#ms match chapter 2

[man3at3r-mp4]

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖗 𝕷𝖆𝖒𝖇 - 𝖍𝖍 𝖝 𝕸𝖆𝖑𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 - 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 Ⅰ : 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆

Prologue Chapter 3.5

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Lamb (noun) - a young sheep.

In biblical scriptures, the lamb is supposed to represent Christ as suffering and triumph. Lambs are also commonly referred to as sacrificial animals. But can also symbolize innocence, purity, and forgiveness.

The wind whirled gently, as the sun began to awaken. Signifying a new day, as all of the residents of heaven were already going on about their day. One without any hardships or disappointment, as bad days don't exist in heaven and there never will be. All the angels were up.

Except one.

Soft snores could be heard echoing throughout the luxurious bedroom, the white and light blue colored walls, with accented golden windows, you'd think it'd be a bit bright to sleep in this room. Well, not if you're as tired as Y/n.

Which you were, since you are him.

You nuzzled into the soft velvety pillow, as you continued to sleep. A small a bit of drool running down the corner of your mouth.

Ah, you lucky bitch, you know the sleep is good if you're drooling.

Skelly laid at the end of your bed, curled up against the head, as he also snored softly. A small snot bubble rising from his nose everytime he exhaled.

Sucks, you can't sleep forever.

"Y-.....w.....e....u.."

Your lamb ears flicked a bit, at the sound of your name being called but you simply shuffled your position on your bed, and resumed your sleep. 

"Y/n..."  you heard a familiar voice call.

"Nooo~ Alucard you can't put your hand there...hehehee." You chuckled almost drunkenly, in your sleep.

"Y/n, it's 8:30...we're already an hour behind schedule"

At this, you managed to crack one eye open. "Huh..?" You croaked out, tiredly. As you began to go over the information that had just been fed to you in your head.

'8:30....hour behind schedule'

Your eyes suddenly shot open, as you jolted up into a sitting position. Scaring the shit out of Skelly, as he fell to the ground at your fast movements.

  "8:30?!?!?" You screamed, leaping out of bed. "IMLATEIMLATEIMLATE-" you immediately, rushed to the bathroom to try and ready yourself.

"It's fucking 6:30...." you deadpanned, as you sat in front of your vanity, as multiple sets of hands began to do your make up and tame your wild hair.

"Blame it on yourself, for why we had to wake you up so early. Everytime we wake you up at 7 you somehow always manage to be late..also cursing? Prince Y/n, you know that's a sin right? Your sisters would go crazy" a feminine and graceful  voice said teasingly, it belong to your make up artist, named Miko. She was pastel purple and white Angel, she resembled a secretary bird. You remembered seeing one once, on your secret expeditions to earth. They were goregous, and so was Miko. Her attire was extravagant, it matched the heavenly color scheme of white, blue and gold, but added in some new colors. Which, you appreciated. Honestly you were getting sick, of all the white.

"Hmph, well so is lying.." you muttered, sarcastically.

"He got you there Miko.." a masculine voice chuckled. That voice belonged to your hair stylist, Elijah. He was an Angel that resembled his human self in his past life. Except his skin was now tinted a purple undertone, his pinkish hair was styled in twists, and his gold colored freckles littered his face. He still retained his New York styles street wear fashion, in heaven.  You would have thought he was human if he didn't have. heart shaped antennas sticking out of his head, as well as a halo and a pair of wings.

Miko rolled her eyes, "shut up, you wanna talk about sinning? How about your outfit? Girl, those colors are clashing with your eyes.." 

Elijah gasped dramatically, as he placed a hand on his chest. "Oh, you don't even wanna go there. Ms. Trashy blend" he snaps back.

"Excuse me? That blend was beautiful!"

"Girl please, all you ended up doing is making yourself look like a shitty Christmas tree"

" all because I used green and red?"

"You used the brightest red possible, I thought your ass was about to glow in the dark"

"Oh you-"

"Ladies, ladies" you finally butted in. "You're both ugly, let's quiet down"

They both went silent, glancing at each other before speaking up.

"Course you'd know about ugly y/n"

"Hey!" You huffed.

"Remember last year when he decided to get bangs?" Elijah snickered.

"Remember?! I cant forget it!" Miko replied, laughing. You crossed your arms, as you pouted.

"They weren't THAT bad"

"Honey, you looked like Will Byers from stranger things with that fuck ass little Bob of yours"

Miko bursted out laughing, holding her stomach as she stumbled back a bit. Elijah laughed along with her, as he leaned against her.  While you sat their, cheeks flushed in embarrassment with a pout on your face. Though you struggled to keep your pout, since that was pretty funny.

"Ugh whatever, whatever" you rolled your eyes playfully. "Just finish getting me ready, before I have you all sent into the firey pits of hell" you scoffed, pointing your nose up snobbishly. Exaggerating your voice in a British accent.

"Oh yes sir!"

"Of course, your majesty!"  They both played along, acting meek as they copied a British accent.

"Just don't hurt me your highness! I need my 15 shillings to feed my family!" Elijah cried, dramatically.

"Then work faster peasants, chop chop!" You huffed, clapping your hands to insinuate how 'serious' you were.

Soon enough, you were ready for the day, your hair styled, your makeup done, and Elijah was currently done firring your clothes.

"Does his majesty, find his wardrobe to his liking?" Miko asked, in her fake British accent.

"It is adequate ." You replied, before you dropped the act smiling sincerely. "I look great, thank you both." You reply.  "You both are like the greatest make up and hair stylist in heaven"

Miko rolls her eyes playfully, " We know, babe" she teased.

You sighed as you stood up, "Y'know you two don't have to go all out on me all the time. I barely leave the castle"

"And who's fault is that?" Elijah asked, giving you a knowing look. "If you weren't always trying to sneak down to hell, maybe Sera would actually let you out more". You frowned, groaning.

"Ugh! I know! But still, that doesn't give her the right to keep me couped up in here! What am I? Rapunzel?" You replied, sarcastically.

"I mean you got the naivety, ditziness, and stubborn attitude all you need to do is grow your hair out and run around barefoot." Miko says, as she began to pack away her make up kit.

"Har har har.." you scoffed, "I am not running around with my hooves out"

"What Miko is trying to say" Elijah butted in. "Is that we want to go all out on you, your our friend boo. You deserve it"

Miko hums, "Yeah, plus why does it matter? Ugh, don't tell me you're worried Adam is gonna call you gay again just cause you wear make up..."

You puffed out her cheeks, as your form stiffened. "No! Of course not! I don't care what Adam thinks! He's just some guy who didn't age out of his  frat boy jock stage. Which is weird...since he wasn't even alive when frats or jocks were a thing...but you get the point."

"Anyways we're heading out.." Elijah says, as he wraps an arm around Milo's neck. "We're meeting up with Molly for smoothies later.."

Your smile dropped, "smoothies? Ugh! Lucky! I wish I could go...but I have to do stupid royal stuff.." your crossed your arms. "Wait? Smoothies now? Isn't it a bit too early?"

Miko shrugged, "we're in heaven baby, it's never to late for smoothies". You rose a brow, narrowing your eyes.

"Elijah doesn't even have any sugar till past 12-" your eyes widened in realization. "Oh you assholes, you two are ditching me before Lia-!"

Just like that, your bedroom door, slammed open. Scaring Skelly, who was fast asleep on your window sill, causing him to fall once more. There stood another Angel, he had one giant golden eye, no mouth, and whispy purplish blue flame hair. He wore a fancy suit with a sweater vest, all in blue white and gold.

"Prince Y/n! You're late! Late late!" He called out, rushing over to you. Unfortunately for you, he was an inch or two taller than you.

"Good morning, Liam.." you spoke, flashing a nervous smile before glancing past him over towards Elijah and Miko. Your smile dropping, as you narrowed your eyes at them. As they both blew you kisses and waves before they rushed out the door.

You sighed, before turning to look back at the rambling Angel in front of you. "You have so many things to get done today, are you ready Prince Y/n?" he summoned a scroll into his hand.  Your shoulders dropped, you were truly getting tired of this routine. But you put on a brave face, as you nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be ."

.- .-.. .-.. / .. -. .... .- -... .. - .- -. - ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / . .- .-. - .... / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .-- --- .-. ... .... .. .--. / - .... . / -... . .- ... - / .- .-.. .-.. / .-- .... --- ... . / -. .- -- . ... / .... .- ...- . / -. --- - / -... . . -. / .-- .-. .. - - . -. / .. -. / - .... . / .-.. .- -- -... .----. ... / -... --- --- -.- / --- ..-. / .-.. .. ..-. . --..-- / - .... . / .-.. .- -- -... / .-- .... --- / .-- .- ... / ... .-.. .- .. -. / ..-. .-. --- -- / - .... . / -.-. .-. . .- - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. .-.-.- .-. . ...- . .-.. .- - .. --- -. / .---- ...-- ---... ---.

Little authors note here, y'all are free to interpret Y/ns lamb design in anyway you want. He can be a full on furry/ anthro creature  like Husk or Angel Dust. Or he could be like alastor and Charlie and just have animal characteristics like ears/hooves/ horns etc. but they maintain a relatively human appearance. It's up to y'all <33 it doesn't affect the story in anyway. I just mention Y/n has hooves cause he canonically does.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #vivzieverse #angel dust #hazbin angel dust #hazbin hotel x reader #adam hazbin hotel #charlie morningstar #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel x y/n #hazbin hotel x you #hazbin hotel x male reader #fanfic #x reader #x male reader

[superhaught]

Incurable Cravings (Chapter Four)

Pairing: Regina George x Reader

Warnings: none really, just angsty

Word Count: 2200, Part 4/?

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Continuation of Incurable Cravings series!

Little author's note: I made a small edit to Chapter 2 to fix a plot hole that I created for myself. Regina and Leighton have been living in separate homes for five years as opposed to the original ten.

Regina and reader begin to navigate their first day at school in light of their newfound relationship. Reader learns more about the history between Janis, Regina and Leighton.

Regina’s family was complex. 

You knew that Ms. George used to be married to Regina’s father. Together, they had twin daughters, Regina and Leighton. You were all around 13 years old when they divorced. The resulting custody arrangement was unusual. Ms. George kept Regina and the house, while Leighton went with their dad and moved to the east coast. You vaguely knew that the father, Henry, got remarried to his college sweetheart, who had an older son from her previous marriage. Ms. George kept her maiden name and changed Regina’s last name to match, and has since also remarried and had Regina’s half-sister, Kylie. Regina’s stepdad, from what you knew, was a high-ranking military official. He didn’t see combat, but he was almost never home. All of them seemed to prefer it that way. 

Regina and her stepdad famously did not get along well, so his frequent absence was appreciated by her. And Ms. George enjoyed being able to maintain her independence. She often referred to herself as a single mom, even though she, objectively, was married.

You hadn’t seen Leighton since she moved away, and based on what Regina had said, she had rarely seen her twin either. You were positive that the distance must be hard on them both. Regina and Leighton had always been each other's' best friend when you were younger. They were practically joined at the hip. You remember that when Leighton moved away, Regina didn’t come to school for almost two weeks and she wouldn’t see anyone.

The divorce, and your small friend group falling apart, all happened within the span of a year. And now, as Regina slept peacefully in your arms, you wondered just how much pain she had been carrying.

It broke your heart. 

In spite of your racing thoughts, you eventually gave in to sleep yourself and were able to get a few hours shuteye before Regina’s alarm was going off and waking you for school. Regina groaned and snoozed the alarm once before turning over and curling up against your chest.

You giggled at how cute she was being and took to kissing her head and playing with her hair for those ten extra minutes. You felt her press a few soft kisses onto your neck and then the alarm went off again.

You reached over her and turned the alarm off and then rubbed your palm over her upper arm. 

The blonde smiled and whispered, “good morning…”

“Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling this morning?”

Regina yawned and stretched her arms out a little before responding, “better than I’ve felt in a while.”

“Good.”

She met your eyes, “am I remembering last night correctly?”

“What do you remember?”

She hesitated for a moment, examining your expression, maybe considering dropping it, “I remember you saying that you love me…”

You nodded your head, “I did, Gina,” you tucked some hair behind her ear, “I said ‘I love you.’”

She nodded back and bit down on her bottom lip. You could see the anxiety mounting in her through her tensing muscles and rapid eye movements.

“I…” she began.

“Shhh…” you leaned in and captured her lips in a kiss. 

She melted at the contact and let her hand travel over your shoulder and up the back of your neck to hold you close. Regina held you in that kiss for a long while and then just silently nodded again as she pulled away.

“Thank you…” she whispered. 

And thus, only a fraction of your conversation actually  took place out loud. You never really imagined having a bond like that with someone, not after the years you had lost of growing with Regina and Janis as your closest friends. But right here, in this moment, Regina knew without a shadow of a doubt that you had meant what you said. And you knew that she felt the same way about you in return. 

You both took a minute more to play with each other’s fingers as you held hands in the bed. 

The blonde kissed your hand and whispered, “I wish we had time to enjoy more of each other instead of going to school…” 

“I do too, trust me.” 

“I just want this gorgeous body of yours all to myself, all the time…” 

You smirked, “you are such a temptress… but don’t worry, Gina. I’m all yours.” You kissed her cheek and then her lips again, obliging her when she grazed your lip with her tongue to deepen the kiss. You shared a few more kisses like this before Regina finally forced herself to sit up. 

She looked sore and stiff in her movements. You reached out to gently touch her back after she sat up and you asked, “do you want help getting up?” 

“No, no… I’ll be okay. Thank you baby.” 

You got ready for the day together. Regina happily let you borrow some of her clothes that she reserved for wearing only around the house. No one would likely be able to tell that they were hers, not that it mattered to you. 

Ms. George had fixed you both a quick breakfast and offered you free reign of the pantry to make yourself a lunch. 

Regina, with a little bit of encouragement from you, managed to eat a cup of yogurt with granola. 

“I’m gonna go start the car, you coming?” Regina asked you when she finished eating. 

“Yeah, go ahead, I’ll be right out.” 

Regina nodded and left through the front door of her house. You heard the engine of her Jeep start and you turned to Ms. George, who was scrolling Facebook on her phone while eating her own bowl of yogurt. 

“Ms. George?” 

She looked up at you, “what’s up, sugar?” 

“Do you have Leighton’s phone number?” 

Regina held your hand the whole car ride to school and walked inside with you, only dropping your hand once you were in the presence of others. 

Regina saw Gretchen and Karen waiting for her at her locker so she turned to you and gave you a sweet goodbye with a quick, stolen kiss to your cheek before she split off from you and resumed her normal. 

You realized that the two of you hadn’t discussed this part. You didn’t know how long it would be this secret between the two of you, but you hoped not long. 

But you were greeted with your own smack in the face from reality when you walked up to your locker. Janis stood there, waiting for you. 

You took a deep breath, “hey.” 

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, “hey. I want to try this again.” 

She stepped out of your way as you opened up your locker and she continued when you didn’t really say anything in response, “yesterday, I know I approached you about Regina in the wrong way, and I’m sorry.” 

You grabbed one of your textbooks, “thank you. I forgive you.” 

“But… I’d really like to talk to you about this. I saw you leave that storage closet with her. And I saw you go home with her after school yesterday. And, oh my god, you’re wearing her sweatshirt.” 

Shit. Of course Janis would recognize it.

“And? What exactly do you want to know?” 

“I… well, like what are you guys doing together? Are you hanging out again?” 

“I guess we are… yeah. We’re hanging out.” 

“Why?! Why would you do that?” 

“Janis…” your voice betrayed your sadness and frustration. 

“No seriously, come on! You’re one of the only people who knows the truth about what Regina has put me through! I thought you would be on my side!” 

You pinched the bridge of your nose and inhaled, “Janis, it’s more complicated than sides… and, and I don’t know that I do know the truth!” 

“What do you mean? You were at that party! You were there!” 

“I mean, why does Regina think that something happened between you and Leighton?” 

Janis’ jaw dropped, “what?” 

“What happened between you and Leighton?” 

“What did Regina say?” 

“She didn’t say anything specific, only that you hurt Leighton somehow.” 

“I…” Janis clenched her hands into fists, “that has nothing to do with me and Regina! I don’t even… you knew how I felt about Regina… you don’t really think I deserved what she did, do you?” 

“Janis, no. I don’t think you deserved it. I don’t think any of us deserved anything that happened, Regina included. I think we were kids with a lot of complicated feelings.”

Janis stared at you incredulously. 

“Didn’t you guys make up at the dance last year?” 

“No. We didn’t. She was high on pain medication. She didn’t forgive me and I didn’t forgive her.” 

You sighed, “Look, right now, I know that Regina wants me around and I’m okay with putting things behind me so that I can be there for her. But you don’t have to do that. Just don’t get mad at me for trying.”

She stared at you again. 

You closed your locker door, “you weren’t the only one of us who was in love with her, Janis. You weren’t the only one who lost her, okay?” 

You walked away from Janis for the second time, once again, unsure whether you were making the right choices in navigating this whole thing. You couldn’t exactly tell Janis the whole truth about your relationship, not without consulting Regina about it first. But you knew it wasn’t fair to leave Janis completely in the dark either. 

You sat through your math class unable to pay attention to a single word out of Mrs. Norbury’s mouth because you were so caught up in how complicated this all was. 

On your way out, Mrs. Norbury called you up to her desk and you obliged. 

“Hey, you doing okay?” 

You nodded, “yeah, I’m just having a weird week. I’m sorry for spacing out.” 

She gave you a half smile, “look, I know your grades are going to be fine, that’s not what I’m worried about. I just want to make sure you’re alright.” 

“It’s just friend stuff.” 

“Alright, well, just remember that graduation is right around the corner. You need to make sure that you’re thinking about what you want.” She smiled at you as if what she said wasn’t annoyingly vague. 

“Have you told anyone else about your acceptance letter yet?” She continued. 

“No… still only you and my parents know. I’m not ready to tell anyone else yet.” 

“It’s been a few months now, you’ll have to start telling people eventually.” 

“I know… I just…” 

Mrs. Norbury waited patiently for you to finish. 

“It hasn’t really sunk in for me yet.” 

She raised an eyebrow. You knew she was suspicious of your answer but she let it go, “okay. Well, if you need anything, just let me know.” 

You nodded and left her classroom. Your heart was pounding. 

Until yesterday, there was no one that you were overly concerned to talk to about your college acceptance. But now… you’d have to find a way to tell Regina that in just a few short months, you’d be moving to Boston for college. 

You hustled to your next class and pulled your phone out as you sat down in your seat. You quickly started a new message to the number that Ms. George gave you. 

When you left that class, you checked your phone first thing and you had a text back. 

“Is Regina okay?”

You typed your response as you walked, “Regina is okay, but there’s a lot going on right now and I could use your help. I’m sorry to text you out of the blue like this. Your mom gave me your number.”

“So, you and Regina are friends again?”

“Yes.”

“Janis, too?”

“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about… what happened? If you don't mind me asking…”

It took a minute for Leighton to respond. You watched the little bubble that indicated she was typing until her message back finally came through. 

Leighton wrote, “honestly? Looking back, it’s stupid and I’m p sure Regina overreacted.”

Leighton tells you that when you were all kids, Janis confided in her that she had a crush on Regina. Janis begged Leighton not to tell Regina, and Leighton agreed, not seeing any reason to hurt Janis and ruin the friendship between the girls. But sometime later, Regina came to know the truth and talked to Janis and turned her down kindly. Janis was still mortified, but beyond that, she was pissed. Janis assumed that Leighton told Regina and wanted to get back at her for it. Janis knew that Leighton had a big class presentation coming up and she came to school wearing a beautifully pressed, matching white suit jacket and skirt. Janis loaded up her lunch tray with everything that the cafeteria had to offer that would stain and then “bumped” right into Leighton, dumping her entire tray onto Leighton. 

It was petty. It was stupid. It was misinformed. But it made Leighton cry in the bathroom, and that was something Regina couldn’t abide. Regina planned her revenge, and that’s how the spin-the-bottle party happened. Janis embarrassed Leighton, so Regina embarrassed Janis with the best ammo she had in her arsenal.

Next Chapter

#regina george #regina george x reader #regina george fanfiction #regina george fanfic #mean girls #mean girls 2024 #regina george fluff #regina george angst #regina george chronic illness #renee rapp regina george #renee rapp #my fanfiction #my writing #original writing #leighton murray #mean girls au #tslocg au #janis imi'ike #rejanis #rejanis angst #incurable cravings

[choicesbookclub]

12 Days of Choices Special Event

Not sure who is planning to participate, but I figured I'd start this thread to talk about it and share info for anyone that is playing.

If you find the hidden item, please share where and when (what chapter + scene)! All clues and hints welcomed. I'll try to update this post with whatever info I see so that it's all in one place for anyone checking in quick!

Day One: December 12

Book: Mother of the Year

Chapter 1

Scene: MC's daughter has the option for the uniform. The Partridge in a Pair Tree is on the stairs in the background.

Day Two: December 13

Book: The Duchess Affair

Hint: In chapters 1-3

Chapter: beginning of chapter 2

Scene: The location is the breakfast room, in front of the large painting and next to the Christmas tree.

Thanks @lizzybeth1986

Day Three: December 14

Book: Bachelorette Party

Hint: "3 French hens, 3 blind mice, 3 is the number you'll want to check twice "

Chapter 3

Scene: The Abracadabra Lounge, right at the front of the room.

Thanks @lizzybeth1986

Day Four: December 15

Book: The Cursed Heart

Hint: "You didn't hear this from me, but it's in a prime number chapter greater than 3!"

Helpful Math: Prime Numbers include: 5,7,11,13,17,19

Chapter 5

Scene: At the stables talking to Sir Montgomery, perched on the ceiling

Thanks @lizzybeth1986

Day Five: December 16

Book: Ms. Match

Hint: "Five Gold Rings: Starting from the left, which finger is your ring finger? 🖐️"

Chapter 2

Scene: walking home from the bar with jack, they very impressively transformed a building

Thanks @alasforher

Day Six: December 17

Book: Untameable

Hint: "Six Geese A-Laying: (four) The perfect amount of geese to have is four! 🪿"

Chapter 4

Scene: The stables, at the very beginning of the chapter.

Thanks, @lizzybeth1986

Day Seven: December 18

Book: The Unexpected Heiress

Hint: "Seven Swans A-Swimming: You'll spot them right away! 🏊"

Chapter 1

Scene: On the ship, immediately after the MC is introduced and says goodbye to her mother and brother.

Thanks, @lizzybeth1986

Day Eight: December 19

Book: Slow Burn

Hint: "Eight Maids A-Milking: You'll only need two maids to get this job done. 🥛"

Chapter 2

Scene: Bunting when you are first in the New Orleans ‘Hushpuppys’ restaurant

Thanks, @alasforher

Day Nine: December 20

Book: Queen B

Hint: "Nine Ladies Dancing: You'll need to be FOURtunate to find this item! 💃"

Chapter 4

Scene: At the sports field on Kickoff Day

Thanks, @lizzybeth1986

Day Ten: December 21

Book: Laws of Attraction

Hint: "Ten Lords A-Leaping: These lords are leaping VERY early on. 💯"

Chapter 1

Scene: Sadie McGraw's office

Thanks, @lizzybeth1986

Day Eleven: December 22

Book: Wake the Dead

Hint: "Eleven Pipers Piping: You'll need five fingers to play this pipe. 🖐️"

Chapter 3

Scene: Second scene in Red Meadows Cabin discussing the surge, after the upstairs has been cleared

Thanks, @alasforher

Day Twelve: December 23

Book: Roommates with Benefits

Hint: "Twelve Drummers Drumming: These drummers are marching in twos. 🥁"

Chapter 3

Scene: Opening party scene in the dorm room

Thanks, @alasforher

More to Come

*Note, according to PB, you don't have to click on the item or do anything special, once you past that scene/chapter, the app will remember it and the rewards will be granted at the end of the event.

*Rewards will be granted on 12/26 at 11 AM PST

#choices #playchoices #choices game #choices book club #mother of the year #the duchess affair #bachelorette party #the cursed heart

[purpleyoonn]

baby (you complete us) 4

C H A P T E R   F O U R 

summary: Soulmates were a common occurrence, so common, in fact, that the world sought an easier way to find your other half: A bracelet that would scan your mark and match you with those who shared your mark. Within recent years, soul groups were becoming normal, and your own bracelet said you have seven matches.

Or where you wear your bracelet for ten years, and finally give up the hope you would find your soul group, only for BTS to put theirs on and see what they were missing.

genre: soulmate au, idol au, angst, fluff, eventual smut,

pairing: Idol BTS x Disabled MC

warnings: angst, mentions of depression, disabled mc (Ehlers Danlos syndrome), eventual smut, fluff, lots of fluff, mentions of disability, simp bangtan

chapter warnings: some awkward moments, feeling overwhelmed, talks of pain and discomfort, mc’s shoulder shifts, disability discussions, jin and yoongi being protective, 

*words in italic are being spoken in Korean*

taglist: @imnotlauriane​​  @mageprincess7​​ @m1sss1mp​​ @0funsite0​​  @strawberry-moonpies​​ @this-isthe-way​​ @singukieee​​ @btsw1fe​​ @gooooomz​​  @fluffy-canada-pancakes​​ @carolinexkpop​​ @agusfree​​ @sakurarukas​​ @iamkookiesforyou​​ @skyys-universe​​ @toughbook​​ @plutoneu​​ @whisperssuga​​ @welcometomyworld13​​ @yuzon3​​ @wittyreader​​ @jnghs​​ @cyd0129​​ @exfolitae​​​ @queen-in-the-shadows​​​ @nen-nyy​​​ @pandxthings​​​ @schniti-is-in-the-house​​​ @juju-227592​​​ @jinseartharmysmoon​​​ @wooya1224​​​ @ddaeng-angmoh​​​ @gratefullygrateful​​​ @rorythme​​​ @gratefullygrateful​​​ @kimrona​​​ @jjjj-ssi​​​ @maysgarden​​​ @lovelgirl22​​​ @doublebunv​​​ @reallysparklychaos​​​ @jayjayy-57​​​ 

permanent taglist: @m1sss1mp​ @yourleftsock​ @skyys-universe​ @cryingpages​ @strxwbloody​  @drissteele​ @dustyinkpages​ @iamkookiesforyou​ @crushedblackroses​ @fluffy-canada-pancakes​ @blaaiissee​  @iiitsmaria​  @carolinexkpop​  @azazel-nyx​ @strawberry-moonpies​ @g-h-o-s-t-b-a-b-i​ @knjkitten​ @kleirielk​ @foreverweareyoung7​ @lachimolala22019​ @namuficxs​ @94z-93​ @kimgmzmc​ @thenaverse​ @dahliasbouqet​ @black-rose-29​ @tinyoonsblog​ @take-u-2-an0ther-w0r1d​ @stellauniverse​ @stupendouscookiehumanmug​ @tinyoonsblog​ @veronawrites​ @tatyhend​ @singukieee​ @m0v3m3ntsblog​ @lilcritan​ @exfolitae​ @butterymin​ 

masterlist // chapter 3 // chapter 5

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

Previously on baby (you complete us):

“I’m so sorry, Y/n, but we have a meeting to attend with our directors. Thank you so much for giving us a chance and we will definitely talk to you soon.” Namjoon’s dimple smile had your full attention as everyone said their goodbyes and promises of contact. Even as you said goodbye and the video call was ended, you had their bright smiles burnt into your cornea.

After checking to see if your phone still had some charge to it, you were quick to go to your phone app again, this time to your recent calls list.

“Hey so I think your joke isn’t so much of a joke anymore…”

That next morning, you woke up to the luggage set Hoseok bought waiting in front of your apartment door. You were actually lucky your neighbors didn’t take it or bang on your door wondering when you got a sugar daddy and didn’t tell them (thanks Ms. Tanner).

It was an expensive, you could tell by the label, three-piece luggage set container with two hard-shell suitcases and a small duffel bag for a carry on. It was, indeed, your favorite color and when you opened the large suitcase, you found a note within the stitched in pocket. It was a cute note saying that the boys couldn’t wait to meet you in person and that they hoped you like what they picked out for you.

Not only did you get surprised by the luggage set, but your phone also hadn’t stopped going off since you turned it on that morning. It seemed you were in three separate group chats. You were added to one called ‘Maknaes Only’ with little stars around it, one that had everyone in it called ‘m8tes’ that had a smiley face at the end (which you were 100% convinced Jin chose the title), and one that had just the older members, and now you, that didn’t have a title.

The one you were added to with Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook had a menagerie of selfies they sent you, some of them not even being of them, just of their feet as they are walking. Also, you’ve noticed they use lots of emojis. You were kind of overwhelmed as you read Jimin describing his afternoon to you and asking if you had gone to bed.

You weren’t really used to people just texting you. Like you had friends and siblings who texted you but not in this way. It seemed like every second you got another text notification.

When you finally looked away from the maknae chat, after messaging “good morning😊”, you moved over to the main group chat which had the most recent message. You were thankful for the translate button that came up when you highlighted the text, happy that you didn’t have to try and figure it out on your own.

m8tes

Hoseok: hey pretty girl. I just got the notification that the luggage was dropped off. I just wanted to know if you got it.

Jin: Oh! We can be affectionate already? Well, then, princess, did you get our other packages yet?

Yoongi: She probably hasn’t if she hasn’t said anything yet. Isn’t it also like 9 am there? She’s probably still sleeping.

Jin: Just because you sleep in doesn’t mean our princess does, you old man.

Yoongi: 😐 you’re older than me

“Other packages?” You think aloud, trying to figure out what he was talking about while also ignoring their use of pet names so you don’t blush. You look back out your door to see if you missed a package when you were dragging the luggage in but you don’t see anything.

So, you grab your keys, put your shoes on and walk down the stairs to the mail room for the apartment building. You hated the stairs because there was always, a very certain always, chance one of your knees would pop out when going back up them. 

Your elevator hasn’t worked for about a year, and no matter how many disability requests you put in, nothing was done. You didn’t really have the money to just move either, so you were stuck using your cane and the side railings, hoping you didn’t fall.

You walked slowly, holding onto the railing as you did, but you managed to not hurt anything as you finally walked into the mail room. You walked over to the locker that had your apartment number on it and put in your key, turning the knob. You opened it to find several small packages with your name on them.

You didn’t recognize anything on the packages other than your name, so you took them cautiously out of your mailbox and went back upstairs. It took you longer this time, as going up stairs always gave your knees issues.

It seemed as though you were lucky today, nothing popping out as you unlocked your door and took your shoes back off. You move to your kitchen counter, grabbing your scissors and cutting open the first package.

You were surprised to see small box, no logos or anything on the outside. When you took the top off, you found a little note along with a HYBE badge that had your picture from the Soul app and your name on it with the words “All Exclusive Access” at the top.

You ignored the buzzing of your phone again as you tried hard to keep your shock in check, grabbing your scissors and choosing to open the next package. The contents were a little overwhelming.

You found a, what looks extremely comfy, t-shirt, a coloring book and markers, and a passport, oddly enough. You were extremely confused. You already had a passport, and this one was from South Korea. You were an American citizen, meaning you needed an American passport. Unless one of them accidently sent you theirs.

Thinking that there was going to be a huge problem, having one of their passports, you grabbed your phone and called Namjoon, knowing he spoke English and you didn’t need a translator. It took only a single ring before the phone picked up.

“No! Let me talk to her!” You hear a lot of shuffling on the other end followed by shouts and grunts. You couldn’t really understand anything so you just waited, wondering if you should hang up.

“No. I didn’t get to talk to her yet!”

“I speak more English than you!” Another grunt was heard as the phone seems to fall onto the ground.

“Give me my phone back!” You can distinguish Namjoon’s voice as he gets closer to the phone.

“Should I call you back? I can call back if you are busy.” You ask causing silence before another couple grunts are heard and a loud cry.

“NO!” You pull your phone away from your ear, cringing a little as your ear now rings. “Please. I’m sorry. Jungkook had my phone and was fighting with Jimin and Taehyung over it.” You only nod your head at his explanation.

“What can I do for you, baby?” You blush at the term of endearment, feeling tingles move up and down your spine. You clear your throat before answering, not even realizing he had just put you on speaker phone, everyone now in Namjoon’s studio with him.

“I think one of you accidently sent me your passport. I have a Korean passport on my kitchen table and I don’t want any of you to get in trouble.” A little laughter can be heard as a couple voices start talking at once.

“Baby, did you open the passport to see who’s it could be?” Namjoon asks, making you shuffle closer to the passport and open it. You were shocked to see your own name and picture.

You felt stupid as you realized it was a Soulmate Passport.

When you are matched with your soulmate or mates, depending on the eldest member’s nationality, you may gain a “soulmate citizenship” for their home country. Since Seokjin was Korean, you now were granted a South Korean soulmate citizenship. You practically had all the same rights as a South Korean citizen, but you couldn’t own any property, pay taxes, or vote, that would be up to your soulmates. 

“Baby?” Namjoon’s voice broke you out of your stupor, making you blush red in embarrassment.

“Uhm, never mind.” Your voice was small, now understanding the laughter.

“See what you did?” Namjoon turned around to look at Jimin and Taehyung who laughed at how cute you were being. Their eyes widened in shock as they realize how their laughter could have come off. Namjoon spoke quickly hoping that you wouldn’t hang up the phone.

“No baby, please. They didn’t mean it, I promise. The uh, the second we got our match, we had to have it registered with the government so you could come over. Given the circumstances and the Soul Pain that could start any minute, they expedited your passport and soulmate citizenship papers.” Namjoon explained to you, making you remember about the Soul Pain.

Soul Pain happened after a bond is acknowledged by all parties. If you don’t gain physical contact or fully accept the bond within a week’s time, the body will start to deteriorate. You will start off getting sick, maybe just the flu or a mild cold, and then it begins to get worse. It’s fate’s way to ensure that the bonds she creates are solidified.

Physical touch only helps for so long. The only way to really end soul pain is to either accept the bond or reject it. But fate created another way to ensure her bonds came to be completed. Rejection leads to lasting physical pain in the chest in the person being rejected until their death…something you wouldn’t really wish upon anyone.

You weren’t really given any options.

“Oh, I forgot about that. It’s been, what, about four or five days since you matched with me? So, I say within a couple of days the Soul Pain should start.” You were looking down at your mark, the simple full moon staring back at you.

“We can get you booked within the next couple hours. Just let us know the closest airport, baby.” Namjoon’s tone was full of worry, now realizing just what everyone might be going through soon.          

He questioned if you would feel the Soul Pain more than they would, given they had all already completed their bond. You hadn’t completed yours and wouldn’t have the chance for maybe a couple of days, if you were ready to complete it, that is. They wouldn’t push you into anything.

“Uhm, give me the rest of the day to figure everything out. The earliest I can probably fly out, if everything goes well, is tomorrow. So, if you can, maybe book a flight for the early morning.” You voice wavers as you think of the things you need to do.

You still need to call your family and tell them everything. You could probably wait to tell Anna. You didn’t want to disturb her honeymoon. Your job, you could do from anywhere as long as you had wife and a stable internet connection. You just needed to pack your things.

“How many things do you think I can fit in my suitcases before I have to pay for it being overweight?” You ask into the phone, trying to remember what the weight limit was for suitcases.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll have everything already figured out. And Jimin wants me to remind you that we can buy you anything you need here too.” You balk at that, not wanting them to feel obligated to buy you things.

“Can you tell me what airline you were planning on having me flying with? I need to check their disability requirements and see if I can bring my cane on board or if I need to mark it as a carry-on.” The thought hits you last minute, remembering the time you had to do that before, paying for your actual carryon.

“You don’t need to worry. Let your mates handle it.” A different voice spoke up this time. The spoke in English, making you question who it was. The deep, raspy voice had you thinking Yoongi.

“Pretty girl, did you get all of the packages yet? We made sure to overnight everything.” Hoseok’s voice came through this time, you recognize the cute pet name.

“I got everything; I think. You only sent the luggage set and three packages, right?” You ask just to make sure since they never specified how many things they had sent to you.

“That’s all we sent so far, Y/n!” That voice was definitely Jungkook but wait. So far?

“What do you mean, so far?” You ask a little wary of what else they could have sent you. You could hear a little slap, laughter, and then some kind of apologizing, thankful for the little amount of Korean you could recognize after years of listening to kpop and watching kdramas.

“Nothing. We haven’t sent anything else since we knew you would be coming soon. We just thought that you needed some things before you make the trip over.” Namjoon’s voice came through again.

“What have you opened so far? Can we video chat?” Jimin’s timid voice is next to come through the speaker. You can’t help but want to coo at him, to fulfill his wishes and you know you were in dangerous waters already.

“You guys aren’t busy?” You ask, your own voice timid and unsure. Despite their words the night before, you still weren’t sure how well you would fit into their life, if they would be able to make time for someone not already within their established group, soul or otherwise.

The boys, even from where they sat in Namjoon’s studio, could imagine the small pout on your lips and the way you might twist your fingers. They had promised you they would always make time for you, and that was a promise they were quick to reassure.

“We have plenty of time, baby.” Namjoon’s normal baritone was pitched, the love and reassurance he was pushing forward could be felt across the ocean as you moved to fiddle with your phone.

“So beautiful”

“So cute”

A chorus of voices called out as soon as you turned the camera on, catching you off guard as you recognized the compliments. You move a little off screen, trying to hide your now inevitable blush as you move everything you opened so far into view on your counter.

“Uhm, this is what I opened so far. I have one package left.” You gesture to the slightly medium sized box as you pull it in front of you.

“Okay!” Jin nearly shouts out. Looking at the screen you see them all intently watching you, waiting for you to open the box.

You just nod your head, feeling a little awkward, before grabbing your scissors again. You open them up and maneuver them so you could cut the tape across the box only for Jin and Yoongi to cry out, making you drop the scissors almost cutting yourself.

You look up, startled and wondering what happened to make them scream like that.

“You don’t hold them like that!” Jin screams out, while Yoongi nods his head.

“You don’t use scissors to cut things like that. You don’t have box cutter?” Yoongi asks you, watching you very carefully as you shake your head.

“Aish. Can we book a flight for now to go and get her?” Jin turns to Namjoon and Hobi, who both shake their heads. The two eldest mates were protective, and the boys all already made bets on how quickly they would become protective of you and if it would be worse than with Jungkook or not, given you were the same age.

“What if something happens and we’re not there? We just want to keep her safe and make sure she is taken care of.” Yoongi adds on, slightly hopeful as he looks over to Jin who also nods his head at his words. But Namjoon just lovingly rolls his eyes, used to the two eldest’s ways.

“No, we cannot. She will be here in two days. You both can wait.” Namjoon gave Jin a look, making him sit back in his seat next to Jimin while Yoongi continues to stare down Namjoon.

“Sorry, Y/n, you can continue. These two just get a little protective.” You nod slowly at Namjoon, checking his smile for any clue as to what just happened.

You slowly grab the scissors, seeing Yoongi sit forward a little and Jin move to cover his mouth, and cut the tape across the box. You put the scissors down, again looking up to see Jin and Yoongi now relaxed and sitting back in their seats and remove the packing paper from the top of the box.

However, once you reach further into the box, you feel the beginning of a stretch in your shoulder, making you pause. When you try to move your shoulder back, you feel it shift out of the joint, only slightly thank goodness. Unfortunately, the boys hear the pop on their end and begin to freak out.

“Are you okay?!”

“Baby what happened?”

“What is the number for the doctors!?”

“Pretty girl, what happened? Do we need to call doctor?” Hoseok’s voice came through at the end as he moved forward, scanning your body with a dark look.

“Oh, uh, my shoulder just shifted. I can pop it back in, just give me a second.” You turn around  and move out of view so they won’t see the discomfort on your face as you moved your other hand to your bicep, leaning against your kitchen wall.

“Wait, darling! We should call doctor!” Jungkook shouted as he scrambled for the phone. You only closed your eyes, half in embarrassment and half in discomfort as you popped your shoulder back in.  You roll it a little to ease the stretch and to make sure it didn’t shift again before turning back around.

The boys all had varying faces of pain, discomfort and even awe as you turned back around. They could see the wince on your face and how you didn’t use your right arm this time to reach for the things in the box.

“Y/n, please. Are you okay?” Namjoon’s concern was evident in the way his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed.

Yes, they had read all the messages you had sent, but it didn’t mean they were aware of just how easy it was for your joints to shift or pop. They didn’t know just how much you dealt with daily apart from the times you messaged. They looked to each other and swore you would never lift a finger while with them.

“I’m okay. I promise. It doesn’t even hurt anymore. Just some slight discomfort.” You answer, looking up to see disbelief and worry on their faces this time. You can’t help but feel the need to reassure them of your state.

“I promise. I’m okay. I will let you know if I’m ever in pain, okay?” You try to compromise, earning only a couple of nods while Taehyung, Yoongi, and Jungkook remaining silent as they watch you.

You move along and begin to remove the items with your left arm, keeping your right one by your side, the bottom of your shirt clenched between your fingers to keep it stable.

The first thing you pull out has you letting out a small laugh. It was an eye mask that had a cute kitten face on it with tiny ears coming off the top. You immediately move to put it on your head, adjusting the strap around your head with your left hand as you grin.

“Aigoo she’s so cute. I can see why you picked out the kitty eye mask for her, Yoongi.” Hobi looked over to Yoongi, who wore a smirk across his lips as he saw how excited you got. You didn’t even notice the interaction as you pulled out a pair of noise cancelling headphones.

“For the flight and whatever you want.” You looked up at Yoongi’s words, the words ‘are you sure’ hanging off your lips, stopping once you see the look he gives you, as if begging you to question him. So, you just nod and say thank you, taking the easy way out.

At the bottom of the box was a sweatshirt with the words “AGUST D” written across in the font that resembles his D-2 mixtape logo. A matching beanie can be found underneath. At this, everyone turns towards Yoongi who just smiles.

“How did you manage to sneak that in the box?” Hobi asks only for Jimin to shout: “How did you even sneak an extra box past us?” This has you raising an eyebrow at Yoongi, not realizing that the entire box was from the rapper.

“I guess I should thank you for the box then, Yoongi?” You lean forward, causing the male to blush a little. He just nods shyly and says you’re welcome with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Well, thank you a lot, Yoongi. I appreciate the package and will make sure to wear this to the airport.” You smile, your small cheek dimples poking through as you do making Namjoon smile back. You move the items back in the box as the others shout protests. Claims of cheating thrown around, all of them wanting you to wear something they picked out to the airport.

“Maybe next time you guys!” You try to ease the play fighting, thoroughly amused by the proud smirk on Yoongi’s lips.

Next Chapter

#bts #bts au #bts soulmate #bts soulmate au #bts soul bracelet fic #bts idol au #bts fluff #bts polyamory #bts poly #bts poly!au #bts poly au #bts poly! #bts x reader #poly!bts x reader #disabled mc #bts x disabled mc #ehlers danlos syndrome #baby you complete us #purpleyoonn

[portaltothevoid]

hypothetically….

what if… there was an enemies to lovers, slow burn, mafia au fic… the ghafia, if you will… starring (dark) copia… what if i discovered the canon fact of copia having a gun… and i took that and ran.

and, hypothetically of course, there was an OC named arianna diodati who’s copia’s (very catholic) rival’s daughter… and he uses her as a bargaining chip to get what he wants…

and, also hypothetically, he becomes hellbent on corrupting her catholic ways….

then what if i told you… this was coming soon, very soon and there’s a teaser below the cut… 👀

and…. maybe…. chapters 1 & 2 of “God Called In Sick Today” can be found right here

trigger warnings for series include (but won’t be limited to): angst, abusive relationship, violence, gun use, kidnapping, blood, religious trauma, corruption kink, eventual smut, enemies to lovers, slow burn, dark romance

~~~~~~

Arianna never liked the Emeritus family. In fact, she borderline hated them with their menacingly painted faces and blasphemous way of life. She never quite understood how they rose to rival that of her family. Perhaps they really did make a deal with the devil.

“I’m going to grab a drink,” she said quietly. Alessio just waved her off, her father already in a passionate discussion regarding something she could care less about.

She made her way to the bar, getting the attention of one of the bartenders. “Your usual, Ms. Diodati?”

“Yes, please,” she smiled.

It wasn’t long until she felt a pair of eyes on her from the other end of the bar. She looked up to see Copia, the ringleader of the Satanic circus, staring her down like a hunter watching its prey. It sent a shiver down her spine, but all he saw was the scowl that encapsulated her face. That only made him smirk at her.

She rolled her eyes in disgust, looking away from him. Out of the corner of her eye, though, when she knew his attention was back on someone that wasn’t her, she couldn’t help herself from taking in his appearance. She hated to admit, he looked… elegant. His burgundy pants were impossibly tight in all the right ways. It pained her to acknowledge the way they perfectly hugged his thighs. He had foregone his suit jacket, leaving just his matching burgundy vest and black dress shirt and tie. His sleeves were rolled up and she could see his muscles flex as he grabbed his drink.

Her eyes lingered for a few seconds too long. This time, he caught her watching him. His mouth curled up again into a sly half-smile as he took a drink. His dichromatic eyes never left her. The instant her drink hit the counter, she brought it to her lips and weaved her way through everyone back to Alessio in hopes of putting distance between her and whatever exchange had just taken place.

~~~~~~

thoughts? if this sounds like something you’d want to dive into… let me know in a comment you want to be added to the tag list!

#fic teaser #copia x oc #copia #papa emeritus iv #papa copia #popia #copia smut #copia angst #mafia au #the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost the band #the band ghost fanfiction #copia emeritus #ghost copia #popia copia #papa emeritus 4 #papa emeritus iv x oc

[sl-newsie]

The Secret Ingredient (Willy Wonka (2023) x Fickelgruber Daughter) Chapter 2: Pleased To Meet You

“Are you alright, Ms. Charlotte?” Lottie asks as she brings over my breakfast tray. “You seem distracted.”

She’s right. Ever since yesterday my mind’s been in a fog. I can’t stop thinking about the man in the top hat. It’s like I’ve got a nagging feeling in the back of my head that’s itching to know who he is.

“Sorry, Lottie. I usually don’t take so much interest in newcomers, but there was something different about that man yesterday. I hope father doesn’t go too hard on him.”

“I very much plan to!” The man in question announces. “That Wonka fellow is going to wish he’d never set foot in this town!”

My head perks up. “Wonka?” Now I have a name to match the face. “But why? He won’t hurt anyone.”

Father scoffs. “He will hurt our business! Besides, he’s-” he shutters. “P- P-”

I raise a brow. “Poor?”

He leans over and gags. “Yes! That! But don’t worry, dear. We are going to run him out and he will no longer be a threat.”

I feel my temper start to churn and I gawk at his arrogance. “There’s more to life than competition, dad. He wants to sell chocolate, that’s all. Isn’t encouraging his dream worth a few coins?”

But it’s no use. Once again my words wash over father and he walks off to join Prodnose and Slugworth for their morning meeting. Guess I’ll go back to my usual reading and study sessions? Unless…

“Say, Lottie,” I think out loud. “I might be willing to take up that offer from yesterday. You’d still be inclined to sneak me out tonight for a bit, would you?”

The maid’s eyes widen and she gets a funny smile. “Yes! I knew it! I knew there was something funny about you yesterday!”

I frown. “What’s that mean?”

She giggles. “Oh, you know. See a cute boy, can’t stop thinking about him…” She trails off suggestively.

“Excuse me?” I gawk. “What’s wrong with wanting to meet someone new? This man might be the adventure I’ve been looking for!”

The day drags on unbelievably slow. The whole time I’m stuck in mind-numbing private lessons about finance and lady etiquette. The only enjoyable session I have is my lecture on chocolate chemistry.

“Mr. Snickers, just how many cocoa beans can be churned into chocolate? Wouldn’t it be the more beans there are the richer the chocolate is?”

My teacher gets a certain gleam in his eye that always happens when I spark an idea. “One would think, Ms. Fickelgruber. But there is also a rumor that there could be a secret ingredient we may never be able to measure.”

A secret ingredient…

Mr. Snickers is by far one of my favorite people. Sometimes I wish he was my adoptive father. He’s no doubt much more caring than my real one. Sadly he has no wife or kids of his own so he’s devoted his life to teaching. His lessons both inspire imagination and moxy, which are things my life craves on a daily basis.

“I’ll leave off with that note,” Mr. Snickers says as he packs up his briefcase. “Remember your assignment is to compare the different cocoa bean to sugar ratios from the major chocolate corporations.”

Just then Lottie appears with his weekly check in hand. They both exchange shy smiles and my hypothesis thickens. For weeks I’ve been seeing their feelings blossom and it only drives my curiosity behind the idea of love. Obviously they take a fancy to each other so why ignore it? But perhaps it’s not as simple.

I catch a quick peek at the window. It’s dark now, meaning it’s almost time for father to retire to bed. My moment of opportunity approaches. It’s best to wear something less conspicuous so as to not draw attention from the constables. For this evening’s confidential gallivant I choose a plain light pink dress with brown boots. I’m actually surprised these are still in my closet. I haven’t worn anything this “poor” in years. But unlike father I prefer a touch of modesty.

Deep breath. Take a look outside… All dark. Father’s gone to bed. Time to move-

Thump. Thump.

What in Heaven? There’s footsteps on the ceiling- Wait a minute. Is that…? It is! The chocolate man and a little girl are floating on the roof! Carrying… balloons? There’s no way I can walk away from this now!

I do little to hide my excitement and take off running down the staircase.

Lottie spots me and starts following. “Where are you going?”

My smile widens. “I’m meeting destiny, Lottie!”

She grips her long skirt and chases after me. “Wait for me! I need to sneak you out, remember?”

Right. That part.

“Quick, get in here.” Lottie beckons to the dumbwaiter and I climb inside. “Once you’re downstairs, take the door on the right. It should lead you to the back alley. Good luck!”

She gives me one final wave and I’m lowered into the cellar. Down here all there is are extra ingredients and old trunks full of countless forgotten things. I follow Lottie’s instructions and step out into the brick alley. It’s so dark not a single shadow is cast. The perfect environment for a quick sneak-out.

If my intuition is correct, the wind would have blown the two balloonists towards West End Street. Thankfully there’s little foot traffic so I have the courtesy to search the skies without bumping into anyone. Since father hardly lets me leave I need to stay focused and not get lost. I shall use landmarks. Like this fountain-

“Don’t sell chocolate here ever again!”

The police chief’s familiar voice heightens my attention and I see him holding a man’s head under the cold water. Wait! Why is he dunking him?

“Stop!” I sprint over and now see it’s the Wonka man that’s being held under. “Chief, he’s done nothing wrong!”

“On the contrary, miss. He sold chocolate without a license.”

After a few seconds too long I start to fear for his vitals. “Let him breathe!”

The chief realizes he’s still holding Wonka under. “Oh. Right.”

He lets go and the poor man rises gasping for breath, sopping wet. Same overcoat, same worn out boots. I notice a top hat on the ground and pick it up to offer him. But Wonka’s still clearing the water from his eyes and he doesn’t see. 

“There’s your warning, Wonka,” the chief pats him on the back and starts walking away. “Have a good evening, miss.”

Wonka wipes the wet hair away from his face and now I can see just how cute he is, even if he is wet. But not just cute. There’s an intriguing look about him that makes me feel nostalgic and want to explore the wildest ideas my mind can conjure.

“It is you!” I gasp. “The strange man with the magic chocolate!” 

The man himself does a mock bow and tilts his head. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

I shake my head. “No. In fact, I was hoping I might find you to meet you properly.”

Wonka’s eyes twinkle. “Really?”

“Yes I want to meet the man who made everyone happy with his chocolate. You see, normally the chocolate around here isn’t as enchanting as others make it out to be. But your chocolate really seemed to spark something in people yesterday.” I bite my lip and hold up his hat again as a kind of peace offering. “I’m sorry you got kicked out. I tried to stop them.”

“Thank you!” The man grins and places the hat on his head. “Well, since you have done me a service it’s only fair that you get to taste the marvelous chocolate you seem to admire. Here, try one!” 

He digs into his pocket and pulls out a chocolate the size of a strawberry. No charge? Father would go ballistic over free samples. It’s not that I’m not touched by his gesture but chocolate has sadly started to become more ordinary than it should.

“Oh, thank you. I appreciate it, really. It’s just… I’m personally not a big fan of chocolate…”

“Come again?” Wonka suddenly gets a serious expression. “I don’t trust people who don’t like chocolate.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t not like chocolate, it’s just that chocolate’s been a bigger part of my life than I’d care to admit.”

The man seems amused by my answer and tips his hat.

“I like you! Oh, where are my manners? Name’s Wonka, Willy Wonka! At your service! Miss…?”

A name. He wants my name.

I bite my lip again as I banter with my internal struggle. 

“It’s Charlotte.”

Willy gives me a lopsided grin. “Usually there’s a second part, right?”

I nervously laugh half-heartedly. “Yes, but for me people usually judge me differently when they hear the second part.”

The top-hatted man steps closer and wiggles his eyebrows. “Promise I won’t.”

I arch an eyebrow to show my doubts.

“I promise! And-” He holds up a pinkie. “I’ll pinkie promise!”

His childlike demeanor is too adorable to ignore despite my brain tugging at me to say no.

“Charlotte Fickelgruber,” I speak quickly and tense up, waiting for him to scoff or lose interest. But instead Willy’s surprise is actually polite.

“Really? I didn’t know Fickelgruber had a daughter.”

“Not many do,” I mutter. “Aside from being next in line for his chocolate empire I really don’t have much purpose.”

“Why say that?” Willy asks. “You’re part of one of the biggest chocolate industries ever!”

“Yes, and you’ve personally witnessed how cruel my father can be.”

We start a slow walking pace down the dimly-lit cobblestone street. Now I notice Willy’s still using a cane.

“Why the cane? You're not crippled.”

“It adds character!” he smiles. “You’d be surprised how many uses it can have.”

I peer over at him with curious eyes. “What’s your story? You’re obviously not from here.”

Wonka grins. “That obvious, huh? You’re right. I’ve just come from sailing 7 years at sea.”

My eyes widen. “Sailing? That sounds fun! What’s it like? Are there sea monsters and mermaids? I’ve only ever read about what the outside world is like.”

The man chuckles at my response. “I never spotted one of those, though that doesn’t mean they could be real. Do you read much?”

“Yes. Books are what take me away from here.”

“I know someone who thinks the exact same thing,” Willy points at me as if he’s a salesman addressing a lucky customer. “Well, this is me.”

We’ve stopped at what looks like a dingy hotel. Hm. For being such a colorful character Wonka certainly picked a dodgy place to stay.

“Will you be back at the Galeries Gourmet tomorrow?” I ask anxiously. “People adore your chocolate so you’re bound to make a big profit.”

Willy takes off his hat and twirls it open his finger. “Sadly I’m afraid my business deals will have to be done under the table from now on. Or better yet, under the city.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that since I’m not allowed to sell chocolate in the Galeries Gourmet without a license then I’m selling it elsewhere.”

An uneasy feeling starts to churn in my stomach. Illegal chocolate? What has this world come to?

“Don’t worry.” He must have noticed my concern. “I made some new friends who have helped me come up with a plan. By tomorrow Wonka chocolate will be sold throughout the city for one sovereign apiece, unbeknownst to the police.”

I stifle a laugh. “You only charge one sovereign? No wonder father and the others are upset. That’s way too affordable for their standards.”

Willy just shrugs. “Chocolate shouldn’t be deprived from anyone.” He dramatically looks around to see if anyone’s watching and leans in to whisper: “If you wanna see us in action, stop by the bridge tomorrow.”

My breath catches. “B- But I’m… me.”

“Yes. You are you. What’s wrong with that?” he asks.

“I’m the daughter of one of the men who are trying to run you out of town.”

“So? You’re not your father, Charlotte. Seems to me like you want to change the world with chocolate as much as I do.”

“Psst!”

We both look up to see a girl’s face peeking out of the top window. She’s the one Willy was flying with earlier!

“Willy! Come on! I’ve got the milk, now get up here so we can make the chocolate!”

“Right!” Willy turns back to me and tips his hat as he starts sneaking off to the back stairs. “Sorry to rush Charlotte but duty calls! See you tomorrow!”

And tomorrow can’t come soon enough!

#wonka 2023 #willy wonka #willy wonka x reader #wonka movie #wonka x reader #arthur slugworth #felix fickelgruber #gerald prodnose #timothee chalamet #calah lane

[itsgrimeytime]

Magnolia in May (Part Sixteen) || Rick Grimes (TWD) x Greene!f!reader Regency AU

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15...

Taglist: @loliakeoghan23 @belaballs @curlycarley @queenie32 @mgparker

rick grimes taglist: @golden-hoax

AVAILABLE ON AO3

Inspiration (in honor of Speak Now Taylor's Version): Enchanted by Taylor Swift.

Summary: Your town was small, not the smallest you knew, but anyone of high fortune was the gossip of the week. Predictably, Richard Grimes was a thing of whispers -rumors of a search for marriage among the grassy hills. You weren't one to buy into town gossip, but something about him... just seemed a little too intriguing.

TWS: drama, crying, blood, injury, death mention, dueling mention, gun violence mention, unconscious mention, head injury, and marriage mention.

[[A/N: This gif has been under my radar for a while girlies. Epitome of this Rick Grimes on god. Y'all wanted some of Rick's thoughts, I present to you this creatively framed chapter. Love this so much, ly guys <333. Thanks for reading!!! ]]

Because -if you were to believe your eyes- Mr. Grimes held to his chest a deadly still, what you assumed to be, Mr. Walsh.

"Oh my god," you spoke, rather displaced -voice shaking and hands just the same, "-Mr. Grimes."

He startled, blue eyes flickering to you -unexpected, frantically tracing your features in the candlelight, "Ms. Greene? What are you-"

"Oh my lord," your Father interrupted, gathered by your side -voice rather serious, "-Richard, is he...?"

"No," he pulled his eyes from you, following your father as he was ushered inside, "-no. He's just unconscious. I... I knocked 'im unconscious."

"Okay, okay," Father spoke rather seriously, directing him, "-place him on the couch, I need to check him over. Y/N?"

"Yes?"

"Tend to Mr. Grimes's wounds, will ya?" he continued, "-I believe I taught you such things, yes?"

"You have," you answered -confident, "-well."

"Good," Father responded, before turning to the man, who now stood awkwardly by the couch -blue eyes kept dashing to him, "-Mr. Grimes, sit in the loveseat and allow her to care for you, please. I'm afraid I cannot tend to you both."

"'Course," he hummed -slowly, leaning into the chair, "-I trust her with my life, sir."

Lord, you were going to kill him.

"Do not speak of such things lightly," you criticized, leaning into his space -you scanned over his face, lit by your own candle now. (One of the ones scattered along the room for the evening.)

Just as you saw before he had a rather surface cut along his cheekbone -light but still enough to clean up, he seemed to breathe out a moment before responding.

"I apologize," he spoke -tired and perhaps a little off, "-I know not to treat such things as inconsequential to you."

"Good," you raised an eyebrow, slightly confused -this cut was not what you had expected, "-these. These wounds are not that of a gun. Did you not... Did you not duel?"

"It was intended," he spoke, rather breathlessly -eyes only portraying guilt, like he was asking for forgiveness, "-but I would not raise my gun."

"What? At a duel?"

He laughed, sort of airy -your eyes drifted to the wound on his head you tended to, "I found it to be ungentlemanly."

"That's ridiculous," you responded, quick with frustration, with anger "-what if he was to shoot you? What if he was to kill you with a shot?"

"He didn't," he spoke -almost as if he was reassuring you, "-I'm rather fortunate to know the man well enough that he wouldn't shoot me instantly."

"Instantly?" you countered, leaning back to match his eyes, "-Was he...?"

"Eventually, he held the gun up," Mr. Grimes recalled -eyes pulled from you and a sort of gloom held over the blue, "-I suppose I should've been scared, but I was close enough to move such a weapon to my advantage."

"You... You knocked him unconscious."

"Yes," he responded, eyes back on your own, reverent, "-I... Ever since you visited my estate, I couldn't... I couldn't think straight, I couldn't allow such a tiny thing to lose you."

Oh, you realized, such a heavy look -heavy with emotion, was for you. For you. He viewed you as divine as if you were the only being in his world.

"Mr. Grimes..."

"And upon arriving all I could think about was you and the children... I-" he seemed to center himself, before setting his gaze resolutely on yours, "-I could not do it. I could not... I couldn't lose you all. You must understand-"

"Mr. Grimes-"

"I did it for you," he continued, "-I took your word as a guide. You must know what such affections mean."

"Mr. Grimes, please," you breathed out, a slow cautious breath -betrayed by the tears in your eyes and the smile that ran across your lips, "-we will discuss such things later, yes? When you aren't bleeding?"

"Why?" he hummed, teasingly, "-Is such a settin' not romantic?"

"Mr. Grimes-" you retorted with a smile pulling at your lips -anxiety silenced for a mere second. It didn't last long.

"Alright," your Father interrupted, standing to his feet (from where he kneeled by the couch), "-I thoroughly believe Mr. Walsh to be stable. Such a wound will surely not be easy to deal with, but not impossible."

"So," you stood to attention at your Father's tone, "-he is to be alright?"

"For tonight," he addressed the room really, "-in the morning I shall bring him to the clinic. Early enough that maybe gossip won't arise, hopefully."

"Thank you, Dr. Greene," Mr. Grimes responded, a deep sorrow of noise of genuine emotion.

"My dear," your Father suddenly turned to you -pointedly, "-would you head to bed? I shall tend to his wounds myself from here."

You couldn't help yourself, "And he's alright then? He's not going to-"

"Ms. Greene," he soothed, "-I'm alright. Please, on my part, get some rest."

You merely shifted for a moment, eyes darting between the pair rather quickly. You weren't sure if you should believe them, but something tugged at your eyes -exhaustion, and you knew your father to be a terrific doctor. If there were any hands you'd trust to care for him, it would be his.

"Okay," you breathed out, "-okay, just. If something were to happen-"

"I would wake you up," Father spoke, thoughtfully, "-I know my track record is not one of good prospects, but I wish you to know I would tell you if things didn't stand well."

"Alright," you echoed out, slow and careful, "-thank you, Father. And Mr. Grimes-"

"Stay alive," he interrupted, eyes still heavy on your frame, "-I know, I will. I await the morning anxiously."

Something in you relaxed at his words, your shoulders slumping and your eyes rather heavy. Nightgown flowing in the space, you wiped at your eyes -much like a toddler would. You supposed suddenly you looked rather improper, perhaps maybe even childish. He had seen you in your nightgown-

"Goodnight," you spoke, rather rushed, and gathered yourself up the stairs -quick movements to hide the crimson rushing up your cheeks.

You suppose you hadn't really thought about just what they would talk about. And just how much it involved you.

"Dr. Greene," Mr. Grimes's voice echoed through the halls -you startled in your step, "-if you don't mind, there's something I'd like to discuss."

Father laughed, a sort of chuckle, despite the heavy sort of tension in your room, "Eager, are you not?"

"The most I believe I've ever been," Mr. Grimes spoke, earnestly.

You sunk to your feet against the wall -almost on instinct, and your heart bloomed in your chest. With a range of emotions bubbling, you felt suddenly rather speechless; you knew you should go to bed. It was rather rude to eavesdrop, you could practically hear the Headmistress now.

As if on cue, a door scraped open. You stilled as if the movement would showcase your improper behavior; instead, you realized it to be your room. Well, you and your sisters' room, you should clarify. On instinct, your hand flew to your mouth -shushing the figure cloaked in a rather eerie darkness.

Beth, you realized, as her figure was revealed in the swipe of a candle, blonde curls rather untamed but still even upon waking she remained beautiful. You could hardly speak for yourself.

She understood quickly, slinking to the wall beside you -her body warmth welcome in the rather thin nightgown you wore in the night. Beth gathered close to your side, whispering light and airy -barely a hiss along her lips.

"What's hap-"

Another voice interrupted her, one from downstairs: your Father.

"My apologies, Mr. Grimes," he spoke, "-such wounds will not be kind to clean. But, I await such a conversation eagerly."

"Your daughter," he responded, a sort of breathless tone, "-you must be well aware of my intentions. Despite... Despite everything."

"What of Mrs. Lori?" Father echoed, tone drawn rather seriously, "-You are technically married, are you not?"

Beth stilled by your side, bright blue eyes widening with a sort of shock you hadn't seen in some time, "Should you be listening to such a conversation?"

"I already am," you responded pointedly -you were sure she understood such a dilemma, "-and I'm not leaving now."

"Not..." Mr. Grimes echoed, "-Not technically. Upon her first departure, I fully intended to send her such paperwork. She merely didn't sign it. Until..."

"Until?"

"The day of her return, she..." he continued, rather in disbelief, "-she spoke to Ms. Greene, and asked me of my intentions with herself. She seemed as though if I had any, she was going to convince me otherwise."

Father seemed to pause for a moment, digesting, "She signed them then, after... after meeting her."

"'She loves you, you know,'" Mr. Grimes seemed to quote, before laughing in a sort of disbelief, "-and she told me of their conversation. And I... I was suddenly confronted with a life without her."

Your breath halted in your chest, tears gathering behind your eyes. Beth noticed, and in the dark, she intertwined her fingers with yours -leaning her head upon your shoulder.

"I..." Father sighed, "-I apologize for the confusion, it was a call I should've disputed. I just, it seemed the best for the time."

"I understand, Dr. Greene," he echoed, tone rather a happy sort of infliction, "-it's all much forgiven. I could 'ave no such problem with her family, and if Judith... if she was in such a situation, I'm not sure I'd act any different."

"So," your Father sighed, heavily as if a burden was lifted, "-you truly love her."

"Beyond comprehension," Mr. Grimes said -wistfully.

You wiped at your eyes, as Beth carefully squeezed your hand -despite that you heard such a sniffle on her part. She stood strong for you.

"And you wish to, what?" Father echoed, it was a tone you only heard when he spoke of work -serious and direct, "-Court her? Ask for her hand?"

Your breath slinked through your teeth, held in your chest like a balloon ready to pop. A sort of tension slinking over yourself, a wonderous sort of emotion bubbling in your throat, but you held it back -remaining silent.

"Both, eventually," he responded, "-but I find my courting has been entirely lacking as it stands, so I'd like to start there. If you wish me to."

Father was silent, and your heartbeats felt so loud that your ribcage shook -so loud that it felt that such a noise would give you away. Beth stilled herself, her head laid upon your shoulder entirely static, and her breaths suddenly regarded as indefinite.

"You must speak to the Headmistress in the morning, but-" Father tilted, a sort of mixed tone shaking with his words -bittersweet, "-I believe your intentions are pure, and I'd be happy to support my daughter's happiness... Which you so obviously are a part of."

"Dr. Greene-"

Your heartbeat was so frequent in your chest then, as a sob slipped from your lips, covered with your hand and lips upturned into a smile. Beth was in the same sort of boat, grabbing your hand tightly, blue eyes matching yours with a sort of spark that made your heart leap in a way of excitement.

"He wishes to marry me, truly," you echoed -light.

"Mr. Grimes, you have my permission," he reiterated, a little choked up, "-fully. I know fully well you're capable of giving her the happiness she so desires."

"He wants to marry me," you repeated, as a giggle slipped through your lips, "-to court me and wed me."

"You must promise, though," Father continued, "-such issues should be solved promptly now. I wish no longer to see her cry, especially at your own hand."

"I promise," Mr. Grimes responded, so devoted it was as if he was reciting a prayer, "-I promise."

Hands over your heart, you let out a long breath -flushed cheeks and heart beating out of your chest. Beth matched your composure, her blue eyes watery, and mouth covered by her hand.

Within the next few seconds, she wrapped you into a hug -warm and soft, just as she was, "Congratulations, sister."

Congratulations, indeed.

Even the scream of Headmistress, early the next morning upon seeing Mr. Grimes lying on her couch without explanation, couldn't bring your brain from the high it had reached.

#rick grimes #its griming time #stuff n' thangs #rick grimes x reader #rick grimes x y/n #rick grimes x you #rick grimes x y/n fanfiction #twd #twd rick #rick grimes fanfiction #rick grimes oneshot #magnolia in may

[keyaho]

◣the gridiron.2◢

summary: told in flashbacks and the present the gridiron follows chanel dawson and joseph anoa'i's relationship from college football to the NFL and all that is in between.

content warnings⚠️: racism word count: 2.255

◤chapter two: silly rabbit◥

Her nails always matched her current mood; black, with gold detailing across her almond shaped nails was her current fixation. Power. Dominance. Control. Luxury. When she had gone to see her nail technician there was very little talk about the news that broke this morning. She saw the faces, heard the murmurs, but knew they wouldn’t step out of place and address her directly. They could whisper all they wanted. She was there to relax before meeting up with the girl who thought she could ruin an eleven year relationship. 

Chanel’s lawyer had already begun the paperwork necessary. Chanel was just going to meet with the girl as a formality, lay down what was going to happen and what the girl needed to expect to happen. 

Tapping her nails on the wheel of her car, Chanel sat in the parking lot of Chateau Rosé. It was an upscale restaurant that Chanel enjoyed because of the quality of the food and service. She also knew the girl would show for two reasons. One, she used Joseph’s phone to make the ‘date’. Two, it was an upscale restaurant and she knew the girl would assume he was paying for her food in an attempt to persuade her against whatever plan she had. 

That was not the case. 

She wanted to already be seated when the girl arrived but opted for the reverse. She wanted to see the look on the golddigger’s face when she slid into their private booth. Such a sight was already making her tingle in anticipation. 

“Yes, Mrs. Anoa’i, your table is ready and your guests have already arrived.” 

“Wonderful. Have the wine menu sent to my table please.” 

“Of course, Mrs. Anoa’i.” 

The hostess greeted her warmly when she first entered. As she walked among the other patrons they flirted their eyes over her fitted jeans and white shirt. The black blazer and matching stilettos gave an air of indifference and simplicity. The ten carat emerald cut yellow diamond on her finger flashed as her hand moved up to tuck her black curls from her face. 

As they approached the table, Chanel was surprised to see an elderly woman waiting as well. Nevertheless, she wasn’t going to let any of that deter her. Nor was she going to let this girl think she had control because of it. 

“Good morning ladies,’ she said brightly as she slid into the booth across from them. 

She watched their faces fall as they quickly glanced at each other. The file she had on the table suddenly slid away, but Chanel’s hand stopped it. 

“I assume this is for my husband?” 

Destiny Crawford. Dark hair, bright blue eyes, and tan was the type of woman that thought the world owed her and she should be given what she wanted when she wanted it. Chanel was about to snatch her back down to reality. 

“Um, ye-yes it is. Where is he?” 

She had the nerve to look around the restaurant. 

“He won’t be joining us. As a matter of fact, your contact with him ends today Ms. Crawford.” 

Snooty, the girl’s mother spoke up. “She is pregnant with his child. He should be here.” 

“It’s funny you mention that. How far along are you exactly?” 

The who and what didn’t really matter to Chanel. She didn’t care about that. Her job right now was to poke holes in this story for the sake of their finances. To a lot of people Chanel came off as money hungry and a gold digger. She let them believe that. It was energy wasted trying to convince them otherwise. If anything, Chanel’s position in finance made her think about money and its meaning more than its value to be spent. 

Pulling the file in her direction she opened it to see photos of text messages, emails, and a doctor's report stating she was about three weeks pregnant. Hm. That didn’t quite line up with the timeline Joseph had explained to her. One of them was lying. 

“It’s all right there.” 

Thirsty, Destiny suddenly took a long sip of her drink. Chanel glanced at the glass. It seemed to be orange juice, but the pensive look on her mother’s face made her think it was something a little extra. She’d ask for a copy of the receipt later. 

“I’m glad you brought these. I’m waiting on Instagram and Twitter to send me copies of his as well. Just for further comparison.” She paused while flipping through the pages. “I can check his emails later tonight.” 

Destiny scowled as she set her glass down. “You don’t need to do that. It’s all right there in black and white for you to see! I’m pregnant with his baby.” 

“Be that as it may, I don’t care who the father is, honestly. This isn’t some meal ticket to a six figure pay-out each month. If this is his child there are some stipulations to how child support will work. I’m here to inform you of those before my lawyer reaches out to you. I suggest you get one.” 

Destiny’s mother sucked her teeth. “He has to help take care of the baby. Physically and financially.” 

Chanel smiled as the waitress arrived. Their orders were taken upon Chanel’s insistence and as the waitress left so did Chanel’s patience. 

“Here’s the deal and you have no choice but to take it; Joseph will have joint custody and visitation whenever his schedule permits it. He can and will take the child on vacation with us out of the country if we decide to do so. You will get no more than two thousand dollars a month in child support. Insurance will be covered by us as well as medical expenses. After having two of his children and running the finances, that is more than enough, especially for a newborn that can’t do anything but shit and eat.” 

Chanel knew she was being harsh. However, this girl had friends who would throw her a lavish baby shower and the first few month’s supply of diapers, clothes, and baby necessities would be given as gifts. Plus, as grandmother, Chanel knew she would be spending money as well. 

Destiny looked at her mother with a hard gaze. There was an unspoken conversation before she spoke up again. 

“You can’t determine that. The courts can. We will file for more money than that. His support payment will reflect his income.” 

“I control the finances of the home. The multiple investments, credit cards, bank accounts...all that runs through me. If that child is his, and you better hope so because the lawsuits coming your way will have you in debt in the grave, we will provide for the child because of joint custody. Not you. You are not my child. You are not his child. You’re going to work or you can sit at home and figure out how to live off those two stacks.”

“I don’t know who raised you this way, but I’m sure those black babies aren’t even his! You hooked him in with a damn lie yourself just to get his money!.” 

Destiny’s face paled at her mother’s harsh words. 

“If anyone is the whore at this table it’s you!” 

It was one thing to speak about herself or Joseph. It was a deep can of shit one opened when they spoke to Chanel's children.

“Excuse me?” 

“She didn’t-’ Destiny stuttered. “Mom!” 

“Oh she meant it. Let me tell you something, I’m the whore that will be taking care of your grandchild when he’s on the road. Joseph is a damn good father, but he is shit at child rearing. I will be the point of contact whether you want me to be or not. I am also the woman that if I tell him to forget this child exists he will, even if it is his. He will sign over his parental rights just to make me happy and in the end you won’t get a damn thing from him.” 

She would never ask him to do that, but putting that fear in Destiny and her mother made her inwardly grin. She drummed her black nails on the table. Power. 

“If you ever talk about our children like that again, Mrs. Crawford I will make sure your daughter is sucking dick on a street corner. I will also come at you with a lawsuit for even attempting to coerce her into entrapment with my husband.” 

“I just want him to provide for the baby. We had sex, you can use all of this in the divorce case, right?” 

It was like bells had rung from the sistine chapel. 

“I’m not divorcing my husband over some silly little girl and the garbanzo bean in her stomach. I don’t plan on divorcing him any time soon.” She paused. “I hope you didn't. I'd leave him and he’d come running to you?” 

Destiny looked down. 

“Oh he fucked with a dumb ass for real,” Chanel sighed. “You know, I don’t think I’m mad he did what he did. I’m mad he insulted my intelligence by fucking you.” 

Food came swiftly and so did the tab. It was clear they had plans to make Joseph pay for it because when they realized it was separate checks, and theirs was lengthy, Destiny slumped in her seat. Chanel grabbed it for a moment, snapped a picture, and passed it back. 

“You invited us to lunch, you should at least pay!” The mother snapped. Her anger clearly still bubbling under her horribly tanned skin. 

“I would have. Had I not seen that she ordered an alcoholic beverage and she’s three weeks pregnant. Clear your schedule tomorrow. You’re going to see my OBGYN for a pregnancy test.” 

Using cash, Chanel paid her bill and slipped her shades back on. “It was nice meeting you ladies. Meet me tomorrow at nine. I will send you the address.” 

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Chanel was home a few hours later with bags from Sephora, Carters, Addias, and other familiar stores strewn across the bed. When Joseph came in from the gym he peeked into a few of them; slightly grinning at some of the lace and frilly bras and panties. He took a shower before he sought her out. Going down the hall he realized the kids were out. When he found his wife she was sitting in her office by her desk. He knocked twice but she didn’t look up from what she was working on.

“Are you going to ignore me?” He said after standing there for another three minutes. Folding his arms over his chest, he waited for her to respond. “Chanel.” 

“I have a feeling she isn’t pregnant. I’m taking her to my doctor tomorrow. Who says they are three weeks pregnant and then drinks alcohol?” 

“How do you know?” 

“I met with her and her mother today. They were expecting you because I used your phone to set up the meeting.” 

Closing the file she had been working on, Chanel stood up and started to put away the various folders on her desk. Each color coded with a purpose. She had a black one specifically for Destiny. He reached up and scratched the back of his head.

“You think that was a good idea?” 

Brown eyes startled him as they snapped up to stare holes in his face. “Good ideas are not something you need to talk to me about.” 

“Where are the kids?” He didn’t want to argue about this tonight so he conceded. 

Chanel grabbed both phones before she passed Joseph and headed towards their bedroom. “My sister was in town. She wanted to spend a few days with them before she left for New England Sunday. She picked them up from school. I thought it was best if they weren’t in town right now.” 

“Wait, where did she take them?”

Chanel pulled up the text on her phone after selecting the text thread she had with Audre. “She took them to the beach.” 

“So it’s just us for the next four days?” He stepped up close behind his wife. 

“Yep.” 

He couldn’t remember the last time they had uninterrupted alone time. After Kelani was born they always took family trips. It was hard getting alone time when the kids were constantly in and out of their room. 

Stopping by the bed she placed the bags for the kids on the floor while dumping the black and white Sephora bag. Most of that was replacement for lipsticks, foundations, and other items she was running low on. It was still a hefty price tag because Pat Mcgrath had some new items she grabbed at the last minute. 

He was careful when he reached to wrap his arms around his wife’s waist. He wasn’t sure what she was feeling and that was always the hardest to handle. He didn’t know exactly how angry she was. He was about to bend down to rest his head on her shoulder when she peeled his arms away. Her hand flattened against his chest to push him away. He could see the pain she tried to hide in her eyes and a piece of his heart broke. Again. 

He fucked up. 

“Baby,’ 

“Sleep in the guest room. I ordered from Waiter because I didn’t want to cook. It should be here in about thirty minutes.” 

“We made a promise not to go to bed angry.” 

Raking her hands through her hair, Chanel then rubbed her arms. 

“I’m not angry. I’m disappointed.” 

#roman reigns x black reader #roman reigns x black!reader #roman reigns x oc #roman reigns #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns fanfic

[burninlovebutler]

Masterlist🦋💫

~🚧i know this is messy rn pls ignore it is under construction 🚧~

-> Welcome to my Blog Introduction

ao3 - BurninLove

Wattpad - FaultInMyCodes

-> Worship (Secret Santa)* - Possessive-Obsessive!Austin x Fem!Reader

-> Candy Hearts ♡ (vday)* - Sub!Austin x DomFem!Reader

-> Camp Counselors - Pt. 1 + Pt. 2 - Austin x Fem!reader

-> Talkshow Host!Austin Headcanons

Bikeriders Asshole!Austin x Makeup Artist!Reader

-> Pt. 1 *

-> Pt. 2*

-> Pt. 3*

-> Pt. 4.1 *

**last updated; 04.30.23**

-> Pt. 4.2 [coming soon]

-> Pt. 5 [coming soon]

Just an Intern Spotify Playlist ⛓️🖤

𝙸 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚣𝚣𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘

Themes: friends to lovers, SLOW burn, ANGST, eventual smut, Austin x fem!oc, midsize oc, sad boi/addict aus, fluffy, semi-AU (indie actor austin)

Summary/Intro: Best friends since college, Austin and Elsie are each other's safety nets. Austin has secrets only Elsie knows, and Elsie has too many closet skeletons for Austin to count.

Austin battles internal demons since the death of his father, which caused a switch to flip that would change him forever. His father’s death happened 4 years ago but it still haunts him – in his mind and in little pills.

Elsie has a weakness for wicked, vile, abusive men. Her boyfriend, Nox, is the latest culprit. And Austin can’t fucking stand him.  

Between trying to rescue each other and struggling to save themselves, is there something lying underneath?

18+ as this contains both smut & mature sensitive topics. Please check TWs for each chapter. General overarching warnings at the bottom of this post.

Since this is slow burn-ish so some themes/smut do not show up until later

Chapters containing smut that have * by their name

Forever Winter Spotify Playlist ❄️💞

FW Chapters:

01 - Has He Texted You?

02 - Dependency

03 - The Close Call Clause

04 - Not The First Time

05 - Fix-It Pancakes

06 - Cold Showers

07 - Giving In

08 - Of Course I Do

09 - Thanksgiving Pt. 1

10 - Thanksgiving Pt. 2

11 - Winter Break

12 - Truth or Dare

13 - Dressing Room Games

14 - Hot or Cold? *

15 - No Touching **

16 - When The Night Ends

17 - Do Not Disturb

18 - Nothing There

19 - Not Even For A Second

20 - I Know You’re Lying

21 - Blue M&Ms

22 - Christmas - Pt. 1 - (ft. The Grinch)

23 - Christmas - Pt. 2 - Comeback Special**

24 - Ski Slopes**

25 - New Years Eve (Pt. 1) - Til You Come Back for More*

26 - New Years (Pt. 2) - Say It Again**

27 - The First Close Call

28 - Temporary Fix*

29 - Be My Mistake*

30 - It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)

31 - Mr. Percocet

32 - [TBA - coming soon]

**last updated 05.31.23**

[more chapters to be announced lol]

Author’s Notes:

Each chapter will contain a related song suggestion and matching lyrics. I highly recommend listening to each song as they beautifully mesh with the themes of each individual chapter.

-

Austin/Elvis yanked me from fanfic retirement so when I started writing FW, I fell in love with the characters & the storyline. I’m posting here so that maybe others can fall in love with them too.

I haven’t written in a while so sorry if it’s a little rusty, especially in the first couple chapters.

This post ended up being really long so sorry if it was a lot, thank you if you made it this far.

I hope you love it, please let me know if you do.

#austin butler #austin butler elvis #elvis #elvis movie #elvis film #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fanfic #elvis fanfic #elvis the pelvis #elvis presley #fanfic #friends to lovers #austin butler x oc #austin butler smut #baz lurhman #baz luhrmann elvis #friends to lovers trope #long reads #long fanfic #austin butler x fem!reader #austin butler x fem!oc #austin butler imagines #austin!elvis smut #austin!elvis fic #austin!elvis #ao3 writer #ao3fic #forever winter fic #forever winter series #just an intern

[imagines-for-the-fangirls-soul]

Return to Me - Chapter Twenty-Five and a Half

Chapter Twenty-Five and a Half: Drunk in Love

A/N: Oh hi! I was scrolling through my master doc of Return to Me and found this buried within it. So voila, here is my second add on chapter. Just more cuteness before the reader and Poe finally get together. (You don't have to read the whole story to read this chapter, but of course, I'd encourage you to, nonetheless!)

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader Word Count: 5.3k Synopsis: After a successful mission, Poe and the reader drink a little too heavily in celebration, and end up sharing a bed together.

Tags: @xeniarocks, @too-many-baes, @idocarealot, @treblebeth, @treestarrrrrrrr, @thescarletknight2014, @cspr-2, @ibikus, @mellow-f1, @mrsdaamneron, @trustme3-13, @ella-solei, @minelskede, @gleigh42, @givemethatgold, @and-claudia, @constantdisgrace, @wordsinwinters, @readingvogueonprivetdrive, @trshbb, @kaitlynw011, @ihave2muchtimeonmyhands, @fairytalesforever, @thanos-jeep, @mixedfandxms,

@pastelbunny1501, @emotionalcal, @danicalifxrnia, @getyourselfaunicorn, @spider-starry, @roserrys, @blushingwueen, @sam-wilsonnn , @commondazy, @throughparisallthroughrome, @ms-dont-care , @bubblegumcat229 , @barnesdameron , @i-hope-the-roof-flies-off , @deliriousgeek , @elisearts, @abzidabzy @lxntsxv

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

"Bottoms up!” Snap cheers, lifting his bottle to Poe’s. “To our fearless commander.”

Poe smiles at his friend and drinks along with him. All of Black Squadron is around him, and he smiles at each of them in turn, too.

He cannot remember the last time they have had reason to celebrate.

Just an hour ago, they had landed on the base and were greeted by a group of happy Resistance members. Something Poe saw very rarely.

The Resistance had gained intelligence about a week back that there was a First Order base on Corellia. In the debriefing they received, they were also informed that it was mostly abandoned, but fully functional. If they could gain access to the base, there was no telling how much information they could gather for the Resistance. 

And Black Squadron was elected to be at the front of this plan. 

The base wasn’t completely abandoned, so they were in charge of taking down any resistance, so that the ground team could do their thing. It had been a huge success: no casualties on their end, no unexpected hiccups; just a clean mission. 

Which Poe had found himself caring more and more about.  

Since befriending and working closely with you, Poe began to understand all the intricacies that went into their missions. To Poe, an unexpected turn in a mission was just a burst of excitement, but on the logistical side, the side you worked on, it meant more debriefings, more meetings to attain supplies, and data work that seemed to constantly pile up. 

He won’t deny that he is smug, knowing that he’ll get to tell you how well he did. It is only at this thought, that he realizes you aren’t in the crowd of the party. He doesn’t think you were in the crowd that greeted Black Squadron upon their entry either. 

Breaking away from his group, he takes a scouring glance around the packed room. He is certain if you were here, he would have spotted you by now. 

“Poe, do a shot with us!” Jess yells. Poe looks back at his friends with a smile. 

“I will in a little while,” he says, rejoining the group, just to reach around Snap and grab another bottle of beer, one to match his own. “I’ll be back in a few. Then we’ll do those shots.” He gives them a winning smile and lifts his beer, causing a loud cheer from his friends. 

The hallway is in stark contrast to the warm, loud party inside. It seems nearly everyone is inside, or in their own quarters. He briefly considers checking your own quarters, but his gut guides him to the Control Center instead. 

Sure enough, when he walks in, he sees you sitting near the control panel, data pad in hand, and head down. He nods to a few passing crew members as he makes his way towards you. He makes sure to keep both bottles of beer hidden inside his jacket.  

“How did I know I’d find you in here?” he says lowly, sliding into the seat next to you. You gasp softly as you look up, clearly surprised by his appearance. 

“What are you doing here?” you ask, “I thought you’d be celebrating.” 

“I was,” he says, and quickly flashes the bottles secreted in his jacket. You open your mouth in surprise, and he laughs. 

“I’m not sure those are allowed in the control room.” 

“Oh, I’m sure they’re not. So why don’t you come celebrate with the rest of us? That way no beer is where it shouldn’t be,” he says. You consider him for a moment but shake your head. 

“I can--” 

“Don’t say you have work to do, because this was a clean mission, I made sure of it,” he says, interrupting you with a grin. You raise an eyebrow at him, a smile etching it’s way across your face. Poe fights the feeling that the look elicits from him. 

“Are you saying you made sure this mission went perfectly, so that we could drink together?” you ask. Poe only shrugs in response, making you laugh.

“Maybe, so why don’t you indulge me?” He flashes the beer once more. You look around the room and Poe follows your gaze. Everyone seems to be wrapping up for the day. Of course, there is an evening crew that makes sure the base stays operational through the night, who are currently setting up, but pretty much everyone else has finished. 

“Alright,” you say with a sigh. 

“Alright?” Poe asks, grinning. 

“Yes,” you say, shutting down the pad in front of you. You stand up and smooth the skirt of your outfit. Poe knows he is staring up at you, but can’t seem to stop. He didn’t think it would be so simple to convince you. “Come on,” you say, rolling your eyes at him. 

“Yes ma’am,” he says, standing immediately. The actions brings the two of you chest to chest. Poe looks into your eyes, peering into his own. He is not sure if he has ever been this close to you. There are flecks of color in your eyes he knows he hasn’t seen before, and he is about to lean in closer to detail them, when you move. 

You clear your throat and back away from him, the first to come to your senses. 

“Beer, please,” you say, holding out your hand. Poe laughs gently and passes it over.  

He leads the way towards the party, and by the time you get there, your beer is gone. He looks at you questioningly, and a little impressed. You just smile at him. 

“It’s been a long couple of days.”  

He smiles back at you, taking in the signs of stress on your face: the circles under your eyes that are beginning to appear, your much more casual hair and makeup, still extravagant to many of the people on base, but simpler than usual. He also sees the nerves on your face, the ones that are there when you’re proposing new plans for the Resistance, or any time that you are confronted with something new or scary, which seemed to happen a lot around Poe. 

“Well, let’s see if we can combat that,” he says, and finishes his drink in one swallow. You smile back at him gratefully and enter the room. 

As promised, when Poe walks in, Jess has shots ready for him and the rest of Black Squadron. He leads you over to the table they have gathered around and immediately pours another shot. 

“You game?” he asks. In answer you reach for the small glass and hold it up to his.  

“Cheers?” you ask. He repeats your sentiment and together, you, Poe, and Black Squadron all clink glasses and swallow the burning liquor.  

You are laughing. Poe isn’t sure what is so funny, or when you even started laughing, but you are laughing, nonetheless. And have been for quite some time, he thinks. He comes back over to you, this time with glasses full of water, and starts laughing too. 

“You are so drunk,” he says, placing the glass carefully in your hand. You just nod as you take a heavy drink of the water. “What were you laughing about?” he asks. 

“Nothing,” you say with a sigh, leaning back in your seat. The party around you has mostly died off, but there are still a few stragglers, finishing their last drinks. “I just realized that I am dead.” 

“What?” Poe asks. 

“Nové is gonna kill me,” you say, looking at him. 

“Why?” 

“She’s got an exam tomorrow and I promised I would let her have the room tonight. I was supposed to catch a transport to Naboo to give her some peace and quiet.” You appear resigned to your fate, but a moment later, you let out a “Fuck!” Poe chuckles to himself at the cute, frustrated expression on your face. “I guess I could see if there are any pods left—” 

“Just stay with me tonight.” 

“What?” you ask, growing suddenly serious. “I can’t do that.” 

“Sure you can. Like you said, Nové will kill you and I obviously can’t let that happen. And no one is going to be flying across the galaxy tonight, especially not someone as drunk as you—” 

“I don’t fly anyway, I’m a passenger,” you say, slurring your words just slightly. 

“Regardless, you’re just going to stay with me tonight, alright?”  

“Fine,” you say. He can tell you are surprised by your own agreement because your eyes widen. You reach out and grab his arm, pulling him in close. He is momentarily stunned, for a moment thinking you are pulling him in for something else. But instead, you say, “What if I throw up?” 

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone has thrown up in my room,” he says simply. And for some reason it makes you pull back.  

Physically, yes, you have retreated from him, but there is also a small part of you that seems to become more reserved at his words. “I do it all the time,” he adds quickly. 

“Of course,” you say with a gentle smile. “Thank you. I promise, I’ll be out before you know it and your couch won’t look any different.” 

Poe raises his eyebrow at you as you both stand, knowing full well there is no way he is letting you sleep on his uncomfortable couch. He leads the way out of the room, nodding his goodbye to a few people. 

When he lets you into his quarters, the change is immediate. He knows you have been in here before, but only in passing. As he shuts the door behind you, he takes in how the dim lighting highlights your face. 

He knows what the difference is. You have never been here for longer than 2 minutes. Never with the door shut behind you. And never, ever at night. But now that you are . . .

You turn to look at him, raw emotion sketched on your face. He knows you can feel the change too. 

“Your room is a lot bigger than mine,” you blurt out, as if it was the only thought you have besides how alone the two of you are. He watches as an embarrassed blush reaches across your cheeks. 

“Yeah, well I’m not a commander for nothing,” he says with a grin, “I needed something to sweeten the pot.” You snort and he sees some of the tension retreat from your shoulders.  

“Want another glass of water?” he asks. 

“Please.” As he goes to get it for you, you take another surveying glance of his quarters before moving over to the couch. You run your hands over the back of it and Poe cannot help that he tracks the motion intensely.

“This will be perfect,” you say. 

“You’re funny, you know that?” Poe says, walking towards you and handing you the glass.  

“What?” 

“You’re sleeping in my bed,” he says. Halfway through a drink, you nearly choke on the water. 

“No,” you say firmly. 

“Yes.” 

“No, Poe, I’m already putting you out, the couch will be fine.” 

“You’re my guest, you’ll take the bed.” 

“No,” you say, and set the glass down. 

“Don’t argue with me.” 

“I’ll argue with you all I want, especially about ridiculous things,” you say, taking a step closer to him. He recognizes the look on your face, the one you usually save for fights in your work. But he isn’t going to back down, either. 

“You’re the one being ridiculous, there’s a perfectly good bed in there,” he says, motioning towards the door to his bedroom. 

“And I won’t deprive you of it,” you say, waving your hand that way as well. 

“You don’t want to sleep in my bed?” 

“No, I want you to sleep in your bed,” you say. 

“Well, I want you to sleep in my bed.” 

“You need to sleep in your own bed,” you argue.  

“So we agree, we need to sleep in the bed? Got it.” And before you can say anything else, Poe lifts you in his arms, bridal style, and carries you to his bedroom. He kicks open the door and practically flings you onto the bed. 

“We’ll both sleep in the bed, then,” he says, and flops down on the other side. The movement makes you bounce and it shakes whatever shock you feel at being forced in here. Instead, you are laughing again. Poe isn’t far behind, losing himself in a fit of giggles until the two of you are breathless in bed.  

Poe is having a hard time remembering the last time that has happened with someone without having sex. 

“You’re stubborn, you know that?” he says, rolling onto his side to look at you.  You do the same.

“I do. But so are you.” 

“I guess I can’t argue with you on that point.” 

“I’m sure you’d find a way,” you say with a smile. “Poe, I really can’t sleep in your bed.” 

“Why not?”  

“Because you’re—and I’m—and we’re . . .” You are gesturing with your hands and Poe takes one in his. You stop stammering and look at his face, the tussled hair. 

“We’re what?” he asks, his hand playing with your own.  

“We’re not this.” 

“What is this?” he asks. You start to speak, but then stop. He can see you are searching for an answer and finds that he doesn’t have one, either. You pull your hand away and lay on your back, looking up at the ceiling. 

“I promise not to use any of my charm on you,” he says, making you turn your head. “At least, not any more than usual.” You chuckle. “Or, I can go to the couch.” 

You study him for a long moment. He can see you examine every angle of his face, looking for what, he’s not sure. When you answer, Poe is surprised he held his breath for that long. 

“I wouldn’t want to put you out,” you say slowly. 

“You’re so considerate, Y/N,” he says, taking your hand again beseechingly. You roll your eyes and shake him off, but you are still laughing, even if you are also calling him an idiot. 

“Let me grab you something more comfortable to sleep in,” he says, and gets up from the bed. 

“What?” 

“Well, you can’t expect to wear that dress to bed? I mean, I figure you probably sleep in elaborate pieces of nightwear but that feels a little excessive.” You cock your eyebrow at him once more. 

“Do you often think about what I wear to sleep, Poe?” you ask. Poe feels color rush to his cheeks and smiles back. He stutters over a response for a few moments before turning away from you. You chuckle.  

He brings you a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and motions towards his bathroom. “You can get changed in there.” 

“Thank you.” 

As you change, Poe quickly strips out of his jumpsuit, into an outfit nearly similar to the one he gave you. He lays back onto the bed when you come back out. 

He sees your eyes trail over him, taking in the change of clothes. He isn’t sure he imagines it when your eyes linger in a few places.  

“Hey,” he says, smiling at you. 

“Hey.” 

“Those comfortable enough?” 

“They are, thank you,” you say. Poe spares a moment to take you in. To understand the feelings he’s having at seeing you wear his clothes. They probably smell like you, and something primal in him is satisfied by knowing that the smell will mark you now, too. 

“You gonna get into bed, or do I have to toss you onto it again?” he asks. You let out a jut of laughter and reluctantly crawl onto the bed next to him. While he is laying down, your back is rigid against the pillows. 

“Y/N,” he says softly, “You’re safe here, I promise. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.” 

“I know you won’t,” you say, just as soft. 

“Would it make you feel better if I laid the other way?” he asks, nodding to the foot of the bed. Before you can answer, he flips his position, so his feet are next to you.  

“You didn’t have to--” He grabs hold of your ankle and pulls you down the bed until you are laying down, too.  

“There,” he says, “Now we can both get comfortable.” 

“I didn’t realize you were such a manhandler.” He laughs quietly. 

“Just though I’d get you in here eventually, so figured I’d speed up the process,” he says. You lift your head up and he adds quickly, “I mean tonight, I figured I’d get you in here.” 

“Ah.” 

“Well, goodnight then,” he says stiffly. He sits up to go turn off the lights, but you grab hold of his arm. 

“Maybe, leave the lights on for a little while?” you ask. He can see the uncertainty still in your eyes. 

“I can go sleep on the couch,” he says softly.  

“It’s not that,” you say, and take in a deep breath, “I’m just not tired yet.” 

“I find that hard to believe given how much you drank tonight,” he says. You grin at him and shake your head.  

“I know, but I’m really not. Maybe we can just talk?” you ask. 

“Sure,” he says, and lays back down. “What do you want to talk about?” He stops himself before he can add an affectionate “baby.” He is surprised the urge even arises in him. 

“I don’t know, tell me a story.” 

“Like a fairytale?” he asks with a laugh. 

“No,” you say, laughing along, “Something about you.” 

“Something about me,” he repeats. 

“Yes.” 

“Well,” he says, “How about the first time I ever flew?”

He recounts for you his parents differing opinions on him becoming a pilot. He describes the feeling of sitting in a cockpit for the first time, even if he was also sitting in his mother’s lap the entire time. He describes the feel of the controls in his hands, again, even though his mother was truly in control. And he tells you about how proud both of his parents were when he touched back down. 

When he is done with the story, there is a smile on his face. You don’t say anything for a while, but when you do, you sit up. 

“Poe, were your parents in love?” you ask. He sits up, too, and takes in the look on your face. It’s unreadable, but he knows that you’re upset about something. 

“What?” he asks. 

“Were your parents in love?” you ask again. He wraps his arms around his knees and thinks for a moment.  

“Yeah, they were.” 

“Hmm,” you say and lay back on his favorite pillow. 

“Were yours?” he asks. 

“What?” 

“Your parents,” Poe says, when your eyes lock on his. “Were they in love?"

“I don’t know. I wanted to think that they were, when I was a kid. I think they might have been once, but now I don’t think they care.” You scoff. 

“What?” 

“Just saying it sounds so pathetic. That they would put anything above each other. I used to think they were so in love, and wanted that for myself, but I don’t want a relationship that means less to me than politics or getting ahead, you know?” 

“I do.” 

“If and when I ever settle down, it will not be like that.”  

“What will it be like?” he asks. When you don’t answer he nudges you slightly. 

“I don’t know,” you say. “Less like my parents, more like yours, maybe.”  

“Well, my Dad will be thrilled to hear that,” he says, and lays down, his head parallel with your own. He looks at your face. If you give any indication that this isn’t alright, he’ll go back to the foot of the bed. But you don’t. Instead, you roll onto your side, facing him. Your eyes look heavy with sleep, something he didn’t know he would find so adorable. 

“Are you ready to turn the lights off yet?” 

“Sure, Poe,” you say. The way you say his name, your voice thick sleep, makes certain parts of him tighten. He gets up and quickly turns off the lights.  

“We should probably get under the covers,” he says. 

“Oh if we do that, I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself,” you say. He smiles as he climbs back on the bed, facing you in the dark. He can only see the outline of your face, and the whites of your eyes. 

“What would you need to control?” he asks. 

“Forget I said it,” you say, trying to turn away from him as you run a hand through your hair. 

“I’m not sure I want to,” he says, taking your arm and pulling you just an inch closer. You let out a breathy laugh, facing him once more. 

“I’m just drunk,” you whisper, “Ignore what I say.” 

“I like drunk Y/N.” 

“Yeah?” you ask with a laugh. 

“Yeah. It’s fun to see you let your guard down. And then let it down even more with every shot you take.” You laugh harder and the motion brings you another inch closer. 

“Glad I can entertain.” 

“But I like sober Y/N, too,” he says gently. He is holding your hand, but he has no memory of when he took it. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. Maybe a little too much,” he says. Your hand in his is shaking gently. “Except when she gets on me about messy missions.”  

“Oh yeah, that’s the worst.”

You both laugh for a moment, but then fall quiet. For so long that Poe thinks maybe you have fallen asleep, but then you say softly, “Why did you bring me here?”  

“You didn’t have anywhere to stay,” he says, “Why wouldn’t I?” 

“There wasn’t another lady you had promised this side of the bed to?” you ask.  

“No, no one else.” 

“Hmm, I find that a little hard to believe.” 

“Why?” 

“You’re not known for being a prude,” you say delicately. He laughs to himself. He won’t deny that he has enjoyed the company of lots of women, and he knows that reputation follows him. 

“No, I’m not. Does that bother you?” 

“Why would it?” 

“Because it does, to others,” he says. He hopes you can hear the ache in his voice. He hasn’t had this conversation with anyone before, but he finds it playing over in his head a lot since he’s gotten to know you. 

“I don’t mind that you’re a slut,” you say with a smile. He laughs. “I know who you are, Poe. I’m not afraid of that.” 

“Good,” he says. Your eyes are on him, and the pressure is almost too intense. “I’m drunk, Y/N, so please forget that I ask this tomorrow morning.” 

“Okay?” you say a bit nervously. 

“You . . . I bring a lot of girls here . . . You never . . .” He cannot seem to find the right words, or even the courage to say them if he could. 

“Are you asking me if I’ve ever thought about being one of those girls?” 

“I forget that you’re so smart,” he says in a breath, making you laugh. “But yes, more or less.” 

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” you say, rolling onto your back.  

“And?” he asks. 

“And,” you say. Poe focuses on the outline of your face. You are silent for too long, and when he thinks you won’t say anything else, he gathers a pillow under his head.  

“And I think we’d be good together,” you whisper. Poe has to strain to hear you, but he knows he heard you correctly. 

“We’d be great together,” he corrects. You smile in the dark, and that is the thought that Poe focuses on as he closes his eyes. 

When you wake up, the room is still dark. At least, you think so, because you have not dared to open your eyes yet.

When you began to stir from sleep, there were a few sensations you noted in this order: 1. There were strong arms wrapped around you. 2. Your own hands were tangled up in curly hair. And 3. You were insanely hungover, if the splitting headache was any indication.

You know what you will find when you open your eyes, and maybe that’s why you’ve kept them closed for so long.

Sometime in the night, you and Poe made your way into each other’s arms. And not just that, under the covers as well. You next realize that your legs are tangled together, too. The arrangement is a lot cozier than you would have ever expected.

You finally get the courage to open your eyes, and instantly regret it. Only a little bit of light creeps through the window, but it’s enough to make you wince and take cover deeper into Poe’s arms. He stirs slightly, tucking you in tighter as he hums.

You are not sure you have ever been this comfortable, and the thought scares you. You test how strong his hold on you is, trying gently to pull yourself from his grip. He is breathing softly, but at your movement, he grunts.

“What are you doing?” he mumbles, his voice thick with sleep. He opens his eyes slowly and takes you in for a long minute. "Good morning," he says with a grin that has your stomach flipping. You see him take in the position you are in, but he doesn't change a thing.

"Morning," you say in a breath. You gently untangled your hand from his hair, and could almost swear that Poe hums his discontent, just a little.

"What time is it?" he asks, looking around his shoulder. His hold on you is still firm.

"Early, I would guess."

"Yeah. How did you sleep?" he asks, looking back at you.

"Good. I think. Some bits that I'm not remembering, though."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Well, this, for example," you say, motioning between your two bodies.

"Probably just the hangover," he says, closing his eyes again as he snuggles into his pillow. He pulls you in just a little closer, his hand rubbing small circles on your back.

"Poe," you say quietly.

"Hmm?"

"How did we end up like this?"

"Must have happened in our sleep."

"Well, how did you sleep?" you ask. He must realize that you aren't giving up, so he opens his eyes and lifts his head a little. He smiles down at you.

"I slept great."

"Really?"

"Really," he says.

"Why don't you seem as hungover as I am?" you ask. He laughs softly.

"Well, Y/N, I didn't drink as much as you."

"Even so, it's still early. How can you even be smiling at an hour like this?" you grumble, and to your own surprise, you drop your head into the crook of his arm. Poe laughs again and the sounds rumbles through his chest.

"I grew up on a farm, so I've always been an early riser. Plus, it's always a good morning when you wake up next to a beautiful woman." 

“Have lot of experience with that, do you?” you ask, looking back up at him. 

“Not to your caliber,” he says, tucking a stray hair out of your face. "How are you feeling, though?"

"My head is pounding and I think I'll puke if I move." Poe laughs and tucks you in tighter, your nose a fraction from his neck.

"Well then, we'll have to keep you here until those symptoms reside," he says. You laugh against his skin and you know you aren't imagining the slight twitch he makes towards your body.

"I think I've already overstayed my welcome," you say, and begrudgingly pull yourself from his warm embrace. You are still not ready to sit up, but there is now a more acceptable distance between the two of you.

"You haven't," he says, shaking his head. "Can I make you breakfast? I have the perfect hangover recipe."

"No, the thought of food right now is sickening."

"Well, you're welcome to just stay here until you feel better."

"You don't want me to do that," you say simply, looking away from him.

"But I do." He sits up and looks down at you, so you can't avoid his gaze. "Really." You smile back at him, a soft blush growing on your cheeks.

"I should really go check on Nové, make sure she actually got some sleep last night," you say, sitting up as you do. The world spins for a moment, but Poe's hand on your back helps settle you.

"I understand," he says. Your eyes catch for a moment too long, and you realize you are smiling at each other.

"You know, I think I understand why all those girls stay over," you say. He raises an eyebrow at you questioningly, and against your better judgement, you say, "You are an excellent cuddler."

"You've learned my secret," he says with a laugh. "You're not so bad yourself, though. The hand in the hair thing? That's especially nice." You hum in response, a smile still stuck on your face.

"I should get going," you say quietly, after a long pause.

"Yeah."

"Thank you, for last night."

"Anytime," he says, his eyes finding yours again. "Nové kicks you out again, just let me know."

"Will do."

You get out of bed and stand, and it's immediately clear how bad of an idea this is. Poe's hand finds yours just when you think you really might fall down from dizziness. His laugh is gentle as you look at him.

"You really should stay, Y/N. Not sure you'll make it down to your quarters."

"I'll be fine."

"Besides, I've got a really great routine to cure a hangover," he says with a taunting grin.

"Does it involve cuddling?" you ask.

"It is heavy on the cuddling, yes," he says, making you laugh, which only makes your head hurt worse

"As wonderful as that sounds, I need to go. I'm pretty sure I'm moments away from being sick, and I would really like to not do that in front of you."

"I don't care, Y/N."

"Well, I do."

You look down at yourself and recognize for the first time that you are wearing Poe's clothes. Your own are folded up in a pile on a chair in the corner of the room.

"Keep them," he says, tracking your gaze.

"I can't keep them."

"At least wear them out. I would hate for anyone to see you in the same dress as last night. Wouldn't that be like a cardinal sin in your life?"

"Ha ha," you say dryly. "Thank you."

You look at him as he gets out of bed, too. The t-shirt he's wearing bunches up a little, and you take in his toned stomach. You avert your eyes quickly.

"Since I can't convince you to stay, I'll walk you to the door at least."

Nové is gone by the time you get to your room. You are glad of it. Your mind is spinning, partially from the hangover, and partially because the details of the night before are coming back to you.

You just want to flop on your cold bed, and hopefully forget how great the previous evening was.

When Poe walked you to his door, there was a moment where you weren't sure what he was going to do. What you were going to do. But before either of you could cross that final barrier, commotion in the hallway pulled your attentions and brought you back to reality.

Now, alone in your bed, snuggling a pillow that is a poor replacement for the real thing, you imagine what it might be like to pass that barrier, to be one of the girls he is typically with.

And a couple hallways down, Poe is in his own lonely bed, imagining the same thing.

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron #poe dameron fanfic #star wars #star wars fanfic #star wars imagine

[gloomzombie]

I'll Bury You For This

Pairing: Jeff the Killer X Male Reader

Warnings: Underage Drinking

Word Count: 4,568

Chapter Three: Dance, Dance

Ch. 1 Ch. 2

August 20th. 3:35pm.

“Hey Y/N!” Gage greeted me at his front door with a shy smile. It had taken me no time to get to his house. He lives relatively close to me. I smile back at him. “Hey. Thanks for letting me come over.” I adjust the strap of my backpack. “Of course, I’m surprised you-” “Well are you just going to stand there? Let your new friend inside!” He was cut off by an older woman’s voice.

I assume that’s his mom. Gage blushed and stepped aside. “Sorry.” I was met with the soft smell of roses and was embraced by warm arms. I was caught off guard by it, stumbling back a bit. “Oh, sorry sweetie! I always get excited meeting any of Gage’s friends.” She pulled away from me, covering her face in embarrassment. So that’s where he gets it from.

I take in the woman before me. She looks young, but I can see the faint smile lines grazing her soft, round cheeks. Her deep brown, curly hair falls down on her shoulders gracefully. She has Gage’s eyes, and his nose. Well- I should say he has her eyes and nose. She’s wearing bright red lipstick, and her off-the-shoulder dress matches it. She must be going somewhere.

“It’s fine, I just wasn’t expecting it.” I reassured her. “I’m Gage’s mom, you can call me Ms. Taylor.” Ms. Taylor moved her hand away, a smile tugging at her lips. “Nice to meet you Ms. Taylor. I’m Y/N.” I introduced myself. She giggled. “Oh, I know. I’ve heard all about you from Gage here.” “Mom!” He whined, which I found really cute.

“What? I’m sure he’s aware of how much you like him.” She teased. I could tell they had a good relationship by the way they talked with each other, something I wish I could’ve had with my own mom. “Oh, I’m very aware.” Gage’s gaze dropped to the floor and he played with the end of his sweater. Ms. Taylor guided me inside and gave me a small tour of the place, showing me every room inside their two-story house. Their house is much nicer than mine. It’s clean and it doesn’t smell bad. There aren’t even messy piles of random things everywhere. Once she finishes showing me around, we go back to the front door.

“I’m actually going to be late for my date, so I’ll see you boys later tonight.” She gives Gage a kiss on his cheek, to which he whines, swatting her away. She giggles and is about to leave, but she turns at the last second.

“Oh, Y/N. I know you’re 17, but it’d just make me feel safer if I had your dad’s number.” My smile dropped and I started chewing on my bottom lip. “Uhh, yeah, about that.” I glanced over at Gage, then back at her. “Can we talk, privately?” Gage seemed to take the hint, leaving up the stairs. Ms. Taylor shut the door, a confused smile playing at her lips. “Yeah, go ahead.” I inhaled sharply.

The downside of making new friends is opening up about John and our situation. Most adults don’t understand why I “complain” about having to take care of him. They all basically expected me to be alright with it, since he raised me on his own and provided me with the things I needed; as if you should be rewarded for the bare minimum. I should be grateful for the fact I even have a father, is what they wanted me to see; but I’d rather have no dad than a dad like him.

“There isn’t any easy way to say it…but my dad has dementia. I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s really a point, Ms. Taylor.” I keep my gaze at the ground by her feet. My face felt hot as I spoke the words I never said aloud, and it felt like time around me had stopped altogether. I can hear the sound of my racing heartbeat, burning in my ears. Suddenly, her arms were around me and I was bathed in the strong smell of her perfume.

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry. I understand, don’t worry about it, okay?” I feel her hand in my hair, rubbing my head in soothing circles. I stood there stiffly. I bite my lip hard, not trusting the sudden raw feeling in the back of my throat. I move my arms up to hug her back. We stood there for a few seconds, until her comforting arms eventually fell back down to her sides. I look up at her once more. Her smile had not faded, and she looked at me as if she could feel what I was feeling. I clear my throat. “Thank you,” is all the words I could mutter.

She shook her head. “Hey, I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to say it. Thank you for opening up to me.” That’s new. I gulped, trying to stop myself from letting the tears fall from my eyes. I nodded, not wanting to speak anymore because I knew it’d break me. Trying to speak to adults about it is really difficult, because everything that’s draining me are things I’m expected to do. I’m supposed to take care of him when he barely took care of me.

“Well, if there’s anything you boys need, just call me. There’s spaghetti in the fridge whenever you want to eat.” Ms. Taylor gave me a kiss on the cheek, then made her way back to the door. “Have fun, and make sure when you go to see that band, Gage locks the door.” She left before I could process that she knew about it.

Well, it’s not like it was a secret. I made my way up the stairs and to where I now know is Gage’s room. His door was left slightly ajar, so I pushed it open. Gage was sitting on his bed, on his phone. I looked around, taking in how he’s decorated his space as I shut the door. “Oh, hey Y/N. I already set up the DVD player.” I nodded in response, still looking at his room.

He had posters lining the walls of bands like The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, and London After Midnight. “Huh, I didn’t know you were into goth music.” I looked over at him. His face flushed and he moved his phone up to cover his mouth. “Yeah, it’s my favorite. I just don’t talk about what I like a lot.” I frowned. “Why not?” I asked, sitting down next to him. He pulled his knees up to his chest. “I don’t know. No one ever really listened when I did, I guess.”

I tilted my head to the side. How could anyone not listen to him? He’s probably the sweetest guy I know. I moved my hand to his cheek, brushing his hair behind his ear. He looked over to me, his face becoming all rosy. I can’t help the smile that grazes my lip. Watching him get all flustered makes me feel…nervous. “I’d listen to anything you had to say.” He put his phone down, a shy smile appearing on his face. “Really?”

“Of course. How could I not?” I looked at his lips, slowly dragging my gaze back up to his eyes. I watched as his blush became more prominent as I got closer to him. I take his face into my hands gently, and place a kiss on his forehead. “Pretty boy.” I muttered against his smooth skin, and I could hear him inhale sharply. I pulled away, smiling. “Let’s watch the movie now.” He nodded once, covering his face, and getting up.

“Is the um..” He cleared his throat. “The movie in your backpack?” I nodded and he unzipped it, going through it. He soon pulls out the movie, Sweeney Todd. It’s one of my favorites. I talked to him about it yesterday, as we were on the topic of musicals. He told me about how shitty this year's play is going to be, since he’s usually always in them.

Apparently, they chose one of his least favorite musicals. I told him how Sweeney Todd is my favorite, and talked about the plot and the characters. He was listening so intently, as if he was really interested in what I had to say. It was so sweet; I’ve never met anyone that listened to me as much as he did. Gage got up and put the movie in the DVD player, pressing play on the title screen.

5:28pm.

The movie ended, and I stretched my arms above my head. Sometime during the first murder scene, Gage had snuggled up next to where I laid in his bed. His head rested on my chest, and he started blushing when I played with his pretty hair. I couldn’t help it, he’s too cute for me to not mess with. Gage looks up at me and I smile. “How’d you like it?” I asked. “I’m not a big horror fan, but it was actually really good.” He smiled back at me and I ruffled his hair with my hand, watching his lips turn into a pout. “I’m glad you think so. I’ve loved it since I first saw it.”

“I think Anthony’s cute. " He giggled a little. My smile turned into a little smirk. “I knew you liked twinks.” Gage gasped and playfully hit my chest. “No, I do not!” He exclaimed. I started laughing and he sat up, scooching away. “Go get ready, Y/N.” He huffed, a blush evident on his pale cheeks. “I already am.” I smirk, getting up. “Buttt I guess I should start going now. I don’t want to be too late.” I stretch my arms above my head, cracking my back. I can feel his gaze on me, as my shirt lifted up a little when I stretched. “Y-yeah, you should get going.” I look over at Gage and smirk. It wasn’t my intention to tease him like that, but if it works…

We head downstairs to the door together and as I’m about to leave, he wraps his arms around my waist. I wrap mine around his in return. I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. I think I’m starting to develop an actual crush on him, but that’s not something I want to dwell on while in his arms like this. He pulls away a few seconds later. His hand flies to cover his mouth. He must be smiling too. “I’ll see you later, Gage.” I give him a kiss on the forehead before turning to leave. “You too, Y/N.”

It didn’t take me too long to get to the location of the bar. Once there, I locked my bike up at the bike rack nearby. I shove my hands in my pockets, taking a good look at the surrounding area. The sky is a deep blue, hints of orange pricking up at the horizon, signifying sundown is soon. Across the street are many small shops like a tattoo and piercing place, a barber, and a nail salon, amongst a few small food places.

I sigh and tap my foot on the ground. “Y/N!” I turn at the sound of my name. I see the familiar face of Lily and her friend, Stacy, who waves at me with a polite smile. I walk up towards them. “Hey, for a minute I thought you might’ve ditched me” I teased. “Oh, I would neverrr.” Lily giggles.

I take a good look at the way she’s dressed. The dress code at school limits some of the things she’s wearing. Her hair is styled into a bat’s nest, which wouldn’t be allowed either. She adorns a black lace dress that hugs her curves, and a few rosaries that hang over her chest. Fishnets with cross prints squeeze her legs and are followed down by her platforms- which have more crosses hanging from them.

“You done checking her out?” I focus up on her friend and can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. “Sorry, I was admiring the fit.” I replied as casually as I could, to mask my embarassment. Stacy gave me a smug look, obviously not buying it. “Oh,” Lily’s face flushed and her gaze drifted down to her feet. “I didn’t mind it..” She bit at her lip and I looked away, feeling the heat in my face grow. Ah jeez. I hope I’m not making her uncomfortable, that’s the last thing I want to do.

“Anywayysss,” Stacy starts, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go in before they start.” She grabs both mine and Lily’s hands into her own, practically dragging us inside. As soon as we step in, I’m overwhelmed with the aroma of alcohol and sweat. God, I sure am glad I didn’t bring a jacket. While the temperature outside is cooling down as nightfall begins, the heat in here is undeniable. I don’t have time to ponder on it as Stacy drags us to the bar. “Let’s do shots!” She exclaims, a sly smile on her lips.

“Stace, you know we’re not supposed to! I don’t want us to be kicked out already.” Lily reminds her. A slight smile tugs at my lips. I think I like Stacy already. She’s my kind of crowd. She rolls her eyes. “Ugh, fine. I’ll get handsome over there to buy us some!” She runs off towards some guy before either of us can protest. Lily sighs. “I love her but she stresses me out sometimes.” I turn my gaze over to her. “Hey, don’t worry too much about it. We’re not gonna get kicked out.” I try to reassure her.

She bites her lip. “Mm, if you think so. I just need a distraction.” She bats her eyes at me, her hands held together. I take a good look around, now that Stacy isn’t here to drag me somewhere. There’s quite a bit of people, but it doesn’t feel crowded. The atmosphere makes me a bit uncomfortable, only because I’ve never done anything like this before. As I pay more attention to the people, I notice their style. Most of the people here are dressed goth, with a few punks and emos too. Realization suddenly hit me. Of course it’s a goth bar, Y/N, SHE’S goth.

“I mean, isn’t your brother and his band going to play soon?” I asked, looking back over at her. She was already looking back at me. “No, actually,” she started, her face flushing. “There’s a band playing before theirs.” She fiddled with the ends of her dress. I nodded. “Oh, I should’ve thought.” I looked over toward the small stage area, noticing a few people setting up instruments.

I look back at Lily. “Hey, do you want a drink? I mean, a non-alcoholic one that is.” I smile politely. The least I can do is offer to get her something. Her black lips curve up into a smile. “Sure.” I take her hand in mine and walk with her over to the bar. Once there, she props herself up onto one of the stools. I take the stool beside her. The bartender is laughing with one of the waitresses about something before he notices us, and makes his way up. “Hey Lils,” He smirks, “Didn’t know you’d be bringing a boyfriend.”

I feel my face flush. “Oh, we’re not-” “A couple,” Lily finished my sentence for me, her gaze down at her lap. The man glanced at me and her. “Uhh-huh. Well, what can I get ya’ then?” He asked, directing his attention mainly towards Lily. I mean, he does know her, so I take nothing from it. “Just some coke please,” Lily mutters, her hair partially covering her face as she looks down. “Cool. And for the boy?” He turned his attention to me. “Do you have chocolate milk?” I asked, a smirk tugging at my lips. His expression lightened a bit and he laughed. “Yeah, we got chocolate milk. I’ll get that right for ya’.” He went to a fridge behind the bar. “Chocolate milk?” I look over at Lily and she’s giggling, her pearly white teeth showing from behind her lips. I smile. “Hey, chocolate milk is fucking good.” She giggled more. “It is, but at a bar?” “I mean, it’s not like I can get any of the fun stuff.”

The bartender comes back over with our drinks, placing them down in front of us. “So, how do you know Lilith here?” He asks as I take a sip of my chocolate milk. I gaze over at her. I didn’t know that her full name was Lilith. “That’s such a beautiful name. Lilith. “ I couldn’t help but say. I watch as she flushes under the colorful lights, her gaze turning away from mine. I shake my head, feeling my own face flush in embarrassment. “I-I didn’t mean it like that.” I murmur. The bartender starts laughing, making me feel even more ashamed. “I know her through school,” I start, trying to move the conversation along. “On the first day, she came up to me and said she liked my shirt.” The man holds eye contact with me as I speak, then he chuckles. “Of course she did. What band was on it?” “Carnifex.” I turn my head at the sound of her voice. She has her hand up to cover her mouth, and her gaze elsewhere. The colors dancing on her skin change from blue, to green, to red…

“I’m back!” Stacy runs up to stand beside Lily’s stool, a smile on her lips with her lipstick slightly smeared. Lily tears her gaze to Stacy and she rolls her eyes. “Did you hook up with that guy?” She asks, taking a sip of her coke. A smirk appears on Stacy’s face. “Oh hell yeah. He was actually pretty good with his stuff too. Not too handsy, not too much dirty talk. Seriously, what makes a guy think “You like this dick, baby?” is gonna turn a girl on?” She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Nice to see you too, Stace.” Bartender guy butts in. She giggles. “Sorry, Spence. Y’know I take what I can get.” She takes a seat on the stool by Lily, and Lily’s attention is now fully on her. They start talking and after a while, I tune it out and look over at the people in the bar. Drinking sips of my chocolate milk, I almost spit it out when I see a familiar set of icy blue eyes, slightly hidden from strands of black and choppy hair. I blink a few times, but it was 100% Jeff I was seeing.

I stand, placing my glass on the bar. If anyone stopped me, I tuned them out as I focused on approaching Jeff, my pace a little faster than usual. I walk up to him and he doesn’t notice me until I’m right in front of him. He adorns his mask as usual, but he’s dressed less casually. His usual plain hoodie and black sweatpants are replaced by holey jeans and a black button up shirt; his usual bare neck isn’t bare now. He wears chunky chains and a razor blade necklace. “Done checking me out?” He mumbles. I meet his burning gaze and roll my eyes. “Nah, let me drink you in more.” He huffs in response and I continue. “What are you doing here?” I wonder aloud.

He lets out an annoyed laugh. “Why would I tell you?” He shifts his weight onto one leg and I smirk playfully. “Because you’re obsessed with me.” He scoffs. “Tell me,” I insisted. I don’t really know why I want to know so bad, but I don’t dare question it. We stood silently for a minute, the only noise being the sounds around us; the music of the first band playing and the chatter amongst drunken adults- and probably teens. He eventually rolls his eyes and I fight back a grin. “For your information, smartass, I’m here for the band that’s playing.” He finally answers. I don’t know what I wanted, but that’s not the answer that I expected to hear.

“Seriously? You? Goth music?” I raise an eyebrow. “No offense, but you seem more the type to listen to metal screaming rather than sad goth singing.” His eyebrows furrow and his pale eyes, rimmed with black eyeliner, squint. “You can not be fucking talking, Mr. I always listen to screamo so fucking loud you can hear it through my dollar store earbuds.” Deciding that I’m bored with him is easy, so I choose to tease him again. “Mm, well isn’t that the kind 0f music that should turn you on?” I hum and bat my eyes, tilting my head to the side as I saunter forward. His eyebrow lifts slightly as he backs up, and I continue pressing on until he backs into the wall he was previously leaning on. I lower my gaze down to his feet, slowly dragging my eyes up to his face with a sly smile on mine. Suddenly, he does something that knocks the wind out of my chest.

He grabs my hips with his rough, callused hands and yanks me into him. I can’t hold back the gasp that escapes my lips as my hips meet his. As I gaze up at him, I notice just how close our faces are now. I can hear my heartbeat drum in my ears. I feel the blood rushing in my face. The only thing between us is the cloth of his black mask. “Y/N?” I jump away from Jeff quickly and snap my head towards Stacy. “Yeah?” I can feel the hot sting in my ears as I speak.

Lily stands beside Stacy, biting her lip as she stares at her feet. Stacy smirks. “Wasn’t that the new kid?” She giggles as she watches me struggle to find what to say. “Uh,” I cleared my throat, “Yeah, yeah it was.” Though Stacy is the one interrogating me, my attention is on Lily. She’s quiet, and I wonder what she’s thinking right now.

Ugh, what if they’re homophobic or something? I mean I don’t keep the fact that I’m gay a secret, but I didn’t really mention it to them before. “You got really close there, didn’t you? Are you two, like, boyfriends or something?” She twirls a strand of her auburn hair in between her fingers, an innocent smile on her lips. I chew on my bottom lip, gripping the ends of my Metallica shirt to steady myself. Though her words are honey-coated, I’m not sure how she actually feels about it. Why should I care if they don’t accept me? I just met them this week.

“No, he’s not.” I sigh, but it’s barely audible over the loud thrum of the music. She still doesn’t drop it. “Do you want him to be?” Her voice sounds slightly softer, though it’s still evident she wants to ask just to make conversation about me. Her question makes me think, and think hard. Do I want him to be? I can’t…I’ve always played with people’s feelings like this, just for something to keep my mind away from the traumas that happen inside my house. But actually feeling something?

“Ooh! I think I see Azazel!” Stacy completely disregards the question, grabbing Lily lightly by the arm excitedly as she jumps up and down. While Stacy finally lets me breathe, I glance over to where Jeff and I were just pressed up against each other, only to find that he’s nowhere to be seen.

The show goes by in a bit of a blur. Lily’s brother, Azazel, actually has a really nice voice. Goth music usually has to be specific for me to like it, but he and his band were really good. Stacy mentioned their name to me before, Dead In Her Casket. I never saw Jeff again, and I still feel jittery at the memory of the feel of his hips against mine. I try not to think about it. Lily’s been quiet the rest of the night and when I’ve tried talking to her, she gives me very plain responses. I feel like I’ve upset her, but I don’t know what I did to make her feel that way. I hope she’ll tell me eventually, because I don’t have a clue and I won’t until she speaks up.

The ride home feels like forever as I feel the chill of the autumn breeze blow against my bare arms. When I finally reach Gage’s house, my phone reads 9:57. I huff as I put my bike up, then make my way to the front door. I knock on the door and wait, and a few seconds later, the door swings open and I’m met with Gage’s sweet face. “Hey, come in.” I follow him inside, making sure to shut the door behind me. “I hope you weren’t waiting for me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I’d be coming back.” I bit my lip anxiously. I now realize how stupid it was to leave without telling him a time I’d be back.

He only shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Y/N.” Coming from anyone else, I’d have probably kept overthinking things, but his words calm my racing brain. His face flushes as he reaches and takes my hand in his. “I’m watching that show you mentioned before.” He started as he led me upstairs. Show? I try to remember what show I talked about, but I can’t. “Which one?” I ask, following him into his room. I look at his TV and a blush of my own creeps up my neck. “Supernatural.” I answer for him and look back over at him. He has that sweet smile on, the one that makes me want to just grab him and kiss him. “Yeah. The way you talked about it Wednesday made me want to. You just were so happy when you talked about it.” I can’t help but smile. He pays so much attention to me.

I don’t know whether it’s the adrenaline from the events of today or the alcohol in my system- Stacy managed to snag us some vodka- but I pulled Gage into my chest, shocking both him and myself. His lips are soft, just like everything about him. He tastes like tea; the herbal tea he loves to drink and brings with him everyday for lunch. He’s still for a bit, and I almost pull back, but his fingers dig their way into my hair, pulling me even closer. The corners of my lips pluck up slightly and I wrap my arms around his waist. His breath is heavy as I walk him backwards until the backs of his knees bump into the edge of his bed. He gasps and I slide my tongue in his mouth, now properly tasting him. He’s so intoxicating, much more so than the shots I did earlier. I just want more and more of him.

“Gage! Y/N! I’m back!” The sound of Ms. Taylor’s voice coming from downstairs makes me break the kiss. Our breathing is deep and labored, and my face feels hot. He grins widely, and I mimic the expression.

#jeff the killer #creepypasta #creepypasta x you #jeff the killer headcanons #jeff the killer x male reader #jeff the killer x reader #jeff the killer x you #slenderman

[thatbanditqueen]

Basic Training Ch 2

This is a new Elvis Fan Fic set during his basic training at Fort Hood WIP I am playing around with for the summer. Comment, reblog , tag and let me know what you think or if you would like to be added to the taglist.

Thanks to my ever alpha @whositmcwhatsit who read the rough draft and made it so much better. Thanks Jader Gator. I love you and I think you know that I go between being so in awe of your writing that it is paralyzing to being inspired to write just to get close to what you create.

There are so many good writers in our fandom, and I am lucky to be friends with a little group of horny elvis witches who put up with me, answer my random questions and help me figure out narrative roadblocks, so thanks, as ever, to my sister wives @be-my-ally @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @ellie-24 @from-memphis-with-love @powerofelvis for helping me write. You guys are so talented I feel lucky to breathe your air, you teach me everything.

Summary: Elvis surprises Bess at her office to thank her and gets to know some of the other women on post.

Word Count: 4.9 K

Warnings: None. Swear words? Handsy charming naughty Elvis?

I have formulas, tropes, motifs that I always go back to consciously or unconsciously.... whatever... as I was naming this chapter I realized how chapter two is always about the nicknames..... Here we go...

If you need to catch up, read Chapter 1: I Don't Date Soldiers here

Basic Training Chapter 2: Lil Moo Moo & Tupelo

Wednesday, April 2, 1958

1715 Hours (5:15 p.m.)

Fort Hood Front Office

“Oh, give me Burt Lancaster any day over Elvis Presley.”

Mabel’s eyes didn’t leave her work as she said this, not even when she placed her cigarette in the ashtray on her desk, the keys on her typewriter plunking up and down in her glasses’ reflection as she typed. Unflappable and wry, Mabel was a career civil servant with the commemorative lapel pins to match each milestone from her twenty six years and counting career at Fort Hood. Her light green metal desk was set in the center of the large outer room in the base’s front office, right in front of the CO’s door. Bess’s desk was to the right, across from the XO’s secretary Rose, who left everyday right at five o’clock on the dot. 

The other two women Bess shared an office with were almost polar opposites. Rose worked punctually from eight to five every day, while Mabel was always the first to arrive between 6:45 and 7, and often the last to leave, determined to stay on post until the CO left. 

Bess fell somewhere in-between, arriving most days with her father at 8 a.m. and then pushing him to leave as early as possible. But with her father out of town, Bess was mistress of her own destiny; a mistress who apparently couldn’t bear to leave until the final details for an awards ceremony tomorrow afternoon were hammered out. 

Which is why she was perched on the corner of Mabel’s desk at 5:15, or at least it had been before Dori arrived. Waiting for her father, the CO, to return from inspections, Dori had turned the conversation to her favorite topic of late: her quest to meet Elvis Presley. Tonight she was specifically wondering if he would come to the MWR dance that weekend. This had prompted Mabel's unsolicited preference for the tall, athletic physique of Burt Lancaster.

Dori giggled. “How many times did you see From Here to Eternity when it was in theaters, huh Mabel?”

“More than I’d care to admit, Ms. Crenshaw.” Mabel lowered her bifocals as she hit her typewriter keys slowly, looking down every few seconds at some hand written notes. “And every time they play it on TV or show it here.”

“And how many times did you see Jailhouse Rock, huh, Bess?” Dori teased.

Bess blushed. “Only once.”

Mabel paused her typing and picked up her cigarette again. “I have the feeling Bess has turned sour on those Presley pictures. You should have seen her last week, damn near punched a dent in her desk after a reporter ran her off the road.”

“Ah, no, Bess loves Elvis.” Dori checked her lipstick before putting her compact back into her purse. “She’s lying too. I remember seeing Jailhouse Rock with you and the soldier on duty said you’d been to our sweet 'lil ol base theater every night that week.”

Bess fixed Dori with a grimace, mumbling defensively. “That was Loving You, and I only saw it three times. People were talking through it the first two times.” She shifted, rolling her thigh over Mabel’s desk as she balanced herself. “I didn’t care for Jailhouse Rock, though, kinda thought the main character was a jerk.“

“Oh honey, that’s what made it so good.” Dori’s high voice vaulted up the ceiling “Don’t you just find him scrum-diddly-umptious actin’ all tough and mean, but then being hung up on his lil ole manager the whole time?”

Bess straightened the stack of files on her lap.

“No, Dori, I don’t care for quiet, mean, brooding types who can’t just be a man and tell me how they feel, playin' mind games instead. And, as for Elvis, honestly I can take him or leave him. There are twenty thousand men on this base.” Bess straightened her ponytail, balancing her files on her lap as she spoke. “Why, I could find you ten Mississippi tall boys who can play gee- tar and yodel at you before mail call is done…”

Bess’ voice trailed off when she noticed Dori gasp and cover her mouth with her hand, eyes wide with shock as she smacked Bess’ knee. Mabel whistled low, her eyes quickly fixing on her typewriter as Bess shifted around on the big desk.

“What? What is it….” Bess’ jaw fell open and dropped her files to the ground. She felt them slip over her skirt on their way, unable to stop them, it was as if she had forgotten how to use her hands. No, all she could do was cringe with embarrassment at Elvis’ downward smirk as his eyes flitted up to look at her.

“Oh cluck a fuck, I mean fuck a duck - I mean, oh cluck!” Bess heard herself cry out reflexively, then remembering how to move, she scrambled to pick up her papers. She was grateful for Dori’s unflappable poise as the blonde hopped over Bess’ hunched body on the ground and introduced herself to Elvis, adding:

“Please excuse my friend there, she flunked outta finishin’ school.”

Bess watched Elvis kiss Dori’s extended hand with mild amusement as she squealed and smiled and unleashed her excitement onto him, her hand already on his chest.

“I been prayin’ every day to run into you, Elvis - Oh, may I call you Elvis?”

“Yessum, I -”

“Oh good! See, I knew we’d be great friends, I just knew we would! I have been all over this base hopin’ to run into you. Why, we’re all just pleased as punch ta have ya round here, aren’t we?”

She turned to see Bess still on all fours, curly brown hair half loose from her ponytail, while behind her Mabel looked up and grunted softly in salutation before continuing to type. 

Mabel’s cranky glare and Bess’ antics on the floor did not create the mood Dori had envisioned for her first meeting with Elvis Presley. She looked down and her broad smile wavered for a moment as she realized the top button of Bess’ shirt was undone, revealing her bra completely. Dori’s painted pink lips popped as she nudged Bess with the tip of her heel and whispered through her teeth.

“Stand up, Bess honey, fo-ar gawd’s sake, ya shirt!”

Bess jumped up, fixing herself as a big red blush grew over her face, made worse as Elvis caught her eye with a wink. Mabel stopped typing for a moment and motioned for Bess to come and look at something while Dori kept right on talking to Elvis with her hand now firmly around his bicep.

“Now, don’t pay no mind to Bessie’s talk about you and your pictures, why, we’re all big Elvis fans round here, the biggest fans ya ever met.”

Elvis cocked his eyebrows up at Bess’ simmering glare from where she now stood behind Mabel’s chair.

“Huh, yeah, that’s sweet of ya, ma’am -”

Dori put her finger to Elvis' lip. “Dori, honey, puhleeze!”

“ - Uh, Dori.” Elvis’ spoke carefully, as if forming every word in the back of his throat before speaking out, his voice was soft and shy. “I don't s’pect everyone to like all my pictures. After all, I didn’t write them, it’s just a job to me.” He winked again at Bess. “S’pose I mind even less if they like some of my other movies. Like ‘em enough to see ‘em every night a tha week.”

Bess felt her cheeks redden even more, but before she could think of a clever reply, Mabel elbowed her and pointed at the XO’s handwriting.

“Can you read that? It looks like repercussion, but it could be reprimand as well.”

Bess picked up the legal pad for closer inspection and turned to the others, motioning for Dori to come take a look. She hadn’t expected Elvis to follow, but he did, making himself right at home and angling his tall body behind the women. 

He snuck his hand around Bess’ waist as he looked at the writing Dori held up for him, eyes forward and completely detached from the movements of his fingers rubbing along the waistband of Bess’ skirt until she pulled them off. This made her stumble to the side and gave Elvis an excuse to openly grab her waist and steady her, She frowned, flustered by the way his long fingers navigated the crease right where her waist met her ribs, his thumbs squeezing tightly and then rubbing gently over her as he asked if she was ok. 

Pushing Elvis’ hands away, Bess whispered that she was fine, trying to slow her pulse and still the shivers that ran up her spine. Her whole body trembled, aware of his proximity to her, and she refused to meet Dori’s now extremely curious eyes over Elvis’ shoulder. Nodding, he turned back to the others and helped himself to the paper, declaring that it was repercussion as he introduced himself to Mabel, kissing her hand, and asking her about the tiny, porcelain figurines on her desk as she giggled.

“That’s Lady and Lola, my brother brought them back to me from Japan. Are you a dog person, Private?”

Bess made her way back to her desk, taking in the youthful bloom of Mabel’s beaming face and girlish laughter. She had never seen her co-worker this cheerful and open before. Dori’s face was aghast as Elvis ignored her and made himself comfortable on Mabel’s desk, asking her for a cigarette and then turning with a conspiratorial whisper as he asked them not to tell anyone. 

Dori began tapping her fingers along her crossed arms harder as she watched Elvis put his hand on Mabel’s shoulder, while the older woman batted his thigh and chuckled at his jokes about dogs. Bess smiled to herself at the way Dori tried to wrest the conversation back by talking about how she used to have the sweetest lil ol’ poodle in the world when she was a girl. But it was an uphill battle, because now Mabel was pulling out her secret tin of homemade shortbread and asking Elvis what he thought. He had to try five pieces before he could adequately decide his verdict, and he moaned as if he had never had shortbread before. His voice was low as he stuttered “Mmm hmmm mmm hmm mmm” in a hum, and Bess dropped her pen when he caught her eye and licked his lips, proclaiming through crumbly mouthfuls that it was “the best doggone cookie he’d had in a long while.”

Bess shook her head at Elvis’ transformation from the shy soldier who had walked into the office to the confident, cocky rascal he was now, only minutes later. Elvis was masterful, she mused, and it was down to the attentive way he looked at each person he spoke with, talking to you as if you were the most important person in the world and responding to everything you said and did with his eyes. No, with his whole body really, she thought. He had a magnetic energy that had drawn her in the moment they met Friday. Now that same magnetic energy was doing its work on Dori and Mabel before her very eyes, as he engaged with them in a way that was humble, considerate and disarming. Some soldiers were stiff and uncomfortable here in the front office where there were often three to five women bustling about. Elvis on the other hand, seemed to be in his element amidst a group of women vying for his attention.

Bess found, to her own chagrin, that this included herself and was disappointed by her own desire to get his attention. She held out until she could no longer help it and interrupted their conversation with a loud, authoritative cough.

“I’m sure you didn’t come to our building to talk about puppy dogs and shortbread, Private, we don’t want to keep you from your tasks or the mess hall.”

Elvis turned to look at her from where he sat on Mabel’s desk and began throwing his olive patrol cap from hand to hand as he gulped.

“Uh, well ma’am, actually, I came up here hoping to get a word with you, Bessie. Uh, I mean Miss Schwartz.”

Now it was Bess’ turn to swallow and once again avoid Dori’s questioning eyes. Mabel’s eyes snapped down to her typing, her face back to being an expressionless stone wall.

“Sure thing, um, walk me to my car? I just, I was just about to leave, I just, uh, need to put these in the Commander’s office.”

As she walked back to her father’s desk, she heard Dori’s voice ring out behind her.

“I didn’t know you were acquaintances with Bessie. That busy bee, she really gets around this base, huh? I reckon she knows more soldiers than the rest of us combined.” Bess smiled to herself at Dori’s insinuation. “ Are you here to ask her to the dance?”

“Uh, no ma’am, Dori, Miss. I, uh, reckon it's better for me to keep a low profile this weekend, let the boys enjoy their night.”

“Well, you know, that attitude might give our boys the wrong impression, like. Make the guys think you fancy yourself too good for our simple, lil ole MWR dance.”

“Uh - well- “ Elvis’ face lit up when Bess rejoined them and they shared a lingering smile that Dori vowed to interrogate Bess about later.

“Oh let him be, Doreen,” Bess murmured, her voice breathy as her heart fluttered once more at the depth of Elvis’ knowing, penetrative gaze. “Uh, he, uh, the boy, man, the man clearly doesn’t want to go. And he already knows that I don’t go on dates with soldiers.”

Mabel had stopped working again and was now chewing the edge of her glasses, leaning forward on her chin as if she was watching a soap opera unfold in front of her desk.

Dori pursed her lips and placed her right hand on her hip energetically. “Oh he does now?” She said playfully, flouncing up the bottom of her blonde bob. ”Well, Private, you’re in luck, because I do date soldiers. I’ll pick you up at 8.”

Elvis looked to Dori, then back at Bess, his confused expression transforming into a smirking wide smile as he registered Bess’ frown. Bess looked down, picking at a chipped piece of her thumb nail until it came off, as if it was the most important thing in the world and needed her attention immediately.

“Huh, well, whoo boy.” Elvis eyed Bess again, then his lips screwed up into a wider grin as he chuckled mischievously. “I don’t hardly know ya, but I can’t say as that’s ever stopped me before.”

Bess’ heart did a series of flip flops as she watched Elvis laugh with Dori. She wasn’t sure what she disliked more, the fact that her friend had just maneuvered herself into a date with Elvis, or that she was jealous. Bess decided it was the later and that she would will herself not to care. 

Elvis' eyes flickered over her for a second and Bess suddenly had a sense that he could tell exactly what she was thinking and feeling in that moment, and she returned to picking at her thumb nail. She was vaguely paying attention as she heard Dori tell Elvis that she’d meet him up at his barracks Saturday night, but she thought Elvis smirked wider as he took in the smile that she forced her lips into.

“You’ll be there, won’t you, Bess. Even though you don’t date soldiers?” Dori looked at her, adding another few fluffs to her hair for absolutely no good reason.

“Hmmmm. Well, I usually do, since the CO encourages all the single female employees to go, but I did have some research st—”

“Don’t be silly, of course you’ll come, it’s gonna be so much fun. I can already tell. There’s gonna be a live rhythm and blues band we hired in from Houston. They are just the bee’s knees, and I’m on the MWR committee. My theme for this dance is Spring Fling, cuz it’s spring! The decorations we got are so adorable, floral Chinese lanterns y’all. I cannot wait.” Dori squeezed her hands into fists and did a little dance in place.

Elvis turned back to Mabel. “You comin’ Saturday night, Miss Maybelline?”

Mabel giggled like a school girl instead of the fifty year old woman she was.

“Every one I can make it to, CO’s memo encourages all single women on base to attend.”

Elvis took Mabel’s hand in his, softly trailing over the top as he kissed her knuckles and smiled devilishly as she giggled again.

“Well, be sure ta save a few dances for me, mmkay, honey?”

Mabel nodded with a giggle and a wink. 

Elvis’ cocky smiled followed Bess' curt nod out of the office and into the back stairs of the building where her voice echoed down the concrete stairwell.

“You know Private, I really wish you wouldn’t come to my office unannounced.” She paused two steps below him and turned around so he had to stop himself from slamming into her finger as it pointed back at him.

“Hold on a minute there, baby, now, what’s wrong with being friendly?” He grabbed her finger. “Careful where you point that thing, woman. First lesson of basic training is safety. Thought you’d a know by now.” He grasped her hand and softened it into his fist. She seemed to lose her train of thought looking up into his eyes. “What’s got your panties in a twist, Bessie Boo, you ain’t jealous, are you?”

Elvis was decidedly less polite when they were alone, Bess realized. She wasn’t sure she liked it, or the way it made her feel as she pulled her finger away and kept descending down the stairs in front of him, her voice a little shaky.

“Of Dori? No, no, not at all. In fact, that all seems to have worked out the way it should.” She shoved the door at the bottom open and headed toward her car as Elvis’ long legs made easy work of striding next to her.

“Why’s that?”

Bess turned as she got to her car.

“Cuz, well, you seem like a good match.” She smiled, trying to really mean it, trying to keep her voice cool and nonchalant. “Dori, is, well, she seems to have the sort of, um. Well, that is, she’s very glamorous. And popular. And attractive. She’s a lot like the girls you’re always with in the fan magazines. I think you’ll have a lot of fun.”

Elvis stepped closer, fixing his work cap back on his head. “So you read the fan magazines, huh? Thought you could take or leave Elvis Presley.”

Bess didn’t know if her cheeks could take the constant flushing she was experiencing. She leaned into the hood of her car, changing the topic as she spoke to the blue paint.

“Look, why did you come by my office?”

Bess leaned her back into the car, and he reached out for her waist, rubbing his hands along the sides for a moment, before taking the handle next to it and pulling it open, tilting his head to get in.

“I uh, I came by because I wanted to thank you. Think we could just talk for a spell?"

Bess swallowed and nodded. After a few moments searching, she discovered her tongue where she had left it on the roof of her mouth and did her best to eke out intelligible words. They scooted along the white vinyl car bench until Elvis got to the other side and leaned back, stretching out his arms and looking at her.

“I know'd it was you that talked to Sergeant Norwood.”

Bess looked down. “I, ugh, actually. That would be highly inappropriate of me to talk to a senior instructor in your company and ask for any special treatment.” She looked back up at him. “But, um, how’s it going?”

Elvis grinned wide. “He’s, uh, well, he’s instruction’ alright,  instructed me to come over to his house here on post after dinner most nights. He, uh, well, I uh, he lets me use his phone to call home and get a few hours of shut eye at their place. Though I preferred the bed at your house, Bessie bug. Cushioning there was better.”

Bess let out a snort as Elvis slid down to put his head in her lap, just as it had been that first night in her guest room. He pulled her right hand in his over her chest, threading his fingers through hers as he looked up into her face with apt admiration.

“Ya are the first real friend I’ve made here.”

“Hmmm. Seemed like you were doing all right making new friends upstairs.”

Elvis smirked, his squeezed his fingers between hers.

“You are jealous a Dori. Jus say tha word and I’ll take you to the dance too, baby. I could take both of you as my dates, ya know, nuff a me ta go ‘round.”

Bess tried to take her fingers back, but it was a half-hearted attempt and his hand was so much bigger than hers. Resigned, she squeezed back and sighed, looking out the window.

“Ha, I’m sure. But, no, I’m not jealous, I’m just giving you a hard time, Presley. You sure seem like a fast operator.” Bess felt an aching warmth blossom in her belly as his thumb rubbed the inside of her palm.

“Honey, I didn’t operate nothing, I’m just an innocent bystander caught in the eye of Hurricane Dori. If anyone is operatin’ fast, it’s your friend back there.”

“Yeah, well, you have to forgive her, she had a lot more going on in Savannah than she does here. We are sorely lacking in ladies’ charities and fancy galas for her to host. So Dori gets all pent up, all that energy and nothing to do with it. Maybe you can help wear her out. " Bess arched her eyebrows suggestively, her voice was light and teasing. "By dancing, I mean, of course.”

“Huh, sure. How ‘bout you? Will you have any pent up energy ya wanna dance off with an ol’ friend?”

“Ha, I’m about as old a friend to you as Dori is.”

“Nah, honey, you’re different, we go way back now. I don’t know anyone who’d risk their job to take a po’ boy like me home an feed me an’ take care a me so good.”

Elvis' eyes welled up and Bess softened, thinking he might cry. She found herself soothing the top of his forehead with her left knuckles.

“Hey, ssshhh, hey. You would have done the same for me, right? If our roles were reversed and I was a new recruit being trained for combat?”

The left side of Elvis’ face lifted into a crooked grin. Bess was transfixed watching the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

“Course, course I would. You know, I’ve spent the last two years running from women chasing me, I reckon the Army’d be in better shape if they’d put ya girls into combat. Ain’t nothing more terrifying than a hoard of twenty thousand screaming girls coming for ya.”

“Ha, yeah, probably makes basic training seem like a breeze.”

Bess smiled down at Elvis, and made her fist into a fake microphone, affecting a serious, transatlantic accent like the reporters at his press conference last week.

“So, Private Presley, what do you think, is basic training harder or easier than running from women for a living?”

Elvis chuckled. His right hand let go of Bess’ fingers and snaked around her waist. “Well, ain’t nothing like getting clobbered by a swarm of women. I s’pose the main difference between those girls and the Russians is, they don’t mean to hurtcha. They’re just tryin’ to get themselves a piece of ya for a souvenir.”

Bess’ raised one eyebrow, her reporter microphone hand still at attention.

“Oh? Please tell us, the American people want to know, which piece of you are these girls trying to get their hands on?”

Elvis burst out laughing. “Uh, no comment, though I could show you later if you want.”

Bess blushed at the glint in his eyes, and kept talking. “Hmm, fresh. Next question, how devastating was it to get your haircut?”

“Well, now, that didn’t bother me none at all. You know what they say, hair today, gone tomarra."

He paused, grinning at her tepid "Ha. ha. ha."

"But no, I ain't sore. Now, if it weren’t never gonna grow back, yeah, sure, maybe I’d be sore, but I don’t mind following the rules and cutting my hair like all the other boys here. I’m actually starting to like it.”

Bess combed her fingers through his crew cut.

“MMhmmm. I liked it better long, but you know me, I hate soldiers.”

“Picked a weird place to work then, Bessie, ain’t nothing but soldiers here.”

“This is just temporary, till I figure out what’s next for me.”

Elvis looked down towards his knees, speaking softly. “Yeah, jus temporary. That’s what my manager keeps sayin’, but man oh man, I think it’s all over for me. Ain’t no one gonna remember me in two years.”

“That’s not true. Trust me, it just feels that way. How many records you sold?”

Elvis leaned his face into her fingers as they cupped his cheek, he could feel Bess’ thighs tremble slightly underneath her skirt and it made him smile. He looked up at her big brown eyes sheepishly.

“Oh, I don’t know, ‘bout 25 million I s’pose.” His voice was casual and aloof til he cried out at the smack of Bess’ hand hitting his shoulder.

“Ha, I would have guessed 4 or 5 million. 25? I can’t even picture a stack that high. It would go all the way to the moon, probably. You’re thick, you know that? Like we could forget you with all those records out there, spinning 'round in people’s homes, on the radio. No, I think the Russians would have to bomb us to kingdom come before we forget about you, what with 25 million records playing all over. ”

“You’re sweet, Bess, you know that? My uncle used to have a cow named Bess.” He grinned up at her and made a moo sound. “Lil' Bessie Moo Moo, she was sweet, just like you… Moo Moo.” His voice tapered off as Elvis' hand began to trail up the side of Bess’ body. His voice became low and earnest. “She had the sweetest milk.”

Bess shivered at the touch of his fingers before pulling her head toward him. Just as she was an inch away from his lips, she stopped him, and tilted back up, fake microphone fist in her hand again between their faces.

“And, I know our listeners will want to know this important detail, where exactly was this cow, Private, Memphis?” She was the reporter again, and her heart thumped with a beat of regret as she took in the split second of disparagement that played across his face as she lifted her lips away from his. But then it was gone and he was back to playing cool with a grin. 

“Nah, back in Tupelo where I was borned and raised.”

“Tupelo, huh? Well, tell us Presley, why does all the good rock and roll music come from that part of the country, places like  Mississippi, Tennessee?”

Elvis nestled his head back into Bess’ thighs, scrunching up his lips as he thought.

“Don’t know, I guess we jus have a history of it, it's a place where ya got Black rhythm and blues and country and western, spiritual music. It's in the air we breathe down there, I guess, gets all jumbled up and out comes rock ‘n’ roll.”

“Well, Private, is rock n’ roll the secret weapon we’ve all been waiting for to take down communism and restore civilization to Eastern Europe and Russia? And if so, when are you being sent over enemy lines?”

“Now, maybe you’re on ta something there, pretty sure it’s already destroyed civilization state side.”

“Oh, definitely, the very fabric of our society is crumbling, just ask any parent and they’ll tell you that their teenager hates school and wants to have sex, all because of rock ’n’ roll. No teenager ever felt that way before they heard your music.”

“Huh, you’re a smart ass, you know that?”

“I’ve been a smart ass since you met me. Try to keep up, Tupelo.”

“Huh, yeah, ya a piece of work, lil' Moo Moo. And ya asking for it talkin’ to a man like that.”

Elvis pinched her soft, springy sides as he chuckled. Anyone walking by the blue Ford would have only seen Bess’ silhouette sitting up, head tilted back in a deep, guttural laugh for the first time in almost a year, as Elvis lay back in her lap, tickling and pinching her. They sat in her car for another hour, as Bess fussed over a cluster of razor burn below his ear, and he asked her about her life, getting to know as much about her as she was willing to reveal until she had to push him off her lap to go meet Sargeant Norwood, dismissing his offer to come back to her house and show her that souvenir all the gals were chasing after

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

Read Chapter Three Here

@eliseinmemphis @moonchild-daniella @tacozebra051 @ab4eva @kingdomforapony @everythingelvispresley @richardslady121 @dkayfixates @artlover8992 @peskybedtime @freudianslumber @amydarcimarie @toreigh @notstefaniepresley @18lkpeters @yynneessmons @lookingforrainbows @prompted-wordsmith @roadtogracelandx45 @ashtag2887 @literally-just-elvis-fics @waiting4brucewayne2adoptme @returntopresley @girlblogger2002 @rjmartin11

#elvis presley #elvis fanfiction #elvis #elvis fic #elvis presley fic #army elvis #1958 elvis #basic training #banditqueenwrites #wheeeee #because apparently i need another wip..... #xoxoxo #elvis x oc

[stanchett]

are you excited to post chapter 2 of nervous ??? i’m sure excited to read it. thanks if/when you do!!! <3

I am!! And here it is! I hope you like it anon ☺️

I’ve decided to make this more of a slow burn fic, if that’s alright with all of you. I’m really enjoying the build up of it. As always, feedback is appreciated!!

This picks up right where chapter 1 leaves off, so if you haven’t read that yet, be sure to check that out here first!!

Also thank you SO much for 400 followers!!! Ily all 🫶

Nervous, Chapter 2

Warnings: alcohol mention

1.8k+ words

Monday evening passed slowly, and you buried yourself up to your neck in your work. Glass of wine in hand, you spread out various papers and exams before you on your coffee table, determined to distract yourself from the anxiety you had about meeting Larissa in the morning. 8am sharp. The reminder echoed in your mind. Taking a long sip, you grabbed a red pen and began marking away, correcting all of their grammatical errors and mis-matched dates. Did your students pay even a shred of attention? You doubted it given the pass/fail ratio on the assignments before you. 

After a couple of hours worth of grading, you closed your eyes and rolled your neck, grateful that your thoughts were able to stray from the principal even for a short time. You glanced at your watch: 10:36pm. Exhausted, you stood from your place on the sofa and headed for the bathroom. You cranked the water in the shower to scorching hot, looking forward to washing off the day. It was exactly what you needed to relax you. You put on your coziest pajamas afterward, crawling into bed and allowing sleep to take hold of you almost immediately. 

—-------

You suddenly found yourself in your classroom, void of any students, sitting at your desk. A flood of worry flowed through you; where was everyone? Surely all the students couldn’t be late for class... Suddenly the door creaked open and in walked Larissa, storming angrily toward you. You felt your face flush a deep red, unaware of her intentions with you, but judging by the look on her face it wasn’t anything good. 

“Ms. Y/L/N, you seem to have missed our meeting this morning. Would you care to explain where you were?” She towers over you with her arms crossed, making you feel infinitely smaller from your seated position. You felt your mouth open and close a few times, the gears in your head working overtime in search of an excuse. “Well?”

“I-I’m sorry Principal Weems, I must have lost track of time-” you stuttered, knowing full well how pathetic your excuse must have sounded to her. You slowly rose from your seat with your words, your eyes locked on hers the entire time. She takes another step forward, pinning you against the desk with her body. Your head swam at the closeness. 

“Now Y/N, I think you and I both know that isn’t true,” her hands came to rest on the desk on either side of you and she leaned in close, making it impossible for you to escape. You had no choice but to look into her eyes as a thigh came to rest between both of your own. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were avoiding me.”

You gulped audibly, your lungs burning for breath after resulting to such shallow ones at her close proximity. Her thigh was inches from your core, you could practically feel the heat of it radiating off of her. You turned your head away, unable to meet her gaze any longer but she grasped your chin and wrenched it back to force you to look at her. “I believe I can think of a way for you to make it up to me,” she said all too seductively, your eyes widening in surprise as a rush of lust overtook you. You found yourself staring at her lips and licked your own in anticipation. She inched forward, a mere breath away from you. A whimper left your chest as she waited for you to close the gap, daring you to make the last move. 

Just then the bell rang, and Larissa pulled away from you, and you found yourself shaken awake by the shrill tone of your phone’s alarm. You silenced it and covered your face with your hands in frustration, your inner thighs coated with arousal from your dream. You didn’t even have time to take care of your little predicament yourself; you were meeting with the principal in 2 hours, leaving only enough time for you to prepare for the day. It would certainly prove to be an interesting one.

—-------

Coffee in hand, you walked through the entrance of the school, bidding several students along the way good morning. You took a deep breath and headed up the stairs toward the daunting set of mahogany doors, the silver ‘Principal Weems’ placard mocking you as you took the last few steps toward them. You checked the time: 7:58. Closing your eyes and begging for a crumb of confidence, you knocked your knuckles against them. To your surprise, Larissa answered the door herself, a pleased smile on her face at your punctual arrival.

“Good morning, Y/N! How was your evening?” she asked, allowing the door to swing open to welcome you in. You took a swig of coffee, avoiding her question, and took a seat at one of the chairs before her desk. “A restful one, I hope.” You released a small gasp at that, effectively choking on the beverage in your hand. You coughed and sputtered briefly, Larissa’s previously cheerful expression now swapped for concern. “Are you alright?” 

Clearing your throat, you gave her a quick thumbs-up in confirmation. From the nature of her question, it almost seemed like she knew you’d dreamt about her the night before. She couldn’t have known… Right?

She gathered a few papers and a beige folder sitting atop her desk and waved you over to follow her, taking a seat in front of the large fireplace against the wall. You rose hesitantly from your seat and followed closely behind, settling down nervously beside her. A part of you was glad she was treating this meeting so casually, but on the other hand the couch only made for closer proximity between you. She opened the folder in her lap, twirling a pen between her fingers delicately. Your eyes studied them for a moment, her long digits and blood red nails causing your brain to short-circuit, before her words snapped you out of your daze. 

“So, how have classes been going for you, Y/N? Yesterday’s little incident aside, I haven’t heard any negative reports from students about you or your teaching methods.” She looked up at you for confirmation and you nodded slowly in agreement, thinking hard about the matter at hand and willing away any remnants of your dreams from last night. 

“Things have been going pretty smoothly, I would say. Although several students seem to be struggling with the course material.” You thought for a moment and realized this could reflect poorly on your teaching skills, but Larissa cut the passing thought short in your mind. 

“Yes, well... I’m afraid this age can be a difficult one for them. Try to show them compassion, and be sure to convey that you’re approachable with any questions or concerns they may have. It’s important for them to know they can come to you for guidance should they need it.” Her signature smile lit up her face in understanding. Sifting back through the sheets in the folder, she pulled one from the stack and handed it to you. You looked it over quickly and she handed you her pen, still warm from being toyed with between her fingers. 

“If you’ll just sign this for me, it will go on record as you passing your review,” she said excitedly. You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face, looking up at her gratefully. She gazed back with so much adoration you feared your heart may burst. You signed your name quickly and handed it back to her. She slipped the sheet back into the folder and placed it on the couch between you. “We’re so pleased to have you as part of the Nevermore family; it’s a relief to see things going favorably for you.”

“Thank you Principal Weems, I’m so thrilled with your decision to keep me on!” Without the buffer of paperwork and professional talk between you, you felt your nerves begin to creep up again. Chancing a look in her direction, you peeked over to find her leaning with her elbow atop the back of the couch and her head resting in her hand, her body turned almost fully toward you with her legs crossed at the knee. She was so attractive in everything she did, Lord help you. Your thoughts clouded over with memories from last night and suddenly it became almost impossible to focus. You felt your face heat up.

“Y/N? Are you sure you’re alright?” Her voice was so gentle in asking the question, and you nearly jumped in surprise as she had caught you once again in the midst of losing yourself in your attraction to her. What really threw you for a loop was the hand that came to rest on your thigh, her thumb stroking your leg through your pants. 

“Y-yes of course, I’m fine. I’m sorry I’m just a little preoccupied, thinking about my day.” What she didn’t know was that the contact drove you insane, and you had to stop yourself from giving away the effect she had on you. The gesture was intended to be comforting, damn your crush on this woman. You swallowed thickly, and did your best to give her a reassuring smile. 

“Alright, I think that about wraps things up for us then. I do hope your students are able to behave today,” she said with a chuckle, delivering a small pat to your thigh before standing from her seat. “If anyone decides to act up, please be sure to send them my way.”

You scrambled to gather your belongings from the floor beside you, nearly knocking over the remainder of your coffee beside your bag in the process. Larissa elegantly strutted back to her desk, opening her laptop in preparation for her own morning routine. Just before you reached the door to leave, she called after you. 

“Have a lovely day, Ms. Y/L/N. Do try not to get too flustered thinking about how it will go.” You nodded politely and rushed out the door, nearly slamming it behind you in your hurry. Your first class wasn’t for another couple of hours, but you found yourself desperate for fresh air. Or a cold shower. Or both. 

—-------

Back in Larissa’s office, she smirked to herself, thinking back on how you froze up when she touched you in the slightest way. She was thoroughly satisfied with her quick thinking when she decided to snatch your planner from your open bag, hiding the small leather-bound book practically in plain sight beneath the folder as she sat on the couch beside you. After all, she needed an excuse to get you back into her office. 

This was going to be so much more fun for her than it was for you.

#larissa weems x reader #larissa weems #gwendoline christie #requests #my fics

[camels-pen]

a gift (not a burden)

summary:

Usopp knows who his soulmate is, but he doesn't want to follow some bullshit rules of fate etched into his skin.

Meanwhile, Sanji's a hopeless romantic.

—

second gift exchange fic! this is also for @redriotinggg & i've got some extra notes about their soulmarks i'm probably gonna share at some point

warning: internalized homophobia

Ao3 Link | Chapter 2

Chapter 1: I love you, my friend

“Soulmarks: a way of finding your perfect romantic match. Depending on where it’s placed, the meaning changes—”

“So?” Usopp said, colouring the mane of his fish-lion drawing.

“So,”—Ms. Okra ripped the paper away and he made a noise of protest—“yours is very important, Usopp.”

Usopp sighed, slumping forward on the table. Ms. Okra kept talking about more dumb soulmate facts while Usopp tried to remember her real name. She always bragged that she got the nickname ‘Ms. Okra’ because she sold the best okra in the village, but Usopp’s heard the other adults make fun of her hairdo plenty of times to know the truth.

“Are you even listening?!”

Usopp groaned. “Who cares about soulmates?”

“This is serious, Usopp,” she said, wagging a finger at him. “You have to make sure to find yours soon—”

“Because you don’t wanna come up the hill anymore?”

Ms. Okra stuttered, “Well—I—”

“I didn’t ask you to babysit me,” he grumbled, rolling his broken crayon across the table. “I was doing just fine before the mayor made you guys check up on me. I’m 7 and a half; I’m basically an adult!”

Ms. Okra rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying, you could stand to make a few friends. There are some nice boys and girls who visit on passing ships sometimes—”

Usopp blew raspberries. “You just wanna get rid o’ me. Prolly to steal all the legendary gold I’ve got hidden away.” He grinned. “Did I ever tell you? I went to a famous island made of cheese and—”

“Son of a pirate, indeed,” she whispered, rubbing the bridge of her nose. It sounded like any other curse she’d yelled at him from her shop window.

Usopp gripped his crayon tightly. “He’s gonna come back.” He glared at her. “And he’s not gonna be happy when I tell him what you said.”

“Oh please, if that coward was going to come back, he would’ve done it before Banchina—”

Usopp snatched his drawing and ran out the door. 

“Usopp! Usopp, get back here; we haven’t finished the lesson!” Ms. Okra shouted. “What would your mother say?!”

His mom would be proud of him for sticking up for himself and his dad. And she wouldn’t be so pushy about soulmates. Her mark was in the same spot as Usopp’s, after all, and look what happened.

Usopp spent the night holed up in a cave by the beach, his fish-lion crushed to his chest. The breeze whistled a lonely tune through the stone and sand. He buried his face in his knees and tried to ignore it.

—

Vinsmokes aren’t supposed to get soulmarks, his father sneered.

It’s like an ugly tattoo, his brothers jeered.

Make sure no one sees it, Reiju warned.

“Sanji,” his mother said, a warm look in her eyes, “it’s beautiful.”

“Really?” he asked, curled up next to her in bed. “Everyone else hates it.”

“Really, baby.” She tucked a stray hair behind his ear. “Don’t worry about everyone else; how does it make you feel?”

“Hmm.” Sanji traced each line of his mark with his finger. He smiled. “It makes me feel really warm and good! Like when I eat soup!”

His mom pressed a kiss to his temple and he giggled. “Then, mon chouchou, that’s all that matters.”

“But—But what if they don’t like me, maman?” He sniffled, tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m really bad at everything and I’m whiny and—”

His mom shushed him and pulled him closer. “Don’t listen to Judge and your brothers, okay? You are perfect just as you are. Your soulmate is going to love you.”

“Can you come with me when I meet them?” Sanji hastily added, “W-When you get better, I mean! And—And when I’m older and not as much of a baby!”

His mom took a sharp breath. She buried her face in his hair, the sheets rustling as she tugged him to her chest. “Of course, mon coeur,” she said, her voice sounding odd and muffled. “I’d love to be with you when you meet them.”

—

Usopp’s soulmark was a tiny little thing. Blue waves and a chef’s hat with a spiral pattern all inside a glass bottle. It was barely the size of his fingernail.

Mrs. Barb’s soulmark stretched across her whole back. A big green boar with curly white tusks and yellow flowers for eyes. Mrs. Barb’s tanktop couldn’t even cover it all.

“Rue!” Ms. Okra yelled, her voice easily louder than the sound of Mrs. Barb’s hammering. “You better not be fixing the display stand when I told you to rest!”

“Nope! No fixing here!” Ms. Okra stomped down the street as Mrs. Barb hastily put away her tools and kicked the box under the porch. She and Mrs. Barb whispered something to each other. Mrs. Barb said something that made Ms. Okra burst into laughter and smack her shoulder. Mrs. Barb put an arm around her waist and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“Don’t get too close, Captain, or they might spot you.” Pepper pulled on the back of  Usopp’s shirt. “C’mon, let’s find Onion and Carrot, they’re still hiding!”

“R-Right! I was just trying to test my limits today.” He grinned. “Gotta practice my famous stealth techniques or I might get rusty!” 

“But I found you first…?” Pepper said, confused.

Usopp turned Pepper around and ushered him further down the alley towards the mouth of the forest. “Of course, of course, but that’s just because I was going easy on you, just wait until next time when I—”

—

“I almost had it!”

“Sure you did, kid!” Patty laughed around the cigarette in his mouth. “Maybe next time you’ll hit the target!” He laughed again, slapping the railing.

Sanji whirled on him. “Fuck off!”

“Hey! Watch your fucking language!”

“You need to bend your knees more,” Zeff called from the kitchen, his voice drifting out from the open door.

“You didn’t even see it!” Sanji yelled back.

“Didn’t have to. I could hear your dainty little steps from here.”

“They aren’t dainty.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Sanji scoffed. “Whatever.” He swiped Patty’s cigarette and ran back inside, giggling while the man chased after him.

“Give that back you brat!” Patty knocked into a rolling cart piled with dirty plates. Carne scrambled to catch them with a curse. 

“Patty!” Zeff shouted. “Quit fucking around and harassing the Eggplant. Either finish your shitty break or get to work!”

“Ugh, dad to the rescue.”

Sanji flushed. “He’s—I mean—he’s okay, but he’s still just a shitty geezer.” There was a smarting pain to his head and Sanji squatted down with a hiss. “What’d you kick me for?!”

“I may be a geezer, but I ain’t shitty.” There was another thud, followed by a deeper hiss. Louder, Zeff said, “And I ain’t your dad, Patty, so get to fucking work.”

“Aye aye, Owner Zeff,” he grumbled.

With the sound of running water, Sanji looked up. Patty was at the sink, washing dishes and sporting a lump on top of his head. He snickered quietly to himself and took a celebratory drag of his stolen prize.

“You gotta stop picking fights like that,” Carne said, frowning down at Sanji. “Also, quit smoking. It’s bad for you.”

“Everybody else does it!”

Carne took the cigarette from Sanji and held it out of reach. “Well, you’re not everybody else, are you?”

“Hey!”

“Sanji, let it go.”

“But Pére!” Sanji whined.

Silence.

Carne had a hand over his mouth. Patty’s shoulders were shaking.

“What?” Sanji said, shoulders rising. “Don’t laugh! You guys said it earlier!”

Before he realized, Zeff leaned down and scooped him into a hug. Sanji stiffened. “W-What the hell are you doing, shitty geezer?”

“Nothing special.” He paused a moment. Sanji grew more tense with each passing second. “Thank you, mon fils.”

Sanji gasped. “You—what—when—?!”

“I wanted to read books from the North, so I learned,” he said. It sounded like that time he told Sanji he’d grow watermelons in his stomach if he ate the seeds. Zeff gave him a hard pat on the back and went back to cooking like nothing had happened.

“When you meet your soulmate, you better bring her ‘round to meet all of us, okay?” Carne said, wiping his eyes. Patty was trying and failing to subtly wipe his nose on his sleeve. “You can’t just run off without telling us!”

“As if I could ever run off.” Sanji leaned back against the counter, trying for smug, but ending up with a wobbly smile. “You guys would never survive without me.”

—

“Alright Zoro, hit me!”

Zoro wound up and punched Luffy in the face. Luffy bounced all across the deck, knocking over anything that wasn’t tied down until he ended up tangled in the railing. 

“Wow, seven bounces; that’s a new record!” Usopp said. “I need to step up my game.” 

“Hey bastards, you’re disturbing Nami!” Sanji shouted, bursting out of the galley.

“Sanji! When’s lunch?” 

“We just had breakfast.”

“And?” 

“And if I let you eat whenever you wanted you’d clear out every speck of food we have!”

Luffy whined. “But lunch is so far away. A little snack wouldn’t hurt.”

“Listen here you shitty rubberman—” Sanji picked Luffy up by the front of his vest. Anything else he said after that was completely lost to Usopp as he got a good look at his wrist.

Now, Sanji had been sailing with them for a couple weeks at this point, and he didn’t particularly put any effort in hiding the obvious mark stretching along the width of his wrist. Usopp could’ve probably named the basic colours and shapes of it based on the glimpses he’d seen. So really, it was no surprise that there was a yellow-orange target with a brown eye in the centre, framed by a green slingshot. 

What surprised him was the fact that it was only now, after seeing the whole picture at once, did he recognize that slingshot.

Holy fuck, Sanji was his soulmate!

Holy fuck, Sanji was his soulmate.

Mr. if-I-don’t-flirt-with-every-woman-around-I’ll-die was Usopp’s soulmate. Dear god.

What was he supposed to do with that? It was proper etiquette to make the soulmate bond known once one person had figured it out, but…

“Radiant Nami, would you like a refill of your tea?” 

“I picked some flowers just for you, my love!” 

“You’re the only girl for me, Nami baby!”

Well, what did Ms. Okra know anyway? She was wrong about a lot of things and all that soulmark junk was stupid anyway. Usopp’s curiousity had been sated, Sanji could keep flirting with girls guilt-free—it was a win-win!

And besides, compared to Sanji’s, Usopp’s soulmark was—fuck, he felt like crying.

“At least have the decency to wait a couple hours before asking for a snack!” Sanji growled, shaking Luffy and unintentionally bringing Usopp out of his head. Luffy simply laughed.

Usopp took a breath. He clenched his fists tight before letting them fall limp. “Hey, Sanji, you mind letting us have Luffy back? We were kinda in the middle of something.” He carefully kept his gaze away from Sanji’s wrist.

“Sure just give me a second, I need to beat some sense into this shitty captain of ours.”

“Give it up,” Zoro said. “That’s impossible with your puny kicks.”

“Puny?!” Sanji let go of Luffy and jumped the railing, butting heads with Zoro. “I’ll show you puny you third-rate swordsman!”

The force of Sanji letting go sent Luffy snapping back through the railing and around the deck before eventually flying through the galley door. There was a crashing noise and Nami screeched, followed closely by Luffy’s apologies between laughter.

“Eight bounces,” Usopp mumbled to himself.

Zoro and Sanji were fighting, Sanji’s sleeves riding up as he twisted around. 

Usopp quietly made his way below deck to the boys’ dorm, wedged himself in one of the corners, and buried his head in his knees with a groan.

—

“How come you’re so…” Nami waved a hand.

“You just gestured to all of me, my dear.”

“I mean, you flirt with pretty much any lady you meet.”

Sanji nodded frantically. “Of course! I can’t just let a lady go about her day without complimenting her!”

“Right.” Nami tapped the edge of her teacup. “Now, I don’t want to be rude, Sanji, but it really seems like you don’t care much about soulmates.”

“Ah, so that’s what this is about.” He smiled. “It’s the opposite, actually. And a little silly, I suppose, but when I was a kid, I didn’t want to miss the chance that one of the customers might be my soulmate. Some only visited the restaurant a few times a year and others only came once while passing through on their travels.”

“So you… decided to flirt with every woman who visited?”

Sanji’s cheeks warmed. “Well, yes, in a sense.” 

Nami raised an eyebrow. “What’s there to be embarrassed about? You certainly don’t have any shame about it now.”

He coughed into his hand. “I… started doing it rather young. And I hadn’t really been able to discern which customers were with their soulmates or otherwise in relationships already.”

Nami laughed. “Aww, Sanji, that’s so cute. I wish I could’ve seen that.”

“Trust me you really, really don’t,” he said, refilling her tea.

She took a sip and let out a satisfied sigh. The galley was silent for a long moment.

“If…” Nami paused. “If you’re waiting for your soulmate, then does that mean you know who they are?”

Sanji shook his head. “Nope, I’m just as much in the dark about her as you are with yours.”

Nami touched a finger to the spot just under her ear, a light blue heart outlining a well-loved crown atop a sandcastle, a single peacock’s feather sticking out of it. Sanji had never seen that style of crown before—none of them had—but then, that wasn’t uncommon when it came to soulmates from different places.

“Sanji,” Nami said softly, her eyes drawn to the table. “You really don’t recognize it?”

Sanji tilted his head. “No, not at all.”

Nami sighed again, this one more tired than satisfied. “Maybe we should get your eyes checked before we cross the Red Line.”

Sanji made a noise of confusion, but Nami refused to elaborate. When she asked about lunch plans, it didn’t take long for him to forget all about it.

—

Bath times were… harrowing to say the least. The guys didn’t have to wash up at the same time, but Luffy—and now Chopper, too—needed a buddy so he didn’t slip under the water and drown. Zoro needed a little persuading sometimes, which was always easiest with company around, and Nami forbade Usopp and Luffy from taking baths on their own, on account of wasting all the hot water messing around. Ever at Nami’s beck and call, Sanji would join bath time to keep order, followed by Chopper who came more for the comradery than anything.  

It wasn’t too hard for Usopp to hide his mark before. It was far smaller than his hand so he could easily cover it with a well placed towel or carrying Luffy to the tub in a particular way. Before, it was out of embarrassment of the size, but ever since recognizing his own mark on Sanji’s wrist, things had become a lot more stressful.

“Alright you idiots,”—Sanji clapped his hands and everyone turned to him—“Nami dearest is still recovering so we’re gonna get this done in no time and leave her, and our precious Vivi, plenty of hot water to soak in.”

Usopp kept one hand on his towel, saluting Sanji with the other. “Aye aye, bath captain!” Chopper and Carue rushed to mimic him, determined looks on their faces.

“But guys, I’m the captain…” Luffy said, pouting.

“Yes, but Sanji’s the bath captain. That means he’s no fun—”

“Watch it, Longnose.”

“Don’t forget afraid of a little dirt,” Zoro piped up from across the room, already having washed himself off and sitting in the back of the tub.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Sanji said, brow raised. “You actually used your brain for once and insulted me when I won’t fight back. Maybe your head isn’t full of algae.” He smirked. “Though I guess it’s expected that you’re afraid of retaliation.”

“Who’s afraid?!” Zoro yelled, jumping to his feet. “You wanna go, Curly?”

Sanji wagged a finger. “Ah ah ah, what’s the rule?” 

He turned to Usopp and Luffy who both said, in a bored tone, “No fighting in the bath.”

“That’s right.” He started to unbutton his shirt as he added, “So finish up first and I’ll kick your ass later.”

Zoro sat himself back down, mumbling, “I’ll kick your ass later.”

If Sanji heard him, he didn’t show it, and man was Usopp glad for it. The days Sanji wasn’t just tearing out of his clothes as fast as possible to try and splash Zoro were always a treasure. Watching him leisurely expose the skin of his belly, a fine black happy trail dragging Usopp’s eyes down down down, just as he started to unbutton his pants—

“Usopp, hurry up!” He startled at Luffy’s voice, only just realizing he was still wearing his boxers. He quickly shoved them off and grabbed another towel for his waist before dumping a basin of water over Luffy’s head, clearing the suds all over him. Luffy gave a cheer and jumped into the bath, soaking Zoro completely. 

Ugh, what was Usopp doing? He couldn’t just check out Sanji like that! They were friends, crewmates! And Sanji didn’t even like guys, so it wasn’t like there was any chance. Besides, soulmarks didn’t really mean anything: you could be smitten lovers or barely acquaintences just like a relationship with any other person.

Yeah. Yeah! Usopp was probably just… going sea crazy. That’s a thing, right? Where being at sea so long makes you… fall in love with your best friend. Ugh.

“Sorry—I said I’m sorry, Zoro!” Luffy said as Zoro shook him back and forth. “I won’t do it again!”

“Won’t do it again my ass,” Regardless, Zoro let him slip from his grip and flop against the edge of the tub. 

“Usopp! Me too, me too!” Chopper said, covered in soap and holding out the basin. 

“Of course! The great Captain Usopp would never leave you hanging!” Usopp shifted in his stool. “Close your eyes and hold your breath.” Chopper did as instructed and Usopp poured the basin over him, slower than he did for Luffy. 

Chopper shook from head to toe, sending water flying everywhere. Usopp made a noise of surprise as he was soaked right back. “Thanks Usopp!” Chopper said, running for the bath. 

“Geez, give me a warning next time!” Usopp sighed, twirling some of his wet locks around his finger. “Man, I wasn’t even planning on washing my hair today.”

“No use complaining about it now.” Sanji said, pulling up a stool next to him. He held up Usopp’s shampoo bottle and shook it a little. “Want some help with it?”

“Please.”

—

Sanji laughed, the sound followed by a loud squirt of shampoo in his hand and a faint floral smell. Usopp turned his back to him and sighed happily at the first touch. They sat in relative silence—

“Chopper, do not turn into Walk Point—”

“Zoro, you don’t have to be jealous, we can take turns! You take the duck and—”

“I’m not gonna ride either of them!”

—as Sanji scrubbed shampoo into Usopp’s scalp. Usopp leaned back at bit more, his head tilting up. Like a cat wanting to be pet, Sanji thought fondly.

He took his time lathering up the suds and rubbing thoroughly at differents bits of sea salt and grit; he did the same for his own hair and he’d be damned if he didn’t do the same for his friend.

He combed his fingers through Usopp’s hair, taking his time to start from the ends and work his way up to the root, like Usopp taught him. Eventually, he ran his nails from the top of his scalp to the back of his nape in one smooth motion. Usopp had a full body tremble and sighed contentedly, the sound deep and satisfied. Something warm pooled in Sanji’s gut and he suddenly wanted to do anything to hear it again.

He repeated the motion, but Sanji only saw the curve of Usopp’s smile. A sight he held close to his heart, but not what he was hoping for. He ran his nails along the sides of his hair, scratching good and hard. Usopp huffed through his nose. Following the thread, Sanji put his fingers behind Usopp’s ear and scratched again; this time he had to rush to catch Usopp before he hit Sanji’s chest.

“Falling asleep?” Sanji asked with a laugh.

“Mmmno,” Usopp said, voice slow and drawn out. He tilted his ear towards Sanji and Sanji could see both his eyes were closed. “Keep going?”

Ah, maybe a dog would’ve been a better comparison. Sanji could almost imagine a little tail wagging against the floor. “‘Course. Can’t leave a job half done.” He grabbed a little more shampoo and got back to it, being sure to keep one hand right where Usopp wanted it.

To Sanji’s delight, Usopp sighed far deeper than before and pratically melted into his lap with hardly a thought; his arms lay limp over Sanji’s thighs and the back of his head pressed into Sanji’s stomach. The poor guy must’ve been tired from doing repairs on Merry earlier if all it took was a little head scratch or two to have him fighting sleep like that. Maybe Sanji should rinse off the shampoo and usher him off to bed—

Usopp sighed again, the sound closer to a pleased moan.

Well, this was benefitting both of them, really, so Sanji couldn’t just stop out of the blue. He had to be thorough in helping Usopp—he offered, afterall, and it’d be rude not to see it through. 

Usopp slid down a bit more, head turning to rest on Sanji’s thigh as Sanji scratched behind the other ear. His movement jostled the towel over his shoulder and it slipped to the ground.

Sanji noted it, absentmindedly, and glanced at the newly exposed part of Usopp’s chest without a second thought.

His hands stilled.

“Mmm? Why’d you stop?” Usopp asked. Sanji hardly heard him over the roaring in his ears. “Sanji?”

Blue waves. A chef’s hat. A distinct pattern of spirals. All encased in a small glass bottle.

There was a sharp inhale and suddenly the warmth across his thighs and stomach were gone.

Usopp stuttered some excuse as he left. Sanji was frozen, his eyes glued to the spot where his matching soulmark stared back at him.

His matching soulmark.

His matching soulmark.

And Usopp hadn’t said a word.

He sat there, covered in shampoo suds and wondering where he went wrong.

#one piece #sanji #usopp #sanuso #soulmate au #opfwex #opfwex2024 #opexchange #nemo the writing ho #this fic was so damn hard to keep quiet about #the other one too but this one Especially

[creative-caramel-coffee]

The Bear || Chapter 2

Pairings: Wanda x R || avengers (platonic) x R

Word count: 3K

TW: swearing, violence, hangover, injury, fainting (more like getting knocked out but ok), implied trauma, vomiting, medical inaccuracies (maybe maybe not), concussion (+ adjoining symptoms)

Summary: You join your uncle tony in the avengers, it wasn’t your original plan but you never planned for your powers either so here you are. Now your at the avengers tower and falling for the girl of your dreams. With a haunting past and interesting abilities can you navigate your way through the challenges of being a hero? After a mission gone wrong and a cruel twist of fate the team starts digging for answers. Can tony keep them from finding out the truth?

PART 1 || PART 2 || PART 3 || PART 4 || PART 5 || PART 6 || PART 7

A/n so far i have four chapters planned out for this series so i hope you guys like it lol

The next morning when you woke you were grateful for nat making sure you hadn’t made a complete fool of yourself. Your splitting headache subsided slightly with the pain medicine and still in your pjs you slipped on your fluffy triceratops slippers and shuffled out into the kitchen. Wanda’s breath caught in her throat when she saw you. You were so cute with your bed head and pj’s with the cutest slippers she had ever seen.

“Ahh theres the party animal.” Tony said slapping you on the back.

“Too loud.” You groaned “need coffee.” After nudging tony away nat pressed a warm mug of coffee into your hands.

“Im not sure how how you like it but its better than nothing.”

You took a sip humming at the taste as your shoulder slumped in satisfaction. “Perfect nat thank you.” You said shuffling over to the table and sitting next to Wanda.

“It’s Clint’s morning to cook so we’re having pancakes. I hope thats ok.” Nat said sitting on your other side.

“Sounds perfect.” You grinned.

“You obviously don’t know Clint very well then.” Nat teased and laughed when she felt a burnt pancake hit her in the back of the head thanks to Clint.

“Shuddup” he huffed and went back to cooking pancakes.

About half an hour later the team was sat munching on the pancakes Wanda had cooked after Clint nearly set the tea towel on fire trying to fan the pancakes which were also on fire.

“Damn these are really good thanks Clint.” You teased and Wanda rolled her eyes zapping you with a small flick of red magic. You burst out laughing and nearly choked on the pancakes but nat started smacking your back hard enough that you stopped. She handed you some water and you shot her a grateful look as you took small sips.

You were about to make another comment when Jarvis piped up.

“Ms Maximoff, Ms Romanoff and Ms L/n director fury is requesting your presence in the meeting room.” Jarvis said and you groaned in sync with Wanda as nat stood up.

“Duty calls.” Nat winked and dragged you and Wanda out of the kitchen.

It was a simple mission really. Nothing you hadn’t done before with tony before … well … before everything. So far nobody had seemed to question your ability to fight like a pro or the way you naturally seemed to have all the experience to match some of the older team members like Natasha or Steve even. But they had just assumed tony had trained you or more likely paid someone else to train you. They could not have been more wrong. But you preferred it that way.

You threw a few things in a bag before stripping down and changing into your new suit tony had designed. By spinning your ring on your left pointer finger left then right then left again the suit appeared starting at your finger tips and then melded over the rest of your body. It was red and black. Kind of like peters suit but the mask was a skull mask. You weren’t ready for the world to know who you were and you had valid reasons for it. Throwing a few knives onto your belt and a gun on your waist you stepped onto the jet a few minutes before Wanda. Wanda did a double take at your outfit. She had to admit you looked pretty badass. Black combat boots, your mask, your suit and an old tactical jacket with the logo ripped off the sleeve and chest made you look awesome.

As you stepped off the jet you walked up to Wanda deciding to take a chance and get some adrenaline running. You whispered in here ear your lips almost touching her neck. “I love the outfit, but I’d love it more on the floor of my room later tonight.” With that you went on your tiptoes and kissed her cheek. Wanda flushed, the two of you had been flirting for a while but nothing so outright as of yet. Until now. Wanda couldn’t wait until the mission was over. Carefully she tried to retrain her mind trying to focus on the mission.

The mission was going well, good even. Nat had taken the floor above and Wanda the floor below. You were in the middle. Te hydra base was nearly empty on a skeleton crew. Things were going too well and you knew your luck would run out soon. Rounding the corner and walking down a long hallway you stopped and pressed against the wall hearing voices in the room beyond the door.

“Nat” you whispered into the earpiece. “I’ve got company.”

“Ok I’m coming, Wanda meet me at y/n’s location. Do not engage until we get there.”

Your luck however had finally run out as the door opened and the men saw you.

“Shit” you swore and pulled out your gun. Dodging the bullets and taking out the guards was second nature although you were a bit rusty. Once most of the men had fallen or run you entered the room cautiously. When suddenly a guard appeared from nowhere and punched you in the face. Your mask cracked and fell to the floor. Your cheek bled from where it had cut you. Quickly you took the man down. After taking a minute to breathe you heard a slow clap. Your body stilled, swivelling on your heals you pulled you gun on the man and froze. It was him. The man who had haunted every night terror you had since you escaped. Your blood ran cold. Ice stilled in your veins and you were afraid your heart would stop beating. Hell it felt like it had. Your breathing stuttered and you didn’t register Wanda and Natasha arriving still frozen in place.

“Guards.” The man said and before any of you could react a burly man threw you into the wall. Your head collided with a sickening crack and you fell slumped on the floor, back still against the wall, out cold. “Y/N!” Nat yelled and ran over to you while Wanda jumped into action and fought off the two men who escaped.

Nat held you close to her in her lap and check you over. She knew you would have a nasty concussion and a hell of a headache when you woke up. But what concerned her most was that you froze. She had never seen you so afraid before. And it puzzled her why this seemingly random hydra scientist had such an impact on you.

“Wanda can you cover us?” Nat said into coms “we need to get her out of here she’s out cold.” Nat said and Wanda agreed.

Careful not to jostle your head nat scooped you up and carried you bridal style in her arms out the room. Carefully she jogged slowly making sure the action wasn’t moving your head too much until you could be properly assessed by Bruce back at the compound. Wanda stayed close behind making sure to cover the three of you and taking out any of the guards along the way. Nat had actually just gotten what they came for moments before you ran into trouble so at least the mission was a success in some senses.

When the three of you finally reached the jet Wanda carefully took you from Nat’s arms who gave a tight nod before going to pilot the jet. She would be back once they were up in the sky and she could put Jarvis in control.

Wanda laid you down on the floor with your head in her lap. The jet didn’t really have anywhere else for you to lie down so the floor was the best option. She carefully stroked the hair from your eyes and inspected the cut on your cheek. It wasn’t deep but it was bleeding. Reaching for the first aid kit without standing up she used her magic to bring it over. Carefully she cleaned the cut with some anti sceptic before putting on a plaster to keep it clean. And because you wouldn’t know any better she pressed a small kiss to the bandaid and stared lovingly down at you. Sure she was worried you hadn’t woken up yet but you looked so peaceful lying there. Carefully she checked your pulse and was glad to feel it strong adjacent her finger tips. She hummed and went back to running her hands through your hair. She paused momentarily as your eyes fluttered but stayed shut. Carefully you opened them winced and then closed them again.

“Don’t stop” you murmured and Wanda smiled softly before running her hands through your locks again. “‘S too bright” you mumbled and used your arm to cover your face. Wanda carefully pulled your arm away.

“No none of that. You need to be carefully y/n/n you probably have a nasty concussion and we need to get you to Bruce before you start touching your head.” She said and pulled you closer to her front as you were now fully curled up in her lap. Tears pricked your eyes as the headache hit you in full swing.

“Aww bubs come here.” She said hating to see you in pain. she pulled you closer again and you hummed into her stomach as she still was carefully stabilising your head. Wanda giggled slightly at the vibrations on her skin and hummed in content. Soon after Natasha returned and sat beside Wanda.

“You two look comfy.” She smiled.

“Shhh too loud.” You whimpered and both girls hearts broke for you. Nat hadn’t been speaking loud at all you simply had one of the worst headaches you had ever felt in your life. You buried your face into Wanda’s stomach again and missed the concerned looks the girls exchanged before looking back at you. They smiled slightly at the soft snores they heard coming from you a few moments later.

“Should we wake her up?” Wanda asked concerned

“No she probably needs all the rest she can get its a long flight home anyway. Also here take this you never know if she’ll need it.” Nat said handing Wanda a plastic sick bag.

“She might be sick?” Wanda asked raising a brow and badly hiding her concern. Nat simply shrugged.

“It can happen with bad concussions so its better to be ready than be covered in it.” She said masking her own worry better than Wanda could.

You slept for a few hours before you felt the plane start to descend. Without opening your eyes you felt yourself being lifted from the floor and the warm tingling of Wanda’s magic surround your head as she carried you inside keeping your head stable with her magic. You turned you face into her chest and she chuckled slightly.

“You sure are cuddly aren’t you.” She said smiling softly and you simply gave a sleepy hum of agreement.

“Come on cuddle bunny lets get you to Bruce baby girl” she said mind running back to the way you had kissed her on the jet before the mission. She wanted more but knew you needed help first. She would ask you to be her girlfriend later your head was more important right now anyways.

Nat’s silent footsteps followed Wanda as the three of you headed towards the med bay, nat had alerted Bruce already that you were coming. They were almost in the clear, nat still had the sick-bag in her hand as you stepping into the lift. However your stomach and head did not like the jolt as the lift began to move and nat noticed your face pale as the nausea peaked.

“Y/n/n? Are you ok?” She said carefully. You shook your head as a spike of pain hit and a slight green tinge took your skin.

“Gimme that.” Wanda said urgently as she used her magic to put the sick bag under your chin. Because she didn’t have any hands free nat quickly went to help Wanda. Guiding the sickbag to your chin and holding it there with her nimble fingers. A second later you threw up into the plastic sick bag and sobbed slightly as it made the pain in your head worse.

“Shhh shh shh” Wanda shushed whispering encouragement and sweet nothings in your ear as you heaved again. Nat frowned at you feeling bad you were sick and she couldn’t help. Nat held the hair from your face as you finished and went limp in Wanda’s arms. Body no longer tense as you stopped throwing up. Nat brushed the hair from your face and e your eyes fluttered they knew you were awake ad hadn’t passed out again, you were simply exhausted.

“Are you done y/n/n? Not got any more?” Nat said carefully

You weakly hummed a no snuggling further into Wanda’s chest. Nat took the bag away deciding to believe you. She wasn’t grossed out she and Wanda had seen much worse. She tied off the bag and as the lift opened the two of them stepped out, you still in Wanda’s arms as nat went to find Bruce and discard of the bag.

Wanda went to set you down on the bed, freezing when you began to whine as she was concerned she had hurt you.

“Y/n?” She said sounding alarmed, if you were sick again she didn’t have anything else to give you. “Whats wrong sweetheart?” She asked carefully.

“Stay” you said in a small voice as you tugged the collar of her shirt. She was pleasantly surprised and sat on the medical bed with you laid on-top of her. A moment later nat and Bruce arrive and nat raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything but Wanda’s cheeks heat regardless. Bruce hurries to your side gently positioning you so he could see your face and he began to feel the back of your head. After hearing you were thrown into a wall he wanted to first check the site to make sure there was no bleeding.

Satisfied there was just a large bump he laid you against Wanda again. Wanda hummed and noticed nat was holding another sick bag, she raised a brow at her and nat mouthed ‘just in case’. Wanda nodded and drew circles on your back and Bruce shone a light in your eyes to check the pupils reaction. After a few more tests and a scan, Bruce determined that you had a bad concussion which made nat scoff as she predicted it from the start.

He said you were free to go back to your room but to stay away from screens, bright lights, loud sounds and to rest for a bit. He then turned to nat and Wanda and told them they would need to monitor you just in case due to the severity of the concussion. Bruce said that if you got worse or they grew concerned to check in with him and if needed bring you back to a reevaluation. He rattled off a short but concerning list of possible symptoms to expect but reiterated concussions were different case by case. He handed nat a couple more sick bags before discharging you with some pain medicine. Wanda sighed as she realised you still weren’t going to let go. She stood with you in her arms still. Its not that she didn’t want to spend time with you but she did simply want a shower. This time the lift didn’t seem to set you off but nat was ready regardless. As Wanda walked into the room you were glad you had put your drawings of her and nat away before you left. Your sketchbook was on the bedside table along with your pencil-case of essential supplies. You clung to Wanda who sat on your bed.

“You take a shower I’ll take the first shift.” Nat said peeling you out of Wanda’s arms and taking her place on the bed.

You nuzzled into her still only half understanding what was going on.

“Thank you i wont be long.” Wanda said shooting nat a grateful look as she headed for the door.

“Take as long as you need we’re gonna have our hands full with this one.” She said jabbing a thumb at you while you began to snore softly in her arms. Wanda held back her desire to coo at your cute form, instead she settled for a shower and slipped out the door.

You barely remember nat feeding you the pain medicine but you do remember it tasted like burnt cardboard and paint. As an artsiest you had eaten your fair share of paint, accidentally of course. Painting before lunch and then it getting in your food. Only small amounts though nothing harmful.

Wanda returned a while later and swapped spots with nat who carefully handed you to her and by some small miracle you stayed asleep. Wanda prayed you would stay that way until nat returned from her shower, she knew how to care for people and despite being experienced she felt out of her depth with you, she didn’t want to make a mistake and hurt you in anyway. But she knew she wouldn’t.

MASTERLIST

#marvel #the avengers #wanda maximoff #wandanat #natasha romanov #sicfic #wanda marvel #natasha romaoff #wandanat comfort #wandanat x reader #the bear series #mcu #reader #y/n #concussion #i forgot to tag this when i posted it lol #shapeshifting #teleporting #powers #enhanced reader #wandanat x r #wandanat x y/n #avengers #avengers compound #set when they are all alive #nat is alive #no splattasha #medical stuff #injury #illness

[alliddewrites]

FAVORITE

Chapter 1:

Extravaganza

Revenant x Legend!Reader

Content disclaimer:

Not completely canon compliant,

Takes place a bit after season 9,

Mention of murder,

Mention of guns,

Gender neutral reader

Summary: You join the Apex Games, but before you can actually begin, you have to go through all the extravaganza.

Word count: 2218

Masterlist

The Apex Games…

Out of dozens and dozens of competitors, you came out on top.

It was honestly unbelievable.

The sheer anxiety and excitement throughout the match. Except this time, the stakes were even higher. It was the last competition you needed to win to qualify to be a Legend.

To be a Legend... Your biggest dream. You have been working towards this goal for quite awhile now.

Of course, the road was rocky. It had its ups and downs, but you're finally at your destination.

You can have it all now! The fame! The money! The recognition you've always wanted!

The recognition…

The recognition!!

How could you forget about the upcoming interview?? Every winner gets interviewed after their matches!

All that adrenaline must've blocked out some important information in your brain…

The match only finished a couple of hours ago, and now you've already got to go somewhere else.

Man, this is going to be extremely tiring…

What are they even going to ask?

How personal are they going to get?

Do you have to wear your competing outfit? Or can you just wear anything?

Why didn't anyone inform you about these things??

'You're going to get interviewed.' Yeah? And what else? They said where and when, but not much else.

God… Guess you'll have to improvise!

Forge wore a suit in his interview. The one that went wrong…

You'll have to dress fancy too then!

Make it elegant, but not too over the top.

You got this!

You got this.

——————————

Okay, maybe you don't got this.

All the cameras and the lights in this relatively empty room are extremely anxiety inducing.

The banners of you in your fighting outfit are pretty flattering, but being in the spotlight right in front of them is not the most calming thing you could be doing right now.

At least the photographers notified you to stay in your armor for the photoshoot…

They also cleaned you up after the match.

Wouldn't want a competitor in a blood sport to be bloody in the advertisements now, would we?

"Starting in 5 minutes! I repeat, we're starting in 5 minutes! Everyone to their places, check your equipment again to make sure everything works properly!" yelled the director. Every single staff member hurried to their places.

Huh, he commands the room well.

As you stand on the side awkwardly, the interviewer walks up to you and asks to go and sit down in the chairs located on the stage.

"Very nice to meet you, I'm Lisa Stone.

Some staff members are going to come up here in a second to put a microphone on you, so relax and get comfortable . You don't have anything to worry about"

Well, Forge didn't have anything to worry about in the beginning either… You wonder how Ms. Stone got over that incident. Probably required a whole lot of therapy. Poor woman.

"O-Oh thank you! Nice to meet you too." you replied, trying to look as relaxed as possible. It wasn't very convincing…

You both took your respective seats.

While 2 members of staff started putting hidden microphones on you and Ms. Stone, she picked up a stack of papers and looked through them.

The interview questions.

"One minute left! Everyone better be ready, no mistakes, this is going to be live!"

No mistakes. Don't mess up.

Be as level headed and polite as possible. Can't mess this up, if you do, no one will take you seriously.

It can't go worse than Forge's interview though, right…? I mean, it was a literal assassination… by the coolest robot to ever exist!

Okay maybe phrasing it like that is wrong, but it's true-!

"Are you ready to get started?" Mr. Stone inquired, interrupting your inner rambling.

"Oh! Y-Yes, I am." came your hesitant reply.

This is going to go great…

"Good. I know this can be hard on some people but there's no need to worry." she smiled reassuringly.

At least she's not actively working towards making your situation worse, you can appreciate that.

"Starting! In 5!"

The lights dimmed.

"4!"

Well, this is really happening.

"3!"

Ms. Stone faced the main camera, you followed.

"2!"

Goodbye last shred of confidence!

"1! ACTION!"

The lights slowly came back on.

"We're sitting here tonight with our latest Legend to join the Apex Games; (Y/N) (L/N). It's great to have you here." Ms. Stone began, turning towards you during the last part.

"Thank you! The pleasure is all mine." you answered, trying your best to seem less nervous.

"So, now that you're finally here, how does it feel to have accomplished such a big feat?" she questioned.

"To be honest with you, tiring, extremely tiring."

you exclaimed, Ms. Stone giving a short giggle to your response.

"But it feels great. Surreal even! Accomplishing one of my greatest dreams, one I've been working towards for so long, is still pretty hard to believe." you chuckled lightly.

"I can imagine. It must've been pretty hard having have had to train every day for multiple competitions.

Was it nerve-racking to have your very last match be a solo match?" she responded.

"It did amp up the anxiety for that match, yes. But I'm glad the last qualifier is played without teammates. I, and many others, will then know whether I'm actually good enough to proceed or not." you say, gaining a bit of confidence back. Maybe this whole interview thing isn't going to be so bad after all.

Mr. Stone looked at you, surprised.

"I haven't heard anyone say they preferred the solo matches for the finals before. Interesting." she noted. There was a short pause while she looked down to check her papers.

"Next question… 'Why did you decide to join the games'?" came her scripted inquiry.

"I don't like getting too personal on TV, but one of the reasons was that I like guns a lot. I love to go to firing ranges to try out various kinds of firearms. I don't own any personally, but I'm very much interested in them." you answered.

You really didn't want to get into your private life and past too much…

"Another reason is that I like strategy games and working in small teams. Something like the Apex Games seemed like the perfect combination of both!" you added right after.

Ms. Stone looked at you quizzically. She probably didn't expect an answer like that.

"What an interesting motive. So the reason is 'just for fun'? No deeper meaning there?" she tried to dig deeper, genuine curiosity appearing on her face.

"Nope! Just wanted something big I can achieve that I'll also enjoy."

You know that one is a lie.

"Curious… Let's do something more fun then:

'If you were to pick a favorite, out of the current roster of Legends, who would it be'?" she looked at you, once again, very interested.

You heard somewhere that this was one of her favorite questions to ask, but even then, somehow you didn't think this far…

"Well, this will sound very weird, because most people wouldn't choose him as a favorite… but um-" you take a long pause, palms becoming slightly sweaty.

You look away from her, not wanting to see her reaction to that answer.

It was indeed a very unique choice to have as one's most liked Legend.

"It's… um… Revenant…"

.

.

.

You swallowed, your mouth and throat feeling dry.

You've never heard a quieter silence before. Not a single person was making a sound, even the director was staring in shock.

Some people were looking around awkwardly, some were staring right at Ms. Stone and you. Eyes darting back and forth.

Ms. Stone stared at you, absolutely appalled, mouth slightly open. Her reaction was perfectly understandable.

Having seen that same simulacrum murder a Legend right in front of her…

You cannot blame her.

"P-Pardon?" she gives a nervous laugh. "Did I hear that right? Re-Revenant? The simulacrum?" she asks to confirm, tone uncertain.

You nod your head slightly, still not looking at her. Well you made this situation indescribably awkward.

You should've lied about this one thing; could've said Mirage or Pathfinder, or even Loba! But no! You had to tell the truth!

Ms. Stone cleared her throat. "We-Well, that's certainly… an… i-interesting choice. Um… May I ask why… him…?" her voice was shaky, having been reminded of what she has witnessed before, right in front of her.

You take a deep breath. You really need to think about this, you can't just compliment him all you want, he's still a murderer.

Be smart. Be empathetic, she got traumatized by him, you need to choose your words right.

"Umm… I'll be honest-" everyone takes a deep breath, "-it's, um… mostly because he… uh… h-he's cool…?" you say, drawing out the last two words.

The sentence sounded just as uncertain as you.

The staff kept staring at you, now solely focused on you.

"Ahaaa… and there's no other reason, at all?" she kept prying, suspicions still clearly present.

"Yeeaah… He just… does things so efficiently, e-even if they're horrible. He was designed so well…" you say back, trying to calm her down, if even just a little. You really do not want her, and all of the Outlands by extension, to hate you.

Ms. Stone kept staring at her pages, not reading any of the sentences written there. "Mhmm… He's efficient alright…" came a quiet murmur from her.

She finally turned back towards me.

"Now, people can have their preferences, within the law of course.

I'm relieved you don't agree with what he does, even though he's your favorite." she pipes up after a brief silence, still not sounding 100% sure about this.

Ms. Stone turned towards the main camera.

"Well that's all for today's interview. Thank you so much (Y/N), once again, for coming. We're happy to have another Legend join the games." she briefly takes a glance at you.

"We'll be back with the next championship's winners real soon. Stay tuned." she finishes up, completely professional.

As the live stream ends, everyone seems to sigh at the same time. This must've been one of the worst interviews they've witnessed throughout their careers. Oops.

Note to self: don't get into weird and awkward situations next time by choosing the worst option. You really don't need to ruin your reputation before even starting in the Apex Games…

If it isn't already too late for that…

——————————

After the whole debacle, you had to meet with your new manager. He was a kind dude, avoided the topic of your recent mess up so he doesn't embarrass you further with it.

He explained everything that needed to be known before your first game; where you'll be staying from now on, training routines, schedules, gear, sponsors, how the seasons work, etc.

You also had to sort out some more paperwork before everything became completely official. You wrote your name so many times, it was unbelievable. You're pretty sure you haven't written it this many times while you were learning to write when you were just a kid!

This whole day has been extremely tiring… By the time you got home it had been late at night and you were ready to pass out and never see the world ever again.

Your new apartment welcomed you with open arms. The bed looked oh so enticing in the bedroom, but before you could get in it to finally be sent to the dream world, you had to unpack your things.

You got the biggest walk-in closet you've ever seen, to load your clothes into. The shiniest bathroom you've been in, to set your hygiene products up in.

It really does pay to be a Legend, huh? And you haven't even had your first match as one yet!

After you finished putting everything away, you went back to the bathroom to get ready for a shower.

It's astounding how high up the apartment is, the large floor to ceiling windows give a great view of the world below. The gorgeous starry sky mixed with the beautiful lights below, made for a sight to behold.

After you finished admiring the new perspective you got thanks to your new living space, you got into the shower to wash off all the dirt and stress you've acquired today. Finishing your shower, you got out of the steam filled cabin, dried yourself off with a nice fluffy towel and got dressed in your nightwear. Before going to bed however, you didn't forget to wash your teeth.

Throughout your nightly routine, you started to feel more and more relaxed, becoming less and less aware of your surroundings. All you were focused on was finally getting to sleep.

At last, you got into bed, covered yourself in the enormous blankets that laid on the mattress beforehand.

Looking around your room, you thought about how you were going to decorate the place in the future. In its current state, it all looked very generic, something straight out of a display in a furniture store.

It didn't take long for you to enter dreamland after a couple of ideas that slowly made their way through your head.

.

.

.

What you didn't notice before that, however, were the pair of seemingly floating, glowing eyes watching through your windows with clear interest…

#my writing #reader insert #x reader #revenant x reader #x gender neutral reader #apex legends fanfic #apex fanfic #apex legends revenant #apex legends #revenant #gender neutral reader