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tried to ignore the background photo of him and Seb smiling up at the camera. He thought about calling Sam to get him, but Sam was in Lima and it would take him too long. Instead he was forced to call Cooper. His big brother made it known that Blaine was being an dumb and that he wasn’t thinking clearly and why would he do this, but something in Blaine’s face maybe told him that he knew all of that and Coop shut up for the rest of the ride home.

He’d managed to make it into his bedroom before bursting into a new wave of tears. This time with an added loss, one of his own making. He cried so fucking hard he threw up, he’d only eaten crackers and water so it hurt and he thought maybe he deserved it. And as he pressed his forehead to the cold toilet seat it hit him how much he didn’t want this. He knew he’d fucked up. He knew it without a doubt and regret and self loathing filled him up and he threw up once again. Finally he managed to pull himself up and he put himself into pajamas and cleaned his teeth and face before curling up on his bed. It had been four hours since he’d left Seb and each hour hurt so badly he thought he might die. He’d never experience this kind of thing before and he wondered if he’d ever feel good again. With shaking hands he tried to reach Sebastian, one last plea for understanding or maybe forgiveness.

Blaine(8:02 pm): I know you don’t want to hear from me right now, but please give me this chance… Blaine(8:07pm):  I’m not throwing you away, you’re not something anyone could do that to, you are so much more than that. You’re an amazing person that deserves so much more than I can give you right now. I’m trying to keep you from hating me in the long run. Why would you want to spend your time trying to fix someone that may not be able to be fixed? I don't know if I’ll ever feel right again and god… Blaine(8:13pm): You’ve done everything right. I need you to know that. You’re perfect. The best thing that’s ever happened to me, you mean so fucking much to me. I didn’t do this because I don’t want to be with you. I want to be with you more than anything... I just don’t know when I’ll ever feel like me again and that’s not fair to you. Please, don’t think it’s because of you. I’m the messed up one and you deserve better. Blaine(9:15pm): Please, Seb. Talk to me. I’m begging you. Anything, I’ll take anything. I miss you so much already.

He curled into himself, his phone clutched in his fingers like a life line and while he thought he might not be able to cry anymore he managed to cry himself into a fitful sleep. When he woke up the next afternoon, the only messages he had were from Cooper and Sam and he cried all over again. He’d broken his own heart into tiny little pieces and now he was sure he’d done the same to Sebastian, he regretted it more than anything he’d ever done and probably anything he would ever do again. He stayed in bed and ignored everyone for the rest of the day. His heart aching with each beat as if it could also feel the three giant holes December and January had left in him. He’d not only lost his parents, but he’d lost his person, someone he was sure he was meant to be with and he’d done it to himself all because he couldn’t figure out how to exist anymore.

He’d give anything for his dad to tell him he’d be okay and to feel the squeeze of his hand on his shoulder, or to feel his mothers arms around him again, whispering how much she loved him, or to see Seb’s for Blaine only smile light up the room and take his breath away. None of these things were possible. He felt worthless and alone, and still so very much in love and he knew, without a shadow of doubt, that he’d feel this way forever.

Sebastian’s POV:

Sebastian didn’t know when he fell asleep. It was somewhere between his mother softly knocking on his bedroom door and the snow beginning to fall outside his bedroom window. His entire body felt tired and heavy in a way he had never experienced, not even after Lacrosse games or Warbler rehearsal. Sebastian reached for his phone in the tangle of blankets out of habit and saw the splash of texts across his screen. Seeing Blaine’s name brought up another surge of confusing emotions- sadness, anger, loss. He didn’t want to respond. He wasn’t sure how to articulate how he felt and his gut reaction was to say something mean. Seb decided to not say anything at all and deleted all of the messages. Maybe it wasn’t fair but was it fair that Blaine was already saying he missed him?

In the back of his head, behind all of the stubbornness, Sebastian knew that Blaine was going through a lot and this was all a part of his mourning. He just couldn’t let go of the hurt or the embarrassment or the fact that the other boy decided to make the decision for the both of them. Sebastian threw his phone across the room, he didn’t want to hear from anybody for the rest of the night or maybe even the rest of the week. He wondered if his mother would let him skip class tomorrow or if his father would let him move onto campus during the week (it might help in avoiding Blaine).

Sebastian stared at his dark bedroom ceiling and a million feelings and thoughts infiltrated his mind and body. He took a deep breath but it wavered with the threat of tears. He wanted this to be over, wanted to numb how sad his heart felt and how unwanted he was. How terrible was love anyway? You give everything for another person, you let them see every ugly part of you and you give up all of your time for them and you still end up thrown away like old newspapers. Was it ever enough? Everybody reminded him all of the time he wasn’t worth it and Blaine had solidified that for him. Sebastian decided he’d never fucking do it again.

Seb snuck into his father’s study, stole  a bottle of whiskey and made it back into his bedroom without being seen. He drank until he didn’t feel anything but the floaty, dizzy spin of too much alcohol. The whiskey lulled him to sleep but he dreamt of Blaine the entire night.

/fin.

#seblaine angst #seblaine #seblaine para #seblaine canon divergence #Para: December/January Flashback #colorsicantsee #twobluehearts locked

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 15 - Before The Storm

(from the My Girl Trilogy: Be My Only)

…in which “a heart is not a home without the one who gets you through the storm.” {end of book 2}

Warning: smut, angst, fluff, and a WTF ending 🙃

Word count: 5.7k

AU: actor!Harry, older!Harry, younger!Y/N, (4-year age gap).

Chapter 14: I’ll Be There - Y/N shouldn’t have trusted her car, and Harry should’ve come home sooner.

Wattpad link

A/N: This is the last chapter of book 2! Read it now and don't forget to tell me what you think about the ending! Thank you sooooo much for your support! 😍 

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The cameras flashed and the intrusive questions hurled at Ruby as soon as she stepped out of her car. Turning a blind eye to the paparazzi, she hung her head and quickened her pace while navigating herself toward the hospital entrance. It wasn't until the automatic sliding door shut behind her, and all the screaming was muffled that she took off her sunglasses and heaved a sigh of relief. All eyes were on her as she walked up to the front desk. She supposed some people knew who she was, but thank God, no one came up to ask for a picture.

"I'm here to see a patient named Y/N Y/L/N," Ruby said to the nurse who wasn't even looking at her as she held up a finger, telling the actress to wait.

"Good morning, Patricia!" A man walked past the front desk and waved at the nurse. Ruby didn't pay attention to him until Patricia called out his name.

"Yo, Bradford!" The dark-skinned lady snapped her fingers as he turned around. "This rich white girl is here to see your daughter."

Daughter?! Ruby was startled, her mouth was agape, but the man had already walked over to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N's dad," he said, pointing to the nurse. "Don't mind Patricia. She's always kidding."

"No, it's fine, I—"

"Next time don't show up at a hospital in an Audi. This ain't your runway," Patricia said as she eyed Ruby up and down.

Fortunately, Bradford changed the subject, "are you a friend of Y/N's?"

"Uh...yeah." She nodded. "Nice to meet you, sir. My name is Ruby."

"Call me Bradford," he said and jerked his head toward the double door to the corridor. "Follow me. I'll walk you to her room."

Ruby thanked Bradford and Patricia as well, but the nurse didn't seem very impressed as she gave the actress the side-eye until she was gone. Seeing worry etched on her face, Bradford had to reassure her, "Patricia says things like that all the time but she's actually very nice."

"Do you know all the nurses here?"

"Only some." He shrugged. "I've been here with Y/N for a week. There's nothing to do but talk to the nurses."

"Wow...Y/N is um...she's very lucky to have a loving father like you."

The corners of his mouth turned up as he thanked her and they kept on walking. "Her boyfriend is very helpful too," he added. "He's spent every night here since he got back from France."

"Her boyfriend is...an actor, right?"

"Yeah," Bradford said, but then doubt overtook his face. "Did you get that on the news or—"

"No, no, I...um...I know both of them," she admitted while twisting the ring on her middle finger.

"Aaaah, I see." He nodded. "I don't keep up with the news, but my wife does. She's told me about what the people online are saying about Y/N and it just breaks my heart. I can never read those things, you know? It'll only drive me crazy knowing I can't protect my little girl."

Ruby only gave a quivery smile yet her silence urged Bradford to continue.

"What model is your car?"

His unexpected question caught her by surprise. "Uh...it's an Audi R8 Spyder."

"Oh my." His eyes went round. "Are you famous like Harry?"

"Sadly no," she lied, chuckling a bit.

"Well, that's a really nice car you got there."

"Thank you."

"I'm saving up to get Y/N a new car, but I think Harry is planning on giving her one of his. But she'll probably be so mad because she hates getting things for free. That kid could be so stubborn sometimes."

Listening to this man talk about his daughter with so much love made Ruby happy and sad at the same time. She was happy to know a father like him still existed. But she was sad because she had never been in Y/N's shoes.

Her father had been a nightmare. Her mother had died when she was very young and she'd had to live with a cold-hearted man who had beaten her up and called her insulting names like ‘whore’ or ‘slut’ or ‘a worthless piece of shit’. And she'd grown up thinking she was exactly what those words told her to be.

She had left home at eighteen and struggled to make it on her own until her ex discovered her and helped her build her career. But as it turned out, he just wanted her to be in his life as a piece of decoration which he could easily toss away when he was finally bored.

Even though she hated to admit it, she envied Y/N for everything she'd got. A loving father. A normal life. And a lover who would treat her with respect and choose her over the world. She would kill to have all that even for just one day.

Harry had been the only man who'd loved and accepted her for who she'd been. And the thing that she regretted the most up till now was letting him go. They said, 'never say never'. But in this case, 'never' was the only answer.

"We're here."

Bradford's voice pulled her back to reality as they turned right at the end of the corridor.

"She's awake and Harry is with her," he said, pointing to one door on the right. "You go in there. I'm gonna get some coffee or I might pass out."

"Oh...okay...Thank you," Ruby mumbled. Anxiety was burning in her chest as she stepped closer to the door and looked through the rectangular window. The couple was sitting on the bed, facing away from the entrance. She could hear their voices well because the door was slightly open. It seemed like Harry was braiding his girlfriend's hair and she was scolding at him for his terrible work.

"Okay, again, for the fifth time," Y/N breathed. "First, divide the hair into three even sections. Cross the left section over the middle one, and then cross the right section over the middle section. How hard can it be?!"

"All I can remember is the word 'section'," he said, making her cackle. "Hey, stop moving!"

"I've been sitting like this for half an hour already!"

"Fifteen minutes." Harry untangle her hair so he could try again and snorted when she released a long sigh. "If you want to be pretty, you must be a good girl and let me do my magic."

"Your magic takes forever. I want a refund."

"Here." He gave her bare shoulder a kiss, before readjusting her hospital gown to cover it up.

On the other side of the door, Ruby was plucking at the cuff of her jacket as her eyes stayed fixed on the happy couple. She was there to see Y/N, but after what had happened in Paris, she worried about how Harry might react when he saw her there. He wouldn't believe she'd come to apologize to his girlfriend. After everything that she'd done, she was lucky that he had forgiven her. So what should she do now? Was she just going to wait until he left?

"I feel like you're doing it wrong," said Y/N as she reached behind her, but Harry smacked her hand away before she could touch her hair. The girl grumbled something at him and picked up the handheld mirror to see what he was doing. But Ruby's startled face was the first thing she saw.

The blonde backed away from the door, hands clenched into a fist pressing against her chest. She expected Y/N to tell Harry, but then she heard, "baby, I'm thirsty."

"Drink your water," he said.

"No, I want a coke," she grumbled. "Can you go downstairs to buy me one?"

"Baby, I can't leave you here alone."

"It'll only take a minute. I'll be fine. Please?"

There was a moment of silence before Harry let go a heavy sigh.

"Okay, fine." He chuckled. Ruby heard him move a chair as he stood up and put on his shoes. "I'll be back in a minute to finish braiding your hair."

"Yes, sir!"

The door creaked open, and the actress was quick to run and hide behind a wall. She waited until the man was out of sight to return to Y/N's room and finally knock on the door, asking if she could enter. There was no point hiding now that she'd been caught.

"Come in," Y/N said.

Ruby slowly walked in, her lips pressed into an awkward smile.

"Hi."

"Hi," said the younger girl, who was now sitting with her back against the headboard as she pointed to the chair by her bed. "Would you like to sit down?"

"No, it's fine, I—" Ruby held her hands together and shifted from one foot to the other. "Um...I heard about your accident so...uh...I came to see how you're doing."

With a slight chuckle, Y/N rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, I was trending on Twitter and people wished I was dead?"

Ruby kept quiet for a few seconds and decided to not answer that question. She knew that most of Harry's fans disliked Y/N, but they had no reason to send the girl death threats. Ruby understood why they had been against her and Harry, but Y/N was just a normal college student. Her life wasn't exposed to the public like Ruby's was. How could people hate someone they'd never met before?

As soon as she asked herself that question, Ruby realized that she'd been one of those people too. She had hated Y/N simply because of Harry. It was shameful. But at least now she knew she was wrong.

"I'm actually here to apologize," Ruby said as she took a few steps closer to the bed. "I...um...I'm sorry for the things I've said and done. And I'm sorry for what you're going through right now. Harry clearly loves you, and you love him. Well, we both love him pretty much the same but...you're better at it, and...you're a better person, too."

Y/N scoffed. "I wouldn't say I'm a better person—"

"You are to me," Ruby cut her off, and with a smile, changed the subject, "so when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," Y/N said, smiling back. "I'm so glad I don't have to stay for another week. I think I've caused enough trouble for Harry and my dad already."

"Your dad really loves you."

"You've met him?"

"Yeah, I ran into him in the lobby and he took me here."

Y/N tossed her head back as she groaned into her palm, making the blonde giggle. "Did he say something embarrassing about me? I'm pretty sure he did."

"Don't worry. He said all the wonderful things," Ruby said as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Um...I guess...I'm going now so you can rest."

"Wait, one more thing."

Ruby stopped at the door and looked back over her shoulder. 

"Good luck," was all Y/N said, but she knew Ruby knew exactly what that meant.

Smiling, the actress thanked her and then walked out before Harry came back.

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Harry thought this hallway had as much personality as the rest of the hospital. The walls simply grew from the floor and stretched upward to the matching slate grey ceiling. There were commercial prints everywhere on the walls, tasteful but dull. And the floor was so new and spotless it made Harry uncomfortable. He'd spent four nights here already, still, he couldn't get used to the place. So even though they were leaving tomorrow night, he thought he should get some flowers for Y/N's room as she might need some colour in there to cheer her up.

It was 7 PM on a Friday so Harry expected a line of at least four or five people waiting in front of the vending machine on the ground floor. However, there was just one other person. And it was the last person he wanted to run into right now.

"Hey," Isaac said as he grabbed his coke and stepped aside so Harry could use the machine.

"You just got here?" Harry asked and inserted a coin. He wasn't looking at Isaac, but he didn't have to do it to see that little smile on his face.

"Yeah," Isaac replied and popped the tab on the can. "Since when did you drink coke? Is that for Smiley?"

Bambi, the voice inside Harry's head auto-corrected the nickname, but he didn't say it aloud and nodded instead. "Yeah," was all he said before getting the can out of the machine and turned to Isaac. "Let's go. She'll be happy to see you."

"Actually..." Isaac stopped him before he could walk away. "I want to talk to you first. It's about...the other day."

"It's okay." Harry waved him off. "We were both exhausted that night. There's no need to mention it."

"I still think we need to talk," Isaac insisted, looking so serious that Harry was left with no other choice but to stay.

They found a row of chairs and sat down side by side. Isaac had finished his drink, but he kept the can to fidget with as he spoke, probably too nervous about the things he was going to say.

"I'm very sorry for what I said to you," he began. "I just want you to know that I don't want to come between you and Smiley. I made up my mind when we broke up and...and even if you two weren't together now, I still wouldn't try to win her back because she doesn't love me. No matter how many times I've been there for her, she could never love me the way she loves you and we all know that."

Harry massaged the back of his neck as he drew in a long breath, thinking for a moment before he spoke, "the truth is, sometimes I'm jealous of how calm and simple and good your relationship was. I wish I could give her the same thing, but now her name and photos are everywhere on the internet. And I keep thinking about what you said. You weren't completely wrong. She wouldn't have gone through so much if she was still with you."

"But she doesn't want to be with me. That's just how it is, mate," Isaac said as he chuckled and patted Harry on the back. "I was way too harsh on you. It wasn't your choice to not be there when she crashed her car. It wasn't your fault."

"That's the worst," Harry mumbled, breaking the short-lasting silence. "It's always the things that we can't control."

Isaac gave his best friend a quizzical look, but seeing how stressful he was, he had to get up and tell him, "let's go, Y/N is waiting."

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Most people hated the storm. But it was that moment of absolute stillness before the sky darkened and the rain started to pour that Y/N feared the most. It was the anxiety when you didn't know how bad it was going to get, or the absolute ignorance delight which turned into distress in a matter of seconds. She would compare that stillness to wearing your favorite dress to the park on a beautiful sunny day, only to get drenched by a sudden rain because you didn't have an umbrella with you. But the thing was, you could always wash your pretty dress or get a new one and you'd be happy again. The same things didn't apply to people, feelings, or moments.

Today was the day Y/N finally got to leave the hospital. And it was a beautiful day.

Bradford had gone back to Holmes Chapel earlier that afternoon to take care of some business and he fully trusted Harry to take care of his daughter. However, when Harry and Y/N got to the main lobby to head out to his car, Patricia stopped the couple and warned them about the crowd waiting outside. Someone in the hospital had told the paparazzi Y/N was leaving today, so those people were there to get the latest photos of her and Harry together for the first time.

With a straight face, Harry asked Y/N if she'd like him to call his bodyguard, but she said no so he gave a nod and told Patricia that there was nothing to worry about, they could handle it. His voice was casual and light and he managed to fool the nurse with his nonchalant appearance. However, she could feel his discomposure as their fingers intertwined.

"Hold my hand tightly. Don't let go," he said.

Y/N gave a nod as she sucked in a deep breath and stayed close to her boyfriend's side. She squeezed his hand, feeling her pulse pounding in her temples and her legs shaking. She was afraid she would trip, but it became the last thing on her mind when they walked through the door.

The flashing lights blinded her, words were thrown at them like rocks, and the paparazzi were shouting out a bunch of questions but she couldn't understand a single one as her head was spinning and her vision went white. Lurching aimlessly ahead, she felt like she couldn't breathe. What if she ran out of oxygen? What if she fell and hit her head? What if—

Wait, Harry!

"Harry!" she screamed, grasping frantically onto nothing to search for his hand to hold but all that she saw around her were strange faces.

"Bambi!"

"Harry, I'm here!"

"Bambi!"

He kept calling out her name but she couldn't find him anywhere. The cameras kept on flashing and she couldn't see anything when someone shoved her forward. She lost her balance. Her body was pushed like a rag doll back and forth between warm bodies. She thought she might pass out when two strong arms secured around her torso and pulled her back up.

"Don't fucking touch her!" Harry barked at the rude strangers as he pressed her to his chest, quickly guiding her to his car.

She felt like she could cry. Even when there were just the two of them driving away in utter silence, she still felt tears sting her eyes but she didn't allow them to fall. Not here, not now, not in front of him.

Harry kept taking his eyes off the road to check on her, constantly asking if she was okay because he didn't believe her when she said she was. She was shaking like a leaf now. She just wanted to get home.

"Why are we at your house?" she asked when he drove through the gate.

Not looking at her, he said, "we're safer here."

"But you're with me now," she murmured, not sure if he'd hear it, but she assumed that he had and he just didn't want to respond. He didn't want to tell her that he couldn't protect her as he'd promised. He'd failed to protect her earlier, and it bothered him more than it should. Seeing him like this was killing her from within.

She'd been waiting for this day. The day he returned to London and they were alone in the bedroom at last, and they would climb in bed together and she would be home, in his arms. She was supposed to show him the new story she'd been working on and he was supposed to rant about Paris and get scolded for spoiling her with expensive presents he'd brought home. And she was supposed to feel nothing but bliss. Because with him by her side, she was supposed to feel safe.

But now she was watching in silence as he shrugged off his jacket and draped it on the chair by the window. He walked to his bed, his footsteps felt heavy, as if he was chained to a large rock that he had to drag everywhere he went. Watching him sit on the edge of the bed with his head in his hand, she was second-guessing his next move or the next thing he was about to say, if he was to say anything at all.

"What a crazy night," she spoke so he didn't have to. She knew she shouldn't have expected her nervous laughter to lighten up the mood, because nothing could. And she should've taken his grim silence as a sign to shut up already. But if anything, it only urged her to try again. "What do you want for dinner?" The question came out forcefully.

She couldn't cook and she wasn't even hungry. She just wanted this to feel like a normal couple's conversation. She just wanted them to be a normal couple. But now it was clear that they would never be normal.

"Can you sit down with me for a moment?" he asked, his voice was hoarse. Worried he might have scared her by sounding too serious, he gave her a reassuring smile which didn't make her feel any better. Still, she didn't object and came to sit down by his side.

Shaking his head, Harry pulled her to his lap. His arms came circled around her waist, holding her tightly as he laid his head on her shoulder and let her comb her fingers through his hair. No word was exchanged for the next two minutes.

Y/N couldn't tell what was going on in Harry's mind, but she was no stranger to this — the moment between everything and nothing at all. The moment when you were alone with your lover and both of you realized the secret world you'd created was already gone. It made you think that maybe you'd been in denial this entire time, because you had wanted it to work, but then it didn't, and you had no one to blame.

Thunder boomed outside, violent to the ears as lighting cracked the blackened sky in half. Then came the first drops of rain drumming against his bedroom window, but neither one of them seemed to be bothered. They clung to each other like it was their last chance to do so. A storm and an accident had brought him back to her, and now she feared they would take him away.

When he started to cry, she did too. He repeated the same two words "I'm sorry" into her neck, as if it was going to change anything if he said it enough.

That wasn't the 'I'm sorry I hurt you' type of apology, because he didn't hurt her. He could never do that. What made those words hit so hard was the fact that it sounded like an unspoken goodbye which could be translated to, 'I'm sorry because I can't do anything to change this', or 'I'm sorry because you deserve better.'

But there was no better. There was just him. He was everything she'd ever wanted and she wouldn't mind taking a bullet for him, so tonight hadn't changed anything. And given time, she might get used to dealing with the paparazzi and his crazy 'fans'. She believed that. The problem was, he didn't. He might have wanted to, but he loved and cared about her too much to even risk it now. He would never be at peace if he stayed with her. He wouldn't have endured all this anxiety if it hadn't been for her.

"This is over, isn't it?" she asked tearfully as he pulled away and touched her cheek.

His voice broke as he looked deep into her eyes and whispered, "I can never love anyone the way I love you."

Funny how those were the words that made her laugh. "If that's how you break up with someone, you're doing it wrong." He watched with his brows furrowed as she wiped away her tears. "It's okay. We can...we can pretend like this never happened. Us. We never happened. We can...um...we can still be friends. Yeah? We can do that..."

Who was she fooling? Not herself. Definitely not him. He could see right through her.

When he wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders and pulled her head back to his chest, she let herself fall apart. She gripped his shirt and cried her heart out, at the same time, not wanting him to touch her body just to leave her again. But then she looked up and their eyes met, and her heart told her to kiss him. So that was what she did. She captured his mouth with her own, tasting their salty tears as she panted and begged, "just this once, please. Just this one, and then...and then I'll go."

She felt his heart against her palm as their bodies glued to one another like two broken puzzle pieces lost in translation. His hands held tightly to her hips as he twisted his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Her body shuddered as his hands moved under her shirt and up her back, warming up her cool skin.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out, but he shushed her immediately, shaking his head.

"No, baby, don't say that," he exhaled against her neck, kissing the skin before sinking his teeth in. Her fingertips dug into his back before she pulled his shirt over his head and then her own came off as well. She hugged herself to him, feeling her muscles vibrating, sore from the tension.

They had never properly said goodbye since their first kiss in the treehouse. She had been fourteen, innocent and hopeful. And goodbye hadn't felt so hard as her stealing the first kiss from him had made up for the sadness she'd felt inside. Now she was twenty-one, and he was twenty-five, and they knew exactly what was going to happen after goodbye. Both were scared to even think about it now.

"I love you so much," he told her before flipping her to her back and pulled her jeans from her legs, wrapping his fingers behind her neck to crash her lips to his. Both of them reached down to undo his belt and fly, pulling him free without taking his jeans off. They had never felt this desperate. They needed to remind themselves that they were real, at least at this moment. And as he sank into her, she knew that nothing would ever feel like him again.

He thrust hard and deep as her palms braced against his shoulders, holding him so close she could feel him everywhere while he cupped her neck and kissed her throat. Their hips were moving in sync as her eyes squeezed closed. He pulled back despite her resistance and held the back of her knee to lift her leg up and push in deep, making her cry out and grip his hair. He dipped slow and deep, ruining her for everyone else after him. But would there be anyone after him? How could she move on when she was more than certain he was the only one she would ever love? She didn't want this. She couldn't let him go. She wanted to change her mind. She needed to tell him now, but the words got stuck in her throat only to come out as breathy sounds of his name.

"God, I'm gonna miss you," he groaned against her as she held onto his back. She wished she'd misheard it and he'd only said 'I missed you', but she knew those were the actual words that had come out of his mouth. This was happening. They were going to end tonight.

She didn't recognize her own voice as she cried out under him, her walls clenching around him, pulsing, causing him to spill over, giving her his warmth for one last time.

There it was.

That stillness again.

He laid his head against her chest and let her play with his hair. In those frozen seconds, it felt like the end of the world. Everything was dead, even them, except for the rain, which was the only excuse for them to lie there for over an hour. Neither was ready to make this ending official.

Y/N was the first to move. She knew if she hadn't, they would have stayed there forever. She got up and put on her clothes in silence. Harry watched from the bed as the hazy pink light cast her shadow on the wall. She looked so fragile. This moment took him back to a year ago on the night she told him she loved him and walked out of the door. He was about to relive that night again. This time, there would be no treehouse to bring her back.

"Don't worry about me." She smiled as he sat up. "I'll call a taxi."

In a flash, she was out of the door. 'Saying goodbye is like removing a bandage', she had once told him, 'the faster you do it, the less it hurt.' So now that the rain outside had lessened, she knew she had to leave even if it killed her knowing she was leaving behind half of her heart in that room.

The stillness made him shiver.

"Wait, Bambi, wait!" he shouted and bolted to the door. She was injured so when he got downstairs she hadn't made it to the porch yet. Her teary eyes were wide with shock when she saw him. She expected him to say something, but he marched straight towards her and his arms tightened around her waist, pulling her in.

"Stay with me." He breathed, clutching onto her as tightly as he had on the night of his motorbike accident.

Her hands squeezed into fists as they pressed against his back. She was sobbing, choking on the words that struggled to escape her lips, "we can't do this...I-I just...I just want you to be happy."

"I'm only happy when I'm with you. I'm only myself when I'm with you." His breathing hitched as his knees grew weak and he thought he might slump to the cold tiles on the floor if she let him go. "Please stay with me and we'll get through this together. I'm not giving up on us, not again. I need you. I need you..."

She pulled back, holding his flushed cheeks. Tears were running down her face and there was rawness in it, like her pain was caused by an open wound. The voice in his head was telling him to get ready to watch her walk out. He knew his Bambi. Once she'd made up her mind, she wouldn't give in. She would leave him tonight, and he would never get to see her again.

But then she looked him in the eyes and a smile tugged at her chapped lips. "The heart is a little fireplace..." she said.

Harry's chest nearly burst open at the sound of those words. He felt as if invisible holes were poked into his skin so the light from within could shine right through. Taking her back into his strong arms, he kissed her with everything he'd got, telling her he loved her more than anything in this world and would never give up on her.

"I love you, too," she mumbled into his chest. "Only you."

They hugged each other as the rain outside finally quieted down and the sky cleared to prepare for dawn. They knew when the daylight came, everything would go back to the way it was before the storm, except for the ones who'd had gone through it. They wouldn't be the same. Happiness came when a battle was over.

.

.

.

"You've got to see people's reactions. It's absolutely fucking priceless, man!"

Isaac chuckled as he scrolled through Instagram on his iPad. "I'm reading the comments right now," he told Niall, who was on the phone and couldn't stop squealing for he was too elated. It was only nine in the morning and their best friend had broken the internet.

The people of London had woken up to a new Instagram post by Harry Styles. It was a photo of a girl standing by the window as sunlight ignited the room to vivid golden hues. The caption contained only two words: My girl. There was no explanation. No nothing. Just, 'My girl'. And people were free to come up with stories of their own and discuss what they assumed was 'the truth'. After all, there were only two people who knew what it was.

Isaac couldn't describe the feeling he'd got when he saw the post. That was his two best friends finally showing the world that they were stronger than the ones who wanted to break them. And so after he'd said goodbye to Niall and ended the phone call, he tapped like on Harry's photo and left a comment to congratulate them. Then a text popped up on the top of his screen.

⌲ Smiley: Hey, wanna read my new story?

He combed his fingers through his hair, chuckling at her straightforwardness as he typed down a message.

⌲ Well, good morning to you too!

⌲ Btw, I just saw the photo. Congratulations!

⌲ Smiley: It was you who introduced me to modeling. I won't forget about you when I become the next Kendall Jenner.

Her reply made him laugh.

⌲ Smiley: Well? Wanna read my new story?

⌲ Smiley: I showed it to Harry last night and he loved it!

⌲ Sure. Email me.

⌲ Smiley: Yay! Let me know what you think!

It only took a second for her email to arrive as if she'd had that draft ready and only waited for him to say yes to press send right away. The thought of that made Isaac chuckle. It didn't matter if he wasn't the one she chose in the end. Being someone she trusted to share her writing with was more than enough for him.

Besides, smiley Y/N was always the best Y/N.

Checking his watch, Isaac got up and walked to the counter. It was early and the machines were yet to warm, but he wasn't in a rush. He took this chance to drink in the aroma of the place. He came to this coffee shop every morning and only ordered a black coffee and a danish for breakfast. But there was a new barista today, so he couldn't just walk in and have everything ready for him to take, pay and leave as usual.

The new barista was a girl who seemed to be older than Y/N but younger than him. She looked tired although it was only the morning of her first day, but who was he to judge a complete stranger? He asked for his danish to be warmed and saw a spark in her eyes as she looked up, her face relaxed with a sweet smile.

"I'm sorry it's taking forever. This is my first day here so please forgive me if I make any mistake," she told him.

He was about to tell her to take her time, but he didn't even get a chance to speak as the shop owner poked her head through the door behind the girl and shouted at her, "Styles, you forgot your name tag!"

"Styles?"

"That's my name," she told Isaac who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Your...first name?"

His question made her chuckle. "No, silly." She looked at him funny. "My first name is Emilia. Emilia Styles."

(End of book 2)

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.

.

NEW FICS COMING OUT IN DECEMBER!

❤︎ STAY MINE - the last book in the 'My Girl' Trilogy. (For those who don't understand the ending, Emilia is a new character which will be introduced in this final book.)

and a new series called...

❤︎ THE CONMAN AND THE MAID 

~~~

I will post the official announcements for these fics in mid-November. Stay tuned!

Love, Allie.

#my girl series #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfics #harry styles fanfictions #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles series #harry styles writing #older!harry #younger!y/n #actor!harry

[fiery-assassin-arc]

꧁༒☬𝓦𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓾𝓹 𝓒𝓪𝓵𝓵--𝓘𝓻𝓲𝓼'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥☬༒꧂ Embers and Ashes CH. 3

How did she end up out there?

She’s been out for hours. Her clothes are all torn.

 My consciousness swims in a sea of black, thunder pounding.

 It’s from when she fell, most like. See the cuts on her leg and arms? From the branches and rocks.

 My chest hurts, an ache I haven’t felt in years. Where he crushed my rib.

 Will she be okay, Doctor?

 Give her a day’s rest, and someone to watch her in case of any other symptoms. She might have a concussion. Her Royal Highness will be right as rain, as I say back home.

 Thank you.

I am so cold that I shiver as I hear the door shut. Someone get me out of this nightmare.

 Aodh, tell your Mother to make some tea. I’ll stay with your sister until she wakes up.

 A phantom touch of his hand on my neck sends me body into an alarm, jerking upright in the bed. I’m in my room. Not in the woods where Remington attacked me. My hands, shaking, go to my own body, covered in bandages. I smell like pine and dirt and blood. My eyes dart in every direction, looking for traces of him.

But instead I see my father sitting on the edge of my bed, a worried look in his ember eyes.

 The way those shadows touched me… it feels violating. Rough hands growing through the skin and muscle. I gag.

 Father is quick, grabbing a basin to put under my chin as I expel my stomach of bile, shaking.

“It’s okay, fireball. Get it out.” He gently pushes my hair back, shushing me gently as my stomach muscles contract from the pain. It’s empty now. Dry heaving after two minutes, I lift my head to accept the tissue in his hand.

 “Thanks,” I mumble, wiping my mouth. “How long was I—”

 “One thing at a time.” He tells me, taking the basin to the bathroom. “Why were you out in the woods?”

 My body freezes. How can I? When he thinks I fell? “Um.”

 “Don’t you ‘um’ me. What happened?”

 “I . . . I was chasing someone.” I say softly, taking a cup of water conveniently on my nightstand. “They were on castle grounds.”

 “Mind telling me who it was? A spy? Did you get him at all?” He returns to his chair, crossing his legs.

 “Remington,” I mutter. His name brings something sour to my tongue. I force it down.

 “I didn’t quite catch that, honey.”

 “It was Remington. He’s back.” I say more loudly, feeling the silent confirmation. He was back in flesh and blood by Kronika. As I look at my Father, see myself in those amber eyes. I see a scared little girl. I look five years younger.

 It’s silent for so long until I hear that tone in his voice. Feel the pressure from his hand squeezing mine.

 “Iris.”

He doesn’t believe me.

 He sounded like he did when I was five and was scared of the boogeyman.

 Sweetheart, it doesn’t exist. Almost the same as, He’s dead and not coming back.

 “Now before you go complete ‘you’re-reliving-a-trauma,’ I know what I saw. I know what I experienced. Look at my neck.” I push my hair back, showing the fingerprints he left. I know he did. “He choked me before I blacked out.” Before he stepped on my head.

 Father examines my neck, and leans back. Steeples his fingers. “If he is back—”

 “He is.” I almost shout. My father knows me. He knows I’m not lying.

 “I’m simply stating a hypothetical. Why wait this long to show up?”

 “Playing games, like he always does.” I roll out of the bed, dig for some clean clothes. Sure, it’s been over two years since I’ve killed him. Doesn’t mean I’ve started picturing him coming back. When Kronika ultimately fucked up our timeline, people from the past cannot find their way back to their timeline. And somehow she brought the dead back.

 So he’s stuck here. Until I kill him AGAIN. And this time, he’s staying dead.

 “Iris, I think you need to rest. You cannot move in your condition.” He states, seeing me throw on a jacket. He gets up, walks over to me.

 “It’s just a concussion. I’ll be okay.” A slight dizzy feeling hits me, but I shake it off.  

 “The doctor said you need to rest. And I agree, and just where are you going?”

 I sigh and maneuver around him with ease, calling over my shoulder. “To see a friend.”

  ~~~~

“And Dad had the gall to say that I’m probably making this up—although he didn’t say it out loud—but I’m not! I know what happened last night. Cassie knew that I was staring out in space half the time when we had to deal with the whole time-warp thing. I am not crazy. I’ve gotten sleep. And no, I haven’t gone to therapy—HEY. Are you even listening to me?!”

 Takeda looks up from his tea, slurping loudly. Hanzo would have lightly scolded him for that. But he’s gone, and this new Scorpion is distant. It must sting. He swallows, holds up a hand. “I hear every word, and every thought. But maybe you should take a moment to think.”

 I sigh, nearly boiling my cup of tea. I’m here in the Shirai Ryu Temple with Takeda. He was taking a break from wedding planning with Jacqui, and I needed someone to vent since I feel my family would not be best.

 Now I’m rethinking that.

 “Iris, it’s been how long since he’s been dead?”

 “Two years, five months, two days, and fifteen minutes.” I say, taking a sip of my tea. “But now that he’s alive, it’s all reset.”

 “And have you ever processed it? Your killing him?”

 I scoff lightly. “You think I’m traumatized? Why would I be traumatized about it?”

 He leans back, moving the cup clockwise. “You might be haunted by what happened. Yes, you killed him. But how did it happen? You simply told me the fight was very grueling.” On that I bite my tongue from speaking on anything else. The fight is as vivid a memory in my head than a sunrise at the Lin Kuei temple. It felt like the longest fight we ever had. No powers used after we had spent it dodging the other, just hands and feet and teeth. He had me pinned, stabbing me with a dagger. My hands, clawing at his face, digging to find a way to hold on.

 Then I remembered how I weakened him, scorching his skin enough to distract and I tore into his chest like a Christmas present, and my gift was a hot beating heart.

 Plucked like an apple from a tree, and biting into it felt like eating raw steak. Tough, salty, bloody.

 “It was simply long, he had the upper hand since where he was, he had some sort of power boost.” I say quietly.  I hear the sound of the cup touching the table. “I felt so weak there, my flames simply fading… It took an ounce of luck. Maybe it was because I saw that Morrigan was in my favor.”

 “Morrigan?”

 “She’s the Goddess of both destruction and rebirth, is associated with crows. Celtic.” I explain. “I saw a crow near him on the day of the ‘wedding,’ and I knew. Anyway, I managed to win.”

 “Because of a crow. Interesting.” He muses. “Now circling back, you must feel something from that day. Relief, fear, anger. Some of these things can make you see things that aren’t there.” At first I think he’s talking about me, but then his eyes go towards the portrait in the room. One of Master Hasashi, one of the unfortunate casualties from Kronika’s meddling. General Blade was the first.

 Master Hasashi was next, then Frost. None of us cared when Kotal died later on. He got what he deserved. Bastard.

 “Hard to believe he’s gone.” Takeda says quietly.

 “What about his past self?” I argue. “Is he . . . okay?”

 At that he scoffs.  “More so the horror stories of him being revenge fueled is true. I’ve told him to let me take over. It’s what Master Hasashi would have wanted.” He shakes his head, and says with an irritable tone, “Don’t know why he gave his past self the honor of leading us. We almost went back to his ways. Nearly going after Lin Kuei.” He looks up, coughs as he reads my face.

 I’m not at good terms with them. Nor with my Grandmaster. Or should I say former.

 “To  what  brought you here in the first place,” Takeda begins, and I straighten my spine. “Let’s say he is back. Why attack you, and leave you to be found?”

 “Same reason he had me run in the woods as part of my exile. He likes watching me suffer, barely get out with my life.” I roll my eyes and lean back. “What should I do?”

 “If he is back, you can find out where he is, hunt him down.” Takeda suggests. “Have some of us help. We have a tracker on the squad since Kung Jin left.”

 “Wait, he left?” I attempt to sound surprised, but Kung Jin always carried the lone wolf persona. Even though he helped save the world from Shinnok, I notice it’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard of him.

 “It’s a long story, no worries.” He waves a hand in dismissal. Guess it was hurtful for Takeda, losing someone who was like a friend.

 “You know you can tell me anything.” I offer, hoping he’ll open up.

 “Iris, it’s fine.” He says, leaning to pat my hand gently. “But can I offer you one piece of advice Hanzo told me?”

 “Of course.”

 “You think too long on revenge, it’ll eventually consume you.”

#long post #of embers and ashe #𝔄𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔰 (𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫) #{{ SURPRISE BITCH

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch49: An Old Friend

Intro: After five years of more or less domestic bliss, Katie’s fear that their peace will be one day shattered comes to fruition as a man they long thought dead appears at the compound. Warnings: Bad Langauge. Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

May 2023

“Emmy this room is an utter disgrace!” Steve said exasperatedly as he looked around at the various items of clothing scattered around her bedroom. DVDs lay on the floor, out of the cases instead of the designated rack, the bed was unmade and various school books were tossed onto the rug instead of at her desk.

“Chill Dad.” she mumbled as she sat cross legged, tapping at her tablet, music blaring from her stereo. “Chill?” he shot her a look “Seriously, we spent a fortune doing this room up last month. Get it tidied.” “Yeah, yeah.” He grit his teeth, jaw twitching with annoyance before, after a moment’s deliberation, he crossed the room and turned off her music.

“Hey I was listening to that.”                                  

“Well now you can listen to me.” He stood cross armed looking down at her. “I mean it Emily, get this sorted now, or you can forget going to Philadelphia with Brooke.”

“But, it’s all organised, we leave first thing in the morning!” Steve glared down at her. “It can be unorganised.”

“Fine.” she groaned, “I’ll do it.” “Thank you.” he said, sarcastically before he left the room, shutting the door behind him. He made his way downstairs to the kitchen where Katie was prepping lunch, Jamie sat in a chair at the table on a booster seat, colouring in an activity book.

“Look Daddy!” he pointed to his picture. Steve leant over, one arm on the back of the chair and glanced down at the elephant he had coloured in purple.

“A purple elephant.” he nodded “Creative.”

“Like in Dumbo!”

“Of course.” Steve smiled, Jamie’s Disney film of the moment. It was one Steve could remember seeing at the theatre before he joined the army. It still creeped him out slightly, the scene with all the drunk elephants. So much so he was convinced the animator had been on some kind of mad drug fuelled trip when he drew it. He ruffled his son’s hair and then moved over to where Katie was slicing up a cucumber for the salad, reaching round to steal a piece as he dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“She tidying it?” Katie asked, her eyes not moving from her task.

“Only because I threatened to stop her going to Philly.” he snorted, leaning on the counter and looking at his wife. He reached into the salad bowl to snatch a piece of pepper and Katie slapped his hand. He grinned as she looked at him.

“Bet that went down well.” “Don’t care.” he shrugged. “Her attitude stinks.”

“She’s a teenage girl, Steve” Katie said with a smile “That’s not the point.” “Honey, just, oh I dunno, shut the door if the mess bothers you that much.”

He sighed, and rubbed at his temple “I’m surprised the door even opens with the amount of crap on the floor.” Katie gave a little chuckle before she looked at him “Can you get me the dressing out of the fridge?”

He pushed himself off the counter and opened the fridge “Caesar or Ranch?”

“Caesar.” she said after a moment “Oh, and the cooked chicken please.” Grabbing them he turned back to Katie and passed her the items, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Do you think I was too strict?”

Katie placed the knife down and looked at him “Stevie, stop second guessing yourself.” she said, reaching up to run a hand down his cheek “You’re a great dad. All I’m saying is it’s not out of the ordinary for her to have an attitude. She’s fifteen. I was a nightmare at that age, as I’m sure Tony will delight in telling you.”

“Speaking of your brother, what time is he expecting us?” “Oh he’s coming to pick Jamie up.” Katie said “They’re in town anyway so said he’ll swing by a bit later this afternoon. I just hope Emmy does as you told her.” “Huh?”

“Because if she doesn’t you’ve just flushed our night alone down the lav.” Steve let out a groan, he hadn’t thought about that.

A little while later Katie called Emmy down for lunch. She appeared in the kitchen with a scowl and Katie saw Steve bristle slightly so she decided to get in there first and back him up.

“Straighten your face young lady.” She ordered sternly “Your dad’s right. That room is an absolute heap.” Emmy sighed and reached over for a warm pitta bread, piling her plate with the salad before she took a deep breath.

“Sorry.” she said gently “I’ll tidy it, I promise.” Steve looked at Katie who gave him a wink as they began to eat.

“Emmy I colourded you a picture.” Jamie pointed to the book which was to his right, out of the way of his plate.

Emmy smiled, and looked at it “Aww dude that’s awesome. Is it to pin up on my board?”

He nodded and she bopped his nose gently, smiling back.

“I staying at Moo’s tonight?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah.” Katie looked at her son, as he picked up a piece of the pitta bread she had sliced into smaller strips for him “Is that ok?” He nodded “Uncle Nee gives me juice pops. The red ones are my bestest.” “I thought you liked the blue ones?” Steve asked, swallowing his food. “Because they’re the same colour as Cap’s Suit?”

“Red ones better.” Jamie said, nodding. “Like Iron Man.”

Steve looked at Katie who was biting her lip, trying not to laugh at the look of utter indignation on his face.

“This is good Mom.” Emmy nodded at the food on her plate. “Better than the incinerated breakfast dad gave us.” Steve half-heartedly glared at his daughter “I burnt one egg.”

“One too many.” she quipped, and Katie grinned, reaching over for the jug of water. Steve beat her to it and poured her a glass, sliding it over to her before he did the same for Emmy, Jamie already had his in a cup by his plate. 

“Thanks.” Katie smiled at him before she turned to Emmy “Hey, did you get your grade back for your Essay last week?”

“Oh, yeah, I got an A.” she shrugged.

“Emmy that’s great.” Steve nodded at her, smiling.

“Yeah well don’t get used to it. I don’t think I’ll get one again. I may have upset my tutor.”

“Why?” Katie frowned “What did you do.”

“Well, he’s assigned us a book that is totes inappropriate.”

“What book?” Katie interrupted to ask

“The Colour Purple” she said “I mean it’s good but…”

“Yeah, that is kinda heavy…” Katie frowned, having read the book herself “What’s the angle?” “Race, gender, and bigotry in the early twentieth century. ”she shrugged “I would have thought To Kill A Mockingbird would have been better but when I voiced my opinion Mr Tozer didn’t like it.”

“So what did you say to upset him?” Steve arched his brow.

“Exactly that. And then he told me it was his way or the highway. Don’t worry, I refrained from calling him Hitler.“

“I guess we should be pleased then…” Steve snorted. She flashed him a grin and went back to eating.

The family made chatter for the rest of their lunch until Jamie poked at his mom’s arm.

“Yes sweetie?” “I done now. Fankoo” he grinned, plate completely cleared.

“Ok honey” she ruffled his hair “Cake?” he asked hopefully.

“What do you say?” Steve said gently as he looked at him

“Please.”

“Do you think about anything but food?” Emmy looked at the small boy.

“You know he doesn’t.” Katie sighed. “He takes after your father in that respect.” “That’s not all I think about.” Steve grinned, as he raised a suggestive eyebrow at his wife over his glass of water.

“Yeah well, thankfully he is way too young for that.” Katie winked as she stood up to get the fruit cake she had made the day before to cut everyone a slice. As she did she had to bite back the smirk as Emmy sighed at Steve’s blatant sexual reference.

“Gross.”

Emmy did tidy her room, so she was dropped off at the coffee shop early evening with her bag which Steve was sure contained more clothes than she needed for the four nights she was away. He made a comment to that effect and the fifteen year old just rolled her eyes and explained she needed two outfits a day,  just in case. Just in case of what, Steve had no idea and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know if truth be told. He made small talk with Jennifer over a coffee for a while, instructed his daughter to behave and loudly told Jennifer that if she was any trouble to pack her home straight away. Brooke rolled her eyes but gave him a hug goodbye anyway as he left.  By the time he had gotten home, Jamie had already been picked up leaving the two parents alone. Steve had been planning to take Katie out, but when he suggested it she shook her head and pulled a magnum of Champagne out of the fridge and held it up.

“I got a better idea.” she grinned “Hot tub party and take out.” “Champagne, pizza, you in a swimsuit.” Steve grinned, pulling her to him “I’m sold.”

To Steve, their evening felt like one of the many nights they had spent at the Compound in their tub outside. Needless to say there wasn’t much relaxing done in the hour they were in there, quite the opposite if truth be told. Hands and lips were all over the place, pawing at skin and kisses being exchanged with avaricious force. By the time they’d called for pizza Katie was feeling thoroughly defiled as she sat on the sofa, wearing one of Steve’s button downs and tore into a large slice of pepperoni as if she hadn’t eaten for a week. Steve grinned, tucking her damp hair behind her ear and dropped a kiss to the side of her head. They settled down to watch a film, but Katie was flat out before it was even ten minutes in and she didn’t even stir bar to murmur something to him when he carried her up to their room.

Steve woke the next morning, wrapped around Katie, her warm body pressed to his chest, one arm under her neck, the other draped over her waist. He sighed in contentment, it was bliss, knowing there was nothing to get up for. No constantly hungry three year old to feed, no lunches to make, no school runs, no meetings until later, nothing. Snuggling into her closer, the arm that wasn’t trapped underneath her swept her hair away from her face, before his lips gently skated over her jaw and down the side of her neck, and as her eyelids fluttered his large, gentle hand trailed down the curve of her hip and slid between her legs and caressing the inside of her thigh. Katie took a deep breath before releasing it with a shiver shifting automatically, still half asleep, spreading her legs a little wider. She rolled her head over her shoulder, blinking and she was met with those blue eyes she loved so much, the owner wearing a devilish smirk.

“Morning.” He rasped voice low with sleep and utter desire.

“Good morning.” she grinned biting her lip, as his hand moved back up over her stomach to her breasts, underneath the shirt she was wearing and he began to tease her softly, causing her to moan as he rolled a nipple between his fingers, the sensation burning in her stomach once more. She rolled onto her back and he settled between her legs, her arms winding around his neck as he captured her lips with his, soft and slow before he pulled back to peel his shirt off her body, tossing it down the side of the bed. He turned his gaze downwards, eyeing up her blue lacy panties before he groaned and lowered himself over her again, kissing her and sliding his tongue along hers. Katie wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding against him to get any friction that she could. His hands trailed down her sides and under her back, fingers gently grabbing at the waistband of the lace before he broke the kiss and unhooked her legs from around his waist. He gently pulled her underwear down, shimmying under the covers as he removed the garment and then kissed up her right leg, his lips hot as he made his way from her ankle up to her inner thigh, pushing her legs open wider.

His actions were controlled, slow. There was no rush after all. His mouth and tongue gently worked her to distraction, flicking at her clit over and over. She was a writhing mess within minutes, her hand fisted in his hair, the other grasping at the sheets, the noises flowing freely because they didn’t have to be quiet. Her fingers tightened on his scalp and she gave a cry of his name as her hips bucked upwards, her legs tensing slightly before they flattened against the bed, her breathing heavy and ragged. With a smirk at how easy he could undo her, he moved back up the bed, one hand pushing his pants down. Without a word he lined himself up with her, letting out a loud groan she slid a hand between them, stroking him before guiding him inside. He moved slowly, deliberately, until every inch of him was sheathed by her. Katie’s eyes rolled back as he stretched her, her groan loud as he laced his fingers into hers. Steve let out a shaky moan as he moved his pelvis slowly, pushing back against her hands. Every thrust was deep, slow, measured, his mouth moving from hers to her jaw, neck, collar bone.

The house was quiet, nothing but the sound of soft cries and kisses could be heard as Steve continued his trusts, whilst his wife whimpered into his ear, and he let go of her hands to bring one of her legs up round his hip. She let out a cry at the change of angle as he picked up the pace slightly, but not much, until Katie’s nails raked down his back as her pleasure rose. The sensation made him shudder and he doubled his efforts, her hands sliding down, grabbing at his flexing ass, urging him on and as always he was happy to oblige.

“Shit, Stevie,” the cry of his name as the lights went off before her eyes turned into a complete babble which died in her throat as she tightened and pulsed around, her body shaking with pleasure.

“God, Doll.” he was right behind her as he came with a low moan, his hips thrusting until he was completely spent, his head buried in the side of his wife’s neck.

Katie tipped her head back in satisfaction, sighing softly as Steve pushed himself up slightly. He gently ran his nose up her throat, taking her bottom lip between his and he let out another satisfied sigh of his own. He loved his kids, beyond anything but man he enjoyed being able to take his goddamned time making love to his wife without the patter of little feet across the hall meaning they were about to be interrupted. “Baby,” he said softly, his lips gently smoothing the skin underneath her ear “Hmmm?” She asked, her hands creeping into his hair as her head rolled to the side, eyes still closed in pure bliss. “Look at me Kitten.” She obliged, and emerald green met ocean blue as she held her husband’s gaze. He gave her a soft smile, and she reciprocated, the affection on his face blatantly evident. “I love you,” he said, as she reached up and gently brushed the longer strands of his hair back over his forehead, “more than you can ever know”

“Will that still be the case when I’m old, grey and wrinkly but you still look like you’re straight out of GQ magazine?”

He looked at her, this wasn’t the first time she had mentioned that. He shook his head and sighed softly, unable to do anything but repeat what he told her the last time she’d raised the issue.

“I told you baby girl.” he said, giving her lips a quick peck “It’s me and you till the end of the line.”

After a lazy breakfast, Katie headed off to collect Jamie from Tony’s and Steve made his way into Manhattan for the two support groups of the afternoon. The first one was always the busiest and it took a little longer this week as they had a few new faces. This didn’t surprise Steve, people were still five years later coming to terms with opening up about their heartache or problems, but the core of the group were always welcoming. He had an hours break before the second, slightly quieter group so he took a walk. Their air was damp and there was a gloomy fog descending over the city, making it darker than it would normally be for the time of day, but it wasn’t cold. He grabbed a coffee from the shop round the corner and headed back to start the second meeting.

The meetings always followed the same format. There was ten or so minutes of everyone arriving, grabbing refreshments, saying hello and then they would form the usual circle and Steve would start the discussions with a chat about something he’d done or seen that week that was positive, something he’d done or seen that week that wasn’t so positive, and then invite other people to comment and do the same, gently coaxing them into opening up.

“So, I went on a date the other day.” The man named David sighed. “First time in five years. I didn’t know what to talk about.”

“What did you talk about?” Steve pressed gently, patient as ever.

“Same old crap, you know? How things have changed. My job. His job. How much we miss the Mets”  David paused taking a breath “Then things got quiet. He cried as were serving the salads.”

“What about you?” Another man, Ian, asked hopefully.

“I cried,” David trailed off, “Just before dessert,” There was a slight pause, “But I’m seeing him again tomorrow, so…”

Steve gave a small smile “That’s great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn’t know where you were gonna come down. And that’s it, it’s those little, brave baby steps we gotta take, you know, to try and find purpose.” He paused and looked around the group, biting the inside of his cheek, “I went into the ice in forty-five right after I met the first woman I’d ever loved. Woke up seventy years later and met the love of my life. She gave me hope, she gave me a purpose, a reason to keep going in the crazy new world I’d found myself in.” He paused again and looked around at the attentive faces assembled in a circle “You gotta move on. The world is in our hands. It’s left to us guys. We gotta do something with it. Otherwise, Thanos should have killed all of us.”

Steve let the meeting roll for a little longer, everyone discussing what he had said before it came to a natural end and with a glance up he saw Katie and Jamie pushing open the door, Katie holding a huge Tupperware box full of brownies.

“Looks like you’re all in luck!” Steve said, nodding towards his wife as Jamie ran across to his father who smiled and swept him up into arms and planted a kiss onto his head before replacing him on the floor. He looked over at Katie and she smiled back, placing the box of treats down on the table. She often did this, popped into a few of his sessions over the week with some form of snack for them all when she had time, her way of helping out, and Steve loved her for it. 

Over the next ten minutes or so, various people drifted over to the side of the room, greeting Katie and grabbing a brownie. She gave David a hug and cheekily told him to behave on his next date as Steve wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead in greeting as they waved the man away.

“How long where you at the door?” Steve looked at her.

“Long enough.” She told him, knowing instantly why he was asking.

“I meant it.” he turned to look at her. “Every word you know.”

“I know, and for the record you’re the love of my life too.” she grinned “My husband, my baby daddy…” 

Steve smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. 

“Gross” Jamie said, sticking his fingers in his mouth.

There was a pause before Steve grabbed Jamie and launched into a tickle attack until the boy was screeching and running from his dad who chased him round the hall. Katie watched her boys as Jamie feinted left and Steve let him get away, before the little boy dived under a table and out the other side of it, cackling in a way so much like his father did.

“Don’t think that’s gonna save you, pal.” Steve said, easily vaulting the table and picking Jamie up, throwing him over his shoulder, patting his backside once with a large hand.

“Momma, help!” Jamie’s voice was punctuated with laughter and in a bid to help her son, Katie strode forward and her hands went straight to Steve’s side from behind, and she began to tickle him.

“Oh sh-stop it!” Steve cackled, his ridiculously ticklish nature was always his downfall. He let Jamie down as Katie continued her attack and he spun round, grabbing her and spinning her round, crossing her arms across my chest, pinning her back to his front as he dropped his mouth to her ear.

“You’re gonna pay for that later.” “Promises, promises Captain.”

****

There was a presence to Katie’s right and she felt the soft weight of a hand against her cheek. It was too small to belong to her man, but the perfect size and weight to belong to her boy.

“James,” a soft, deep voice whispered, warning in the tone, “this is the second time I’ve told you and there won’t be a third. Leave your ma alone. She’s sleeping.”

Katie sighed and stretched. “It’s okay, I’m awake”  

Jamie giggled and surged forward giving her a peck before falling back onto his father’s pillow, "Morning Momma!”

“Good morning sweetie.” she yawned rolling onto her side, dislodging Lucky who had been asleep with his leg resting on the back of her legs.  As ever Jamie had his stuffed Cap bear with him, along with God knows how many other toys all which adorned Steve’s side of their enormous bed.

“Morning, baby.” Steve bent over from behind her, pecking her cheek too.

“Hey.” she smiled, rolling her head to catch his lips, noticing his bare, damp chest from the shower. “What time is it?”

“Little past seven.” he said gently “Somebody…” he glanced at Jamie “was awake at half Five.” “Not sleepy daddy.” “Really, I didn’t notice.” Steve replied, sardonically. Katie chuckled as Jamie frowned, the sarcasm utterly lost at him.

“Momma, we hided in the fort.”

Katie snorted. Steve and Jamie had made a blanket fort in Jamie’s room last night in which they had hidden in for their bed time stories. Jamie had insisted they left it up, and considering it wasn’t in the way Katie had been happy to oblige. Steve, who had gotten a lot better with dealing with the mess Jamie left around over the years had resisted the urge to fold away the blankets and his wife had pulled him out of the room when the pair of them had popped in to check on Jamie before he could change his mind.

“Mighty fine Fort it is too.” Steve ruffled his son’s hair.

“What time are your meetings today?” Katie asked, looking at Steve. His groups ran at different times during the week. This way, it made sure that there was a day or night everyone could attend at least 1 session a week.

“Last one finishes at four today. Why you ask?”

“Well, I thought seeing as we didn’t see Nat at the weekend we should pop in.” “Auntie Nat-Nat, yay!” Jamie clapped his hands “Maybe she can come see my fort.” “You should tell her about it.” Steve nodded, before his attention turned to Katie “Might convince her to leave the compound.” “Yeah, maybe.” she sighed.

“What do you fancy for breakfast?” Steve asked.

“I can bake some cinnamon rolls if you want?” “You don’t have to do that.” “I know.” she smiled “But they’re already made so just need to go in to the oven and I also I know someone…” she looked at Jamie, “is going to ask for pancakes and he isn’t having them 3 days on the run.” “Waffles?” Jamie said, hopefully.

“No.” Katie shook her head “Cinnamon rolls or cereal, your choice.”

“Can I have both?” he asked.

“You two will eat me out of house and home.” Katie rolled her eyes “Yes, if you want both you can have both.”

“Cool man.” Jamie nodded, in a way that was so like Emmy like it made Steve turn back to face his wife from where he had ben stood at the dresser pulling out his clothes, a smirk on his face. The pair of them watched as their son announced he was going to get dressed and dropped onto the floor, heading out into the hallway back to his own room, Lucky following.

Katie watched as Steve pulled on a pair of sweats and she cocked her head to one side.

“Did you seriously call me Jamie’s Ma before?”

Steve grinned “Sorry.” “Makes me sound like I’m ninety” she snorted.

“Try actually being ninety.” he said, and Katie laughed as he started to crawl over her in the bed, pushing her back gently.

“Hate to break it to you Captain Badass but you’re actually hundred and five.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” he muttered gently, his lips on hers. She happily melted into them, her hands straying up and down his bare chest, before she pulled away knowing that if they carried on she’d be wanting a lot more.

“Stop it.” she mumbled, biting her lip.

“What?” he asked, cheekily.

“This.” she pouted.

“I only wanted a kiss.” he looked at her, eyebrow raised “You have a dirty mind.” “Years of being with you.” she said simply and he laughed, standing up. As he headed across the room Katie couldn’t resist one last quip. “Nice ass…daddy” Steve turned round, a wicked grin on his face as he held his arms out at either side of him, as he walked backwards for a few steps. “It’s all yours baby Momma.” he said, before turning round and heading out to help Jamie get dressed.

The rest of Katie’s day was pretty much the same as it always was. She dropped Jamie in at the day-care and headed up to her office, for her 15 minute start up meeting with Soraya to go over her diary for the day, which was pretty clear for once. She spent most of her time sifting through the mountain of emails and responding to the ones she needed to. After a quick chat with Emmy at lunchtime, the girl enthusiastically telling her all about how her and Brooked had run up the Rocky steps and were eating so much Philly cheesesteak, Katie headed up to the boardroom for the Monthly Financial Review. Escaping at little after 3, she picked Jamie up, headed to the store to grab something she could make at the compound for them all and once Steve was home they set off towards the compound.

Steve drove easily down the highway, one hand on the steering wheel, the other laying on the arm rest in between the front seats, whilst next to him Katie hummed along to the John Legend playlist that was playing. Steve eased the Audi onto the bridge which would take them out of Manhattan and frowned gently as he noticed that the cars ahead were all coming to a halt. As Steve slowed the car down, Katie too narrowed her eyes as people started getting out of their cars and heading to the side of the bridge, pointing.

“Wait here.” Steve said, climbing out of the car, Captain mode engaged.

“What’s going on?” Jamie asked.

“Daddy’s gone to see.” Katie said. She watched Steve approach the side of the bridge and speak to the nearest man before looking down. His mouth dropped opened and he turned, jogging back to the car.

“You’re not gonna believe this…” he shook his head as Katie climbed out.

“What…”

“Come see.” he opened the back door of the car and unstrapped Jamie from his seat. Picking him up in his arms, he made his way to the side of the bridge, wife by his side and he pointed downwards.

Katie felt herself gasp at the sight- a small pod of whales leisurely making their way through the Hudson River.

“Wow.” Katie whispered.

“What are they?” Jamie asked

“Whales.” Steve replied, “Humpbacks, I think.”

Steve tried to keep the smile on his face genuine, but he hated it when Jamie saw something out of place in the new world that he was born into which would have been perfectly normal in the world that they once knew. Whilst a pod of whales in the Hudson was an astounding sight for sure, and would have been unheard of even before the Snap, the fact that it was Jamie’s first time ever seeing a whale made him slightly sad. They had been a pretty common sight around the ocean waters in and around the bays leading out into the North Atlantic until Thanos had killed half of them.

Jamie giggled and pointed out that the biggest whale was being followed closely by a slightly smaller one, and then an even smaller one after and then a tiny one.

“Daddy, Momma, Emmy and Jamie.” He said, smiling at Steve who chuckled, as he smoothed Jamie’s hair back.

“Come on Kiddo, let’s go see Auntie Nat” When they arrived at the Avengers compound, the sun was beginning to set. Steve drove round to the rear entrance and the gate creaked open as the scanners recognised the car. He parked the car in their old designated spot before he collected the bag of ingredients from the trunk that Katie had bought to make dinner with. Together the three of them headed inside, Friday welcoming them all as they made their way towards the living area, and they could hear Natasha closing up a meeting, she was talking to Rhodey.

“Nat,” Rhodey’s voice was almost pleading but Nat cut him off

“Please.” She begged.

Katie had a feeling she knew what she was talking about, or rather who. She glanced at Steve as they rounded the last corner to the large meeting-slash-living room and it was then that Katie could hear Natasha trying to stifle her cries. At that point Jamie ran in and jumped onto his aunt’s lap hugging her tightly.

“Don’t be sad Auntie Nat-Nat.” He said, and Natasha took a deep breath and leaned her head against her nephew’s with her eyes closed hugging him back.

Steve leaned against the bookshelf for a moment as Katie walked into the room, taking the bag of ingredients off Steve as she took in the sight of Natasha’s dinner of a peanut butter sandwich, resting on top of the table.

“You know, I’d offer to cook you dinner, but you seem miserable enough.” Steve opened, looking down at her with a smile,

“So I’m gonna do it instead.” Katie said, holding up the bag she’d brought. dropping it onto the table. “Chicken stew, dumplings and chocolate cake for after.”

Natasha looked at them, a smile playing on her face as Katie sat down across from her, “You guys here just to feed me?”

“And to see a friend.” Steve shot back.

Natasha leaned back into her chair, Jamie still on her lap. “Clearly, your friend is fine.”

“Bull.” Katie said, leaning back and eyeing her. She avoided her gaze and the room fell silent.

“You know we saw a pod of whales as we were coming over the bridge.” Steve broke the silence, changing the subject.

“In the Hudson?” Natasha asked, raising her head slightly sounding impressed.

Jamie perked up.

“There was a Jamie whale and a daddy whale and a momma whale and an Emmy one!” Jamie gushed.

Nat smiled “I haven’t seen whales in the Hudson ever, even before.”

"Well, there’s fewer ships, cleaner water.” Steve shrugged

Natasha sighed looking up at the ceiling, “You know if you are about to tell me to look on the bright side, umm, I’m about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich.”

“Sammich?” Jamie looked up hopefully and Natasha tore off half of one side before passing it to him.

“Sorry.” Steve sighed pushing himself off from the bookshelf, his jacket slung over his arm, “Force of habit.”

He tossed his keys onto the table, dropping his jacket over the back of a chair before sitting down next to his wife, glancing at Jamie who was now eating a small piece of the sandwich, then at Natasha. The woman looked tired, pale and such a far cry from the stoic, well-groomed Natasha Romanoff he had first known. But then again, they were all a far cry from the people they had once been.

“You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on. And forget what happened.” Steve crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair. “And some do. But not us.”

“If I move on, who does this?” Natasha asked simply with a shrug.

Katie sighed “Maybe it doesn’t need to be done.”

Both Steve and her thought Natasha was on to a hiding for nothing. The Avengers were over.

“You know, I used to have nothing. And then I got this- this job. This family.” Nat smiled sadly and looked down at Jamie before she looked back up, the tears evident in her eyes. “And I was better because of it. And even though they’re gone, I’m still trying to be better.“

"I think we all need to get a life,” Steve joked and Natasha forced a smile nodding to him.

“You did.” At her words, Steve gave a smile. She was right, he had. Katie and he had been extremely lucky over the last five years, but that didn’t stop them thinking about the people that hadn’t, and the friends they had lost.

Katie reached for the bag she had placed on the table. “I’ll go start dinner.” she said, standing up when a small, holographic screen popped up in front of Natasha indicating she had a notification of sorts. She flicked it to the side, bringing the video feed to life behind Steve who looked over his shoulder as the video began playing.

“Oh, hi, hi! Is anyone home? This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport, in Germany. I was small, then I got real big.”

Katie left the bag where it was and whipped round, to see Scott on the screen, stood in front of his van. Besides her Steve stood from his seat, unable to believe what he was seeing. This was impossible, he was snapped…

“Is this an old message?” Katie asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“Ant-Man! I know you remember Ant-Man.”

Natasha’s reaction was much like Steve’s, confused awe as she sat up, breathing deeply “It’s the front gate.”

“I really need to talk to you guys!” Scott continued to yell his voice becoming desperate.

The three of us remained frozen for a moment, absolutely lost for words before Jamie broke the silence.

“Who’s that?” he asked, jumping down from Nat’s lap. “An old friend.” Steve said after a pause, turning to Natasha who was fishing in a drawer for the key to the main gate. No one used it anymore, anyone visiting used the rear entrance, the main one having been padlocked shut for years. She found the key and tossed it to him and he caught it expertly before heading off to go meet Scott.

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #katie stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #mcu fanfic #marvel fanfic

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

VanDad Savage. You get my drift.

This calls for Angst! (Don’t be afraid to click on the link and review, fam)

Please Don’t Come Back

              From afar, Gary watched Nora dance with her father. Damien Darhk’s return as an Encore had been quite the ordeal for everyone. He had been vicious in Star City and when he was working with the Legion of Doom and Mallus. The man had even tried to kill him with a train. Now, here he was, dancing with his daughter after she’d married the love of her life. He didn’t even try to kill anyone during the ceremony.

              Even with the not-Red Wedding, Damien’s return was still putting Gary on edge. It wasn’t just because the sorcerer had tied him up and left him to get run over by a train. It was that if Damien Darhk could return as an Encore, who else would come crawling out of hell? He knew about Rasputin and Kathy Myers and Marie Antoinette and the others, but Damien made it real for him. Because if the person he feared did come back, then the Legends would more than likely find out his dirty little secret and hate him more than they ever had.

Gary swallowed, gripping his glass tightly. He tried to focus on the music instead of his memories.

“So you’ve raised the bird all on your own, Gareth. Seems like you’ve done a fine job.”

              Gary beamed at his father’s approval as he gently took the canary from the cage. At the ripe old age of nine, he knew to take his father’s praise whenever he got it. Those moments where Father showed pride in him were to be treasured.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, stroking Sally’s feathers. The canary looked towards him with a chirp.

His father ran a finger down the feathers. “Canaries were once birds valued by royalty. Courts bred them in Europe once. Centuries passed, and they became used by common folk.”

“They were used by coal miners,” Gary supplied. “A canary could detect bad stuff in the air. If it died, then the miners would know they had to get out. Also, they came from the Canary Islands.”

“You’ve been doing your research, Gareth,” Father patted his head. “You have an eye and a memory for important information, my son. That is important, but not all lessons come from books.”

Gary held Sally a little closer. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Some things will outlive their usefulness,” Father continued. “That bird, for example, has done so. I wanted to see how committed you were to figure out how to take care of something on your own without instruction. You’ve achieved the first part of that with raising the canary. Now the bird has no more use.”

Gary swallowed as his father guided his smaller hand toward Sally’s neck.

“Break its neck.”

“But it’ll kill Sally!”

“I know. You have to be able to take care of things on your own. Now do it.”

“No!”

“Now, Gareth!” Vandal Savage ordered.

The glass suddenly shattered in his hand. Gary felt his hand sting as the stem and pieces fell to the floor. He had gotten so lost in the memory that he didn’t even realize he had been squeezing the glass tighter and tighter.

“Gary?” Behrad was now looking in his direction with John and Charlie. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Uh, yep,” he nodded quickly. “Just…wasn’t paying attention. I’ll get rid of this.”

              He bent down and quickly picked up the pieces of the broken glass. As he did it, he could feel the trio’s eyes on him and reddened. Once the last shard was picked up, Gary bolted towards the kitchen. He tossed the glass in the trash can before running to the bathroom and shutting the door a little too loud. Cringing, he sank to the floor by the sink with quick, shallow breaths as the tears started up.

              It had been months since the last time he’d thought about his father. The first fifteen years of his life were spent trying to live up the standards Vandal Savage had put in place. He had wanted a son that was strong and powerful to serve as his right hand. But Gary had been nothing but a failure to him. That was something that had been made clear to him on multiple occasions, including the last time he had seen his father.

              Gary had done all he could to move away from his childhood as possible. After he’d run away, he had moved in with an uncle and gotten some therapy. He kept that up for as long as he could afford it, then proceeded to just block out the bad memories and forget all the lessons his father had taught him. All the sparring and beatings and torturing and every other evil thing he’d been forced to do or was subjected to. He had never been able to live up to the standards that his father had set before him, which made him desperate for praise in everything now.

              The very thought of Vandal Savage rising from hell like Damien Darhk and coming into his life was starting to send him into a downward spiral. It wasn’t the first time that Gary had gone into one over his father returning, but that was before Neron and Heyworld. While the spirals once lasted a day, the one he’d gone through after Neron had been defeated and they’d all been able to breathe again had lasted for a week. Now, his father returning wasn’t an unrealistic nightmare. It scared him to death, even though he knew Vandal Savage would never try and seek out such a disappointing son.

Pounding came on the bathroom door. “Gary, are you in there?”

              His eyes traveled towards the door. There was a smear of blood on the wood where he’d shut the door moments ago. Lifting his hand, Gary saw his palm was bleeding. He hated blood and just looking at it was sending him further into the spiral.

A hunting knife was pressed into his gloved hand. “You can do this, Gareth.”

              Gary couldn’t look at his father as he wrapped his hand around the handle and turned around. A sharp breath escaped him as he looked at the wounded buck. They’d gone out together on a hunting trip. Father had referred to it as a rite of passage for him. He had taken care of wounding the animal, but it was Gary’s job to strike the killing blow. This was another moment to prove himself to his father.

              As Gary stepped forward through the crunching leaves, he felt another set of eyes on him. On a hill in the distance, he caught something moving by a tree. He stopped focusing on the wounded buck and focused there instead. A man in a long brown coat was just barely visible. His arm appeared outstretched, like he was holding something towards them.

              Had his father not taught him about the enemies he’d had over his lifetime, Gary would have thought he was just another hunter. But Father had spoken enough about Gareeb enough for him to be recognizable. Rip Hunter, the man who had been trying to kill his father for years, had arrived.

Gary looked away from him. Whatever he was here to do, he could do it.

“Remember what I taught you,” his father said behind him, reminding Gary of his presence.

But the eleven-year-old shook his head. “I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to kill him.”

“You’re letting the animal suffer more the longer you delay. Now put it out of its misery.”

“No.”

“What did you say?”

“I said no!” Gary cried, throwing the knife to the side. “I won’t kill him.”

“Stop being weak!” his father shouted, striking him across the face.

Gary sprawled onto the forest floor by the deer from the force of the blow. His cheek burned as his father went and retrieved the knife. For a moment, Gary feared he would be on the other end of it and raised his arm. Instead, he used it to slash the buck’s throat. Blood spattered against his coat and he whimpered.

“Get up,” his father spat. “We’re going to do this again and again until you kill it yourself.”

He shuddered and climbed to his feet. When he looked back to the hill, Gary saw Rip Hunter walking away and out of sight.

“Gary, I’m opening the door!”

              Gary tried to protest, but his voice failed him. The door burst open and John entered. The warlock’s confused expression morphed into concern when he got a better look at his apprentice. Behrad was in the doorway, his eyes on the bloody hand. Gary ducked his head. He’d always hoped someone would come after him whenever he went somewhere to cry. Now that it had happened, it was just too awkward and embarrassing.

John sighed. “Gary-”

“Just leave me, okay? It’s fine, I cut myself on the glass.”

John turned to Behrad. “Just head on back. I’ve got him.”

Behrad looked reluctant until John nodded at him, and then he left. Once he was gone, John shut the door and looked at him. “What happened?”

Gary felt his voice wobble when he answered. “Nothing.”

“Gary-”

“’m being stupid, okay? Just leave me alone.”

“Not like this,” John shook his head. “Let me take a look at that hand.”

              Gary pulled himself to his feet and showed John the cut on the palm. John moved towards the sink and turned on the tap. He took Gary’s hand and inspected it closely for a moment. Then he wet a towel and started to clean off the blood.

“That’s one of the good towels,” Gary hiccupped.

“Eh,” John shrugged. “We’ll chuck it in the wash. I don’t see any glass, so that’s good news.”

“Yeah, pretty clumsy of me. Typical Gary being stupid. You think I’d know better, right?”

“Well, you did look pretty upset before it happened. I know people cry at weddings, but I don’t think you were crying about marriage.”

“I wasn’t.”

“So what then?” John asked.

“Encores,” Gary admitted as John started digging in the cabinet. “Especially with Damien Darhk coming back.”

“As soon as Charlie and I find the Loom of Fate, we will get that all sorted,” John promised as he ripped open a package of gauze pads. “Can’t believe you got all this thinking you’d need it for me.”

The joking tone didn’t make Gary smile. “Nora’s dad came back. I had forgotten about him. It started making me think that mine would too.”

“Thought your old man was a dentist?”

“It’s actually my uncle,” Gary confessed. “I ran away when I was fifteen and ended up living with him.”

“Didn’t know that.”

“I’ve never told anyone before. I never thought my past could try and catch up to me. My mom died when I was a kid, and then it was me and my dad for years.”

“Huh,” John finished wiping the blood away. “So your real dad is as bad as Damien Darhk? You know these are the worst of the worst that are coming back from hell.”

“I know, John!” Gary snapped harsher than he intended. “He is as bad, maybe even worse, than Damien Darhk! My father was a tyrant and a murderer! And he tried to make me just like him!”

The other man was silent, just taking it all in as he started to wrap Gary’s hand. Gary squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry. I just spent years…trying to forget him and everything he taught me. He had a plan for me, and I never lived up to his expectations. I was useless and a failure. He always made sure I knew that.”

“He was dead wrong about that.”

Gary snorted. “He’s right. Even if I’m not what he wanted me to be, I’m still a failure. And I was a monster.”

“No, you’re not.”

“You couldn’t have already forgotten Neron.”

“No,” John shook his head. “That doesn’t count, because everyone was guilty there. We all made mistakes. But listen to me, Gary, you are not a monster. You are too good to be anything like your father sounds like he was.”

“I know why you’re here, Gareeb.”

Rip Hunter looked up abruptly as he moved away from the door he’d just closed.

“My father told me all about you. If you’re here to kill him, I don’t know where he is. I ran away when I was fifteen and I haven’t looked back since. And if you’ve come to kill me as revenge against him, just do it. He’s not going to care though.”

“I very much am not here to kill you, Agent Green,” Hunter took a seat at the conference table. “Regarding your father, I helped kill the man myself. Permanently.”

“Oh,” Gary sank into the chair. He didn’t know how he felt about that. “So why are you here?”

“I’m starting an organization within the government. Its purpose is to protect the timeline and keep it on track. The opposite of what your father and my former employers were doing.”

“I only heard Father talk about time travel in passing- are you telling me it’s real?”

“I am, and I think you’d be an excellent fit for this agency instead of here at the FBI. You’re orderly. Efficient. Incredibly brilliant yet overlooked. But you also have a good heart and stayed good despite everything Vandal Savage tried to make you. That’s important. You are a good man, Gary Green.”

Gary smiled a little.

“So how would you feel about coming to work for the Time Bureau?”

“You are good, Gary,” John told him.

He exhaled slowly. Hearing someone else call him good made the spiral he’d been on start to slow.

“Thank you,” he whispered, wiping his eyes. “I’m sorry. I just…him coming back scares me to death.”

“I can tell,” John finished wrapping his hand. “But if your dad is as bad as you’re telling me, then Astra would have to do a lot of bargaining to get his soul and release him. Darhk definitely had to take some bargaining. She already has enough heavy hitters on the surface. I think we don’t have to worry about your old man.”

“I hope so,” Gary nodded, taking his hand back. “Hey, if Behrad or the other Legends ask, can you maybe not mention it?”

“I won’t. But Gary, who is your dad?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but the two words stuck in his throat. It was impossible to get them out. Because if John knew who he was, then he would look at him differently forever. The Legends would be even worse, especially whoever remained of Rip’s original team.

“It’s fine, G-man,” John patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me now. Just let me know at some point, okay?”

“I will,” Gary promised. John had told him plenty of his secrets. He had to clean about a few of his. “Do you mind if I take a few days off? Just to clear my head?”

“Take all the time you need. Now let’s go rejoin that party and hope Behard lied his ass off.”

John gave him a one-armed hug before leading him out. No one had missed them when they returned.

For once, Gary didn’t mind being invisible.

~~~

              Two days later, Gary was in the States standing in front of his uncle’s house. He still remembered coming here when he was a teenager after running away from home, showing up on the doorstep shivering in the middle of a blizzard. Jeff hadn’t even asked what had happened. He had just taken his nephew in and made sure he got through high school. Even when he’d moved out, Jeff had given him the key and told him that it was his home whenever he needed one.

              As Gary entered the house, he noticed wet footprints on the hardwood floor after the doormat. Jeff had left for a camping trip yesterday and would be gone the rest of the week. Besides, it hadn’t rained here yesterday. The downpour had only started thirty minutes ago. Someone had made it to the house before him.

              Shutting off the hall light, Gary summoned a fireball and began making his way into the living room. It was enough to light his way and could be used offensively if necessary. Whoever had come in was good enough to have picked the lock to get inside. He wanted to hope that they were long gone, but there were no exit prints. For now, he had to assume the worst.

Feet were visible in the light of his fire before a lamp clicked on. When Gary saw who sat in the chair, the flames extinguished as he stared at the sight before him.

Vandal Savage gave him a smile. “Hello, Gareth.”

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