#phones that slide open instead of flip were a huge deal

[gayvampyr]

being older gen z borderline millennial is like. i remember when everyone wanted a blackberry and then the first touchscreen phone came out and it was a Big Deal, and before long owning one was the norm. i remember when movies were all on VHS and then DVDs gradually replaced them (which was met with frustration because VHS players stopped being made and we couldn’t watch our movies anymore without buying them again), and people were renting them from family video until they eventually fell out of use in favor of streaming services. i remember when there were only a couple queer kids at school who were Out and queerness was still heavily discouraged and gay marriage was illegal, and then toward the second half of high school most of my friend group had become openly queer. i remember when the height of school technology was the promethean boards they installed for a short period in middle school and the only access to technology we had was the box computers in the library and school-issued laptops werent a thing, until 8th grade when everyone got one. i remember when tvs were gigantic and the first flat screen tv came out before it was a common household item. i feel like my generation is one on its own, in the short time between 1998 and mid-2003 because we were young enough to witness the transition and old enough to have made core memories in the time before it. and idk. i guess i sorta feel lucky in that sense.

#our generation is a state of transience #phones that slide open instead of flip were a huge deal #flat desktop keyboards did not exist #if you were gonna type you were gonna hear every clickety clack of the keys

[heyitssmiller]

Clandestine: Chapter Eleven

I... about 75% of this chapter was not in the outline, and I don’t really know what to do about that fact. This completely ran away from me, but that’s ok I guess.

Characters, as always, belong to the amazing @lumosinlove and a huge thanks again to @donttouchmycarrots for proofreading!! <3

Clandestine Masterlist

CW: hospitals, injury, brief mention of blood, medical drugs

.

Leo slept. A lot.

Logan knew this was normal; their nurse had reiterated it a few times now. When he did wake up, it was only for a few dazed, confused minutes before he was pulled back under again. The confusion ebbed the more time went on, the effects of anesthesia wearing off, but the dull sheen to his eyes remained. He could fight his way through a brief conversation with him or Finn, and then he was back to sleep. It was probably for the best, Logan told himself. Better than dealing with their present situation, at least.

Finn was curled up uncomfortably in the chair beside him, also sleeping. He normally looked peaceful when he was asleep – lips slightly parted, face relaxed, on his side or stomach with one hand usually shoved under his pillow. After about a week of sharing a hotel room and a bed, Logan knew these things. It wasn’t the same now. Granted, he was in a chair instead of a bed, but still. He was curled up somewhat in a ball, with the leg in a brace stretched out and immobile – an awkward position that almost made him look like a flamingo balancing on one leg. His shoulders were tense, even in sleep, and his jaw was clenched tight. A worry line was furrowed between his eyebrows, steadfastly refusing to smooth out. Logan brushed his knuckles faintly against the bruise on his cheek, plum against porcelain, and sighed. He knew he should be doing the same thing – sleeping, that is – but every time he closed his eyes… well. It wasn’t pretty. Besides, someone needed to keep an eye out. There was only so long the nurse could delay the GSW report.

It was only a matter of time before they were on the run again.

Regulus drifted in and out on occasion, checking in on them. He seemed to be on guard, constantly walking the perimeter of the hospital and keeping an eye out for familiar faces. It put Logan on edge and calmed him down at the simultaneously. He didn’t trust Regulus, not really, but he figured if he was going to sabotage them he would’ve done so already. He’d had ample opportunity, after all.

Logan glanced at the clock. They’d been here for just shy of twenty-four hours now. The sun was starting to rise again, not bringing any answers with it. Loops had been in contact, briefly. They’d received one text message that simply said “stay put” and radio silence after that. He just hoped they had a good plan. Even better if it was safe, too, but Logan wasn’t about to push their luck… if you could even call it that.

For now, this was ok. They were together, they were alive, and they were relatively safe, for now. In that moment, listening to the steady beeps of a monitor and muffled conversations of people in the hallway outside their door and the even breathing of his partners, he couldn’t ask for much more.

***

Nate saw the scowling, intimidating group of people in the lobby and knew they were in trouble.

He had just started today’s shift, still tired from the one the day before, and was in the process of saying his usual hello to the staff working the front desk when he saw them. There were three of them – at least two of which were over six feet tall, looming and muscular and intense. One had a scar traversing down one side of his face, healed but still a beacon that screamed “don’t mess with me”. The short, scary one was right.

He’d submitted the GSW report about ten minutes ago, and here they were.

Fuck.

Nate didn’t even say goodbye to the sweet lady working the desk that day, he just backed away slowly and tried to appear normal as he pushed past the doors. As soon as they closed he broke into a run, headed straight for room 308 and stopping by the nurse’s station for a split second to grab two prescriptions before he was off again. He was almost there when he crashed into someone as he rounded a corner, only avoiding hitting the ground by two arms that snaked out to steady him. He looked up to gray eyes and a vaguely familiar face.

“Sorry.” The guy said and let go of him, frowning when he saw what was no doubt a look of panic on Nate’s face. “You ok?”

He remembered this guy now. He was with the scary short guy and the other two. He wasn’t around much, but Nate had seen him a few times when he’d been making his rounds.

“They’re here.” He blurted, hoping that he didn’t need so say anymore.

He didn’t. in the blink of an eye he was leading the way to room 308 and throwing the door open, which Nate didn’t think was the best idea. He didn’t know what these people did for a living, but it was clearly dangerous. Barging in like that probably wasn’t a good move.

Sure enough, when Nate followed Gray Eyes into the room, the short one was on his feet and had pulled a gun from somewhere, aiming it at the two of them. Gray Eyes stuck his arm out and kept Nate from going any further until Short Angry One recognized them.

Nate used to think this was a relatively safe career path. Sure he might get puked on, yelled at, mentally and emotionally eviscerated by doctors and patients and family members alike on a regular basis, but he’d never felt like his life was in danger.

Maybe he should go into accounting. Just him in an office with a bunch of numbers. Or a museum curator, surrounded by ancient artifacts and not much else. Definitely not people pointing guns at you.

Both the redhead and the blond woke up at the disturbance, one sitting up in a flash and the other just blinking sleepily and frowning in concern. Before anyone else could get a word in edgewise, Gray Eyes blurted out, “They’re here.”

The EKG readings on the monitor spiked, and then it was a flurry of motion. Short Angry One cursed under his breath and pulled Gray Eyes and Nate into the room fully, closing the door behind them. The redhead started throwing the few things they had into his pockets – a phone, some other electronic device Nate couldn’t identify, an old lock, a pen. He shoved his shoes on, unsteady on his feet, and looked to the blond, who was still in a hospital gown and watching with wide eyes. All the color that had been slowly returning to his cheeks was now gone.

Nate steeled his resolve. His job was to save lives, damnit, and that’s what he was going to do.

He jumped into action, pushing Gray Eyes out of the way and unhooking his patient from the monitors before discontinuing the IV drip and pulling the IV out, stopping the bleeding with quick pressure from his hand. “There’s an employee exit down the hall that leads to the parking garage. You guys know how to hotwire a car, by any chance? I’d offer you mine but I don’t have one.”

“I can.” Glaring down at his sling, the blond muttered, “Well. Maybe can is the wrong word.”

Nate let up on the pressure, shrugged his thin jacket off, and helped him slide his good arm through the sleeve, throwing the other side around his shoulder gently. It wouldn’t do much to help, but it was better than nothing. “Can you show someone else how to do it?”

“Maybe.” He said, moving to swing his legs over the edge of the bed and frowning when Nate stopped him. “I can walk.”

Nate smiled. Typical. “That’s what they all say. I’m going to grab a wheelchair, anyways. You’ll be faster that way.” He looked at the others in the room and continued. “I’ll lead you to the exit, but I’m afraid that’s as far as I can take you. I’ll try to find these guys and get them off your trail as best I can.”

He shoved the two prescriptions he was so glad he’d filled last night at Ginger, trying to ignore the way all of them seemed to be staring at him. “Instructions are on the labels. He needs to finish all the antibiotics. All of them.” He didn’t have time to stress the importance of preventing antibiotic resistance, but he hoped they would take his word for it. “Let me go get-”

The door opened again and they all swiveled towards it. Ginger stepped between the blond and the door while Short One raised his gun again – but he didn’t shoot. In fact he just stared for a second, then lowered his gun with a smile.

“Loops.” He said, relieved, and – what?

The three men Nate had seen earlier were ushered into the room, the tallest one slapping the brunet on the shoulder, causing him to stumble as he flipped the safety of his gun back on and stashed it in the waistline of his pants.

The one in the front with caramel colored eyes looked between their group, one eyebrow arched. “Going somewhere? I thought I told you to stay put.”

Ginger laughed incredulously, shoulders slumping. “Holy shit, Loops. We thought you were someone else.”

Gray Eyes looked at Nate, exasperation clear in his gaze. “You told me they were here.”

Nate threw his arms up in defense. “You look at those guys and tell me you wouldn’t be suspicious.” He winced and looked at the newcomers, realizing that his words might be offensive. “Sorry.”

Neither of them seemed to take it to heart. The tall one just grinned and said, in a heavily-accented voice, “We still got it, eh, Nado?”

The one with the scar – Nado, apparently – just rolled his eyes and didn’t comment, but Nate could see one side of his mouth lifting into a smile. It softened his face, made him look more like a teddy bear than the scary, intimidating guy he’d seen in the lobby.

“We’ve got a car out back.” The one called Loops said, looking to the blond with gentle, understanding eyes. “You good to go?”

He nodded firmly, no room for second-guessing. “Let’s do this.”

Now, Nate didn’t exactly think it was a good idea to move a GSW patient out of a hospital only a day after getting shot, but – judging by how the others had reacted at the thought of people coming for them – it was safer for him to leave than to stay here. His brain, after all those years of medical classes and caffeine/anxiety induced all-nighters, was screaming in horror about complications and sepsis and bone fragments, but he didn’t voice them. He just reached for a pen and paper in his pocket. He scribbled his number down and handed it to his patient. “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask, ok? I’d feel much better if you at least had a nurse with you, but this’ll have to do.”

He got a warm smile in response. “Thanks,” he said, voice and eyes serious. “For everything. Not many people would do what you did for us.”

Nate blinked. “I genuinely don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but thanks?” He still didn’t know who exactly he was helping, but then again, he guessed it didn’t really matter either way. They seemed like good people dealing with a shitty situation, and that was a good enough motive for him. “I’m going to grab that wheelchair quickly and I’ll be right back.”

He should’ve known that, by the time he got back, they’d already be gone – leaving no trace except for the disheveled sheets on the bed, two chairs next to it instead of the standard one, and the still humming machines and monitors.

Nate let himself slump against the wheelchair, forearms resting against the handles.

“What the fuck,” he said, with feeling.

***

Sirius was behind the steering wheel of a very old service van, watching six of them pile into the back and Loops slide into the passenger’s seat. His eyes didn’t stray long from Regulus, though. If he’d had enough time, he would’ve tackled his younger brother in a hug. Unfortunately, they were on a bit of a tight schedule. “Petition to never have to break someone out of a hospital again.” He said wryly, putting the van into drive and searching for the exit to the maze that was this parking garage. All the while, he was sneaking glances in the rearview mirror, unable to help himself.

“Where do I sign?” Finn deadpanned from the back row, sandwiched between Logan and Leo. They looked so tired. Leo didn’t hesitate to twist in his seat a little so that he could lean into Finn’s chest and close his eyes, looking absolutely miserable. Finn shifted just slightly, pressing a barely-perceptible kiss to a bird’s nest of curls and relaxing back into his seat.

Huh.

That was… new.

But then again, was it? Sirius thought back to the past several months of this operation and found that he really wasn’t that surprised. But then there was Logan…

“Turn left here.” Remus said, pulling him out of the thoughts, calm and in control like usual. His lips turned up into a smile as he flicked his turn signal on. He could see them doing exactly this, when all the chaos was said and done. Taking a roadtrip, Sirius behind the wheel and Remus navigating, going wherever they felt like. No worries or missions, just the two of them and the black top below them. He shelved the daydreaming for later.

“Where are we going?”

Sirius’ eyes flew back to the mirror at his brother’s voice – the first time he’d head it un-obscured by a phone or earpiece in too long. He’d missed him. He’d fought so hard for him, to get him out of that mess and keep him safe, and here he was. They’d done it.

Was he a horrible person, for feeling as relieved as he did? He’d inadvertently put the Cubs through hell for mostly selfish reasons. Sure, he wanted to take the Snakes down, but that paled in comparison to the safety of his brother. He’d let the Snakes walk away scot-free if it meant Reg was safe.

He didn’t know what kind of person that made him – he was too afraid to speculate about it.

“My family has a cabin about two hours away,” Remus replied, balancing his phone with the navigation app against the center console so that Sirius could see it. “It’s empty right now, so it’s a perfect hideout until we figure out next steps.”

Finn was asleep now, too, head pillowed on Leo’s. Logan stared sightlessly out the window beside them, stonily silent. Sirius ached for him. They were kindred spirits, he and Logan. Stubborn, fierce, bleeding hearts who cared too much and shouldered more than their fair share of the responsibility when things went wrong.

And things had really gone wrong.

“What are the next steps?” Reg asked as they left the city and headed towards the interstate. “This isn’t the only backup we’ve got, right?”

“Sleep,” Kuny told Regulus, not unkindly, “had big couple of days, yes? Plan later.”

Reg looked at the tall Russian sitting next to him for a second, then sighed and turned his gaze to the window.

Sirius drove on in silence.

Two hours and eighteen minutes later, he was pulling up on a gravel driveway to a quaint, two-story cabin. The jostling of the gravel under their tires seemed to wake everyone up, according to the grumbles and yawns Sirius could hear from behind him as he finally put the van in park. The doors opened and they were all climbing out of the van, stretching stiff muscles and groaning. The ones with bags in the trunk went to unload while Remus fished his keys out of his pocket and headed for the front door, bounding up the last two steps to the porch. He was equal parts glad and upset that they were here. He was grateful that the Cubs were safe now and that this cabin was so far off the grid that the Snakes wouldn’t find them. But bringing a bunch of coworkers to the place he went to escape work stuff… jeez. Not that he didn’t like his coworkers, but sometimes he needed a break from it all. Plus this place belonged to his family. Being here with anyone but them just felt wrong.

Remus opened the door, instantly on guard when he saw the kitchen light was on. Whoever was in there must’ve heard the door because Remus could hear the refrigerator door close, then loud footsteps headed towards them. His hand drifted to his gun and he cautiously flicked the safety off.

A head peeked out from the kitchen. All-too-familiar eyes widened excitedly. “Re?”

The safety quickly went back on. “Jules?”

He wasn’t supposed to be there. Their trip wasn’t for another week-

Remus’ younger brother beamed and launched himself towards him, leaping into Remus’ arms when he got close enough with an excited shout.

“What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t make it this trip!”

“What am I – what are you doing here?” Remus shot back, tensing up when he heard footsteps behind him. “Your trip is supposed to be next week!”

“School got cancelled because of all the snow.” Jules peered around Remus at the gathering group behind him. “Who are they?”

“Jules?” The familiar voice of their mother called from down the hall. “Who are you talking to, honey?”

Oh god, this was something straight out of Remus’ nightmares. How the fuck was he supposed to explain all this to his family? The rest of their agents were supposed to drive up here tomorrow with gear and supplies and weapons for their final stand against the Snakes. That… there was no way to explain that. At all.

Fuuuuuuck.

Hope Lupin stepped around the corner, startling when she saw the crowd on her doorstep. “Remus?”

“I’m so sorry, mom,” he blurted, the words coming out in an unfiltered rush. “I didn’t know you’d be up here or else I would’ve-”

“Oh, nonsense. We’re happy to have you and your… friends.” She said sweetly, voice raising into an almost-question at the end. Remus, flying blind, said the first thing that came to mind.

“They’re work friends. And there’s a few more coming tomorrow, if that’s ok.”

“What happened to him?” Jules interrupted, wide eyes trained on Leo, who smiled faintly.

“Shoulder surgery,” Leo said easily, taking Remus by surprise a little at how easily he responded with a textbook spy tactic: tell the truth, but only enough to not raise suspicion. He technically wasn’t lying, either. It was harder to get caught lying when you technically hadn’t.

It seemed like the rookie was no longer a rookie.

“It was recent, wasn’t it?” Hope asked, eyes sharp with observation as she ushered them all inside. When Leo looked at her a little distrustfully and both Logan and Finn stiffened beside him, she sent them all a soothing smile. “I’m a nurse, I can tell.”

“About a day and a half ago.” Leo let her lead them to a couch and sat down, answering Hope’s questions calmly now, seeming to know she could be trusted. When Remus looked around again, he noticed that Sirius and Regulus were both absent, no doubt having a much-needed talk. He was struck with a twinge of worry, but pushed it back. He shouldn’t interfere. They needed some time alone to sort through things. Sirius would talk to him about it if he felt like it. Nado and Kuny were trying to sneak their way into the kitchen, looking for whatever smelled so good in there. For spies, they weren’t very subtle.

“What kind of shoulder surgery?” Jules asked, trailing after their mom. “Re had one a few years ago, too!”

Remus winced and shot Leo an apologetic look for his over-inquisitive brother. “Not quite the same, Jules.”

“All he does is sleep now,” Finn said teasingly as he took a step back and stretched out his leg with only a slight wince. “My jacket has drool all over it from the car ride here.”

Leo shot Finn an unheated glare as he sat up and opened his mouth to shoot back a reply when all of a sudden he went pale as a sheet, eyes dazed. Everyone in the room froze, looking at him nervously.

Finn was kneeling in front of him in a flash, Logan already holding his hand too tightly from his spot beside him. “Leo?”

The blond squeezed his eyes shut and leaned into Logan heavily. “Hurts,” he managed to grit out while Logan wrapped an arm around his waist and held him close, combing his fingers through a riotous mess of curls. He locked gazes with Finn and saw a different kind of pain from Leo’s, but identical to Logan’s, reflected there as he watched helplessly.

Maybe they should’ve accepted the risks and stayed at the hospital. They’d be sitting ducks there, but at least it wouldn’t be this. Logan would take the uncomfortable chairs and the nurse who talked too much and the stress over the heavy weight pressed against him, the shaky, too-measured breaths, the soulful brown eyes that matched his own.

It felt like all the decisions he’d been making recently were the wrong ones. It would be nice to not put his partners through pain because of his poor decisions for once.

Hope was by their side then, holding out a glass of water and two pills. Logan hadn’t even noticed Finn set the prescriptions down on the entryway table. “I think it’s time to take these now.” Leo refused to move from his current spot, but he took the pills and followed them with a quick drink of water. A muffled “thank you” was murmured into the material of Logan’s shirt, quiet and a little tense.

Hope just smiled sympathetically. “You’re probably going to get really sleepy in the next thirty minutes or so,” she continued, giving the three of them a look. Like she knew something. “So if there’s any conversations that can’t wait until the morning…”

Loops came by his eerie observation skills naturally, it seemed.

Logan looked to Remus and the others, hoping that all the planning could wait until the morning. They were exhausted. Surely they’d be ok without them for a few hours.

“Go get some rest,” Loops said gently, motioning down the hallway. “There’s a guest bedroom down there, second door on the left. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Finn made a beeline for the bathroom as soon as they reached the bedroom, muttering about how he’d needed to use the restroom since they’d all piled into the van. Leo toed off his shoes while Logan hovered, unsure if he should offer to help or not, his heart still in his throat. Leo just sent him a weary, affectionate smile. It tugged viciously at Logan’s heart and made him want to pull his partner close and not let go. Ever.

“I’m ok, sweetheart.”

He could’ve cried at the relief of hearing that nickname again. “You sure?” He asked, just to be safe.

Leo’s face was inscrutable as he cautiously sat down on the bed. “If I keep telling myself that… eventually I’ll start to believe it, right?”

Logan didn’t have an answer to that, not at first. But he remembered the feeling from after missions that had gone belly-up, the few that he wasn’t sure he was going to make it out of. The disbelief that somehow, after all of that, he was still alive and ok. It felt like trying to find his way through a snowstorm when all he could see was blinding, overwhelming white.

He wasn’t about to let Leo navigate that without a guide.

He sat down next to Leo and grabbed his hand, moving down to the pulse-point at his wrist and feeling tendons flex and shift under his fingertips. It beat, steady and strong, when he pressed down lightly. He knew Leo could feel it, too.

“You’re here.” Logan said simply. It was a tactic he used on bad days, when everything got to be too much. That little pulse, a sign of life and resilience. The two of them shared that now, that resilience and refusal to die that flowed through their veins.

Leo stared at him, eyes so soft and a hue that Logan wanted to engrave into his memory. “Logan,” he said quietly, right as Finn flung the bathroom door open again. His mouth was in the process of opening to tell a joke when he saw the two of them and snapped it shut again with an audible click, unsure of what to do next.

Leo shared a look with Logan and a conversation passed between the two, silent but apparently crystal clear. Finn couldn’t quite tell if it was excitement or anxiety dancing in his stomach, but either way he wasn’t sure he liked the sensation.

He had a feeling he knew what was coming. They’d been tip-toeing around this conversation for too long now, and they’d finally reached the tipping point. However this conversation went, he knew their relationship would never be the same, and that scared him. There was comfort in things known and familiar, after all.

This felt like hanging out of a perfectly-good plane and not knowing if the parachute strapped to his back was going to work or not.

But everyone who took the jump said it was worth it, in the end. Finn desperately hoped they were right.

“I think we should talk.” Logan said quietly, patting the open spot on the bed next to him. The dreaded words. No one ever wanted to hear those words.

Finn made his way towards them, too afraid to make eye contact, and sat down gingerly. Feet firmly planted on the floor, one hand braced on the bed, tense and ready to get up and take flight if he felt like he needed to. “We’re finally going to have this conversation, huh?” he asked with a fake laugh that fell flat, finally glancing up. Looking at the two of them, side by side and seeming to just know each other in a way Finn felt like he didn’t, he wondered where he fit into all of this.

If he fit in at all.

God, he hoped he fit in.

“Look,” Leo started, voice steady and resolute like he was getting ready to rip off the proverbial bandaid. It did nothing to calm Finn down. “Logan and I talked a while ago, about us. And, um – well, we want to be together. All three of us.”

Finn blinked once, twice. The words weren’t exactly computing, not after spending so long telling himself that this would never happen, could never happen. “Oh.”

“You had to know,” Logan said, sounding confused. “You had to know how we felt. None of us were exactly subtle.”

“I… I hoped.” Finn managed to get out before he got distracted by Logan’s soft touch against the curve of his cheekbone, creating his own constellations out of the freckles there. Finn let his eyes close and focused on the point of contact. He had hoped, even if he’d tried to stamp it out most days. He’d hoped and he’d yearned and he’d ached, and now – finally, unbelievably – he might be getting exactly what he’d wanted. “I knew how the two of you felt about each other, I just… wasn’t sure where that left me.”

“Finn…” He heard the sheets rustle as Leo scooted closer and opened his eyes again.

“Can you blame me?” Finn let Leo hold his hand and slot their fingers together, a painfully delicate motion. He stared down at them, noticing faint green bruising from an IV line and deeper, purple discoloration from that one time Finn tried to catch himself before he hit the ground after a brutal punch. They matched, in a sick, twisted way.

But they were both healing – skin stitching itself slowly back together and aches fading little by little. There was a poignant symbolism there, Finn thought, musing over the words he needed to say. Talking about the doubts and the hurt and the confusion surrounding the three of them might be painful in the moment, but healing would always follow, even if it took a while.

He was thrilled that they wanted him, don’t get him wrong, but that didn’t have the ability to just wipe away the hurt of the past week. “You seemed happy together, just the two of you.” He thought of the coffee shop and watching them from his table with June. Or the hotel room the next day, the stolen glances and furtive touches. “I didn’t want to get in the way of that, not if I wasn’t wanted.”

One of the other two made a broken sound; Finn wasn’t sure who it was. The hand on his cheek moved to his chin and Logan ducked his head to meet Finn’s eyes again, fierce and sincere – a combination that encompassed the very core of the fighter.

“I’ve wanted you since that crazy New Year’s party.” He said with conviction and Finn laughed a little at the memories.

“Then why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?” Logan challenged, signaling a change in the winds. Finn could see the storm brewing in those green eyes. “We were partners. Adding a relationship to the mix would only complicate things.”

“So what changed?” Finn let his frustration bleed through, ignoring Leo’s squeeze to his hand. “You’re saying two completely different things right now and it’s confusing as hell.”

Logan bit back, voice suddenly loud and harsh. “You think this is how I wanted to fall in love?”

Leo and Finn stared at him. No one had mentioned love. Not yet, at least. Logan seemed to recognize the intensity of his words and his shoulders slumped, but he didn’t take them back. Finn wasn’t sure if he was grateful for that or terrified because of it.

“It’s not supposed to be this hard, is it?” the brunet asked, voice a softer murmur. “Why couldn’t the three of us be normal and meet at, like, college or a coffee shop or something?”

Silence greeted him, heavy and suffocating.

“Because these are the cards we were dealt,” Leo said finally, looking between the two of them. “And yeah, it might be a shitty hand, but don’t you think it’d be worth it? After all that we’ve been through, choosing each other instead of letting the fear pull us apart?”

“Sounds like something out of a romance novel.”

Leo shrugged his good shoulder at Logan’s words, a conscientious effort to keep the other side of his body completely still. Finn ached a little at the sight. “Love isn’t easy, not for anyone. It’s a choice you make, day after day.” Blue eyes the color of a cloudless afternoon sky were calm and free of conflict when he looked at them again. “I’ve made my choice. What about you?”

Finn stared at him for what felt like forever, then blurted, “Did you rehearse that or something? What the fuck, Nutty.”

The resulting smile on Leo’s face was a welcomed reprieve from the earlier storm, placid and radiant. How was Finn supposed to do anything else but lean over, cup his cheeks in his hands, and press his lips against that smile?

Leo kissed a little distractedly, like he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do first. The hand not caught in a sling flitted from auburn hair to fist in his t-shirt, then migrated lower to wrap around Finn’s back, long fingers splayed against his spine. But his mouth was soft and sweet against Finn’s, returning his kisses happily, and the combination of the two were just so Leo that Finn’s stomach swooped and his heart flopped in his chest.

He pulled back for air, an unfortunate necessity, and took in the sight in front of him. Leo’s eyes were still closed and that smile still graced kiss-swollen lips as he swayed towards Finn, clearly wanting more. Finn smiled too, irrevocably charmed, and kissed his cheek, his jaw, that cute little indent in his chin, then the curve of his smile again. He could never, not in a hundred years, get enough of this.

And then Logan met his gaze from beside the blond, eyes fond and warm as he watched them and ran his fingers up and down Finn’s thigh, the motion raising goosebumps on Finn’s arms – the air dense and volatile around them like the instant before lightning struck. Finn needed to kiss him, too. To learn the difference between the way he kissed to keep up pretenses on a mission and the way he kissed when he meant it. Finn kept Leo close with a hand on his waist and tilted Logan’s head up to kiss him, deep and intense. It was thrilling and a little wild; so different from kissing Leo, but just as captivating. Always unpredictable, the kiss morphed from charged to surprisingly, achingly gentle – a thunderstorm melting into a comforting spring shower. Finn was reminded of shoving the couch up against the wall nearest to the window during storms as a kid, watching the raindrops track down the glass, and the sound of the world going silent save for the wind and the thunder and the rain hitting the roof like the pounding of drums – a symphony just for him to witness. He sighed against soft lips and sank into the kiss, listening for the intricacies of this new, unknown melody.

The rustle of clean sheets, a hitch in breath followed by a deep exhale, the steady beat of the old clock hung on the wall, a hum against his lips.

Then Leo was leaning in to kiss Finn’s pulse-point, firm enough to bruise and tender enough to make Finn’s eyelashes flutter. Finn canted his head to the side, stretching his neck to give Leo more skin to claim, and pulled Logan in again. A duet shifting to a trio and slotting perfectly into place, patching the gaps in the music that Finn didn’t even notice were there.

This was worth it. It had to be. As much as it would kill him – or any of them, really – to love them and then lose them, that would still be better than not loving them at all.

They’d wanted this for so long now, all of them. Even with all the stress and hurt and doubt, Finn couldn’t help but feel a little giddy. For fuck’s sake, he was kissing Logan. It wasn’t part of a mission. And Leo was still pressing kiss after kiss to his neck because he wanted to. They wanted each other.

Screw panicking about losing them. Finn was done missing things because he was worried about things that might not even happen. It wasn’t something he could just will away or turn off, of course, but he could actively make sure he was living in the current moment. And right then, the current moment was making out with his boys in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

He loved the current moment.

The kiss turned to simply smiling against Logan’s mouth, delirious with contentment, so Finn broke away and pulled Logan in for a hug, then gently maneuvered Leo to join them, making sure his wound was well out of the way. They stayed like that for a long time, relaxing in the closeness and adjusting to the newness of all of this. And even though it was new, it was already something they were quickly getting addicted to. The string connecting Finn’s heart to theirs cinched tighter and pulled sharply. For the first time, he didn’t mind it in the slightest. It was no longer a painful reminder of what he couldn’t have, it was an exhilarating sign that were all irreversibly intertwined, both in each other’s arms and in this crazy mess that was their lives.

Leo interrupted the moment with a yawn, blinking sleepily. Finn smiled a little at the sight – he almost felt like he was doing too much of that in the past few minutes, but sleepy Leo was simply adorable.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Logan urged. It would be a tight squeeze, the three of them in that bed, but now they could cuddle and press close without pretending it didn’t happen the next morning. Finn sighed happily at the thought and headed for the light switch. The light from the lamp on the bedside table illuminated his way back to his boys, all soft and stretched out next to each other under a pale comforter. It was a much-needed reprieve from the chaos of their current situation that Finn was all to eager to take advantage of.

He watched as Logan propped himself up on one arm to look down at Leo, hand trailing through that tuft of gray hair and then tugging on it playfully. They shared a smile before Logan leaned down the rest of the way to kiss him, assured and familiar and unrushed. They’d done this before. The knowledge didn’t tear at Finn’s heart like it would have a week ago, because now he knew that they felt the same way about him. And he was falling for them, too. Watching the two boys he was half in love with already so comfortable and loving with each other? How was Finn supposed to handle all the emotions bubbling over in his chest? He crawled into bed next to Logan and flicked the lamp off, settling the room into darkness.

Logan settled in to sleep facing Finn and with Leo’s reassuring warmth behind him. His eyes closed and time slowed, a blessed mercy. The events of tomorrow felt years away in that still, quiet moment. But there was something prodding at the back of Logan’s mind – some strange, uncomfortable feeling that he could quite place, until he realized that everything was too still, too quiet. His mind flashed to the litany of “what ifs” that had looped in his brain like a mantra back in that hospital room and he rolled over quickly, shuffling over until his head was pillowed on Leo’s chest, far away from the bandages.

Thump-thump.

Leo’s chest rose and fell under Logan’s head as he breathed and Logan let himself relax, reaching blindly behind him until he found Finn’s arm and flung it over himself, loosely intertwining their fingers over his chest. Finn moved in closer to press against his back and tangle their legs together. He sighed before going still again, breaths deep and even.

And Logan finally, finally let himself drift off to sleep.

#lumosinlove #sweater weather #coast to coast #coops #remus lupin #sirius black #o'knutzy #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #clandestine #cw: hospital #cw: injuries #cw: mentions of blood #cw: medical drugs

[jean-kayak]

can we get some dom fem reader and sub Sero in the chat? lowkey y/n is a badass and will destroy this man in bed.

Don’t Get It Twisted

A/N: I-, Anon, I love you and I definitely took this and ran with it, I hope you like it! Also, don’t look up c*** ring on google, you will be scarred

Warnings: (smut 18+!!), femdom, use of toys: cock ring, vibrator; pegging, anal sex, fingering (m. and f.receiving), oral sex (f.receiving), face riding, mild degradation, authority kink? (reader is called ma’am once), mommy kink, a lot of begging, some crying, short use of a collar, a little bit of aftercare at the end, smidge of fluff at the end if you squint (LMAO i think i covered it, let me know if there’s anything else)

Word Count: 3,200 (of absolute filth)

You noticed that your boyfriend had been a lot cockier, brattier to say the least, and what made it so bad was that he didn't even register that he was doing it. Of course, you didn't say anything, hoping that he could pick up on his mistake.

The last strike showed you he wouldn't.

You were both at a party to celebrate Todoroki's birthday, and it gave you and Sero the chance to catch up with your friends from UA. Sero looked like he was having the time of his life, laughing loudly with the Bakusquad. You happen to pass by when you heard him say it.

You nearly stopped in your tracks, making sure you heard him right. "y/n? The dominant one?" He scoffs. "No, not in the slightest."

You scoffed as your eyes went wide. You glance over at your boyfriend, who seems very pleased with himself at the fact that he just lied to his friends to make himself look better.

He's not always the dominant one, you both always switch roles. Although the last time you were the dominant one was probably a while ago but...he didn't let that get to his head, did he?

You chuckle lightly as you walk up next to him, his arm snaking around your waist immediately as you greet everyone around you. "Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to tell you that we can leave whenever you're ready, babe," you tell him. You decided not to tell him that you heard the whole conversation, choosing to wait for the right moment to drop it.

He responds with a nod and you give him a peck on his cheek before walking away, a huge smirk on your face as a plan forms in your mind.

You let him ride his high horse for another week before you put your plan into action. You've ordered a few new things, making sure to keep them hidden, waiting to reveal them at the right time. But as the day gets closer, the more excited you get.

It's hard to hold back your jitters, even Sero starts to pick up on it, but when he asks, you just brush it off with a simple excuse. You also let him think he's in control in bed this whole week, already imagining what his face is going to look like when he finds out what you've really been up to.

"If you wanted to shower, we could've just gotten in together," he responds when you say you're getting ready to take one, the only thing covering his body is the towel around his waist.

"I know," you start, leaning in. "But I have a surprise for you," you whisper, your nails trailing down his wet torso making him shiver. "Wait for me on the bed, yeah?" You smirk as he nods, his eyes already filled with lust, and you make your way into the bathroom.

~

When you walk into the room, you see him lying on his back scrolling through his phone with the towel still wrapped around his waist. As soon as his eyes land on you, he's smirking as he sits up, the towel falling in the process as he moves to sit on the edge of the bed.

His eyes widen when you drop the robe at your feet before sauntering over to him as his eyes take in the new lingerie you bought. It's sheer lace in black, the bra completely see-through, and his eyes trail down, completely entranced by the crotchless panties you're wearing.

He instantly pulls you into his lap once you get close enough, and you whine at the feeling of his dick rubbing against your core. "This new?" he murmurs in your ear as his hands travel all over your body.

"You like?" you ask as your hand finds its way into his hair.

"I love it," he emphasizes, planting kisses on your neck as his hands run up your body and over your nipples. You arch into the touch when you feel him start to make love bites on your neck. "This a gift for me?"

His hands run down your thighs and when they come back up, his fingers brush up against your lips which are already glistening with your arousal. You bite back a moan, and you almost forget what your goal was today. Almost.

You're able to pull away even though your body is protesting, and you guide him to lay down on the bed. He lets you guide him easily, thinking he's in for a pleasurable night. You internally shake your head at how wrong he is.

You grind down on his hardening length to keep him distracted while you reach into the nightstand to pull out the first thing you bought. A black collar with a silver ring in the middle.

His eyes open when he feels it come around his neck and you smirk at him. "Oh, a gift? Think of this as your punishment." His eyes go wide when he hears your words, your hands moving to his wrist, moving his hands to rest above his head. "If you can't keep them there, then I'll tie you down, deal?"

He starts to shake his head as he tries to find the right words to say. When he starts to speak, you wrap a finger around the hoop, yanking him upwards. "Do I make myself clear?"

He swallows shakily as he nods his head. "Yes, ma'am."

You give him a satisfied smile as you set his head back down on the pillow before reaching in the drawer to grab the rest of the stuff. You see the worried, scared look in his eyes when they land on what you bought, and you have to hold back a laugh.

"Wait, baby, please--"

"You know, I thought you would notice that you were being a little bit too overconfident lately. And a brat. But..." You lean down to hover over his face. "It looks like you need to be knocked down a peg." You move off of him to the other side of the bed. "You pick, what do you want first?"

He swallows thickly as he looks at you, the look in his eyes pleading for a chance but you're not budging. He looks down, nodding his head towards the one he chose. "T-The ring."

You can't hide your smile as well as your giddiness, and he grunts softly as you slip it on, flipping the switch to make it vibrate. "Hands," you warn when he jolts up, his hands falling down to his sides. He quickly puts them back in position, his nails digging into his palms.

You move in between his legs, spreading them apart with your hands as you open the cap to the lube.  You put a good amount on your finger before prodding at his tight hole. "Color?"

"G-Green," he pants, and you smirk as you work three fingers into him, curling them and hitting the spot that has him thrusting his hips up. His eyes widen when he sees you grabbing the vibrator with your other hand.

"What? You didn't think this was one or the other, did you?" He moans as his eyes screw shut as you slide the vibrator into him, and you rub soothing circles on his thigh. "Relax, baby, you're taking it so well," you coo, and he releases a relaxing sigh as you fill him to the hilt.

You give it a few experimental thrusts, changing the angles until you hit his prostate, which makes him cry out as he struggles to keep his hands together. You keep the vibrator at that angle as you turn it on, and this time his hands do fall down as he bites his lip to try and stifle his moan. He puts his hands back into position as you move from in between his legs and back onto the other side of the bed.

This is probably the best thing you've ever seen. You've got the vibrator on the highest setting, and your boyfriend is trembling. The only sounds that escape him are whines and whimpers and occasional moans whenever you adjust the vibrations. The flush on his face has made its way down his neck and chest, the head of his length an angry red, bubbling with pre-cum.

The image is making you insanely wet as you burn it into your brain, and you lean back before spreading your legs. "You look so good like this, babe," you tell him, and he looks at you to see you playing with your folds. He sighs heavily as he turns his head away from you quickly, and you tilt your head. "Look at me, Han," you whisper softly, and he slowly looks at you again.

He glances down at the strap-on in between the two of you before his eyes land on your fingers, and they stay there. You play with your clit as you slide your fingers into you, which have no resistance due to how wet you are.

"You get one freebie, Hanta. You can cum without permission once. Use it wisely."

He shakes his head softly. "Baby, please--"

"How'd you put it? Me? The dominant one?" You look him right in the eye as you shake your head. "Oh, no not in the slightest."

His mouth opens and closes as he looks for a response, your actions all making sense to him now, and you smirk at him. "Ah, so you do remember. Just checking." You let your head fall back on your shoulders as you speed your fingers up, the only sounds filling the room are the vibrator and the squelching of your soaked pussy.

"Fuck, Hanta," you moan as you bring yourself higher, imagining it was his fingers instead of yours. He's always been able to reach deeper inside you than you ever could, but you keep going. "Do you want something?" you ask in annoyance as you slowly peel your eyes open, the knot in your stomach close to snapping.

He nods his head eagerly. "I want..." he trails off, and you raise your eyebrows, almost failing because of how close you are right now. "Wanna taste you," he mumbles, and you shake your head.

"You gotta speak up, baby," you tell him, jolting forward with a moan as your fingers barely curl over that spot.

"I wanna taste you," he says louder, a hint of nervousness still in his voice. You reluctantly pull your fingers out of you, and he watches mesmerized as they glisten in the low light filtering through the room.

"That all?" you push as your hand slowly moves towards his neglected dick. He tries to shy away from you, but when he moves, he pushes the vibrator further into his prostate which makes him cry out. "What else do you want?"

As soon as your hand strokes him, the words come rushing out. "Shit! I want to taste you. I want you to sit on my face, please! Fuck!" he pants, and your mouth drops open at his words as you feel another wave of arousal flood straight to your core.

"Those are some naughty words, Sero," you tease as you squeeze his length lightly. "You think you deserve that?"

"Yes, please, mommy, I'll be good I swear! Just please!" If you're being honest with yourself, it's hard to deny him with how broken his voice sounds as he begs, so you give in.

He takes a deep breath when you release his raging hard-on, and you slide your fingers in his mouth that were previously stuffed in your cunt. He accepts them greedily, practically lifting his head off the bed to put them in his mouth, and your thighs squeeze together when you feel his tongue circling every inch of your fingers.

You pull your fingers out, the digits connected to his lips by a string of saliva and he takes a few more deep breaths before he nods frantically. "Please, I want it, I'll be good I promise," he repeats, and you move until your hovering over his face, and you grab onto his wrist when they start to twitch.

You've barely sunk down towards his face before he's devouring you like there's no tomorrow. You let out a surprised moan, one of your hands scratching at his scalp. "All the way, baby, please," he pleads against your folds, and you hadn't sunk any further, you really didn't want to suffocate him, but you do it anyway, and you jolt forward when he dives right back in.

His nose bumps against your clit as he licks through your folds before licking at your hole, eager to taste more of you. "Shit, Hanta, feels so good," you cry, riding his face, and he doesn't stop his pace as his hips cant up in the air, trying to find some form of release but instead moaning against you when he feels the vibrations.

You dig your fingers into his hair as you feel your orgasm building. "Ungh, Han, I'm close," you sigh, your pace becoming more frantic as you reach higher. He continues to eat you out enthusiastically, and when he sucks your clit into his mouth, that coil snaps and you're arching back as you pull at his hair almost painfully.

It's all too much for Sero right now. The taste of you, the sounds you're making, the feeling of you pulling his hair. All of that leads to him coming untouched, and he releases a loud groan, muffled by you, as his back arches off the bed.

You move off his face, settling for sitting on his abdomen. "You made your mommy feel so good, baby," you coo, your body still coming down from your orgasm, and you watch as his chest heaves, whining at the overstimulation. "That was your one," you tell him, and you don't even have to look to know he came.

He nods slowly, his hands still in the place where you left them, and you smile softly as you lean down to hover your face over his. "You like being mommy's little slut, don't you?" you ask against his hips and he nods. "Say it."

"I'm mommy's little slut--ah!" You grind your hips backward into his straightened member, and his hands twitch as he moans at the contact.

"And you're gonna get fucked like one," you tell him as you slide off of him before rolling him over onto his stomach and pressing his back into that arch that you love oh so much.

You turn the vibe off, slowly pulling it out of him before setting off to the side. You guide his hands to stay planted behind his back as you reach for the strap-on. "Color?"

He turns his head to the side so that he can watch you slip it on and put lube on it. "Green," he sighs as he swallows thickly.

"You sure?" you question as you line up to his hole that's currently clenching around nothing.

He nods quickly. "Yes, please fuck me." You grip his hips before slamming into him, nailing his prostate with ease, and he practically screams as his body goes rigid, his seed spilling onto the sheets underneath him. He turns his head so that's he's face down into the pillow as his face heats up as he tries to cool himself down.

"Oh, Han," you start, and when he does move, you grip his hair, pulling him flush against your chest. "Don't tell me you just came. Without permission?" He doesn't look at you, and you scoff deeply. "Guess you don't deserve to get fucked like a slut after all," you assume as you start to pull out, but then he's wedging a hand out from in between your bodies to grab at your hip.

"Wait! Please, no! I'm sorry, mommy, it was an accident, I promise!" To your surprise, he's falling forward and arching his back. "Please fuck me! I want your dick, mommy, please! Please give it to me, I promise I won't cum!" he pleads as he bucks back into you.

He's always been a little bit more on the shy side whenever he was the submissive one, so this was a whole new image for you. You don't know what switch you've flipped, but you're definitely not complaining.

You lean over him, your body flush against him as you nip at his ear. "You sure? It won't happen again?"

He shakes his head as he grips at the sheets underneath him. "No, no. Just please fuck me." He's basically breathless, and since he's begging so nicely, you decide to indulge him.

You lift your top half up, placing your hands back on his hips before you rear your hips back and slam into him. Your pace is relentless, and you can't help but watch as your boyfriend falls apart under you, his body shimmering with a layer of sweat that's like his second skin.

"Fuck! Right there, mommy, right there. Don't stop." His knuckles are turning white from how hard his grip is, and you reach under him to stroke his dick, which you know is super sensitive due to the two orgasms he's already had. He cries out as he screws his eyes shut, tears running down his face. "Ugh, mommy, please let me cum. Please, please, please."

He's no longer coherent, and you can feel this next orgasm building as you speed up your strokes. "Who's fucking you this good?"

"Ah! You, you, you." He's sobbing at this point, his tears staining the pillowcase.

"Cum for your mommy, Hanta. Cum for me," you command and before you can even finish your sentence, he's screaming into the room as his whole body goes taut, his release landing on your fingers and the bed.

You stop moving and stroking him when he starts to whine, and you slowly pull out of him, using your other hand to turn off the ring and slide it off of him, making him wince. He flops onto the bed, rolling onto his back, and you make a show of licking his cum off of your fingers, and he moans softly.

He throws his arm over his eyes as he comes down from one of the best orgasms of his life as you take all of the toys to the bathroom to clean later and coming back with a warm washcloth and a glass of water.

He winces softly as you clean him up before handing him the glass of water. He downs the glass while you strip the comforter and throw it in the washer, and you join him in bed.

"Damn it, baby, I think you killed me," he admits as he flops onto your chest, his eyes having a hard time staying open, and you chuckle softly. "Sorry about how I've been acting, but I may or may not do it again," he jokes sleepily and you laugh softly. "I am sorry though. And I love you."

"I know. And I love you too." His soft snores are what lull you to sleep.

#sero hanta #hanta sero #sero hanta smut #sero hanta x reader #hanta sero x reader #mha smut #bhna smut #my hero academia smut #boku no hero academia smut #tw mommy kink #🛶.hoarny

[dreamescapeswriting]

The Leaked Ones ~ MYG [M] [Request]

↬↬↬Word Count: 3.6k [3,666 ;)]

↬↬↬Genre: Smut, fluff, angst, shower sex, oral, Idol x college student, secret relationship, sex tapes.

↬↬↬Pairing: Min Yoongi x reader

↬↬↬A/N: I really hope it was okay for me to turn this into a one shot instead of a reaction post, I just couldn’t get it to go for all seven of them without them being the same or having one longer while the rest were shot. Let me know what you think though because I really like this

The pen was hanging out of your mouth as you read through the textbook in front of you, you'd been trying to concentrate all day but your mind was all over the place with memories of your weekend away with your secret boyfriend. It had all been kept secret for many reasons - the main one being that he was Min Yoongi from BTS and if anyone found out that you were dating, your life would never be the same again. You flipped over the page and looked up for a second, a guy across the table was staring at you intensely, you looked around to make sure you weren't just being paranoid before going back to your book. You pulled your hoodie on over your shirt before slipping in some earphones, you were just going to ignore the rest of the world until the study material worked its way into your head.

An hour later you had enough, it wasn't just the guy from before that had been staring but everyone was. Including the oldest librarian there, students and tutors all staring at you disapprovingly as you worked. 

"What?!" You finally snapped looking around to see what the big deal was, 

"It is her," You heard someone gasp before a camera flash went off, you groaned looking at the person in front of you who had just snapped a photograph of you. 

"Excuse me?" You went to defend yourself and ask what the big deal was when the doors burst open, a girl with long brown hair came bounding over to you. 

"Come on," You looked at her and down to her top, you'd never seen her before in your life but she was wearing a BTS shirt, 'SUGA 93' to be exact and you somehow trusted her.

"What's going on?" You whispered walking behind her as she dragged you out of the library, everyone was turning to look at you. Taking videos and laughing to one another as they said comments under their breath. You could only catch brief words as she whizzed you through the college hallway.

"Imagine being in a sex tape, she's nothing but a dirty skank." The words sent shivers down your spine, sex-tape, someone in a SUGA shirt, and people all looking at you. Someone had footage of you and Yoongi together and it wasn't you. Yourself and Yoongi only had photos together and they were all on your phone, they were PG photos and you both had clothes on. It was way too risky this day and age to have nudes or even a sex tape on your phone for anyone to hack into.

"Is it true?" You questioned as she pulled you into an elevator, she handed you her hone and it was everywhere. Twitter was doing it's best to get all the videos taken down, along with youtube but porn sites had full control over it even though Army were doing their best to report it for being taken with your permission. 

The elevator opened it's doors and you both stepped out, being greeted by a group of girls all giving you evil looks as you walked away from them, their comments being made loud and clear, all the lines of you being a slut, or a whore were hitting you like bullets.

If someone would have told you what you know now you never would have gone to that hotel with Yoongi that night, the girl holding your hand dragged you through the neverending hallways of your college. People were all turning to look at you, gawking and pointing as they noticed who you were. If they didn't know before today they certainly knew you now, you pulled your hood over your head trying to ignore them as they took photographs of you all laughing and pointing. 

"Ignore them," The girl holding your hand whispered, you'd never met her before until this moment and here you were following her around as you tried to keep yourself composed and keep your breathing normal but it was hard to do that with eyes on you. The whole campus had seen the video by now, you were just as famous as Yoongi was now, a door opened and you were pushed inside. As soon as your ass came into contact with the seat you burst into tears, holding your hands over your face as you sobbed hysterically. How did everything go so wrong so fast? 

"What happened?" You looked up through your blurry vision to see the girl that had taken you from the library and you shrugged your shoulders, she took a tissue from her bag and handed it to you to wipe your face. 

"I don't know, we were just- and then this afternoon in the library." You weren't making any sense but she knew what you were referring to, she'd seent the videos and photographs that were going around as well. 

It was supposed to be a quiet, romantic getaway between you and Yoongi. Your relationship was a huge secret from his fans and his management so everything was kept hush, hush. 

"Yoongi! Put me down, it looks like you're carrying me over the threshold!" You giggled loudly but he continued carrying you into the hotel room, he put you down in front of him and smiled, 

"Sorry babe, it's the only place we don't have to hide. I got excited," His hand brushed against your cheek and you smiled snuggling your face against him as he did so. It was the first time you were ever going to get to do something like this in your year of dating him, you'd had dates before but they were all in his car in the deep of the night or meeting him in a parking garage, leaving while you stayed in the back of the car until you got to the dorms and no one would see you. Dating Yoongi was adventurous nonetheless and you always had fun together no matter what you did but this was different. He'd found a hotel with hardly any guests, it was on an abandoned little beachfront with very few people living there in the small village. It was basically a ghost town and hardly anyone knew anybody there, it was perfect for a weekend getaway together. 

"I know but we have to be careful if someone-"

"No one knows we're here, not even the boys. I was careful not to tell them, Jimin has a big mouth after all." He joked and you sighed, you knew he was just trying to make you feel better about sneaking away but nothing was going to make you feel less worried. You'd dropped your roommate last minute because you had no idea any of this was happening and you couldn't even tell her where you were going or who you were with. 

"She accused me of being a prostitute." You told him as you walked further into the room to check it out, it wasn't anything fancy but you didn't care. It was with Yoongi and it was the only thing you cared about, Yoongi raised his eyebrow at you wanting you to elaborate on what you had just said, 

"Oh, she also thought I had a sugar daddy," You laughed as you said that remembering when you'd come home one day with a new bracelet with your birthstone on it. 

"What did you tell her?" He questioned walking him behind you and wrapping his arms around you, you stared at him in the mirror with a smile on your face, 

"I wanted to tell her I had a SUGA Daddy, but I ended up telling her I saved really hard," You tapped his hand gently as he laid it on your stomach, he kissed your neck softly. 

"I'm sorry we have to hide...If there was another way-"

"Baby no," You frowned turning around in his arms and holding his cheeks in your hands, you squished his cheeks together and began shaking his head side to side while laughing. 

"I don't need to be out in the open, I'm happy in our own little bubble we have." You promised him and it was true, you were perfectly happy with what you had with him. 

"One day we will when the time is right." You nodded at him and smiled, 

"I need a shower...want to join me?" You whispered pulling him in the direction of the tiny en-suite that was in your hotel room, he nodded at you as he tried to take his shirt off quickly but ended up stumbling over and falling into you. 

"Get off you big dork," You giggled pulling him up and into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind you as you got unchanged. 

"The water is freezing," You shivered as you stepped under the showerhead he smirked darkly at you,

"I know how to warm you up," You rolled your eyes at him, 

"Pervert." You mumbled as he began kissing you passionately under the water, he pressed our back against the tile wall and while you gasped at the sudden coldness on your skin he slipped his tongue into your mouth. 

"Cheater," You whispered as he ran his hand up your front and began playing with your breasts, he started massaging one in his hand while his other played with your hard nipples making you whine at the contact. It had been so long since you'd been together you were dying for him to do anything to you, 

"Need you," He smirked hearing the words fall from your mouth, his hand ran down your body and between your legs, he cupped your pussy and smirked feeling your arousal already, 

"All this for me?" You nodded weakly and he chuckled at you. You knew what that chuckle meant, it meant it wasn't an answer he wanted. He wanted you to use your words and tell him what you wanted him to do, 

"It's all for you, t-taste me?" You licked your lip as you watched him kneel down on the floor of the shower kissing your inner thighs. He took his time as he gently placed his lips on each thigh before lifting your leg over his shoulder, you gripped onto the wall for support. 

"Ready Princess?"

"Hmm Yoongi," You hissed wanting him to touch you already, 

"Impatient," He mumbled before licking stripes on your clit, your head rolled back against the tiles and you moaned out his name already coming undone as his tongue did its magic. 

"Fuck." Your hand went into his hair holding him closer to your core as your back arched away from the wall. He slid his tongue into you looking up to watch you coming undone above him, it turned him on to watch you like this, to know he was the one making you like this. 

He replaced his tongue with his fingers and began pumping two fingers in and out of you quickly while he sucked on your clit, 

"Y-Yoongi!" Your head was spinning as you felt your climax getting closer to you, he continued to lick, suck and bite on your clit as he fingers reached deeper. You whimpered pushing his face closer to your core as you felt your orgasm coming and you were needy for your release, 

"G-Gonna cum," You whimpered and he hummed against you encouraging you to cum and you moaned out. You clenched around his fingers as the coil in your stomach finally snapped and you cried out releasing onto his tongue and fingers as he continued to fuck them into you throughout your high causing your body to tremble.

"Fuck," Your legs shook as he put it down on the floor and you smirked at him dropping to your knees this time. 

You took his hard erection into your hand and slowly began pumping him as you looked up at him, 

"Don't tease," He warned you looking down at you with lust in his eyes, you smirked brushing your tongue against his tip as you pumped him. He moaned out your name loudly and you smirked feeling him grow harder in your hand - if that was even possible. You slid his cock into your mouth slowly and swirled your tongue around his length before taking him all the way into the back of your throat, you'd grown used to his size by now but you still gagged a little.

"Aish jagiya," He whined rolling his head back as he slid his hands into your hair, you knew what he was going to do and you loved it. He slowly began thrusting his hips into your mouth and his moans only grew louder, you moaned around him growing wetter at the sight of him coming undone for you. He began thrusting faster into your mouth and you suppressed the gag that was trying to come out,

"S-Shit, baby get up." He whimpered feeling himself getting closer, he didn't want to finish in your mouth. He wanted to feel you around him. 

You got up from the floor and he pulled you into another kiss, he wasted no time picking you up so you would wrap your legs around his waist. He leant you against the wall to keep you stable while he smirked at you, 

"Y-Yoongi what if we fall?" The creeping fear of one of you slipping and having to call an ambulance snuck into your mind but Yoongi was far too close for it to bother him right now. He needed to be buried inside of you, 

"I don't care, I need to be in that tight throbbing pussy," You let out a whine at the words he was using and he smirked at you, slowly easing you down onto his length and you moaned into his shoulder. 

"Fuck." You cried biting down onto his skin as he held himself deep inside of you, it felt so good to be filled by him again, you'd missed it too much. He kissed you as he slowly began to pound in and out of you holding you against the shower wall. 

"Yoongi," You cried out, eyes rolling back as the angle was perfect, he was hitting you exactly where you needed him, 

"You feel so good baby," He grunted to you as he kept thrusting up into you letting out moans as you kissed him, 

"C-Close Yoongi," You whimpered already sensitive from the first orgasm that hit you. 

"Let it go babe," He moaned out to you, your hands tightened on his shoulders and you clenched around his cock crying out as he fucked you through your orgasm, his hips jerked but he kept thrusting up into you. 

"Fuck!" He moaned deeply cumming into you as you came around him. 

He slowly put you down onto the standing position and you held onto the wall behind you to stop yourself from falling over. 

That weekend had been filled with plenty of intimate moments spent together and all of them were caught on hidden cameras around the hotel room. How could you have been so stupid not to check for things like that? You both watched a lot of conspiracy videos you should have checked everything the moment you got to the hotel.

"It wasn't Yoongi that filmed you?" She questioned taking her phone back from you, you shook your head at her. He would never do anything like that, he'd never do anything to put you in danger or ruin your life either, 

"I'm Mina," You shook her hand as she handed you yet another tissue you hadn't stopped crying from the moment you walked into the room. She'd shown you all of the photos and videos that were taken and there were a lot.

"There's a lot of us trying to take them all down, we've been reporting them ever since it came out this morning." You frowned at her looking up to ask her who she meant when the door opened and five more girls walked into the room, she introduced them all by name and you greeted them. 

"You're all Army?" You questioned looking at them, they all had something to represent their bias on them and it was rather sweet that they were all looking after you like this. 

"There's paparazzi outside, they must have found out where you went to school. Did Mina tell you what we've been doing?" You nodded at the blonde girl who was now sitting down next to you, 

"It's sweet but I don't think six young girls are going to be able to take down all those videos-"

"What? Just six of us?" Mina questioned, there was a small laugh behind her voice and they all grabbed their phones showing you what was happening. It wasn't just them but all of Army were coming together to collectively ban the videos from the internet. 

"It's a private thing between you and Yoongi, you don't need that on the internet for the world to see." A redhead said as she began reporting videos from her phone, 

"Can I see?" Mina handed you her phone once more and you began scrolling through the comments to see Army all bashing on the people that had uploaded the videos in the first place. Filing lawsuits on your behalf and writing out complaints about how they could sue them from many different reasons it was heartwarming. You loved Army - you were one of them after all - but you'd been so scared they would react poorly.

"Manager Sejin is making an announcement about it all later-" Your phone started ringing from your back and you sniffled getting up to answer it, 

"Yoongi?" You questioned as you slid it open, 

"Where are you? I can't come to the college because of paparazzi, baby I'm so sorry! I had no idea and you have to believe me that I had nothing to do with any of it." You giggled at him trying to get his words out,

"Yoongi it's okay, I know it wasn't you."

"Are you okay?!" He sounded panicked and you hummed at him, 

"I'm with some Army now, they're hiding me out until I can get out of college. It's swarming with paparazzi outside and college students aren't exactly quiet about it either." You explained to him and he groaned telling you he was going to find whoever it was and make sure they paid for it. 

"I'll meet you at your apartment, no use hiding anymore. We have to go to manager Sejin tonight, okay?" You hummed that you understood, 

"I'll see you soon, I love you." You felt your ears heat up, 

"I love you too." The phone call ended and all of the girls smiled at you promising that they were going to get you off the campus safely and securely. 

"I'll hit the fire alarm, while everyone goes to the fire exits take Y/n through the back doors and to her car?" The blonde questioned and everyone nodded agreeing to the plan, you smiled at Mina who once again took your hand and questioned if you were ready. 

"Let's do it."

Manger Sejin was pacing back and forth in front of you and Yoongi while you sat on the sofa holding hands. You were terrified he was going to force you to break up and your heart was beating so fast you swore Yoongi could feel it in his hand, 

"What you did was stupid and irresponsible." He was directing all of his anger at Yoongi, Sejin had been on the phone for over three hours with reporters and police about this whole thing and you and Yoongi had been sat in silence since. 

"Y/n I've spoken to your college and they're allowing you to stay there despite things like this being against their policy." You thanked him and he nodded at you looking over everything in front of him, 

"Charges are being files, arrests have already been made all that's left for you to do is announce your relationship." Your eyes widened and so did Yoongi, he never thought for a second that Sejin would just allow this to continue. He was thankful that he was but he never thought it would happen, relationships were written in the contract as prohibited for a reason. 

"No more fuck ups," He ordered both of you he left the room and you turned to look at Yoongi wondering what was going to happen now, everything had been a mess since the moment you'd left campus. 

"We're still allowed to see each other?" He nodded at your question and you smiled excited that you could still see him but then you remembered the tapes. 

"Everything will be gone, anyone caught with anything related to it will be arrested." He promised you turning on the sofa so he could face you properly, it was the first time he'd really looked at you since coming to get you. 

"Army is being so nice about it, they've been helping a lot." You told him as he began playing with your hands in his, he laid his head on your shoulder. 

"I'm glad we can be out I'm just sad it happened this way," You nodded in agreement, you knew those tapes could never be fully deleted but those being held accountable for it was good enough for you. 

"Everything will die down," You shifted as he said that, you laid your head on his shoulder hoping he was right. You knew other famous people had sex tapes and many of those were forgotten over time, 

"Next time we go anywhere I'm checking everything, tissue boxes, showerheads, everything." He mumbled as he kissed the top of your head. You hummed in agreement with him trying to forget all about it, for now, it was going to be easier said than done but with Yoongi staying by your side throughout the whole thing you were sure you could manage it. 

Tagline: 

@writingdreamsnottragedies @snowy-meowl @jooniesdarlingdimples @lyoongx @fan-ati--c @mitzwinchester @callingmyangel @rjsmochii @btsiguess-kpop​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @taestannie​

#bts #bts smut #bts x reader #bts x you #bts x y/n #bts imagine #bts imagines #seokjin #jin #kim seokjin #min yoongi #min yoongi x reader #min yoongi smut #yoongi #yoongi x reader #yoongi smut #suga #suga x reader #suga smut #jung hoseok #hoseok #jhope #kim namjoon #namjoon #park jimin #jimin #kim taehyung #taehyung #jeon jungkook #jungkook

[enmy-writes]

My Rock Star

Request: Anon: hii can i request a zuko x reader fic where the reader is in a famous girl group (like blackpink for example) & the whole gaang is backstage while the reader is getting ready for a performance & its just super fluffy & cute? Thanks!!

Word Count: 2,646

Fandom: ATLA (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Pairing: Zuko x Fem!Reader

Genre: All fluff. It’s some nice fluff time

Rated: 18+

Content Warnings: swearing, mentions of abuse (not detailed though), suggested themes but nothing bad

****My first request!! Sorry, anon, if I didn’t capture everything you wanted, but I hope it is! I am a sucker for music and bands, and instead of a blackpink approach, I gave the band instruments because I simp for instruments lol I might do a part 2 if this turns out well so lmk! Also, I learned how to make the “keep reading” line show up so that’s exciting yay me. Enjoy :)****

_______________________________________________________________________

It was about two hours before the show was supposed to start and Y/N was doing her normal self-routine before she had to go to her ‘Band-Team-Gang’ (or BTG as her and the girls liked to call it) pre-show rituals. 

Y/N was a part of a famous girl group who had just recently started making it big in Ba Sing Se and were on their first huge tour. Normally, this would make any performer nervous of the attention and putting on a big show, but this was the environment that she thrived in. 

Suki, Mai, Ty Lee, Azula, Yue, and herself all knew each other from an all-girl’s private school that they grew up in together and bonded immediately over their love for creating music. It was inevitable for them to become a group. 

They spent most of their high school days writing songs and joking around in Y/N’s backyard bungalow her parents had gotten her for her twelfth birthday. To this day, they still go back there and do hot (dumb) girl shit.

“Why would we stop? That’s our home, of course we’d still go back there!” Ty Lee answered the interviewer with her signature hair flip and giggle. 

Azula rolled her eyes at the girl, hiding a fond smile. “At this point, It’d be weird not to go back to that little corner of hell we made.” Yue smacked her arm quickly, “Azula! Don’t act like you haven’t written most of our top hits in the bean bag we definitely didn’t steal from the school lounge.” 

The rest of the girls laughed, remembering how they had to hop the gates and sneak past the night guards to be able to get the bean bag. The plan would’ve been a total waste of time and definitely would have gotten them all expelled if anyone had caught them, but thank Mai’s ability to pick locks (which no one knows where she learned to do but they do not question it). 

“Plus,” Suki chimed in. “Y/N’s dad makes the best snacks and meals for us. It’d be a federal crime to not take up that offer for as long as we can.”

Needless to say, the six girls were so comfortable with each other that every performance was just like every group practice with, like, thousands of extra guests of honor. They even have a couch lounge area as part of their stage set props. It just makes sense.

Even though those were her best friends ever, sisters even, Y/N had another friend group that she was super close with. Azula had introduced Y/N to her brother, Zuko, back when they were in their sophomore year of high school and the two instantly clicked. It had only taken a year of being friends and hiding crushes for them to get together, and the two were still going strong. Through him, Y/N met a gang of (crazy) people that he had spent his whole public schooling years.

Aang, an enthusiastic and bald, vegan kid who loved life and enjoyed everything around him; Katara, his pre-med and feminist girlfriend; Sokka, her hilarious and amazingly smart brother (though, sometimes his ideas are questionable); and Toph, a blind and tough girl who is on her way to ruin the top 1%. With Zuko, they were the tightest and happiest little family that automatically accepted Y/N when Zuko brought her over one night. 

She was there when he went through a pyromaniac phase, his varying hair styles, and when he tried to get his father’s love back.Ozai, their father, was the owner and CEO of a massive weapons corporation. He had burned Zuko’s face on a hot stove and kicked him out of the house for suggesting that he raise the wage of all his employees to a comfortable living wage because many of his employees struggled to provide for their families even though they worked their asses off. Thankfully, his kind Uncle Iroh instantly picked the boy up off of the streets, letting him live with him and run his successful tea shop called the Jasmine Dragon. 

Azula had been shoved away by her father mostly for sexist reasons. Ozai would never pass his company down to his daughter, no matter how smart and dedicated she was. He threw her in the private school where she lived year round. She had never told Y/N or any of the other girl’s any of this, Y/N had found out through Zuko.

Y/N’s mother was a successful lawyer and her father was a district attorney who were very very passionate about bringing justice to those of racial discrimination, domestic abuse, abuse in general, and orphan rights. Her mother was an orphan who was plain lucky to get adopted by a loving old couple who used their life savings to get her the education and life she deserved while her father was a victim of domestic abuse. 

So, after months of convincing Zuko, Y/N told her parents about the two siblings. Long story short, they got Ozai arrested for his abuse crimes, bribery history, employee mistreatment, and many more crimes. They also adopted Azula herself and gave full custody of Zuko to his uncle. 

Since then, the world has been peaceful for the group. Azula has started to recover from her trauma with the help of her friends, therapy, and love from two caring adults; and Zuko was glowing year round in the company of his uncle and friends. 

A smile forms on her face, thinking of her large family and all they’ve gone through to get here, when the door to her personal backstage room opened up. The loud voices from Aang and Sokka met her ears next. 

“I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU REMEMBERED THE HAM SANDWICHES WITH NO CRUST.” A kiss to her cheek and Sokka is instantly at her snack table.

“Y/N! How’d you know I was going to bring Appa and Momo?!” Aang walked his huge, white dog and lemur (don’t ask how he has it. It might be illegal, but no one can tell him no) to the pet bed corner she had put in. 

Not answering them, Y/N just smiles at her friends who barged in and turns back to her mirror where she’s trying to decide her earring combination for the day. Warm arms snake their way around her waist, a body sliding up against her back soon after. 

“What’s your ideas for tonight?” Zuko’s voice speaks quietly into her ear, causing her to hum and lean back against his chest slightly. 

“I’m not sure. We’re going for the edgy look tonight, but we all know Ty Lee is still going to wear pink. Man, our manager is going to kill her...again.” They both laugh. “Ugh, why did you let me pierce my ears, like, ten times. There’s too many combinations to choose from!”

“Me?! I did-- never mind. Just grab a handful, no one can see them from the stage anyways.” Despite his attempt to seem like he doesn’t care, one of his ring-clad fingers starts moving his favorite pieces over into a little pile by themselves. Y/N rolls her eyes and starts putting his choices in random holes in her ear, pushing him back lightly so she can bend over closer to the mirror to see better. 

“It’s the fit Zu… if the fit is a vibe, the confidence is there. If the confidence is there, nothing can stop my hot girl shit.” Her words cause him to let a huff of jealousy, flicking her arm playfully. 

Their eyes meet in the mirror, and he can clearly see the mischief in them. Calming down, he jokes back. “Yeah, well, you may do your ‘hot girl shit,’ but no one can steal you from me. We’ve been here too long.”

Toph cuts in from across the room with a loud laugh. “Please, fire brains, I could steal Y/N if I tried.” 

He whips around to face the short girl, “No you could not!!” 

“Actually, she makes a point.” Katara says, nodding along in hopes to pick fun at the boy. 

Sokka adds his two cents. “Honestly. Toph would just have to pick Y/N up and slam her against the wall or something and she’d tell her manager to send you a letter of resignation.” 

The whole group laughs, save for the angsty boy, and Y/N wraps her hand around his wrist. She pulls him towards her and reaches for a peck on the cheek. “While that may be true,” she gets a glare. “I’m too big of a simp for you… and Uncle Iroh’s dinner and game nights.”

While the rest of them laugh, Zuko’s eyes soften and he presses his lips to hers in a short, soft kiss. Uncle Iroh adores his girlfriend and everything she has done for Zuko and Azula where he had no power to do anything. The man calls her more than he does Zuko himself, and he’s pretty sure Y/N convinced him to download Words With Friends on his phone to play with her for when she can’t make it to the weekly game night dates. 

Y/N smiles up at him and pats his cheeks lovingly before moving to the wardrobe area of her room. She pulls out ‘Cards Against Humanity’ from a duffle bag on the floor before joining the rest of her friends around the lounge area, patting the seat beside her for Zuko to join them.

Everyone cheers at the sight of the black and white box with the many expansion packs that they have collected over the years. While Katara deals, everyone else makes bets on who is going to win this time. Y/N slides back into Zuko’s side as his arm comes to rest around her shoulders, playing with the ends of her H/L hair.

It’s about fifty minutes before the show is starting, and Y/N knows she has to start getting dressed and ready for the concert. Sighing, she slips from her boyfriend’s grasp (a small whine coming from him) and moves to her dressing corner. Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Azula, and Yue had made their way to the room shortly after they started due to Sokka texting his girlfriend (Suki) to come over and join. 

The rest of the girls notice you get up and leave as well, much to everyone else’s dismay. You reassure them to keep playing a few more rounds, not wanting to ruin their fun with you putting clothes on. Y/N quickly shoves her outfit choice on which is very hot, black, and riddled with chains. To top it off, she had thick-heeled combat boots on with numerous buckles on them. Her hair, makeup, and accessories have already been done so she heads back to the group.

‘Cards Against Humanity’ has been packed up neatly and her friends are lounging around, getting last minute snacks and quality time before they go to their special seats right in front of the stage. Nothing but the best for her friends. Sokka and Katara are the first people to see her, and the former lets out his own wolf whistle in his own way to hype Y/N up. 

“DAMN, my best friend is HOT AS HELL. Zuko, you lucky ass man.” Katara hits him, but shoots her a wink as the rest of the gang look over. Y/N laughs giddily through their praises and hyped words (Toph in good spirit rather than actually seeing her outfit), as she makes her way back to her spot on the couch.

Zuko, who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her yet, quickly grabs her bare waist and tugs her onto his lap to hold her tight. “So… this is what you meant by ‘hot girl shit.’” Letting out a loud laugh, Y/N turns her head and gives him a quick kiss. “I’m a rock star, baby, what can I say.” 

Aang cheers out of nowhere. “Yes! I’ve always wanted to be a groupie!” More laughter and jokes ring throughout the room, keeping the atmosphere as light as always, 

A knock at the door interrupts them. A man is standing there in all black with a headset on and a sleek, red (with little sparkles that only gleam in the light), electric guitar carefully caressed in his hands. While they are a girl group, their success has mainly come from being a girl group who also plays all their instruments. With Mai on the drums, Ty Lee on the keyboard, Azula and Y/N on electric guitars, Yue on the acoustic guitar, Suki on the bass; the band is truly a sight with all of them sharing the vocals and their enthusiastic (near crackhead) energy that give their crowd a good show. 

“Miss L/N? This is your five minute warning.” He tells them, not bothered by the usual group of people who are constantly in these rooms with her.

“Thanks Lee!” Y/N hops up to get her pride and joy (her child as Suki and Mai like to joke about). “I’ll be right out.”

Knowing these are the last pre-game minutes, everyone starts getting up to leave the room as well. Zuko lingers by Y/N who’s busy making sure her instrument is tuned perfectly for the numbers she’s about to perform. 

“I can feel you staring, Zu,” She smiles, still looking down at her strings. He huffs out a laugh, reaching out to push a piece of hair back to see her face.

“Good luck out there, my rock star. Don’t do too much hot girl shit.” 

“Oh, I’m doing all the hot girl shit.” A glare. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding… unless…?” She laughs at his fed up face. Reaching up, she presses one last, lingering kiss to his lips, enjoying the feeling of his fingers clutching her sides firmly and the feeling of his heart beat under her palm that’s resting on his chest. 

“Bye, love. I’ll see you after the show.” She whispers, sealing the promise with a kiss before moving back. “Alright kids! Get the hell out of my dressing room.” Y/N shouts at her friends and they all leave together, laughing away. 

The rest of them wish her luck before moving away, Sokka sprinting to find Suki one last time. Zuko holds onto her free hand, watching her laugh at ‘Simp Sokka’ with his small smile on his face. He kisses her hand, pulling her attention back to him. 

“Bye, rock star. I’ll see you after the show. Break a leg, yeah?” His cliche words make her laugh more, pulling away from him and towards the rest of her band who are chanting “BTG! BTG!”. 

“Zu… I don’t break legs. I break hearts.” And with one last mischievous look, she mouths ‘hot girl shit’ and struts away in that way that makes Zuko want to make her cancel the show completely. 

His phone buzzes a few minutes after he caught up with his friends in their special closed off section on the floor. He opens the notification and it sends him to Instagram where Y/N had tagged him in a post. The smile grows on his face with every second he takes in the post. 

Katara must’ve taken the picture. The angle, lighting, and quality could only be done by her. Y/N was on his lap, dressed to go on stage. Zuko’s mouth was almost touching her ear, definitely when he was whispering to her, and her face was wide in a smirk. They looked good, perfect even. The caption is what made him laugh, warmth and pride that she is his spreading through his chest. 

“Y/N_L/N: for him? I’m always on my hot girl shit”

#zuko #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #avatar zuko #atla x reader #atla #fanfic #Avatar The Last Airbender #atla fanfic #alta x reader #atla x you #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #x reader #enmy-writes atla

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, theydraggedmein!

For @theydraggedmein. I hope you like this story!

Fic inspired by Melsephant's Monster of the Week Comic, specifically Solidarity and by the freedom of creation from my Secret Santa giftee

Tags: Supernatural is somewhat known, Stiles is a Selkie, Alive Hales, Friends to Lovers, Quickburn, Workplace Setting, Light/Background Angst, Communication

Read On AO3

*****

Selkie Solidarity

Stiles’ alarm doesn’t go off when it’s supposed to and he wakes up about two hours late for work.

Thankfully, he has an understanding boss with even more understanding bosses, so when he calls in, they just tell him to get himself there safely and don’t worry about it.

Stiles hops in and out of the shower so fast his suit doesn’t even have time to dry before he stuffs his clothing into a waterproof bag, chucks his phone and wallet in too, and leaps off his balcony to do a perfect seal dive into the water below.

He makes good time swimming, but nothing changes the fact that he’s late and he and his office mate were supposed to be running expense reports all day today.The final step before the merge negotiations happening next week.Thankfully they got most of it done this past week, but still, Stiles feels bad about slacking when his office mate is such a good sport. Without him there, Derek’s probably gone a little grumpy around the edges, the way he always does whenever Stiles is inevitably late.

Stiles passes a delicatessen and backtracks. He’s already late, so a few minutes more isn’t a huge deal, and Derek does love everything bagels.

Stiles climbs out of the water, ducks behind some brush, and sheds his suit. He tugs on his clothes, checks his phone for messages—none—and grabs a twenty out of his wallet.

Then, bag slung across his back, he troops into the deli and orders three everything bagels, two for Derek and one for him because he hasn’t had breakfast yet.

Then, it’s an exchange of his clothes for his suit, making sure the bag with the bagels is secured in his bag, and then leaping back into the river to finish his commute.

He’s already apologizing when he races into his and Derek’s office.

“Dude, I know I’m so, so late, but, look, I got us bagels!”

He stops short at the sight of Derek, shifted into his full werewolf form, hunched over his computer and poking at his keyboard.

He looks miserable, his snout long and dripping with saliva where his teeth are too big to retract anymore. His claws keep catching on the keys and he stares at them sadly before huffing out a sigh and starting again.

Stiles digs out the bagels and plops the bag onto Derek’s desk. Comically, Derek’s nose twitches. He looks at Stiles with his baleful eyes before gently opening the top of the bag and with far more care than Stiles is used to seeing from Shifted-Derek, he plucks out a bagel and pops it whole into his mouth.

As Derek chews with the power of a ravenous wolf, Stiles glances at the little calendar Derek keeps pinned to his side of the office.

“Oh man,” Stiles remarks, tracing the outline of the day. “Full moon? That’s rough, buddy. I’m sorry.”

Derek shrugs and picks out his second bagel. “s’okay,” he mumbles, spraying saliva and crumbs everywhere. “T’nks for bagels.”

His over large teeth and flopping tongue make his words nearunintelligible and kind of fascinating. Stiles wishes Derek would talk more during his shifts, but he also knows that Derek doesn’t like making messes even though he’s good at cleaning them up, so he tries not to make messes. And talking with his shifted mouth is about the messiest Derek can be. Second only to eating while shifted.

Stiles takes his bagel and sits down to boot up his computer. Derek hasn’t eaten his second bagel, and instead seems to be waiting for Stiles to start eating his. A quick bite confirms this, and Stiles smiles at Derek.

“So, shall we get those expense reports done?”

No argument from Derek, who seems to be trying to savor his second bagel.

Whatever. It’s cute. That’s why Stiles got them for him. He likes doing things like that for Derek, even when he isn’t almost two and a half hours late.

After a few more minutes of Derek struggling to type with his claws, Stiles turns to him. “Should I shift too?” he asks, gently. Derek barely moves his head, but Stiles feels stared at all the same. “I mean, if you’re stuck in your form, wouldn’t it be less awkward for me to be shifted too?”

“Work?”

Stiles shrugs. “I was late today. How productive am I really going to be?”

Derek looks at his keyboard. It isn’t really functional, and he’ll probably just keep tapping at it and then replace it on Monday when he can shift back. “Broken?”

Stiles waves his hands. “They’re flippers, dude. I don’t think they can do that much damage.”

Derek tilts his head while he thinks about it. It’s such a cute pose that Stiles has to physically turn back to his computer and enter his password before he accidentally squees out loud or something equally embarrassing.

“Okay,” Derek finally says. “T’nks.”

“Be right back!” Stiles grabs his bag and skips off to the bathroom where he exchanges his clothes for his suit and then happily bounces back to his and Derek’s shared office.

Derek straightens for a few minutes when Stiles gets back. At first, he thinks it’s because Derek is laughing at him. Stiles isn’t the most graceful in his human form, but in his seal form, he’s simultaneously better and worse at moving. If the office were water, he’d be grand.

Derek huffs a few times before slowly stepping off his chair and motioning Stiles to his chair. And, whoops, yeah, Stiles forgot that he’d have to climb all the way up there.

He gives Derek a hopeful bark and Derek nods. Together, mostly because of Derek’s brute strength, they get Stiles situated in his chair and ready to do as much work as his flippers can manage on his keyboard.

Surprisingly, despite Derek’s general malaise of being a werewolf in the midst of an uncontrolled shift, and Stiles’ selkie solidarity, they get a lot of work done. And surprisingly, Derek just holds half of the second bagel in his mouth for a long time before it disintegrates into mush and he swallows it.

Their boss pokes his head and shoulders in around lunchtime, some request dying on his invisible lips.

Stiles gives him a happy bark, and Derek follows it up with a less-pained wuff than he’s been giving lately.

“I just wanted to see how those reports were coming along, but I guess never mind.” Kindly, he adds, “If you ever need time off something like this, just let us know. We have a secondary set of time off for supernatural afflictions.”

Derek growls lowly before nodding. He stands up, hands his ruined keyboard to their boss, and walks out.

Stiles waits a few seconds to see if Derek will come back. It’s insulting to call their supernatural abilities afflictions, but Stiles can kind of see where their boss gets it from. He is invisible after all. There’s so many things he can’t do anymore because he inherently gets called a creep. In fact, he has to wear clothes on top of his invisible clothes constantly or risk being called out for being naked.

To him, being invisible is an affliction. To Derek, being a werewolf is like being human: natural.

Same with Stiles and his selkie side. He doesn’t even think of it as an affliction.

Derek doesn’t return, and Stiles decides that he might as well shift back and actually get something done, so he bounces off to the bathroom, tucks his suit away, and walks back to his office.

He finds Derek’s sister Laura standing by his desk. She has a note in hand and a tray of coffees. Stiles doesn’t think he was gone that long.

“Derek wanted to apologize for running off,” Laura says, thrusting the coffee tray at Stiles. One cup is already missing.

She hands him the note after he selects a mocha cappuccino. Then she installs a new keyboard at Derek’s computer and heads out.

Stiles opens the note. It’s a shaky apology written by Derek. Stiles flips it over and, avoiding the tears made from Derek’s claws, writes an acceptance of the apology and leaves it on the brand new keyboard. He’s not insulted by Derek needing time off. This full moon seems rougher than normal.

If Stiles really thinks about it, Derek’s tolerance and control during the full moons has been getting less for a long time. Almost six months. Something to think about.

He decides that he’ll bake Derek some of his prize winning double chocolate chip cookies when he sees him again.

It’s Friday today, so that means that Stiles won’t see him until Monday, and they have a meeting, so maybe he should do the cookies thing on Tuesday?

For now, he focuses on his computer and manages to complete all the expense reports they had planned.

5:00 rolls around and Stiles all but dances into the bathroom, switches into his suit, slides his bag on, and bounces out into the river for his commute home.

~ * ~

All weekend, Stiles does his normal routine, which involves staying up way too late and playing online games with friends halfway across the world. Then, he takes a quick, two hour break to make his apology-accepted-sorry-your-full-moons-suck cookies, because why not?, and clean his apartment.

Monday, he makes sure he has everything, including an actual suit for the meeting with their new clients, the ones he and Derek were doing expense reports for, slides into his suit, and speeds off to work.

He barely gets to greet Derek with the tin of cookies before they both have to change into their suits for the meeting. Stiles slings his bag on his back. He doesn’t like leaving it out of sight for too long, his mom and dad impressing upon him at a young age that selkies can’t trust people with their suits when they’re not in them. In fact, Stiles has a cousin who only just got away from her abusive partner that kept her suit locked away the whole time they were married.

Their boss is standing at the door to the conference room. He is made up to look as if he’s got an actual face for once. He’s wearing gloves and is dressed fully in the required suit. It’s a little uncanny valley, but has the desired effect of making all of him visible.

“Sorry, Stiles, you need to leave your bag somewhere secure.”

“What? Why?”

One of Derek’s ears twitches as he squeezes past them and sits next to Laura, who in addition to being Derek’s sister, is the head of their IT department.

“The clients. They’re human. We’re presenting as human today. I’m sorry, but you have to leave your bag off for this meeting.”

Stiles wants to bite out something about discrimination, but he knows how hard the supernatural world has worked for this. Their firm is the first human-supernatural merger, and if it goes well, there will be others.

“Isn’t this the meeting we reveal ourselves?” Stiles asks. That was the rumor around the water cooler a few weeks back.

“No.” His boss shakes his head. “We merge. Business goes on as usual. Another, more visible, supernatural business merges with another human business. The humans are told at that merger, and if there are any uprisings, we represent cases of discrimination.”

“What if our partners end up being discriminatory against us?” one of the more timid department heads asks. Stiles thinks his name is Boyd. He’s a werewolf, like Derek. It’s a good question, and it’s good coming from Boyd. He was rescued from a hunter farm where they bred and-slash-or forced werewolf creation so that they could “find out what makes them tick.”

Thank fuck that had been shut down right quick.

That’s what these mergers are all about: eliminating the humans’ natural instinct of being afraid of or hurting their supernatural counterparts.

“This firm has been heavily vetted. There can be no room for error here,” Stiles’ boss says. “Unfortunately that means that, for the press release, there can be no evidence of supernatural. Stiles, I am so sorry, you have to leave your bag somewhere. You will be compensated for your time without it.”

Stiles scoffs. “You think you can name a price and buy off my anxiety about my suit?” He looks at Derek, who looks murderous, at Laura, frowning, one hand on Derek’s arm, like she’s restraining him, at Boyd, who looks terrified. He sighs. “Fine. I’ll go hide my bag. But,” he adds, vehemently, “only because not doing so would endanger more than myself.”

“Hurry back,” his boss says. “The meeting starts in fifteen minutes.”

Stiles mutters a curse under his breath as he heads back to his and Derek’s office. There’s no place here at work that he feels safe enough to hide his suit, and there’s not enough time to call his dad to guard it for him.

Then he thinks about the file cabinet. It’s kept locked all the time. Paper copies of all the files he and Derek work on. He and Derek have keys, as does their boss. If he locks it in there, it should be safe for the meeting.

And he can check on it at lunch to make sure it’s still safe and sound. Stiles unlocks the top drawer, shoves the bag as deep as it can go, and heads back to the conference room, pausing to sneeze as some scent tickles his nose a little much. He slinks to his seat next to Derek and sits down.

Derek pats his arm, whispering, “I’m sorry,” without moving his lips.

Stiles shakes his head, turns to watch as the merging firm marches in, and the meeting begins.

~ * ~

Four hours later, Stiles heads back to his office under the guise of a quick refresher break.

When he gets to the room, he stares in shock at the destruction he sees there.

His and Derek’s computers have been knocked over, the towers scratched and smashed. Thank goodness for external servers. At least their work won’t be too disrupted while it’s fixed.

He turns to survey the rest of the room and his heart freezes in his chest.The file cabinet is leaning against the wall, all the drawers jimmied open, their contents spilled everywhere. Derek’s meticulous filing system ruined in a few moments.

But most heart-stopping of all is the fact that Stiles’ bag is gone.

It’s not anywhere in the mess and it isn’t still in the drawer he left it in.

Stiles runs around, digging frantically, in case he missed it. He also sneezes again and again, and finally pauses. He’s been gone too long. He’ll be missed at lunch, which they’re having catered in the conference room.

No. This is too important. Stiles isn’t hungry. He feels rather sick and on the verge of a panic attack.

He knows his nose is good, better than a human’s, but he knows better noses. He remembers when he first met Derek, and Derek was an awkward co-worker who claimed that Stiles stunk of the river even though, at that time, Stiles only went swimming on the weekend and used regular transport like his less aquatically-inclined counterparts.

Stiles hurries back to the conference room, grabs Derek’s arm, and drags him out, muttering something about a number or some shit.

Derek reverses their grip, holding onto Stiles as he leads him back to their office. Derek stares at the mess.

“What happened?” He doesn’t sound like he’s asking Stiles, so Stiles doesn’t bother to answer. He just goes to the file cabinet and points at the drawer where he’d stashed his bag.

Derek nods sharply, inhales deeply, and then points back out to the hallway. Stiles follows him as he goes through the building until they’re out on the street.

Lunch is probably being served now, but Stiles can’t find it in himself to worry about it. He and Derek already presented their expense reports. They’re clear for the rest of the day. It’s just that the firm wanted representation from all departments to be there for the whole of the negotiations. And lunch is also negotiations for some reason.

“Here,” Derek says suddenly, jerking Stiles into a coffee shop down the block from their building.

There’s a few customers in line and they all jump, muttering angrily as Derek budges.

He stops in front of the barista, a woman in her twenties, with long brown hair pulled into a requisite ponytail, green visor “protecting” her eyes.

“Sir, the line starts back there,” she says, bored.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” Derek asks.

Stiles frowns at him. Girlfriend? He leans closer, catches a whiff of something spicy on her. It tickles his nose, and he stifles a sneeze into Derek’s back. Oh hell. They’re both still wearing their suits. It makes a hysterical laugh bubble up in his throat. Derek pats at him clumsily but comfortingly.

The barista blinks. “My girlfriend is none of your business,” she snaps.

“She is when she steals something from my boyfriend,” Derek snaps back.

Stiles chokes on his spit. Boyfriend?News to him.

Derek gives him a quick, apologetic glance, before turning back to glare at the barista.

She caves rather quickly then. “Sorry. She’s in the back. What did she take?”

“A green bag, waterproof. Everything that was in it had better be in it when you get it back. My boyfriend will confirm.”

“I’m sorry about this. I thought she’d gotten over it.”

Derek just points to the back.

Behind him, the line takes a collective step back, some of the people mutter about being late, but for the most part, they all look too intrigued to leave. Shame.Stiles really doesn’t want to reveal to a whole roomful of people that he’s a selkie.

Derek grips his elbow and steers him to the far side of the counter so that they’re no longer in the line’s way. Another barista steps up and things start flowing again. No one leaves even after they get their orders. Crap. It’s like daytime TV, so hilariously bad as to be completely riveting. Stiles could do without the starring role though.

The first barista comes back, leading a pinkish-tinged woman with bright pink hair and cat ears headband by the hand.Stiles sneezes as soon as he catches her scent, the same spicy one on the barista, and definitely the same one in his and Derek’s office.

The pink woman has Stiles’ bag clutched tightly in one hand, the other is still being held by the barista.

“She’s sorry about taking your bag,” the barista says. She squeezes her girlfriend’s hand, and wordlessly, she offers Stiles his bag. Stiles grabs it, digging through to see that everything he’d left in there is still in there, including his suit. He strokes it before hugging the bag to his chest.

The pink woman nods at him. “Soft,” she says, voice low, sweet.

“I’m so sorry about that,” the barista says. “It’s just, she’s a pixie, y’know? She has compulsions.”

“Soft,” the woman says again.

“Yes,” Derek agrees. “It is soft. But it’s his.” He draws his eyebrows down, but it’s not his mad face. Stiles has become quite the expert on Derek’s faces after a year as office mates.

He knows they’re friends now because Derek doesn’t make his I-hate-you-and-want-to-rip-your-throat-out-with-my-teethface anymore, but he hadn’t known Derek thought they were dating. They haven’t gone on any dates. It’s an oversight Stiles will have to correct, and soon.Unless, a stray thought mocks, Derek only said that to get the bag back quicker. Stiles’ stomach drops. They’re still friends, so whatever direction Derek decides to go in after today, Stiles will respect his choice, even if it doesn’t include him.

“Soft,” the pixie repeats, making a gimme motion with her free hand.

“I’m so sorry,” the barista says again. “I used to have a coat like that, but it got lost.”

Derek’s brow furrows. “Where did it ‘get lost’?” he asks. Stiles leans closer. Derek has his I’m-going-to-solve-this-even-if-it-means-an-international-incident face on. Stiles has seen that face exactly once: when he ousted a hunter cell that was operating near their firm. Derek’s mother, high level ambassador in the supernatural-human merges, had come down swiftly and kept other hunter groups from retaliating. Stiles surreptitiously slides out his phone and picks out Laura’s number. He doesn’t dial quite yet though.

Derek’s faces, while always a clear sign of what Derek is going to do, are not always indicative of the trouble they may or may not cause. Mostly, it depends on the other parties’ reaction to 200 pounds of pissed off werewolf suddenly appearing in their faces.

The barista makes a face. “My ex-boyfriend stole it one night. And I couldn’t exactly tell the cops what it was, so he’s still got it. I’m unharmed for the most part. Sometimes,though, I can feel him stroking it.”

“That’s good that he hasn’t hurt you through it,” Stiles says. He hasn’t really gotten into dating specifically because of the horror stories from his mom and dad. From the look on Derek’s face, this ex-boyfriend is going to be dead when they meet him.

“What’s his name? Where does he live?”

Derek is speaking lowly, but even the pixie draws back, a look of fear on her face.

Stiles pats at Derek’s arm. “The full moon was just yesterday,” he explains. “He’s really good with control, but it might still be affecting him.” He shows the barista his phone. “This is his sister. His whole family will help you get your coat back.”

She covers her mouth, tears already running down her face. The pixie turns to her and starts swiping at them, making little distressed noises.

“No, no. they’re happy tears. They’re going to help us get my soft back.”

“Soft?” The pixie gives both Stiles and Derek a long, assessing look before nodding fiercely. “Friends.”

They get more information from the barista before she checks her watch, flinches, and says, “I have to get back to work. Thank you for doing this. Bye.”

Stiles checks his own watch. They’ve used up all their lunch break and if they don’t leave right now, they’ll be late for the other half of their meeting.

Derek seems to realize it too, because he deflates a little. “I’ll call my mom. She and my uncle can go get her suit back.”

“Coat,” Stiles corrects. “I call mine a suit. She calls hers a coat.”

Derek smiles then. “Remind me that I have to tell you something when all this is over.”

“What?”

Before Stiles can attempt to get it out of him now, Derek starts running, and Stiles has to run to keep up with him. As much as Stiles knows Derek, Derek knows Stiles too. It’s frustrating sometimes, like now, when they’re running half a block back to their firm.

When they get back to the conference room, their boss, looking a little less visible with some of his makeup worn off, ushers them into the room. Derek fakes needing the restroom, promises to be back in two minutes, and runs off. Stiles sits down and pretends to pay attention.

Derek comes back in the promised two minutes, sits next to Stiles, and together they just listen as the finer details of the merge are finalized and suddenly, they’ve doubled in size.

Derek and Laura both get a call as soon as the workday ends, and before Stiles can ask what’s up or what Derek needs to tell him, they’re both shifted and gone.

Stiles sighs. There’s always tomorrow.

He changes into his suit, glad to have it back, and swims home.

~ * ~

Tuesday dawns bright and early without sun and with a dripping wet werewolf sitting on the end of Stiles’ bed.

Stiles screams and throws the first thing he can grab—his alarm clock—at the werewolf, and Derek tumbles to the floor with a muted oof.

Stiles flicks on the light and points at Derek. “Explain,” he says. “Why did you try to give me a heart attack in the middle of the night?”

Derek rolls his shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. “’snot the middle of the night,” he mutters, pettily.

Stiles points at his clock. “Well, I wouldn’t know. I had to use my timepiece as an improvised weapon.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll go. I didn’t mean to—” Derek spreads his hands in a helpless gesture. Stiles can’t read it. He’d gotten so good at reading Derek’s facial expressions and tones but he forgot to learn his body language as well.Mostly because Derek doesn’t use body language. He sits still and doesn’t give clues. Stiles takes a metaphoric step back, studies Derek for a long, solemn moment, and then offers his hand to pull him up on the bed.

“Why are you wet?” he asks, more gently.

Derek rolls his shoulders again, like he’s trying to work out a kink, but it’s probably embarrassment that’s pinching his nerves.

“I wanted to update you on the pixie and the selkie,” he says, eyes fixed on his lap. “I only know you smell like the river a lot, so I followed it up.” A flush creeps up his neck, and he ducks his head down more. “I fell in,” he says miserably.

Stiles can’t help the laugh that comes out of him. He slaps his hand over his mouth, but the damage is done. Derek shakes his head once, and moves to get up. Stiles grabs his wrist.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you—well maybe a little. I mean, you’re a werewolf and you fell in the river?”

“I wasn’t paying attention,” Derek says.

“Why not?”

“Because,” Derek says, and then mumbles the next part too low for even Stiles’ selkie ears to hear.

“What was that?”

Derek repeats himself louder and faster. It’s still just a jumbled mess of syllables that mean nothing to Stiles.

“Couldn’t catch that, dear, repeat again please. And enunciate.”

Derek lifts his head, determination burning in his eyes. “I said,” he speaks slowly, more, Stiles gets the feeling, to get the words out, than through annoyance at having to repeat himself for a third time, “that I fell in because I caught your scent and got distracted.”

Stiles doesn’t know how to respond to that, because, aside from the pretend-to-be-boyfriends to get Stiles’ suit back, Derek has expressed zero interest in Stiles like that. So why would he fall in the river after catching Stiles’ scent?

Stiles decides it’s too early and goes with a less confusing topic of conversation. “You said you wanted to update me on the pixie and the barista?”

Derek nods, grabbing the offered opportunity gratefully. “My mom and uncle found the ex-boyfriend easily. And because werewolves, they were able to locate and secure the coat quickly. Turns out he’s just a regular human obsessed with selkie lore and just wanted to have control over her.”

“Is he in jail?”

Derek shakes his head. “How can we arrest him? Humans aren’t exactly aware of the supernatural yet. My mom is going to keep an eye on him, and my uncle promised to put the fear of Peter into him.”

“‘The fear of Peter’?”Stiles raises an eyebrow. “That’s awfully cocky of your uncle Peter.” He gets a quirked smile in response. Stiles has met Peter once, and that was enough for Stiles to realize that Peter, if he didn’t like you, could make your life miserable.

Thankfully, Peter seemed to like Stiles, and he hasn’t been subjected to more of his particular brand of Peter-ness.

“Anyway,” Derek continues, “I wanted to tell you that Ari got her coat back, and Livie is sorry for taking yours.”

“I get it. She probably thought it was Ari’s.”

“Yeah, and one more thing: I think I love you.”

Stiles blinks at the confession. Blood rushes in his ears and it’s a little difficult to breathe.

“What?” he manages to whisper.

Derek makes eye contact with the wall past Stiles’ head. Choked, he says, “I think I’m in love with you. It’s why my full moons have been getting worse. My anchor is shifting. It’s you.”

“What?” Stiles repeats. Derek’s head drops, his shoulders droop. Confused, Stiles just stares at him.

“My anchor isn’t what it was before. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. It’s too much. I’m sorry.”

He stands up almost too fast for Stiles to grab him again. “No!”

Derek looks at where Stiles is gripping his wrist. “No?” he asks, and it sounds so, so hopeful.

“No,” Stiles says, settling back, tugging Derek gently until he’s back on the bed. “Don’t go. Tell me more about your anchor. Tell me more about you. ‘Cause, Derek, you’re not the only one who thinks they’re in love.”

Derek’s eyes go to Stiles’ chest—his heartbeat. “I love you,” Stiles says, and the skip in his heartbeat isn’t from a lie. It’s because he’s realizing the truth. He may have been able to reason with himself at the coffee shop yesterday, and even explain away all the little anomalies of being attracted to his officemate as being friends, but he knows with certainty, he wants to be actual boyfriends with Derek.

He wants Derek here, in his space, wants to help him get his wolf back in control during the full moons, wants to get him bagels every morning, wants, wants, wants, so steady, it’s like his heartbeat.

And when Derek leans in, asks, “May I?” so gently and carefully before kissing Stiles’ like he’s the most precious thing in the world, Stiles knows, Derek wants too.

Warmth surges in his veins and he deepens the kiss, holding it like a breath, kissing like their lives depend on it, and trying to climb into the space in Derek’s heart that is already calling his name.

~ End ~

#theydraggedmein #stereksanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

[madibyrd]

TASK #003: DO NOT GO GENTLE

Talia is mourning the loss of a dear friend and love, when she realizes that an old friend suffered a tragic fate, making two people in her life linked by one plane crash.

Written with the lovely and amazing @akbartheolder

A locked door.

A locked door that’s been locked for the past two months.

Talia was terrified of it still. Terrified to walk in, to see Madison’s belongings, so see it like her friend has left it all that time ago. Terrified to walk in and not see Madi on the bed, sleeping, or rummaging through his drawer for just the right colored yarn, or being halfway in her uniform already, getting ready for bed. Terrified to be once again hit with the fact that Madi was gone.

It felt impossible. They never found her body. Nor her partner’s. No signs of life, but no signs of death, either. No torn off piece of uniform, no shoe, no blood, nothing. They could find nothing in the two months that she’s been gone.

And ever since she heard the news (Liz called her, a day after they got the call - as she put it, they were so struck by grief, they forgot about her and she was dreadfully sorry but Talia must understand. She absolutely did not.), she hasn’t been able to get through that door. This is how Madi left it, and going in there, going through that door, would have meant accepting that Madi was gone.

She’s been waiting. She’s been waiting and hoping and praying, she prayed so much, that Madi would be found. She told herself she wouldn’t even mind not being told right away, she would much rather be a worried mess for a few more days, even, if in the end it meant that Madison Byrd would walk through the front door. Their front door. But she never did, and Talia never got the call that they found her. But she also never got the call that they didn’t.

And yet, here she was once again, looking at the door, terrified of opening it, with the knowledge that she had to now. She had to after the conversation (read: fight) she had with Liz earlier that day.

(“Talia, you agreed that you’d pack up Madi’s stuff two weeks ago now.”

“She’s not gone yet, Liz, nobody actually found her yet.”

“Talia, honey--”

“Don’t honey me, Liz.”

“Fine, fine, jeez, I-- look, I get it, you want her back, okay?”

“You act like you don’t! And she’s your sister!”

“Yes, she’s my sister and I’m dying on the inside knowing what happened to her, but pretending it didn’t happen won’t help a single thing!”

“No, but trying to do something to prove that she is still out there could.”

“Jesus, Talia, we’ve been through this--”

“I have the money, Liz. I have the fucking money, we could get a team-- a good team, see what they can find.”

“I don’t want you to--”

“Madi is still out there, Liz!”

And that’s when Jake appeared, his baby doe eyes looking up at Talia with a newly found hope in them. “Aunt Madi is okay? Is she coming home? Moooooom, when is Aunt Madi coming home, I missed her so much. Can we go see her right away?”

Liz’s eyes could have thrown daggers at Talia. “She isn’t coming home, sweetie, we’ve talked about this. Go sit in the car, I’ll be right there with you, okay?” To give her credit, she did wait for the car door to close before she turned to Talia, her eyes brimming with tears as well, for the first time showing that she was also barely holding it together, like Talia was.

“Listen, Talia, I know you’ve been close, okay? And I get it, it’s fucking hard to accept that she’s gone. I’ve cried myself to sleep for the last two months and I still keep waiting for the phone to ring and her to be on the other side of it, telling me that she’s okay. But I have a kid, who adored his aunt like crazy and who barely understands why she isn’t coming home anymore. So don’t you dare say that in front of him again, do you hear me? I don’t want you to confuse him again even more than he already is. And for fuck’s sake, pack up Madi’s stuff already!”)

So now here she was, standing in front of a fucking locked door, terrified of seeing what was inside, terrified of being hit in the head once again that Madi was gone. Terrified to accept that Madi wasn’t coming home.

But Liz’s words rang in her ear. And for fuck’s sake, pack up Madi’s stuff already! Liz wanted Madi’s stuff packed up. Madi’s parents wanted her stuff packed up.

(They didn’t say it outright, they never did, but every word Talia exchanged with them reeked of how they themselves didn’t understand why they were even letting Talia handle this. As if Talia wasn’t close to Madi. As if they didn’t live together. As if she didn’t fucking love their daughter.)

So she was going to pack up Madi’s room.

Talia took a deep breath. And then another and another. And then a couple more, before she finally managed to convince herself to lay her hand on the doorknob and step inside.

The room looked as if Madi has never left. Her bed was made, but her uniform was lying messily on top of it. There were papers all over Madi’s desk. Her shelves were full of books - cooking, gardening, a bunch of stuff about bees, travel books that barely got actually used, but Madi loved flipping through them still, romance and adventure books, and handbooks for her job. There were a couple of old DVDs slipped in there, one of them the DVD Talia let her borrow and Madi never returned it. She kept forgetting, and after a while it became something they joked about between them. Her closet was closed. There were a couple of different pictures on the wall, and a calendar, dates circled in and couple of notes jotted down. October 20th had several little hearts and a candle on it - it was the day they planned to celebrate Madi’s birthday, once she got back to Boston and they both had an off day from work.

Talia closed her eyes for a moment, tears silently streaming down her face. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t just pack up Madi’s entire life into boxes and hand them back to Liz. She couldn’t just say goodbye to her friend, her roommate, the woman she loved so dearly and so preciously, and yet not at all enough.

She carefully walked over to the bed and first sat down onto it, and then laid down, pushing the uniform down to the floor. She could pick it up later. The pillow still vaguely smelled like Madi and she felt ridiculous, pathetic, but Talia closed her eyes and imagined the woman lying next to her, just inches away, not touching her, but there. She could almost convince herself of it. But when she opened her eyes, Madi wasn’t there.

Talia couldn’t help but think of another close call, but one that Madi walked away from. After which she did get home.

***

Madi was curled up on the couch when Talia got home, which wasn’t at all surprising. What was surprising, though, was the fact that Madi didn’t welcome her with a wide, bright smile. Might have been presumptuous of Talia to expect that, but over the almost one year period of living together, anytime she found Madi on the couch, bundled up blankets, the woman would look over her shoulder and give her this huge, bright grin full of joy just because she got home.

It immediately started a small siren in Talia’s head, but she tried not to make a big deal out of it. It’s not like there wasn’t any greeting at all, they didn’t have a fight, so maybe Madi was simply tired.

Talia went around the house, dropping her stuff, changing into more comfortable clothes, settling in and all the while telling Madi about one of her idiot coworkers a group of student came to her to complain about and still, there was no reaction. Nothing.

“Madi, you’re okay?” she finally asked, but all she got was a quiet yes and Madi changed the channel. Okay. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Have you been bundled up on the couch since your shift ended?”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

Okay, something happened at work, that was clear. Didn’t Madi mention some newbie starting today? Or was that tomorrow? Talia wasn’t completely sure, but if this new person was giving Madi problems, that would explain the bad mood.

“I’m going to make us some tea, how about that,” she offered.

“Not everything can be solved with tea, Talia,” Madi snapped back, harsher than before and yet weaker all the same and that was it, Talia was annoyed now, too. She got that whatever it was, Madi was having a good day, but she was just trying to help and if Madi didn’t want that, she could just say it instead of playing the five years old and snapping--

Talia stopped in the middle of her thought process as she rounded the couch and finally saw Madi in the flash, not just saw the pile of blankets or heard her voice. She looked so-- small. She always kind of looked small when she bundled up like this, but there was something about her now that seemed like if she could, she would have already shrunk as small as she could, or would have even disappeared. And her face… by now Talia knew how Madi looked when she was trying to keep things in, when she was trying to pretend that things were okay. It didn’t happen a lot, Madi was generally okay and happy and upbeat, but Talia still remembered the night Madi told her about the fire and what happened to her. She had a similar look about her.

“Madi, luv, what’s wrong?” she asked, immediately sitting down onto the couch (partly onto Madi’s feet, but she doubted Madi even felt it in the state she was in). Madi just shook her head. And then shook it again and again and again until the tears were streaming down her face but still, she wasn’t talking. “Luv, you can tell me, I’m here, I promise.”

“There was-- there was a fire we were called to,” Madi started, shifting and Talia moved without even realizing it, moved away so Madi could properly sit up, and then she was sliding back, wrapping her arms around Madi and pulling her friend close, running her hand over her hair. “The structure collapsed and I got stuck inside and I-- and I--” Madi choked on the words several times, her breathing getting harder and harder - Talia couldn’t tell if it was because of the crying or because her anxiety was kicking in, probably a little bit of both, but either way, it was killing her to see Madi like this. Strong, brave, amazing Madi who had so much light in her, sobbing in her arms.

“I thought that was it,” Madi finally managed to say and even though Talia figured where the story was going, it still broke her heart to hear Madi say it out loud. “Communication got cut off and I was stuck, couldn’t get out, couldn’t do anything, and I thought...”

She thought she was going to die in the midst of a fire like she thought she would so many years ago, too, Talia finished the sentence in her head, but didn’t say it out loud, just kept caressing Madi’s hair and murmuring, “It’s okay, you’re alright, you’re here, you got out.”

Talia wasn’t sure just how long they’ve sat on the couch like that, Madi crying into her shoulders and Talia quietly trying to comfort her friend, but it must have been a long time because by the time Madi pulled back, there was barely any light coming through the windows. She had no tears anymore, no new ones at least, the tears seemed to have dried out a bit ago, but Madi still wiped at them and Talia reached over to help her - careful, light touch of her fingers against Madi’s cheek.

“I don’t-- I don’t want to die like that, Talia. I know it’s inevitable - dying, I mean, not the fire - but I don’t want it to be the fire that takes me.”

Talia bit her lips. “You know that your job...”

“Please don’t be my parents. Please don’t start trying to talk me out of my job.”

Talia shook her head, squeezing Madi’s hand. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I was just going to say that if you have the job that you have, it increases the chances of that happening.”

“I know.” Madi sounded so weak, so small, Talia wanted to hug her again. Wanted to kiss her, too, but this was not the time. Not when Madi was such a mess. When it would happen, it had to be perfect. Or at least closer to perfection than this.

“Are you okay with that? Are you okay with such a high chance compared to any normal, not so heroic person?”

“I’m not heroic, Talia, it’s--”

“I know, it’s your job. And you’re crying over not wanting to die in the fire, and yet you chose the one profession where you have to run into it every single day. So yes, you are heroic, but that’s not the point. Are you okay with that chance? Are you willing to take that risk?”

Madi was quiet for a moment before nodding. Talia swallowed hard. “I don’t get you sometimes.”

“Why?” Madi asked, tilting her head to the side, and now Talia felt like she was on the verge of tears. How did this woman become so important to her? How did she sneak up into her heart without Talia really noticing, until it hit her in the head. This was the moment when it hit her that she could have lost Madi today. That without knowing it, while she was listening to students complaining about one of her coworkers, Madi could have taken her last breath, shockingly and without any warning, and Talia wouldn’t have known. She couldn’t have said goodbye, she couldn’t have been there for the woman.

Her throat was dry.  She didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to think about the possibility of living in a world without Madi. But as long as Madi was willing to take the risk, it would be something that would hang over their heads. And Talia wished she could be selfish enough to ask Madi to stop, to find something else where she could help people. But she saw what Madi’s parents and their constant nagging did to their daughter, and she wasn’t going to be yet another person to cause that kind of stress to Madi.

So instead of begging her to quit and try to stay safe, to at least avoid the fire and not spend her days running into infernos, all Talia said was, “I don’t want to lose you. You hear me, Madi? I don’t want to lose you, so you better say fuck you to all those odds and come home every day, okay?”

The woman just nodded, “Yeah, I can try as best as I can,” and this time it was Madi who leaned forwards and hugged Talia, the two of them trying to reassure and comfort each other as best as they could in that moment.

Talia didn’t cry, she managed to keep it together, but she spent the entire night finding excuses to touch Madi, just to make sure she was still there, still alive, that the worst hasn’t actually happened.

***

“Hn - Madi -! Oh...”  Talia’s eyes flew open, breath snorting into wakefulness as she froze and looked around.  Her brain came to and Talia relaxed, realizing she was in Madi’s room.  She must have cried herself to sleep; the darkness indicated it was now evening.  How long had she been asleep?  It was like the scent of Madi, that faint, sad relic of Madi had acted like a soporific, putting Talia into a heavy nap.  After nights of insomnia, that small little nap felt like she’d slept for 24 hours straight.

“God…” Talia grumbled, the ache starting all over again in her chest, the tightness in her head.  As every instinct wanted to just yell out for Madi and hear her answer.  Demand tea or a Netflix binge session, or something normal, and get up and join Madi for a happy evening together.  But then Talia had to remember the pain, all over again:  Madi was gone.  Madi was gone.  She had to clean up this room, because Madi was gone.

She groaned, her brain already reasons to postpone packing up yet again, as she slowly struggled to sit up.  Her hand smacked against something cardboard-like, under Madi’s pillow.  Frowning, Talia sat up and tugged it out.  

It was a duotang with the National Coast Guard logo imprinted on it, and a label that said a bunch of military-sounding jargonny words.  But what stood out for Talia was: FLIGHT 441 SAR SOPs.

Search and Rescue - which Madi had volunteered for. This was the Operating Procedures for the mission.   Talia groaned again.

“Oh Madi...so eager to run off and save people, you forgot your hero instruction manual,”  Talia mumbled, as if Madi was there to hear her.  (If she was going crazy, talking to non-existent people, Talia didn’t care. She was grieving; wasn’t crazy part of grieving?)

Apathetically, Talia flipped through the pages. But as she caught sight of the information, Talia paused, and went back to the beginning. She began turning the pages, scanning them with a sudden feverish intensity.  

The folder gave details of the flight, including grids and coordinates of proposed crash sites.  It gave the information of the ship that would take Madi and the rest of the Search and Rescue team to these locations.  It gave details on how the search would be conducted, safety procedures, all sorts of information that was probably not accessible easily by the public.  

Talia perched on her knees, excited, even though there was a part of her brain - a Liz-shaped, Liz-voiced part of her brain - that begged her to stop.  Do not go down this route, do not start thinking that maybe Madi was still alive.  That maybe Madi could still be found.

Talia ignored her little internal Liz - shut her back in her car and told her to drive away.  

She just needed confirmation.  This was what Talia assured herself, as she flipped through page after page.  She wasn’t looking for miracles, all she wanted was to know.  To know for sure, that Madi was gone, that she was actually, truly gone.  Then Talia would let it go, pack up her room.  She just wanted that closure.  Was that so bad to --

“OH MY GOD!” Talia shrieked.   “What.  Oh my bloody fucking….”  Talia gripped the folder tightly, crumpling it as she stared at the first two names of the Flight 441 passenger manifest.

Akbar, Emre (UK) Akbar, Iyaz (UK)

Talia ran her finger over Emre’s name, mouth dropping.  She grabbed her phone - but then remembered with a cold bitter horror. She’d deleted his number.  Two years ago, almost to this day, was the last time she’d spoken to Emre Akbar, and then deleted his number.

***

He rang - he had the nerve to actually ring her up.  Finally, Emre Akbar calling Talia after years of him sporadically not answering or leaving her on read.  Talia supposed she could interpret it as guilt, an apology; but by now she had a hard time trusting most of the things Emre did.  He'd ghosted and fibbed and avoided until she cornered him.  And then Emre knew how to give reasons, apologize, give her space until she relented.  Again and again; and it got worse in the past few years.

But Talia picked up anyway. No hellos or small-talk; she knew him too long to bother with that.  "Finally a promise he makes good on. Cheers for that, Emmy."

"Oi Tiz - what?  Was it this weekend? Bollocks..."

"Oh just shut up - you knew I was in Wembley this weekend!  I put it in your calendar and texted you reminders!" Talia cut Emre off.  "One thing, man!  I asked for /one/ thing from you.  You promised you'd come see me for the convocation.  It was my PhD, Emmy.  And you couldn't even show up."

"I wanted to,” Emre replied, like he always did. “Believe me, luv, I just - yo can we facetime?"

Talia relented (she told herself it was not relenting, because she wanted to see his stupid face as well, all the better to yell at) and switched, ensuring her own expression was crafted into flat disapproval when he saw her.  Not just disapproval, but sadness too, and hurt.

"Oi - you got something green in your teeth," Emre said, and Talia rolled her eyes.

"You haven’t even seen me talking yet, you dumbass.  Or sorry- its ‘dumbass’ too American for you?  Well you're a huge pile of bullshit, mate, how’s that.  Fucking god, Emre..."  Talia stopped walking and crowded into a small greenway between the shops, on the busy Boston street.  Somewhere private.   She slumped against a wall, focused only on his face.  "You really do look like shit you know that?  God, are you high?"

Emre shrugged, looking away from his phone, like something else caught his attention.  His usual distance, whenever Talia tried to ask him about him.   She’d ask Emre what he was doing, his plans, where he worked - all of it.  He'd just look away like that, and shrug.  ‘Don't ask, Talia.  Don't get involved.  You're not here.  You don't know.’  The same shit he said over and over over the years - why did she put up with it?  Because despite it all, she still had a soft spot for Emre.  The history they shared growing up together, she still honoured that sadness, when the Akbar parents disappeared.  Talia and Emre were once such good friends; she still loved him, and Talia liked to believe he still loved her.  Call her sentimental or stubborn, but Talia couldn't give up on people that easily.  

Emre finally looked at her again, and spoke.  "I'm sorry I missed you again, Tizzy, really.  I just - things got busy for me, yeah?  Work keeps me on-call these days."

"The work you can't talk about, right."  Talia shook her head, running her hand through her brown hair.  "Em, look...it's not just this weekend though.  It's...it's everything.  The past year - the past five years.  I'm tired of trying, and like, reaching out like this, and all you keep doing is brushing me off.  You keep pushing me away and I’m only patient for...twenty years, I guess.  I mean - I'm still worried, you idiot.  Every time you blow me off, I worry.  If you'd just talk to me, Emmy.  I could help you, yeah?  We could sort it out."

But Emre was looking at her now, camera angled so his eyes took up most of the screen.   They were blasted-out black holes, freezing her out; she could see it even through the phone.   "Help, right yeah,” Emre muttered.  “Just - yeah bruv - just hop on the tube, ten minutes tops you'll be here, yeah?"

"Emmy--"

"Oh no wait - you're not here, Tiz.  You left us twenty years ago, didn't you."

"Ohmigod, that's not fucking fair, Emmy!” Talia exploded. “What did you want me to do?  Tell mom and dad like - oh sorry dudes, think I'll just hang in London with Emre Akbar and his Gran for the rest of my life?  We were eighteen, Emmy.  I went wherever  mom and dad went, that's what kids do..."  She saw the twitch of his mouth and Talia sighed.  "That's - I mean - that's not what I mean.  I'm not talking about you and your--"

But Emre cut her off again.  "So why not hop on one of your daddy's jets then yeah?  Since Mamoon's a bigshot billionaire and all."

"Ummm, okay?"  Talia lost her temper at Emre’s unwarranted derision. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Talia knew this was what Emre wanted.  He could push her buttons...just like she could push his.  Unlike Emre though, Talia chose not to.  "Okaaaay, so on top of me moving to the States with my parents when I was /just a child/, now it's also my fault that dad's business took off?  He’s - he’s not a billionaire you dumbass.”  Her dad’s business was up there in the hundreds of millions though.  Fortune 500, all of it.  What Emre said made Talia heated and itchy under her collar, she should’ve steered the conversation away.  But she was so indignant, she couldn’t help pushing him more.  

“What else you got, Emmy?  Go on, hit me."  Talia was shouting now, she could hear herself but she just glared at anyone who glanced her way.  

"Mamoon's business, yeah right,"  Emre snorted a bitter laugh, then leveled his gaze at her.  "Yeah his shipping business, so bloody lucrative.  You know it's not as honest and upstanding as you choose to pretend it is, right?  All that sort of money and success, it don't come honest, darling.  Mamoon's a shady bastard - he’s made deals, fixing numbers and breaking backs, and you? Well our little girl Talia gets another new car and goes to fancy ivy league and a posh flat and no questions asked --"

"Shut up.  Shut up Emre!" Talia snapped. Her tone was so sharp and icy, she actually did shut him up.  "Fuck you.  Fuck you, god.  God, I can't do this anymore!" Talia laughed angrily; and just like that, the decision that had been weighing in the back of her mind for months now, was made. 

"I’m done, Emre.  This is it, we’re done.  Just remember this moment, yeah?" she lifted the phone up, so Emre could see her full face, so there was no misunderstanding.  “I hope you remember this, five years from now when you're lying fucked-up in some gutter, and everyone's given up on you and you're all alone with your fucking shitty attitude and aggro bullshit, and I hope poor sweet Yazzer's long given up on you and I won't answer your calls and you'll have no one, yeah?  You'll be all alone and dying and NOBODY! WILL! CARE--!!  Fuck--"   

Talia ended the call, tears falling as she sobbed in loud, choking gasps.  If this was a movie, she'd be throwing her phone; but this was real life and she loved her phone. Talia just kicked a trashcan instead, then crumpled over in pain because her high heel was not ready for the impact.

Immediate regret.  Talia felt immediate regret, but she still couldn't bring herself to call Emre back and apologize.  No, not even a text.  She wouldn't relent this time.  Not now, or in a few days, or after a few months when she felt pity, and wondered how Emre was doing.   No - he deserved this, goddammit.  He'd pushed her to the last of her reserves.  And if this was what he wanted, then he'd succeeded.  So Talia opened her contacts to block and/or erase him...but found she couldn't do either.

"Hnnnnng, fuuuuuck!" she wailed, wild with distress.  Through her tears, Talia managed to send a text to the only person in the world who could calm her down.  Who could be there for her, hold her hand, hug her tight, and walk her through this.  Assure Talia she was right, to do this.

TEXT:  MADI!!!!! TEXT:  Pls tell me ur home.  911 WINE EMERGENCY TEXT: I finally broke up with my London fren  :(((((((((

***

And that was it. Talia remembered going home and Madi was there waiting and over-prepared with everything she could possibly think of to comfort Talia.  The big fleece Pikachu onesie, all the wines lined up, snacks, more snacks, all of Talia’s favourite movies ready to go, and Talia’s winey whiner playlist on Spotify.  Madi, who knew her so well, then spent the entire night hugging Talia as Talia vented and vented about Emmy, letting it all out. It was Madi, who finally convinced her to delete Emre’s number, and all his texts.

And Talia did, in the end.  A new beginning, and they’d cheered and had more wine and chocolate together.  Then Talia pretended to fall asleep on Madi, just so they’d spend the rest of the night on the couch, together.

And now, she was looking at the Flight 441 passenger manifest.  And Emre’s name was on it.  And Madi had gone searching for him.

“Fuck.  What the fuck…” Talia whispered to herself.

#stranded task 3 #task #task 3: do not go gentle #ft. emre #ft. talia #BLESS GIGI FOR DOING THIS WITH ME #it's a long one so if you get to the end of it i applaud you #really it's just us killing each other with talia feels #who ummm surprise? knew emre when they were kids? #our babies have not realized it yet lol #anyway i am just rambling in the tags now but this was super fun to do and a really fun to do i enjoyed it immensely

[sunlightdances]

One Good Reason: (5*/5) - Dean x Reader

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female Reader Chapter Warnings: Smut adjacent. Fluff. A little angst. Chapter Summary: This chapter switches POVs, so just a heads up. Fast forward a month. Lockdown continues, and the Reader and Dean have the dreaded “what do we do after this” conversation. Series Summary: Dean never brings women back to the bunker. It figures the one time he breaks his own rule, the state issues a lockdown. Navigating the next month is an exercise in trust, patience, and falling in love. Author’s Note/Disclaimer: Here it is! The final chapter. Thank you so much for reading this story! I’ve had a lot of fun writing it. I don’t own Dean or Supernatural, but the plot and writing is mine, so please don’t repost it without my permission.

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Dean checks his watch for the fourth time that morning, ignoring Sam’s smirk.

“You could just go wake her up,” Sam says.

Dean shakes his head. “Do you remember what happened the last time I did that?” He pulls his phone out of his jeans pocket and opens his text thread with you.

Are you awake?

Almost instantly, you reply.

Yes, but I’m going back to bed.

?? It’s noon

Time isn’t real, Dean

Dean laughs despite himself, and when Sam looks over questioningly, he waves him off, getting to his feet. He heads down the hallways towards the bedrooms, and feels the anticipation of seeing you for the first time in a day. He scoffs at himself - he feels like a damn teenager.

He doesn’t hate the feeling, though. It’s crazy to him that at a time like this, he’s managed to be happier than he has in years.

He thought he would regret you staying here with him. He definitely regrets how it happened, but it couldn’t be going better. From the start, you were a light where he never knew he needed one. You laughed and hummed under your breath, and bickered with him about the most mundane things… and god if that didn’t awaken something Dean thought was long dead inside him.

As he turns the doorknob to your bedroom, he’s again greeted with that familiar swooping sensation in his stomach. Though he’s spent the last few weeks getting to know in intimate details what makes you tick and what makes you shudder from head to toe… the way you look at him over your shoulder wearing his shirt-- his knees feel a little weak at the sight.

“I thought I told you I was going back to sleep.”

Dean rolls his eyes. “Come on. Let’s do something.”

“Like what?” You prop yourself up on one elbow.

“I know you’re bored--”

“Dean, I hate it. I can’t do this anymore.”

“I think you’re being a little dramatic.”

You pout, and he wants to kiss it off. “Any news?”

“Nothing good,” Dean admits, sighing. He walks over and sits on the edge of your bed. His hand finds your thigh and he squeezes gently, feeling how soft your skin is under his calloused hand, and he smiles softly when he sees goosebumps break out on your leg. “You can’t stay here and think all day,” he says.

“Sure I can.”

Dean nudges you until you scoot over, and when you do, he stretches out next to you, putting his arm around your shoulder. “You want to help me with something?”

You groan, “More work?”

Dean laughs. “Sort of. But it might be fun. Come on, get dressed and meet me in the garage.”

.

.

.

When you appear in the garage a half hour later, Dean almost drops the wrench in his hand on his face. You’re in a pair of jeans he’s seen before, but your plain t-shirt is covered up by one of his flannel shirts. He whistles, low, and you roll your eyes, but you’re smiling, and Dean takes that as a win compared to how you felt earlier in the day.

“I need to do laundry,” you explain.

“No you don’t,” he counters. “Looks fine to me.”

“What did you drag me away from the TV for?”

Dean gestures for you to come closer. “You’re bored, and I need a hand. Ever worked on a car before?”

You laugh and come over to sit cross-legged next to him. “Helped my Dad out a time or two, but didn’t really retain any of that information. You shouldn’t trust me to do anything with this car.”

Dean talks through a couple of quick fixes - he explains what he’s working on and tells you a few more memorable stories about him and Sam growing up with this car. You’re not really helping at all, he realizes, but still looks at you with a fond smile as you laugh and flip a wrench around between your fingers.

He tries to remember the last time he felt this comfortable with a woman but comes up short.

“Alright.” He slides out from under the car, sweat dripping down his temples. “I need a shower.”

“I suppose I can go bother Sam for a while,” you say, shrugging.

“Or you could come with me,” Dean says, winking.

You shake your head, heading down the hallway without looking back, but he can hear your laugh from where he stands watching you go. There’s a tightening in his gut with every minute that passes, because he can’t shake the feeling that it’s too good to be true. Dean Winchester doesn’t get this lucky. Not while the rest of the world is going to shit. Those two don’t go hand in hand.

Burying the angst, he heads to the shower, and tries not to think about the inevitable.

.

.

.

Sam enlists your help with lunch. Just sandwiches, but it’s enough to keep your hands and mind busy. Being with Dean earlier helped too, but you’re still feeling so worn down. You want to crawl back into bed.

“You okay?” Sam asks. He doesn’t look up from where he’s slicing a tomato.

“I guess so.” You sigh. “Just sick of being cooped up.”

“I feel you.” Sam agrees, pushing the cutting board away from him slightly. He reaches for a loaf of bread, and you hand him the cheese and ham you sliced. “It’s hard to be stuck in here. Even if this place is huge.” He finishes the sandwiches and hands you a plate. “You could help me with some research I’m doing, if you want something else to do.”

Since your last meeting with your company, you’ve been furloughed. It meant no more meetings, which you were thankful for, but also no work to do. You’re struggling to keep yourself occupied instead of letting all the days run together.

“Sure,” you say, perking up at the idea of actually putting your mind to good use. “What are you working on?”

Sam looks a little hesitant as you both sit down at the small table in the kitchen. “It’s-- for a case.”

Aside from the few small conversations you’ve had with Dean about this, you obviously are pretty sheltered from these things. You find yourself a little eager to learn more.

Sitting down with Sam, he gives you the basics on something they’re working on. Turns out even hunting can be done remotely. A friend of a friend has a haunting - something you’ve recently become familiar with.

After an hour or so, you’re interrupted by Dean.

“What is this?” He asks, gesturing at the table.

“Sam needed help,” you say without looking up from your laptop. You’re researching the history of this home while Sam tries to find out if there were any deaths on the property.

“Sam.” Dean’s voice is a bark, and you meet his eyes slowly, feeling like you’re the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. “Can I have a word?”

Sam looks wary, but he smiles at you before standing and meeting Dean out in the hallway.

.

.

.

Dean doesn’t know why it was so jarring to see you sitting there researching with Sam. He also doesn’t know why he feels this… panic welling up inside him.

“What are you doing, asking her to help you with that?”

Sam looks bored. “Dean, come on.”

“I’m serious! This isn’t her life.”

“Why don’t you tell me what this is really about, because the last time I checked, you told her our life story and me having her do a little research isn’t a big deal.” Sam crosses his arms over his chest.

Dean doesn’t say anything, because deep down he knows Sam is right. He just really, really doesn’t want to face that head on.

“Everything okay?” You ask, peeking your head out around the doorframe.

“Fine.”

You arch a brow. “Really? It doesn’t sound fine. It sounds like you were arguing about me.”

Dean puts his hands on his hips. “We weren’t--”

“Do I get a say in this?” You ask, mirroring his stance, and hot damn if Dean doesn’t think you’re attractive when you’re gearing up for a fight. He shakes the thought away.

“I just-- I don’t want you to feel like you need to do this. This isn’t… this doesn’t have to be part of your life.” You’ll forget all about it when you leave us, anyway.

“It’s just busy work, Dean. I’m so bored.”

He sighs, “Fine. Just-- nothing more than research.”

Sam laughs. “Where the hell are we going to go, Dean?”

Dean glares at his brother. “Forget it.”

He’s walking away from both of you before he can say anything else he might regret, trying to ignore the flash of hurt that washed over your pretty features as you stood up for yourself.

.

.

.

Dean is overreacting. You know that, Dean knows that, and Sam knows it, if the way he told you not to worry about it is any indication.

“He-- we have a bad track record bringing friends into this.”

You assume your unease shows on your face, because Sam continues-- “I don’t want to scare you but I don’t want to sugarcoat this. It’s dangerous. Even just starting out doing research can lead to other types of hunting, and he’s just being protective.”

“There’s something else, though.”

Sam doesn’t agree, but he doesn’t disagree, either. And that’s when you know you and Dean need to have The Conversation. You’ve been putting it off because you hate confrontation, but there’s nothing else for it. This stay-at-home order could end any day now, and when it does, you have a life to get back to.

The thought of leaving Dean behind makes you sick to your stomach.

.

.

.

You don’t see Dean again until after dinner. He knocks on your door. You’re back in bed, finally getting around to the TV watching you had been trying to do earlier in the day.

“Hi,” you say, sitting up against the headboard. “You missed dinner.”

He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Wasn’t hungry.”

You pat the bed next to you and watch as he comes to sit down, his steps slow and measured. You wonder if you’re overreacting when you think this feels like a breakup.

“What’s bothering you? And don’t say it’s me researching. You’ve had something on the tip of your tongue for weeks.”

Dean sighs, his head hanging forward, defeated. “How do you know all my tells already?”

Your lips quirk upwards. “I’m very observant.”

“Uh huh.” He elbows you lightly.

“If the same thing that’s bothering me is bothering you, then we have to talk about it, Dean.” You keep your voice quiet, not wanting to push him.

“What are you going to do when it’s safe for you to go back home?” He asks, finally. He doesn’t look at you. His shoulders are slumped forward. You realize, not for the first time, that Dean expects this. He expects the worst, expects everyone to leave him. You feel your heart breaking a little bit as you realize you’re going to be another person added to this list.

“Dean…”

He must hear it in your voice, because he sniffs, straightening, clearing his throat to hide his emotions. “No, don’t worry about it. I-- of course you’re going to go back. You have your family and your job… friends…”

“Dean, I don’t want to go.”

That stops him, but when he finally meets your eyes, you can tell he doesn’t believe you. “It’s okay,” he tries to placate you. “You have your life, and I’m not going to get in the way of that. You’re probably ready to be back in your own place again, anyway.”

You’re frustrated that he’s making this decision for you, but you can also tell that his mind is made up. There’s no talking Dean out of sabotaging something that he’s convinced was always going to happen anyway.

The conversation ends there, and so does the relationship. The touches and the kisses and the late night talks, they all stop. He’s cutting you off, and it hurts, but in a way, you understand. He has to stay here with his brother and you have to go back home. It’s better this way.

Probably.

One year later

“Christ,” Sam curses, dodging another blow as Dean rushes to back him up, barely shoving his brother out of the way as another knife flies out of a block on the kitchen counter and misses him by a few inches.

This spirit is stubborn.

Finally, the object tied to it is found and burned, and Sam and Dean collapse on the floor against the wall, trying to catch their breath.

“I can’t keep going like this, dude.” Sam says, wheezing. “It’s been nonstop. We need to go home.”

Home.

Dean’s been avoiding it, just like he’s been avoiding any and all mention of any cases in Iowa, in the off chance that he might see you, or be reminded of you… like he is at the bunker. A sweater you left behind, the flannel of his you claimed that day when you helped him work on the Impala… it’s all too many memories that remind him why he never brings people home anyway.

“Fine. Sorry, you’re right.”

After quarantine ended, it took months for things to even be remotely back to normal. There’s been a rise in hauntings lately and Sam and Dean couldn’t avoid a few calls they got over the last month.

After they stop at the motel and clean up, they pack up the car and head for home.

Dean thinks too much on the drive; trying to stop himself from wondering what you’re doing and if you’re okay. You texted him a few times, but Dean thought a clean break was best. Sam thought he was an asshole. It’s true, but he tries not to dwell on it.

Approaching the bunker, night is falling, and the sunset is casting an orange light over the property, the trees looking like they’re on fire.

Sam tenses at the same time that Dean does.

There’s an unfamiliar car in the drive, and Dean slows the Impala.

“Expecting anyone?” He asks Sam, sharing a worried look with his brother.

The driver’s door opens, and Dean slams on the brakes when he makes out your features. Your hair is longer and darker, but your eyes are the same. So is the feeling in the pit of Dean’s stomach when he realizes that you’re actually here.

“I’ll be damned,” Sam whispers, getting out of the car to greet you.

Dean’s frozen in the driver’s seat.

When he finally gets out, Sam’s made himself scarce, and you look nervous.

“I was beginning to think you were going to avoid me,” you say casually, leaning against your car.

“Don’t think I could if I tried.” Dean goes for honesty, loving the way your eyes soften. “Hi, sweetheart.”

“Hi, Dean.”

.

.

.

You tell Dean about the last year and he fills you in on how it’s been going for them. You tell him you took some time off work and have to reassure him that you’re fine - you just needed a break.

“This last year was hard on me mentally. I was so stressed during the pandemic and going back to normal felt terrifying.”

He doesn’t judge you, just watches you carefully.

“I also wasn’t happy with the way this ended.” You gesture between the two of you.

He says your name gruffly, but you don’t let him interrupt.

“I’ll leave if you want me to, but I miss you, Dean. I thought we’d at least keep in touch, but I realize I really hurt you when I left. I didn’t mean to.”

He rubs a hand over his face. “It wasn’t your fault. I was fine. Am fine.”

You shrug. “Okay, well I’m not.”

His eyes are dark when he looks at you again. You repeat yourself. “I missed you.”

He clears his throat. “I missed you too. I’m sorry too, for the record.” He swallows. “I basically kicked you out of here and called it your choice. Didn’t even let you say anything.”

You’re practically shivering by the time his hand finds yours, winding your fingers together. You’ve craved this closeness with him. The few dates you’ve been on lately paled in comparison to the way Dean makes you feel, as scary as that is. You decide to go for it.

“I know you don’t believe in fate and all that bullshit.” You scoot a little closer to him. “But I really think we were brought together for a reason. You took care of me and made sure I didn’t go out of my mind.”

He smiles. “You can take care of yourself. But I’m glad I could help.” He squeezes your hand. “I’ve been thinking about you. Couldn’t help myself.”

He’s so close.

An inch more, and you could lean in, and…

“I really want to kiss you,” he confesses. You can see the apology and the longing in his eyes, and the relief you feel at not being alone in this is only outweighed by the need to kiss him, so you do.

It’s passionate and deep right away, the groan Dean lets out when your lips meet his a noise of desperation and giving in, all at once.

He’s all in. His hand slides into your hair and his other hand leaves yours, sliding around your waist to tug you so you’re straddling him.

Sparks fly across your skin at his touch, and you know instantly this was the right decision. This is exactly where you’re meant to be.

“Wait,” he pants against your mouth, “We have to talk about this.”

“Later,” you murmur. “I just want you. Please.”

At your plea, he groans again, lips finding your neck as he lavishes your skin with open mouthed kisses, leaving you practically writhing in his lap as he holds you tight against him.

“You feel so fucking good.” He whispers, voice gravelly and low. “I’ve thought about this a hundred times. Wondered if I’d ever get to see you like this again.”

His words send heat spiralling to your core, and you can’t help the way you shamelessly grind against him.

“Shit,” He hisses. “If you do that, this will be over before it can start.”

“Then take me to bed, Dean.” You moan, and he’s quick to get to his feet, your legs around his waist. He makes quick, long strides, and then you’re at the familiar door.

He presses you against it, grinding up into you again, quick and dirty, before setting you on your feet long enough to get the door open.

When it slams shut behind the two of you, the look in Dean’s eyes tells you it’s going to be a long night.

You don’t mind in the slightest.

.

.

.

In the morning, Dean watches as your eyes flutter open. He still can’t believe you’re here.

“Hi,” you say, voice cracking as you stretch, and Dean feels it, deep down in his bones, that sensation he had the last time telling him to protect you and keep you here for as long as he possibly can. It still feels selfish, but he’s determined not to fuck it up this time.

“Hi.”

You prop yourself up on an elbow. “What do we do now?”

Dean hums, leaning in to kiss you. “I think we have to talk. But first, breakfast.” His hand finds the bare skin of your waist as he talks, making you shiver.

“Let’s talk now.”

“Sweetheart--”

“I want to stay. I know I have a lot to learn, and it’s dangerous, and we’ll probably fight about it, but I want this, Dean. With you.” You shrug. “There: talk over.”

Dean shakes his head, letting out a disbelieving laugh. “Just like that.”

You grin. “Just like that. Easy.”

Dean knows it’s not that easy. But being with you is, and he’s not willing to give that up.

Not this time.

.

Just give me One good reason, Not to love you

End

#one good reason #dean x reader #spn reader insert #dean winchester x reader

[alison-anonymous]

flawsome bandits pt. 2 ♡ sonic

Flawsome Bar Fights 

Welcome to part 2! Updates may be a little irregular as we progress back into the school year, but I assure you lovelies that I am hard at work on the next chapter! So for now, enjoy and let me know what you think!

Warnings - implication of sexual harrassment, LOTS OF FLUFF 

♡♡♡

“Alright, if this is going to be a thing, there are going to be rules,” Tom began, attempting to keep his eyes on the road. 

“You seem really familiar,” Y/n hummed thoughtfully, looking Sonic over once again and completely ignoring her father. Sonic’s green eyes grew concentrated as he looked the young girl over again for the hundredth time since he met her.

“You too! I feel like I know you from somewhere.” He tapped his chin quizzically as the two stared long and hard at each other. 

“Will you two please pay attention? Good lord!” Tom cried. “If this is going to work, you will need to listen to me and do whatever I say one hundred percent of the time. Got it?”

“Whatever you say, Donut Lord!” Sonic smiled, eyes ablaze with excitement. Unfortunately, the cute nickname only pissed Tom off as he took his eyes off of the road to yell at the hedgehog.

“Would you stop with the ‘Donut Lord’? I have a name. It’s Tom, and that’s Y/n.” He motioned to the girl sitting behind them. She rummaged through the console and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

“He already knows my name,” she laughed, earning a smile from Sonic. 

“Well, my name is Sonic!”

“Sonic,” Tom nodded thoughtfully. “So you’ve been spying on my family for years, or specifically spying on my daughter?” He was slipping into overprotective father mode very fast. Y/n was about to stick up for the little hedgehog when he beat her to it.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have called it stalking. We were all just hanging out only no one ever knew I was there! Like when Y/n was driving your old motorcycle and she smashed into a tree!” He sighed dreamily, leaning back against the seat. “Fun times!”

“What? You told me a semi hit it!” Tom cried out in horror, trying to keep his main tunnel of vision on the road while restricting himself from smacking his kid upside the head. Y/n chuckled sheepishly and slowly lowered herself to hide behind the driver’s seat. 

“I mean, I’m more so surprised that Crazy Carl was right all along,” she mumbled. Sonic nodded.

“You should call him Super Observant Carl instead.” At that, Y/n burst out laughing. It was an adorably creative name, and from all of her time spent hanging out with Crazy Carl and helping him set up his traps when none of the kids at school wanted to hang out with her, it didn’t take too long to notice that he did have a system. 

“You’re funny,” she giggled, sliding the sunglasses back up onto her forehead to reveal her humorous e/c eyes. Sonic’s emerald-like orbs lit up like fireworks as a huge, dopey grin spread across his face.

“Really? You think I’m funny?” He asked hopefully, practically throwing himself on top of the console to be closer to her. Spending most of his time alone, Sonic was only ever used to getting compliments from himself. So the fact that someone thought he was funny, better yet a beautiful girl, sent him to cloud nine. 

“Hey, HEY,” Tom scolded, pointing a finger at the blue hedgehog. “That’s still my daughter, buddy.” 

“Dad, leave him alone,” Y/n sighed, poking his arm gently. How much sense would that make? A human and a hedgehog? Then again, she did have no origin story, no idea who or what she truly was. How was she supposed to know that she had been a human her whole life when she could barely remember who her real parents were? 

“Oh my god, stop the car right now!” Sonic exclaimed, popping his head out the side window, the big grin still plastered on his face. He read off the gigantic touristing billboard sign as Tom drove past it. “The World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball, we’ve got to see it!” 

“People really need to find some hobbies,” Y/n sighed, rolling down her window too so she could imitate a dog. 

“No, this is not some fun family road trip-” Tom snapped, his sanity slipping out of his fingertips with every passing second. “The government wants to dissect you, arrest me, and possibly put Y/n in the mental institute. This is serious!” Sonic exchanged a bored expression with Y/n and in a flash, he was out the window. Before Tom even had a second to flip out, he was right back in the seat with three souvenir rubber band balls, a paddleboard, and a baseball cap. 

“Eh, you’re right, it was lame. Gift shop was cool though! I got you a mousepad!” He held up a little white mouse pad reading ‘I love rubber bands.’ “And don’t think I forgot about you!” He winked at Y/n before handing her a surprisingly adorable bracelet made out of what looked like fragments of rubber bands. She couldn’t stop the heat that began rising to her cheeks as she slipped it onto her wrist, still trying to get over the amazement that he was thinking about them. “When are we going to get there?” Sonic smiled, pulling out the paddle board and hitting the ball repetitively as Y/n watched his precision in amazement. 

“We will get there when we get there,” Tom sighed in frustration. A moment of silence fell over the three as they watched the scenery pass by. Y/n glanced between her father and the eccentric hedgehog and finally decided that if this little creature was going to be hanging out with them, then the least she could do is try to get to know him better.

“Hey Sonic, want to play a game?”

“Is that even a question? Of course!” In a split second, he was sitting next to her in the backseat, leaning towards her excitedly. Little did she know that he was fanboying internally just over the fact that she had talked to him in the first place. This was his dream come true! Getting to spend some one on one time with the Star Chaser! She was so beautiful up close.

“Okay, which game do you want to play? There’s Truth or Dare, 20 Questions, Would You Rather, I Spy, How Well Do You Know Me, and Russian Roulette but we don’t have any guns,” she sighed in disappointment. Sonic’s eyes practically had stars in them as he grinned wider.

“Let’s play all of them!” Tom groaned in the driver’s seat.

This was going to be a long ride.

♡♡♡

It was night when Tom finally pulled the truck in to a gas station, Sonic and Y/n still deeply indulged in a game of Truth or Dare. 

“I don’t know, I still think that I’d be faster than the Flash. I was born with my powers, so I’ve had a lot more time to get used to them whereas his happened from an accident in his lab,” Sonic explained, flipping her sunglasses back up behind his ears. The two had gotten comfortable after the first two hours of games and had established what they deemed to be the most comfortable position: Y/n sat against the left side of the backseat and had her legs stretched across the seats while Sonic sat on top of her legs, using her shoes as a cushion. It was amazing how four hours of playing games with someone could bring them closer together. Over the course of the car trip, the two had been through every topic from their favorite television show to what the best way to get away from the cops would be to what they would name a hamster if they ever got one. 

“Fair point,” Y/n nodded. “Respect.” 

Tom put the truck in park and stepped out of the vehicle, causing the internal lights to turn on. The two sat up in anticipation, wondering if they were finally going to be able to stretch out their legs. Tom walked around the truck and stopped at the open window above Sonic’s head, leaning against it slightly.

“Alright, I’m going to go in and check on Wade. See if he knows what’s going on.”

“You’re going to see Wade in that glass thing?” Sonic asked, peering out the window over at the payphone. “What is it, a teleportation device?”

“It’s a payphone, Son,” Y/n gently explained. “I had no clue what it was either when I first saw one.” Tom glanced behind him at the device and sighed.

“It’s mostly for drug dealers and fugitives, which is us. Now stay in the car, I don’t want anyone to see him. Y/n, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” And with that, he walked off. Sonic groaned in boredom and leaned his head against the door once more.

“This is so boring! Is your dad always this high strung?” He asked, the poor lighting casting shadows across his fur. Y/n breathed in deep through her nose and watched as her dad stepped inside the phone booth.

“Not unless we’re in trouble, which we are right now. But he means well. When I was first found and brought to him and my mom as a foster kid, they were super patient even though I was a teenager with no clue how the world worked.” She explained, running a hand through her hair and placing Sonic’s baseball cap back on her head. He furrowed his brows in concentration.

“Wait, so let me get this straight - you were found wandering around in the woods and you have no memories of who you were or what you were up until that day?” She nodded sadly, and shrugged. His ears fell back against his head a little in sadness. “I’m sorry… Well, hey, how about we make a deal? I’ll help you try to figure out your backstory if…” He got a sheepish look on his face as he suddenly broke eye contact. “...You become my friend.”

Y/n’s eyes shot open in surprise. “Sonic,” she laughed softly, her gaze softening. “You’re already my friend.”

At her words, the largest grin she had ever seen found its way onto Sonic’s face as he lurched forward and tackled her in a hug. Laughing, she reciprocated the hug by wrapping her arms around his torso but making sure to beware of the quills. 

“Thank you,” she heard him mutter soft enough that if she had been breathing any louder she wouldn’t have heard it. In response, she squeezed him a little tighter. Even though it was a little strange to be hugging a talking hedgehog, it felt familiar once again. Everything about this moment seemed familiar, like she had lived through it a thousand times before. Little did she know that the same thing was happening for Sonic too. As they pulled away, mouths both opening to say something about it, they were interrupted by the sounds of beer pong and Harley engines. The duo froze, eyes already beginning to fill with comical stars as they turned towards Y/n’s open window.

Sure enough, there was what looked like a raging party going on at the club next door. Bikers littered the front, the engines of their motorcycles spewing out licks of fire. Cheers and hollers could already be heard from the open door to the bar as people filed in and out in a constant motion. It was the coolest thing that either of them had ever seen.

“Oh my god,” Sonic breathed.

“Okay, okay, so that may just be the coolest thing that we’re ever going to see,” Y/n admitted nervously. “But we have orders. I have orders. From my dad. Who is also a cop. We have to stay in the car.” 

“Right…” Sonic slowly raised his head above the door until just his eyes were peering through the window at the scene before them. It wasn’t long before Y/n followed in suit. They exchanged a nervous glance before looking back at the bar. 

...Damnit.

♡♡♡

“Shit,” Tom swore as he stood before the empty truck. Of course this is what he got for leaving his very responsible teenage daughter with a train wreck of a hedgehog (whom he was starting to worry was developing… feelings for his daughter). He set down the drink carrier of food and beverages he had got and looked around the parking lot for any sign of the Bonnie and Cylde duo. Finally, his eyes rested on the bar next door. Bingo.

Losing most of his dignity as he walked through the door, Tom’s eyes scanned the room for the two kids until they finally found a strange couple sitting alone at a high top table. One was a girl wearing a cowgirl hat and a bandana around her neck while the other was significantly shorter than her with a hat, shades, and a bright red shirt that appeared to be three sizes too large. He frowned the entire way to the table, enjoying the panicked look on his daughter’s face as she saw him coming towards them and frantically tapped the hedgehog sitting next to her. He swiveled around in his seat and gave Tom the most innocent look he could handle.

“Well, howdy there, partner!” 

“I’m not your partner. We’re leaving, come on,” Tom motioned his head towards the door, but Sonic had other ideas.

“But there’s a ZZ Top Cover band, c’mon, you’ve got to see their beards!” He exclaims. “And we even came up with the perfect disguises and backstories so we could get in without showing ID.” He held out his gloved fist and Y/n didn’t miss the chance to bump it, leaning cooly against the counter. Tom rolled his eyes.

“Good to know you’re taking this seriously. We’ll catch them some other time. Now, let’s. Go.” His tone was sharp, daring them to object. Luckily, that was what Sonic was best at.

              "I promise that if you let us stay that I'll stay quiet for the whole trip! Starting now!" He clamped his mouth shut, proving his promise to be true. Tom glanced over at his daughter skeptically, and she sent him a reassuring smile just as a waitress wandered over to their table.

“Welcome to the Piston Pitt,” she mused, sporting a traditional cowgirl from the West outfit. “What can I get you fellas?” Sonic leaned towards her excitedly, pressing his hands on the table to prevent him from falling off the stool he was sitting on.

“Ooh! I want nachos and buffalo wings and guac! Lots of guac! Isn’t that a funny word?” He then began quacking like a duck, making Y/n chuckle next to him. The waitress furrowed her brows skeptically at the behavior, trying to figure out just what exactly she was looking at here. 

“Umm, kids aren’t allowed in here,” she told Tom accusingly, eyeing Sonic up and down. “Is he wearing a mask or something?” Tom opened his mouth, about to defend him when Y/n quickly beat him to it, wrapping her arm protectively around the blue hedgehog in disguise. 

“Excuse me, but that’s my husband you’re talking to,” she snapped, watching as Tom’s eyes practically exploded with shock. THIS was their excuse? “And he has a height condition, mind you! A skin one, too. It’s very tragic really, stunted his growth. Isn’t that right, sweetie?” Tom’s overprotective father rage came back full force as he watched his daughter look down at Sonic with a lovestruck look on her face that could have won an Oscar. How the hell could they think that anyone would believe an excuse like that? He watched with flames in his eyes as Sonic gave the girl a heartwarming smile and rested his gloved hand on top of hers, using the fakest country accent that Tom had ever heard.

“That’s right, darlin’. The face I was born with, the confidence I picked up along the way.” Shockingly, the waitress was dumb enough to believe it, nodding her head softly and smiling at the “couple.” 

“They’ll have two Mello Yellos,” Tom sighed, watching as the waitress walked briskly away. He finally turned back to the two just as they hesitantly brought their arms back to their own bodies. Y/n’s heart raced excitedly in her chest as she glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye, her head getting slightly confused from all of the emotions she was experiencing. Sonic’s stomach was full of butterflies as he cleared his throat, trying to distract himself from thinking too much about everything going on. 

“You two are insane,” Tom tossed off his cap and sat down across from them. “You owe me one.” 

“Thanks, Dad,” Y/n smiled sincerely, her e/c eyes gleaming at him from across the table. She knew that he was having a difficult time with the situation as a whole, and while she was doing her best to lighten the mood on things, no one could deny that the danger was ever present. He was just trying to keep them safe. Tom gave her a smile in return. No matter how much they quarreled and disagreed, she was still his daughter. Maybe not biologically, but they were one of the lucky ones to have accomplished that bond.

“I have never sat on a bar stool before,” Sonic gushed. “Look, it even spins!” He spun around in the chair so fast that his sunglasses were thrown off, landing on a pile of crushed peanut shells by some bikers. 

“Having fun?” Tom asked sarcastically. “Check this off the bucket list, right Y/n?” The girl in question pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side in thought.

“Actually, inline skating behind a car went before watching a bunch of bikers search for stray peanuts in their beards, but who’s counting?” She shrugged. Sonic stared at her with wide eyes, amazed at the pure awesomeness of this girl.

“Wait, what’s a bucket list?” He asked. 

“A bucket list is, uh, it’s a list of things that you want to do in your life before you, well, you know, kick the bucket.” Tom explained, scratching the back of his neck in an avoidance to say the word ‘die.’ Sonic’s bright green eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree at the idea of it. He was learning something new every minute he spent with these two.

“I’ve never kicked a bucket before, either! I have to make my list! N/n, you got a pen?” Sonic asked, swiping a notepad from one of the bartenders and returning back to the table just as Y/n pulled out a random LED light pen she didn’t even realize was stuck in her boot. The two humans watched as the hedgehog scribbled down line after line of things he wanted to do, giggling to himself along the way. The sight of it brought a soft smile to Y/n’s lips as she watched him write away. Never before had she had so much fun with someone, enjoyed being in someone’s company for so long. She had never really had a true friend before. Until now. 

“Hey,” she gently touched his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, Sonic stopped writing. Y/n’s pen slowly lifted off of the paper as his expression began to fall, his green eyes that were once full of joy and excitement were now filling with sadness. Y/n felt her heart instantly drop, already feeling the desire to get that smile back on his face no matter what the cost.

“There’s so much stuff I’ve never done,” Sonic responded, sitting up straight. “And now that I’m leaving earth forever, I guess that I missed my chance…” 

Y/n’s heart sank. In the big rush of things, she had completely forgotten that the whole point of this road trip was to find Sonic’s rings so he could leave the planet. No matter what the connection they had (even if it was just nostalgia), he wasn’t staying. He had to go… 

Tom noticed his daughter’s expression fall as soon as the words left his mouth. He sighed deeply, glancing between the two of them. They were good kids, trying to keep things light hearted through the duration of this trip. And if Sonic wasn’t going to be on this planet for much longer, then the least that Tom could do was help him make those moments count. 

“Well, I guess this is the kind of place where you can get a lot of living done,” he spoke, looking around the room. Sonic and Y/n looked up at him. “I suppose we could spare an hour.”

The two exchanged excited grins and turned back to the adult. “Really? You’re going to bucket list with me?” Sonic asked. Tom shrugged, smiling.

“Sure, why not?”

“You will not regret this!” Sonic promised. Y/n laughed, grabbing the list and reading over the first couple of lines. 

“I’m pretty sure we will,” Tom sighed. 

♡♡♡

In forty minutes, the three were able to knock out almost half of the things on Sonic’s bucket list. They started with country line dancing, which Y/n was shockingly good at (and made the two boys stop and stare in shock because they didn’t even know that she knew how to dance). Then they played darts and successfully managed to pop open ten cans of beer in less than two seconds. The bar even had a metal basketball hoop, so in order to complete a slam dunk, Y/n threw Sonic up onto the rim where he kicked the chain so many times that he established a new high score. And what kind of country-themed bar would the Pistol Pitt be if they didn’t have an electronic bull? 

“Shit, shit, shit,” Y/n shrieked, clinging onto Sonic as he held on to what she assumed to be the withers of the bull. It bucked them around in circles, making Tom laugh from his point of view as the two struggled to hold on.

“Is this bull headless or does it have two butts?” Sonic asked. 

“It’s best not to think about it.” Y/n laughed just as the bull’s tail hit her in the ribs. “Ow! Okay, that was rude!” She snarled as Sonic burst out laughing. About two minutes later, the duo got flung off of said bull by Tom and Y/n flopped around on the blowup floor. 

“Seriously?” She groaned, placing her hands on her stomach. Tom chuckled next to her. After a couple more minutes had passed and Sonic managed to make some lady throw her drink in Tom’s face, the three sat back down at the high top to catch their breath. 

“Nice work, Romeo,” Sonic laughed, wiping a tear out of his eye. Tom faked a laugh too, wiping off the rest of the alcohol from his face.

“Ha ha, having a good time?”

“Of course I’m having a good time,” Sonic cheered. “I mean, what could go wrong?” Something moving behind them caught Y/n off guard, and the moment she tilted her head to look she regretted it. 

“U-um, Dad…” She whispered, staring with wide eyes as three very pissed off looking men approached them. Sonic spun around on his bar stool to face the friendly gentleman and plastered on a smile. 

“Can we help you gentlemen?” Tom asked politely, but keeping a wary eye on the men. One of them was taking a very sudden interest in Y/n, so Sonic carefully nudged himself closer to her, just in case. The man in the middle with the surly face looked Tom up and down.

“We don’t like your kind around here.”

“And what kind would that be?” Y/n asked in confusion, leaning back slightly on the table in an attempt to rid herself of the putrid smell of cigarette smoke that came from their clothes. The guy looked down at her and Sonic, using the fact that he was standing to his advantage and gritting his teeth.

“Hipsters.”

Y/n had been expecting a worse insult, so she just shrugged, but Sonic took it as a severe offense. 

“How dare you?” He muttered heatedly. Tom quickly held up his hands in surrender, sensing the high levels of danger starting to appear. 

“Now, now, we were just leaving,” he began, but Sonic was quick to interrupt him, wagging one gloved finger. Y/n slowly shook her head at the hedgehog, trying desperately to send him cues to back down. The last thing they needed was a bar fight to top off the wanted signs that were probably being posted right now. Y/n watched in fear as Sonic gave them a “pop quiz” which she assumed was some great one-liner from a movie, and then knocked the guy on the head with one of Tom’s empty beer bottles. Unfortunately, it didn’t break. 

“Darn,” Sonic muttered, flipping the bottle around in his hand. “That was supposed to work.” 

“Son,” Y/n began to slowly rise from her chair, tugging on a stray lock of her hair nervously. “I think we should go…” Her friend, however, refused to give up as he continued to knock the burly man on the head with the bottle, not quite hard enough to break it. She watched with fearful eyes as the man’s face slowly contorted into one of anger. Tom quickly made his way over to Sonic just as the man pulled back his fist and went in for the punch. Sonic was quick to duck, unfortunately leaving Tom to take a full blown fist to his face. 

“Dad!” Y/n’s hands flew up to her mouth as she watched her dad stumble back.

“I’m good, kid,” He reassured her. Then the best part of the brawl flung into action. People got bumped into other people, in turn pissing them off and causing them to find their fists a much better source of anger management than their manners. Sonic, overjoyed that he was now living through yet another thing on his bucket list, took a myriad of super punches at the man who punched Tom in the face, which only pissed him off more. Even Y/n, who had been a bit scared at first, was testing out her abilities by dodging the pedophiles littering the area and taking out some people that she couldn’t tell their gender. She was doing amazing up until the point where some very drunk, very scary-looking man with a teardrop tattoo under his eye and a mangled head of dreadlocks pinned her against the wall. 

“Hey there, pretty lady,” the man chuckled. Y/n squirmed under his grasp, scrunching up her nose from the putrid stench of alcohol coming from the man’s mouth. Her heart began to race from the adrenaline filling her veins as her e/c orbs looked into the man’s black ones, void of any emotion. She refused to answer, desperately trying to wrangle herself free from his grasp, but he was much bigger than her and ultimately overpowered her. Y/n frantically looked around the bar for help, but Tom was busy trying to avoid getting hit in the face and Sonic was nowhere to be seen. 

“L-let go of me,” she rasped, her limbs beginning to grow weak from the fighting. Then the fear began to set in.

People began slamming into one another, beer came crashing down from the sky, men got yanked up to the ceiling with elaborate wedgies, and bikers wearing bear heads crashed into the floor. Y/n and Tom smashed back into time in shock, shaking their heads a little and looking around at the chaotic room in shock. Everyone else was lying on the floor with some sort of injury. 

Meanwhile, Sonic had just finished helping rescue Tom while he was running through the air in his own slowed down time slot. He pushed the man up to the bar and turned around to see what else there was he could mess with until his eyes landed on Y/n. She was pressed up against the wall by a very disgusting and uncouth man, a look of pure terror written on her face. His expression became overcome with worry as he raced over to her. The blue hedgehog practically threw the man off of her in a fit of what he assumed was rage (but quite honestly felt like jealousy) and grabbed a pitcher full of beer, positioning it just so so that once time came back to full speed that it would spill all over his head. He turned back to Y/n and pulled her by her hands all the way to the bar where a frozen Tom was still standing. After he had assured that his two favorite humans were safe, he screwed around with some other people a bit before zipping back to Y/n just as time fell back into motion. 

“W-what just happened?” Y/n asked, wondering how she had gotten out from underneath that guy so fast. Sonic grabbed ahold of her hands once again and looked at her with concerned eyes.

“Are you okay? That guy was being such a jerk!”

“Y-you did this?” Tom asked in surprise. Sonic nodded rapidly, but his focus was still on Y/n. She slowly nodded, dumbfounded. What the heck had just happened? Did Sonic save her? She looked back down at the hedgehog that was still holding her hands. He did save her, didn’t he? Wow… the only guy that had ever saved her before was her dad, and that was when she was in danger of getting sued for crashing into someone’s chicken coop. He cared enough to save her. He didn’t have to do that, I mean, he barely knew her! But there was something about him… the way that he vibed with her, his excitement and ability to make any situation a fun one to be in. He made her smile and laugh. He made her feel like she actually belonged somewhere.

A small butterfly lifted up from its perch and began to flutter around in her stomach.

“So, should we get out of here?” Sonic asked, looking over at Tom for confirmation. The man in question nodded quickly, already picturing the amount of trouble they could get in.

“Yep, time to go.”

♡ a.a.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog movie #sonic the hedgehog 2020 #sonic the hedgehog x reader #sonic #sonic the hedgehog imagines #sonic the hedgehog movie x reader #sonic the hedgehog movie imagines #sonic x reader #sonic imagines

[daydreams-and-shortattentionspan]

Broken Clocks Part 2

A/N: I had to make this into two parts otherwise this was finna be STOOPID long. Anywho, I’m kinda proud of how I wrote this one, dialogue is usually my kryptonite but this time it was weirdly easy lol. Again, thank you @darkficsyouneveraskedfor for your unintentional motivation. And I hope y’all enjoy it! Also happy birthday to the white man in this story sksksksks

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Black!Reader

Warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 2.1k

Part 1

_________________________________

‘Oh Lord, it is Him,’ you thought to yourself, mental voice dripping with dread and disgust, your sense of calm dissipating into the quiet atmosphere of the subway car. You quickly turned around and hoped he hadn’t noticed you, but cruel fate decided to take the opportunity to ruin your plan; instead, you had bumped into a man who had been walking towards the door as the train was approaching his stop; this caused your purse to fall and letting your wallet to come out and makeup bag to slide across the train floor and in turn hit the foot of the one person you were trying to avoid, Jermaine, your lousy ex-boyfriend of four years.

“Wait a minute, I know this bag,” you had heard him mumble from the other side of the vicinity. You had seen that he had picked it up from your peripheral vision and began looking for the owner.

‘Oh fuck me,’ you winced as you went to pick up your wallet that luckily had landed a mere few inches away from you, but you knew fate wasn’t feeling exactly kind at this particular point in time.

Now came the moment you had wished never been a slight possibility, talking to this no-good ass hat. You turned in his direction and mentally began to hype yourself up for an inevitably awkward situation.

‘Girl you got this, he ain’t shit and you KNOW he ain’t shit, your stop is coming up, just grab your shit and get thee fuck outta there ASAP,’ you prepped yourself, a constant loop of ‘You got this’ playing in your head.

“(Y/N),” Jermery started,“you look good,” a firm grip still on your belongings, as if trying to hold you hostage.

“Thanks…” you replied, awkwardness coating every letter of the word, you grabbed one of your arms to try to gain a sense of ease and comfort as you swayed looking everywhere except in his general direction. You knew you would have to face him at some point but you truly wish now wasn’t the time. There was no point in beating around the bush, you truly had to get this over with, so you grasped every last bit of confidence and assertiveness and did what needed to be done; you didn’t have to worry about his feelings anymore, you didn’t have to fear him anymore, you had to remember you were That Bitch and He was missing out on being with You and you would never get that twisted. You had Captain fucking America’s phone number in you phone at this very moment for Christ’s Sake!

You looked him directly in the eye, and stated simply, “I’d like my makeup bag please,” while reaching out your hand for your things. This sense of fire behind your being that let off a blaze of confidence and self-worth that left him blown away. This wasn’t the (Y/N) he knew and left in the dust, but he sure did want to waste her time once again.

He tried to turn his sex appeal and swagger on, he was confident this would work on you; and to be completely and utterly honest, any other time it most definitely would have. But today he would be sorely mistaken.

“So,” he started, biting his lip and looking you up and down; light skin antics on one thousand,“ how ya been?” Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me? You know this man does not care about me.

“Fine,” you stated dryly.

“That’s cool, that’s cool… How ya momma and them?”

“Fine,” still dry.

“You know ma dukes still asks about you after all this time?” This man wants to bring up his mother? Really?

“Well, did you tell Miss Shirlene why I haven’t come around in three years? Or did you manage to skip past that detail like you used to skip over telling other women you were in a relationship?” you retorted, you obviously knew the answer. Your stop was so close you could almost touch it, no time to lose; you snatched your make-up bag from his grasp and shoved it back into your purse.

“Nah, c’mon don’t be like that mamas, you know you still miss me,” he said while using his now empty hand to grab yours and used his thumb to trace little circles on the back of it. You had snatched your hand back from his grasp.

“Ohhh yeeaaahhh, because I missed the 1-minute fuck sessions, and the skid mark boxers always lying in the middle of the living room!” With every word, your ex partner grew smaller and smaller, confidence chipping away with every syllable, “And always having your rowdy ass home boys who didn’t have respect for my apartment ever,” The patrons of the subway car now all ears and reacting with the hissing sound of second-hand embarrassment or a ‘damn’ under their breath.

“Or all those girls coming to me as a woman talking about they deal with your sorry ass. And ALWAYS paying the bill when we went out to eat because you conveniently left your wallet -which NEVER had money it- at the house, and let’s not forget how I missed your loud ass snoring that kept me up all hours of the night.” By the time you were done dragging this man’s name through the mud with all the sadly true testimonies of your relationship, the train had stopped at your destination and the doors opened. You made your way to the exit of the train, you just needed one last step and you were home free, but you stopped before turning around telling him one last thing.

“So, no Jermaine, I absolutely do NOT miss your ain’t shit ass. Now leave me the hell alone before I go to Raven as a women and tell her that you up to your ain’t shit ways again. Bet you didn’t know I know about her, huh?” And with that, the doors hissed closed but you could clearly hear the sound of the entire car screech from your victory as it rolled away.

Walking with a fresh sense of worth, you realized in your moment of triumph, where you needed to be in a matter of minutes.

“Oh shit!” You scream before making a mad dash for your final destination.

Luckily the station was only a block away from the club, you just needed to walk fast and pray all the crosswalks were ready for you before you even approached them and you’d make it in time. A skill you had managed to acquire over the years was ducking and dodging through crowds with absolute ease.

You had managed to make it when a huge crowd began to enter the club allowing you to slip into the club with absolute stealth. You made your way to the back, similar to before you greeted coworkers over the loud music but this time you avoided your boss at all costs by hiding behind customers. You had made it to your locker and began to throw in your belongings into it and undress into your new outfit and heels. You plugged your phone into the community charger, knowing it would be safe back there, seeing as you were on good terms with everyone and they always looked out for you.

You sat in a chair in front of the vanity and took a good look at yourself, exhaustion written all over your face as you added on to the makeup you were already wearing. The other girls squealing in excitement about the big celebrity that would be in The Champagne Room tonight and how they were trying to weasel their way into performing in there; you had slowly began to zone out before hearing who it was that was causing the big fuss this evening, you didn’t want anymore excitement tonight, you just wanted to dance to a couple songs, get as much money as possible and get your ass back into your bed.

“Drink this, you look terrible,” Maria, the house mother, jokingly said with a smile; snapping you back to reality handing you a cup of coffee just the way you like it.

“Thanks Mari,” you took it graciously, blowing it before taking a sip.

“Of course, mi querida,” she replied before kissing the top of your head. This was exactly what you needed to get through the night.

“Also, Johnny wanted me to tell you: you, Diamond and Star are working The Champagne Room tonight,” she whispered as to not start another round of chaos in the dressing. You simply shook your head grateful that the two you were closest to would be right by your side the entire time.

‘Please have a lot of money,’ you silently prayed to yourself before taking another swig of your coffee and getting up to make this money.

~

You had entered The Room, mind on another planet to not realize who the group that was causing all the buzz backstage. Once again, it was Steve, Sam, and Bucky. You always seemed to run on autopilot when it came to dancing, doing flips and tricks but not really being there mentally. This was your way of getting through your shift without hating every minute of it.

Steve was in awe at how flawlessly you could move up and around that pole. You were so graceful but also so sensual. He didn’t recognize you at first, due to the change in makeup and different clothes (or lack thereof) and he had the strong urge to look away from your lack of clothing but he just couldn’t because he knew who this amazingly talented woman was; it was You: the waitress from the diner. Sure the other two girls were just as talented -Sam and Bucky seemed to think so, with the way they cheered at everything they did- ,but they could not compare when it came to your beauty. He just couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.

You had just finished your third song and you were grabbing your tips from the three men, not making eye contact with Sam or Bucky; but once you had made contact with Steve, you had felt the familiar sense of electricity from earlier coursed through your body. This feeling zapped you from your daydream, you looked at the hand that was handing money to you and then you realized who it was: Your Captain.

“Oh it’s You” you said with a sincere smile that lit up your entire face, the shyness had taken, over given the surroundings in which you had bumped into each other and he tried to find the right words to say.

“Well what are the odds,” he said, a timid smile in place. You giggled at his response.

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You really shouldn’t be working in a place like this,” Steve said softly.

Before you could respond, you could hear Sam let out an exasperated sigh while throwing his head back. He could just sense Steve’s ‘You shouldn’t have to do this’ speech coming at any moment because he did this the last time he had gone out with America’s beloved Super Soldier.

“Now don’t you start with this again. Just because you Captain America don’t make you Captain Save-a-Hoe,” he had said in a somewhat joking manner.

“Now who in the hell you callin a hoe, bird brain?” you snapped back, hands on your hips; ready to pop off if need be. Bucky quietly chuckled to himself saying, “I like this girl,” before taking a swig of his beer and sitting back to watch the argument that was bound to unfold in front of him; Diamond and Star equally entertained and taking seats next to the metal-armed man.

“Well if the platform heel fits,” he had clapped back as he stood to get closer to you.

“I work here, so I GOTTA be here, you came here by CHOICE Mister Parakeet. So what’s that say about you?,” you returned as you had a finger in his face to emphasize your point.

This caused a back and forth repetition of ‘Girl get your finger outta my face’ from him and ‘Or what?’ from you.

“Enough!” Steve shouted over the commotion. That was what rendered the Falcon speechless along with yourself and everyone else in the room. Bucky still giggling to himself about the ‘parakeet’ insult, he’d have to remember that one.

‘Now both of you, apologize.” The Captain had ordered. You and Sam both mumbling half-assed ‘sorry’s to one another, arms crossed and pouting like school children.

After the argument was over, you and the girls decided to talk with the men instead of dancing seeing as the crazy events that ensued made you all comfortable with one another. Sam was actually cool and you two ended up being the cause of most of the laughs in the group. Steve and you had grown closer as the evening went on.

“Would you wanna go out tomorrow?” he had asked suddenly, you raised your eyebrows at the question. Diamond and Star were behind Steve trying to convince you to say yes in their own silly ways. Without any hesitation, you looked him right in the eyes and said, “I’d love to.”

“How about dinner at 8?”

“Sounds perfect,” your smile growing.

“I’ll make sure to call you before, to make sure you’re ready on time. For some reason you can’t avoid a broken clock.”

___________________________________

Taglist: @oceanscorazon​ @snazzyjazzy6​ @illbethethundertoyourlightning​ @petlaufeyson​ 

#steve rogers fic #steverogers #Steve Rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #steve x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x black reader #MCU fic #mcu imagine #mcu #y/n #reader imagine #black!reader imagine

[whatsmylaneagain]

Amethyst - Third Chapter

Pairing: Eggsy x Agent!Reader

Word count: 1960 (a big one!!! Yay!!!)

Warnings: swearing, Roxy mention (bc she deserved more), reader’s character being a rebellious lil shit, Eggsy being kinda dumb (oh well this is all kinda narrated by his point of view, there’s no way to not expect that, right?!)

Chapter synopsis: so, we know that the bomb had Eggsy’s name on it, but.... what the hell is actually happening?

A/N: GUYS IM BACK AND IM SORRY!!!! I’ve written (and revised) this more than six months ago, but I absolutely hated how I made Eggsy a dumb character, so I spent all this months putting this story aside to fix it later... but I love it so much and this week I watched Spies are Forever and oh well.... idk, its been too long, but I’m posting this anyway.

Amethyst masterlist

Eggsy didn’t expect to find another person other than Harry and Merlin at the Kingsman’s meeting room. And what he definitely didn’t expect was for the person to be a beautiful Chinese woman laughing and having a drink with Harry Hart. The young man felt like he was invading a private moment, and had the sudden urge to grab y/n by the arm to show her the new victorian-style sconces he chosen for the rebuilt hallway.

But before he could say anything, y/n had already tapped the doorpost, making their presence known. The middle-aged woman talking to Harry glanced at the two young agents, giving the girl a sly smile. 

“I’m glad to know you didn’t punch Mr. Unwin on your way here, y/n” she said, as Eggsy went straight for his chair on Harry’s right side.

“I would’ve if you didn’t send me that text” The girl had moved to the woman’s side, backing up to the wall for support. She never made mention of pulling a chair.

“Well, y/n, I take as you already know Harry.” Said the woman, gesturing to the older man, who smiled sweetly. Yes, that’s right. Harry SMILED.

“Of course, The Great Harry Hart, the man of a thousand missions;” when Eggsy thought he couldn’t get more confused, y/n pulled this. “Everybody at the headquarters knows who you are.” And some - fucking – how, she sounded genuine, and not witty or arrogant as she appeared to be. Was that… admiration?

Seeing Eggsy’s confused expression, the older woman gave him a small smile, welcoming, but not too sweet; just like an agent is used to do.

“Galahad, I’m Yijun, or as my agents – or people who can’t bother to learn how to pronounce it - call me, Circe. I’m the head of Amethyst, the agency that y/n works for.”

Eggsy must have looked very confused, because Harry intervened, while pouring two more drinks, giving him one and sliding the other across the table, towards y/n.

“Yijun is an old friend, we met some weeks after she came from China. I was already a Kingsman, and was trying to bring her into the organization – just like I did with you – when she was recruited as an Amethyst trainee.”

“You knew?” Started Eggsy, a little bit of irritation shaping his words. After agent Whiskey, he knew better than not to trust Harry. But he couldn’t help the feeling of being a pawn. “Why did you let me go after her then?”

“I didn’t know the agent who saved you was y/n. All I knew was that she was an Amethyst, since the intervention was fast and clean.”

“-almost clean;” Yijun turned her chair to y/n, who was taking a sip out of her drink, still leant against the wall. “If Morgan’s work were perfect, you wouldn’t be able to find her.”

“Nobody’s perfect, but I try my best.” She shrugged. “’m still your best agent tho.”

“Please,” Merlin entered the room, an IPad in hands, ready to the briefing. “put the blame on me for being able to hack into almost anything, including London’s surveillance cameras. She did a wonderful job.”

Merlin stopped right in front of y/n, extending his hand for a handshake. She grabbed it immediately.

“Miss Le Fay. Hope our codenames won’t be a problem.” 

“I don’t see why, Sir Merlin. The witch from who I borrowed my name could very easily have been Merlin’s apprentice.”

No awkward pressure thing, from what Eggsy could see. Why were his interactions with her so bloody awful? For god’s sake, y/n was joking with Merlin!

It took him a moment to remember what history the two were referring to: Morgan Le Fay was a witch in King Arthur’s story, from where Kingsman got their codenames. Depending on the version, she can be portrayed as Merlin’s enemy, responsible for the death of King Arthur or as a powerful good woman, that had healing powers and could shape shift. For an organization like Amethyst, Eggsy supposed the second option was the one they had in mind.

Merlin greeted Yijun with a respectful “ma’am” before selecting something on his device, the projection of a document showing up on the wall above y/n.

“The techs over Amethyst sent us their reports on missing people, and turns out the man who you two,” Merlin looked at Eggsy and y/n. “saw is Adrian Bell. Seven months ago, he apparently went on a trip to India, but his family didn’t hear about him after he left. He never showed up on the airport camera footage.”

“So... he planned to disappear?” Interfered Eggsy.

“Apparently, yes. But there’s a problem.” Merlin changed the projection, it now being a series of pictures, especially ones where Bell hugged his family tightly, his wife crying, and his kids glued to his leg. It looked like a reunion. “He doesn’t remember anything and woke up asking for his family. His last memory was being in a bar and passing out. He thinks that he was in an alcoholic coma.”

Eggsy was about to ask a lot of questions, but Merlin had started talking again, while taking two Kingsman’s RayBans out of his pocket, giving each woman a pair. 

“I’ve made a partnership with the group of cooperative organizations led by Amethyst, also called D.E.A.R; Diamond, Emerald and Amethyst Relations -” Introduced Merlin, but Eggsy wasn’t really paying much attention to him. 

Instead, he was observing y/n, who hesitantly spun the glasses in her hands, analysing it, differently from Yijun, who just put them on right away. Her mouth twitched on the side, and she started to bite her tongue, as if trying to distract and put herself together. Y/n put them on, but kept looking down for some seconds, before fixing her posture and raising her head, crossing her arms, still leant against the wall on one shoulder.

It was quite weird seeing y/n wearing the glasses. Even though she had noting that could possibly remind him of Roxy, Eggsy couldn’t stop the deja vu of his best friend. A sad smile adorned his lips. He missed her.

A Kingsman-style hologram of a young 16-year-old girl appeared sitting on one of the chairs, big extravagant round sunglasses framing her face along with bright pink streaks on her brown hair. Although she was a teenager (and dressed like one, in a jean jacket and a white tee that said “girl power” in red), she sat perfectly straight, very professionally.

“Good evening, gentlemen. I’m Tonks, Emerald’s tech and field agent. I just came back from an information gathering mission.” which, as a previous Emerald’s agent, y/n knew was just a fancy description for attending parties. Nothing too dangerous, especially for Emerald’s missions, that were more based in socialization and keeping an eye on people. Actually, y/n was impressed that Tonks had something substantial to report (especially to Kingsman) in a high school party. “A group of unmatchable individuals seems to be working together, all of them acting really uncharacteristic and very patronized. I detected the group spiking other teen’s drinks. I managed to intervene and get a sample of it. Agent Spellman also reported a strange movement, alike the one I observed, with a college group. We sent the samples to our biotechs, and the lab concluded it was a modified Mikey Pinn.” The girl grabbed her phone and sent something, the IPhone message sound reverberating through the room. “Now you have access to our outhouse cameras, Merlin.” 

Merlin quickly changed the projection above y/n to eight squares of video that showed each teen in one small room, some asleep on the beds, some walking around nervously, and one passed out on the floor. Tonks started talking again.

“Spellman and I brought the group of high school and college students to our outhouse. Whatever drug they’re on soon will wear off, and then we’ll be able to analyse what happened to them.”

“Was that the first ever occurrence on your field, Tonks?” Asked Yijun, and then turned to the Kingsman’s, explaining; “Emerald agents that work on high schools usually only have to get in action to stop violence and abuse at their missions. Situations like what we’re dealing with right now is uncharacteristic.”

“No, Boss. Some students stopped going to classes suddenly, but we checked: they all were confirmed on exchange programs abroad. Apparently, they never went.”

Y/n wasn’t leant on the wall anymore. She’d walked to the table, bent over it, hands open, pressed on the cold wood, all her attention on Tonks. Tension.

“Who were the kids? High school and college. Why choose them?” She said.

Tonks flipped through her phone, messaging Merlin more documents - the ring once again filling the room - before answering.

“A rugby player, two perfect grade kids and a foreign student were the high school kids. Apparently, it’s a pattern: physically strong people and awarded students that stand out for their knowledge of exact sciences.”

“Have you tracked were they were drugged the first time?” Continued y/n.

“Not yet, but...”

“I did;” said Merlin, suddenly, typing on his IPad.

A new image showed up on the wall. The front of a bar that looked like it used to be fancy ten years ago. Now, the paint was coming off the walls, and the huge opaque black doors were rusted, chains and a big old padlock kept them closed. It had no name on the outside, only a broken light up waning crescent moon, just the inferior part working, shining in a weak yellow light.

Eggsy knew the place. Actually, every teen and young adult in London knew Moonz: the flat broke bar that let underage kids come in and drink. You didn’t even need a fake ID, they would pretend to not be able to do math and let kids in. In some months, it became domain of teens, turning into a considerably safe place for them to get drunk and party. Also, it was the cheapest place to get booze.

But the underage drinking caused a bigger problem; since it was illegal, the neighbourhood didn’t have a lot of cops because the owner kept them away. Consequently, Moonz’s location became a centre of violence, kidnapping, and other heavy crimes.

The young Galahad saw y/n turn to the projection in slow motion, the act of being casual being thrown out of the window. For Eggsy, she looked like a robot who got rebooted and installed a completely different system of command. When she spoke again, her voice was strong and deep.

“Tonks, do you know when it started?”

“It?” Asked Eggsy. 

“The kidnappings.” Y/n answered. “The fact that they were drugging others looks like it was a kidnapping system. In this context, those kids were “recruiting” more teens.” 

Tonks checked her phone.

“No, Morgan. We couldn’t track it. They apparently are the first ones to come back.”

“Shit.” Y/n paced around the room. “Boss, permission to do an observation and protection mission at Moonz.”

“Permission granted” nodded Yijun “take Galahad with you.”

“Yi, I don’t think the gentlemen can pass as a teenager.” Y/n had stopped walking. She looked straight into Eggsy’s eyes. “With all due respect...”

Yijun shook her head. 

“You know there are other ways to get him inside undercover.”

Y/n ran her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath. Eggsy could almost hear her thinking “Fuck. Fine.”.

“C’mon Galahad, we’ve got a job to do.”

Eggsy and Y/n were almost out of the room when Yijun called her agent again.

“Oh and Y/n.” The girl turned around. “Don’t engage. I’ll send Emerald agents to protect the kids, but you and Galahad can’t have your covers blown up. Do. Not. Engage. Do you understand?”

All Y/n did was nod slightly.

If you made it to here, thank you so much! I hope it was worth your time! Some feedback would be appreciated, I really wanted to see if you liked this (dumb) Eggsy I’m presenting.... If you don’t want to be in the taglist anymore, I totally understand! Just message me :)

Also!!!! Feel free to message me any questions about the fic and this chapter! I have some fun reasons for choosing those codenames and Diamond, Emerald and Amethyst as the names for the organization!

Amethyst taglist

@a-dorky-book-keeper @50shadesofuncomfortable @arizonacolleen @infinity-of-high-dreaming @toasty-fish @pink-smarties @mc225g @dadd-ilf @sueeatstheworld @katorgatorgalaxy @the-ink-and-salt-club @incorrect-mcdanno @xelizabethvalentinex @ahyestheandersons @thatdamnokie @wxxnks @awesomewees @ryedikkulus @discodeak @clacestan @y-dadd

(If you got the notification again, sorry! I had a problem with the taglist and had to do it again!

#kingsman #kingsman fanfic #kingsman eggsy #kingsman au #eggsy unwin #eggsy imagine #eggsy x reader #harry hart

[crowdedimagines]

I Married Your Daughter - David Dobrik

word count: 1957 an// i saw someone post that they wanted a fic about david marrying jason’s daughter instead of his mom!! loved the idea so here it is. sorry if someone else already wrote this concept too ~

I have an idea.

That one text from David was a sure sign that he’s up to no good.

What are you up to now?

Instead of responding to my text, David calls me.

“Hi, Y/n.” David sings into the phone.

“Oh no, this is bad.” I laugh, “You’re calling me? What evil prank do you have against my dad?”

“I want to marry you.”

The air falls out of my lungs causing me to cough and choke.

“What?” I ask after recovering. I can hear David still laughing at my reaction.

“I want to marry you, then I’ll be Jason’s son. And then I married his daughter.”

“It’s brilliant.” I agree, it’s the perfect bit for the vlog and I know that my dad will be obviously shocked.

“Can I fly out to see you then?”

I can tell just by his voice that he’s smirking right now.

“Are you in, Y/n?”

I pace back and forth for a couple of seconds, I take a deep breath and shake my head with realizing my answer.

“I’m in.”

I know David better than I would like to, even better if we follow through on his latest idea. I spend my time fairly split between New York and Los Angeles. I go to school in New York, but I fly home pretty often. David and I are close friends, occasionally it seems like like there could be more. We usually only flirt to bother my dad, this might kill him.

It takes David a couple of days to get everything set up and fly out to New York. He shows up to my door, vlog camera in hand.

“Hi.” He has his typical overly excited dopey grin on his face.

“Hey.” I open the door wider to my apartment to let him in. He sets up his camera on gets down on one knee.

“David, you’re ridiculous.” I laugh covering my mouth.

“Y/n Nash, will you marry me?” He is laughing too, unable to wipe the grin off of his face.

“Yes.” I answer with a roll of my eyes.

David gets up and picks me up with him, we both spin around laughing.

“You’re so stupid.” I laugh, finally getting to place my feet back on the ground.

“This is going to be my best vlog yet. We leave in three hours.”

“Three hours? David.” I smack his chest. Before I know it we’re on a plane and on our way to Vegas. Natalie and Zane are meeting us there to be our witnesses. We have to get our marriage licence before we head over to the chapel.

“Nat, help me pick out a dress.”

She follows me into a dressing room with racks and racks of dresses that people use to get married here.

“This is the one.” She holds up a dress.

“What?” I turn to see the one she’s holding up.

“This dress is made for you, Y/n.”

I get in the dress and help her find a bridesmaid dress. Zane films for David and I follow Natalie as we walk down the aisle.

“Y/n” David can only muster my name with his jaw on the floor quietly he mutters a ‘holy shit’.

“Like the dress?” I tease.

David clears his throat and we proceed with the ceremony.

“With this ring I marry you.” David slides the ring he got for me over my finger.

The priest gestures for me to do the same with his ring.

“With this ring, I marry you.” I smile, sliding his ring on his finger.

“With the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

David leans down and for the first time ever we kiss. I can hear Zane and Natalie cheering, but I’m only focused on David’s lips that are still on mine. Reluctantly, we pull away and smile for the cameras.

“You guys are married!” Natalie pulls me in for a hug.

“Oh my god, we’re married.” It suddenly hits me, I’m a wife. David and I are married.

“It’s too late to take it back now, Y/n.” David teases as he pulls me in for a side hug.

Shortly after that, we hop on another plane and head to Hawaii. Zane and Natalie went back to L.A. Jason thinks that David was in Chicago. We’re flying to Hawaii for only a day before heading to L.A to surprise my dad.

“I’ve never been to Hawaii before.” I admit as the plane slowly lands.

“Wait, never?” David asks, obviously shocked.

“Nope.”

“What about the trips Jason took Charlie and Wyatt to see your mom?”

“I was graduated by then. Out of the house and in New York.”

“Well, now we need to do all of the Hawaii cliches.”

“What?” I thought we were taking a couple of pictures to gloat and going home.” I laugh.

“Not anymore.”

David wasn’t kidding when he said that we were doing all of the cliches of Hawaii. We went snorkeling, surfing, and finally skydiving. It was a day packed full of everything.

“That was the most fun thing I’ve ever done.” I cheer.

David and I just finished skydiving and it was amazing. I couldn’t stop screaming and smiling at the same time. David too, he seemed nervous at first even though he had done it before.

“That was so much fun!” I say without even trying to hide the joy in my voice. I’m still not over it even now when we’re trying to find our hotel room.

“I know, this has been the best Hawaii trip yet and we’ve only had one day here.”

“Wow, it must be me. I’m just so much fun to be around.” I grin.

He stops at our door and looks to me, a smirk on his face. “Yeah, you are.”

I gulp, noticing how close we are. I take a step back and David puts the keycard in the door and holds it open for me. We both decide to move past and ignore whatever that moment was.

I walk into the room and it’s nice, it’s huge with a view of the ocean and a separate room.

“Y/n!” David calls from the bedroom.

I turn away from the window and follow where his voice was coming from. As soon as I walk in I am ambushed with bright red and pink everything. The walls, the pillows, the bed, everything. Rose petals are scattered on the bed.

“Natalie must’ve told them it was our honeymoon.” David pushes his hair back off of his head, obviously nervous. “I didn’t plan anything! I would never do-”

“I know, David.” I laugh and place a reassuring hand on his chest. “It’s not a big deal.”

We both notice my hand, which is still resting on his chest. I look up from my hand to catch his eyes, they’re staring at my lips.

“David.” I whisper, this successfully grabs his attention and he focuses on my eyes again.

He leans in closer and I tilt my head up for our lips to meet. It’s perfect, just like our first. His lips are warm and inviting, they make you melt into them. I take a couple of steps back until we land on the bed.

I can’t fight off the laugh which makes David pull away.

“What’s so funny?” He asks.

“We’re married. We’re making out. We’re on a bed full of rose petals.” I smile. David smiles too and pushes hair back behind my ear.

“We’re married, Y/n. That’s crazy.” He presses kisses all over my neck.

“I know.” I smirk, enjoying the feeling of his lips all over my neck.

“Y/n Dobrik.” David whispers the words against my skin.

“What’d you just say?” I ask, pulling lightly on his hair to pull him back up to me.

“I said, Y/n Dobrik. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” He has the best smile on his face. The smile I know so well. The perfect David smile that creates butterflies in my stomach.

“I think so too.”

It went all too fast. All too soon we had to check out of our hotel and get on a plane back to Los Angeles.

“I’m kinda nervous for his reaction now.” David’s hand is holding onto mine.

“Don’t be. He’ll be fine. I’m the son he’s always wanted.”

I know he’s joking, but it makes me happy anyway. We make it back to the house and Jason and a few other people from the friend group are already at the house. David has me go in through the garage door.

“Jason, I have a surprise for you.”

“What are you up to?” I can hear the nervous edge in my dad’s voice.

“I married your daughter!” David just blurts it.

“You didn’t.” He tries so shut it down, he doesn’t want to play along with this joke.

“I flew to New York two days ago and proposed. Then we got married in Vegas, and honeymooned in Hawaii.”

My dad starts laughing, obviously not believing a single word of what he’s saying.

“I have the legal papers right here, and I have her here.”

“No!”

I make my grand entrance and hold up my hand with a shiny new ring on it.

“Y/n, why would you do this?”

“Why wouldn’t I marry the hot millionaire who I’ve been flirting with for ages now.” I tease. David wraps his arm around my waist.

“This is so wrong.” Jason hides his face in his hands. “Y/n Y/M/N Nash, your mom is going to kill you.”

“Don’t you mean Y/n Y/M/N Dobrik?”

The whole group breaks out in laughter. We spend the rest of the time hanging out and having  a good time with a good group of friends. Everyone stayed until it got late and they had to go home. David has his arm wrapped around my shoulder, we’re the only ones left in the living room.

“Hey, do you regret getting married? I know we aren’t completely serious about this. But what happened last night. I can’t get it out of my head.”

“I can’t either. And no, I don’t regret getting married. Not yet at least.”

“Hey!”

David flips us down to lay horizontal on the couch. We start making out, something that in a few days we have both grown used to.

“When do you have to go back to New York?” David asks quietly, his question has bummed him out.

“Not for a couple of days. I’ll be gone for two weeks and then I graduate.”

“Does that mean you’ll be coming back to L.A.?” He instantly perks up.

“I think so.”

“Good, you can’t leave your husband for too long.”

“Hmm, my husband?” I laugh.

“Yes, your husband. I want to make this work, even if this wasn’t the most conventional way to start a relationship.”

I couldn’t agree with him more. This is too good to throw away or pass up on. Hell, he’s my husband now.

“Me too. We’ll make whatever this is work.”

“I’m really glad we got married.”

“I can’t believe it took us getting married for you to grow the balls to make this happen.” I shake with laughter thinking of all the times we flirted, but he bailed because of nerves.

“Shut up!”

#david dobrik x you #david dobrik imagine #david dobrik imagines #david dobrik x read #david dobrik x reader #david dobrik #david dobrik gif #david imagines #david imagine #david x you #David's Vlogs #david #jason nash #natalie mariduena #zane hijazi #vlog squad #vlog squad imagines #youtube imagines #youtuber imagines #youtube

[moonlit-taeil]

(okay this shit low key long af so it’s okay if you don’t feel like reading all of it🥺)

you’re at the beach with your best friends that you’ve know almost your entire life. they are twins and you three have been inseparable since your third year. you’re having a blast, splashing in the waves, creating sand castles, soaking up the warm sun when your friend Hae gets a phone call saying her and Yun need to come home immediately because their mom found their hidden stash. you tell them to hurry home and not worry about you, even though they were your ride there. they leave after gathering all of their belongings and telling you a quick goodbye.

you sit down in the sand, letting the sound of the waves calm you and help you not think about their mom telling your mom about their secret stash. you don’t need your mom snooping around looking for yours.

you decide to turn on some music as you sit and ponder how the hell you’re gonna get home.

you gather up your things and throw them in your bag as you begin to make your way across the shore, flip flops in hand.

you’re watch your feet sink into the wet sand and the waves washing it off when you unexpectedly get hit in the forehead with a frisbee.

“ahh fuck,” you hiss as you bring your hands up to your face, dropping your shoes in the process.

“OH SHIT!!” you hear someone say, hearing the voice get closer as it goes on.

“you had one fucking job!” another one says, getting closer as well.

you look up to see a whole group of boys staring at you, there had to at least have been 15 of them.

feeling uncomfortable, you bring your arms down to cover your body, cursing yourself for throwing your shorts in your bag and not putting them on.

“holy shit i am so sorry, are you okay?” a boy with pinkish-blonde hair asks shyly.

“umm yeah i think so” you say while an embarrassing pink tint comes to your cheeks.

“oh- uhh— i’m Jisung by the way. i am so so so sorry about that. are you really sure you’ll be okay?”

“yeah, i’ll be fine,” you say handing him back the neon yellow frisbee. “i’m just wonder how the hell you missed catching that thing. it’s not tiny, and it’s not hard to see. like... at all.” you chuckle to yourself.

now it’s the young boys turn to blush out of embarrassment. “i forgot my sunglasses today and the sun was in my eyes, i am so sorry.”

“no need to keep apologizing, i get it, plus i was only teasing,” you chuckle again, pulling your bag off of your shoulder. “here you can have these, i brought an extra pair just incase,” you say handing him the black sunglasses.

“wow thank you so much! i really appreciate it,” he says taking the sunglasses from your hand.

“i’m just trying to prevent another accident,” you say laughing as you begin to walk away.

“wait!! are you here alone?” he says.

“uhh yeah”

“do you want to hang out with me and my friends? it’s the least i could do.”

you take a quick look around at the boys, them all still looking at you and Jisung.

“um sure,” you say hesitantly.

you and Jisung start your walk over to the rest of his friends when he says “wait, what’s your name ?”

“oh— i’m y/n,” you say with a smile.

your almost to where the majority of his friends are when you realize Jisung is no longer beside you. you look around and notice he is back to his game of frisbee with another boy with bright red hair.

you sigh in defeat as you stand uncomfortably, not knowing any of the people around you.

“hi! i’m Johnny!” you jump as you see a very large man towering over you, grinning like a maniac.

“hi! um- i’m assuming you’re one of Jisung’s friends?”

“yeah, he’s actually the youngest of us, he’s 18 but he’s kinda shy and socially awkward so it’s kinda normal for him to just leave you hanging, what’s your name though?”

“i’m y/n”

“nice to meet you y/n, would you like me to introduce you to the rest of the boys?”

“of course!” you say, surprising yourself with how excited you seem.

________________________________________

after being introduced to all of the boys, and having more fun in the water, Doyoung announces for everyone to gather around as he makes a campfire.

the sun is setting, so it’s getting pretty chilly outside but you’re not comfortable enough with these people to go asking for jackets or anything, so you’ve been just dealing with it, trying to hide your shivering, so you’re quite excited when hearing about the fire.

everyone is laying their towels down by the fire so they have a place to sit, so you go over to where you’ve set your bag. upon searching for your towel, you’ve come to realize it’s not in there, remembering it in Hae’s hands as her and Yun left.

you stand there, wondering if this is the universe’s way of saying it’s time for you to call an uber, when Yuta, the boys with the brilliant smile, comes up to you and asks if you would like to share his towel with him.

“sure! thank you,” you say before telling him you’re going to go change out of your swimsuit.

you take your bag up to the restroom to change when you realize you’re barefoot. you dropped your shoes in the ocean when you were hit. grossed out by the thought of walking into the restroom with no shoes, you make your way back to the boys and walk over to Yuta.

“hey i thought you were going to change?” he asks confused.

“haha funny story actually, when Jisung hit me earlier, i dropped my shoes in the ocean, so now i have no shoes and i’m definitely not walking into the bathroom barefoot,” you say cringing at the thought.

“you can wear mine in there if you want to,” Yuta says flashing his signature smile to you.

“thank you so much!!” you say taking the shoes from his hands and making your way to the bathroom once again.

________________________________________

walking back from the bathroom, now in shorts and a tank top with your hair thrown messily into a topknot, you sit down next to Yuta.

“thank you again for letting me use these,” you say passing him his sandals.

“no problem, public bathrooms are fucking gross.” he says, nose scrunching up.

you agree, giggling at how blunt he was.

you sit and watch the fire burn, moving closer as you start to get cold once again.

“y/n do you want my sweatshirt?” you look up to see Johnny giving you a questioning look. “it’s in the car, i can go get it if you want.”

“oh no no i wouldn’t want you to go through the trouble, i’m okay.” you say giving him a smile, but he’s already up on his feet, keys in his hand.

“no it’s okay, i just wanted an excuse to get more snacks,” he says throwing you a wink.

“i’ll go with you then.”

“okay but you better hurry up because i’m starving”

you stand up laughing as you walk beside Johnny, him making jokes until you get to where one of their cars is parked in the gravel. you try to walk on the rocks but you accidentally let out a hiss of pain.

“woah! are you okay?” Johnny asks.

“yeah i’m fine. i can just wait here.” you say.

“actually i need help with carrying snacks, let me give you a piggy back ride.” he says making your eyes go wide.

“umm... okay?” you say as he gestures to jump on his back.

you hop on his back, wrapping your legs around his sides, with his arms underneath your thighs. he lifts you up more, making you jump and him laugh.

he walks to the van, opening the trunk up, setting you down on the edge of it.

he goes around the side of the car, grabbing his sweatshirt and a pair of womens shoes he had in the car, making your eyebrows twist in confusion.

“here,” he says hanging you both items. “these shoes are Taeyong’s sisters. he went to pick her up from the airport earlier and she had to change into heels instead.”

you thank him before slipping the shoes on and sliding his sweatshirt over your head.

“HOLY SHIT AM I ACTUALLY A FUCKING GIANT THATS HUGE ON YOU!!” Johnny says while laughing his ass off.

you begin to giggle as well at how the hood covers over half of your face and the pocket is past your shorts completely.

“shut up!!” you say laughing as you nudge him into getting the snacks.

“okay okay i guess i’m not the only one hungry then,” he says handing you bags of chips and supplies to make s’mores, while he grabs the cooler filler with water, soda, and “apple juice”.

you guys walk back to the fire, still having your laughing fit about how large Johnny is compared to you.

“what’s so funny?” Renjun asks as you start to hand out the snacks.

“had to be there,” Johnny responds, sending you both into another fit of laugher.

everyone is sitting, eating their snacks, and enjoying themselves when you realize you still haven’t figured out a ride home.

“shit,” you mutter to yourself, pulling out your phone to see that there aren’t any ubers willing to drive from the beach to your house.

“what’s wrong?” Yuta whispers to you.

“umm i don’t have a ride home and there aren’t any ubers near by,” you say quietly, hoping to not bring a lot of attention to the situation.

“oh that’s no problem!! Johnny, can we take y/n home tonight?” he shouts across the fire, bringing all eyes back to you.

“i’m not the one driving, ask Doyoung,” Johnny responds.

“Doyoung can we take y/n home this fiiiiiiine evening?” Yuta says while grinning.

“i don’t care. i’m down with whatever.” Doyoung says.

Yuta goes back to whispering, this time much closer to your ear so no one can hear but you.

“Doyoung must really like you because he’s never ‘down for whatever’” he says making you laugh.

you and the boys keep the conversations happening for the next two hours before Taeyong decides it’s about time they should be heading back.

everyone walks to the cars, and that’s when you ask what car is the one that doyoung is driving.

“it’s the same one we went to earlier,” Johnny says.

you make your way over to the van after saying goodbye to everyone, Jisung apologizing once again for hitting you in the face, and you telling everyone you had a great time. you jump in the back of the van sitting on the left side while Johnny sits on the right side. Yuta and Taeil sit in the middle seats, Doyoung in the drivers seat, and Taeyong in the passengers seat. when everyone was situated, you give Doyoung your address, and move your head to rest in your palm.

you begin to slightly doze off, not realizing until you hear someone whisper your name.

“y/n, y/n” the second time a bit louder, accompanied by a soft tap on your leg.

you look up, eyes meeting with Johnny’s and he says :

“come here.” you give him a questioning look before moving a couple inches towards him. he then wraps his arm around your body, sliding you closer to him. he takes his hand and places it on your head, moving your head to his chest.

he wraps his arm around you again, and you allow yourself to soften under his touch. you close your eyes again, letting yourself drift off once again.

Yuta gives Johnny a look that says “what the hell are you doing? you just met this chick.” and Johnny responds with a look that says “chill out, it’s okay.”

________________________________________

you wake up to Johnny tapping your thigh and whispering your name again.

you look up, realizing that you’re home. Taeil opens up the door, hopping out, making room for you to get out as well.

“thank you everyone!! i had a wonderful time today, it was nice meeting you all.” you say giving a shining smile and a small wave.

they all tell you they had fun and wave goodbye as you walk up to your door, pulling out your key to unlock it. you walk inside and into your room before you decide you’re going to clean out your bag tonight so you won’t have to tomorrow.

you empty out your bag onto your bed, hanging up your swimsuit, and putting away your sunscreen before you notice a small slip of paper.

“678-999-8212

text me sometime ;) -Johnny”

you smile to yourself as you set the paper on your nightstand, deciding you’ll text him tomorrow morning.

________________________________________

<the next morning>

“good morning Johnny :) it’s y/n”

“good morning ☀️”

you then realize your groupchat with your two besties is going crazy.

“Y/N WERE YOU WITH NCT WHAT THE HELL”

“wut, who tf is nct” you respond.

“no way you just said that rn”

Hae then sends an article to the chat.

“NCT Films New NCT Life With Mystery Girl”

a picture of you and Johnny flashes across your screen.

confused, you send Johnny another text.

*insert picture* “who tf are you?”

(definitely did NOT base this off of a dream i had the other night 👀)

#nct scenarios #nctzen #nct imagines #nct johnny #nct doyoung #nct yuta #nct taeil #nct jisung #nct renjun #nct taeyong #nct life #nct 127 #nct dream #johnny imagines #nct johnny imagines

[jamiespalace21]

Barber & Weiss ~ Ch 2 Test

Chapter 2

This is a test version of the original post. To read more, check out the series masterlist below on my primary blog.

Series Masterlist

Words: 2.6 K

Pairing: Dark Andy Barber x Dark Mike Weiss x Reader

Warnings: Expletive use. References to drug dealing, drug use, and embezzlement. Dubious consent, mild coercion, sexual blackmail, contract for sex as repayment, theft. Oral sex (female receiving).

Disclaimer: The author of this work claims no ownership of characters aside from the reader, and original secondary characters mentioned. This work is not intended for those under the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content and darker themes. By reading this work or any works on my blog (jtargaryen18), you agree that you are at least 18 years of age. I do not consent to have my work hosted on any third party app or site. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but archiveofourown and tumblr, it has been reposted without my permission.

Summary: You run the office at Barber & Weiss and love your job and employers. When your drug-dealing boyfriend gets in trouble with a loan shark, you’re hesitant to embezzle money from the law firm to bail him out. But he promises you he’ll be able to return the money quickly, before someone notices it’s gone. What’s going to happen to you when your boyfriend is arrested and your bosses know about your theft?

A/N: Mike gets you all to himself for the night.

~~~*~~~*~~~

The next weekend Laurie went out of town for work and Andy promised to stay with Jacob Friday night until she got back. Mike didn’t want to leave their little office manager by herself in Andy’s house since it had been less than a week since Jimmy had been picked up.

They’d given her a couple of days to get moved in, to adjust to the situation they’d devised for her. Mike had arranged for some of his more street-wise friends to pack up her belongings and bring them to Andy’s. He knew she’d been worried about how she’d get her things.

Honestly, she’d been on the edge of worry since they’d hired her. It showed in the sadness he read in her face when she didn’t know he was looking, the tension in her body at the end of the day. With that asshole for a boyfriend, it really wasn’t a surprise.

Their girl was a damn good office manager, represented Barber & Weiss perfectly. But her experience and professionalism weren’t the only reasons they’d hired her.

It was just last night that they’d all gone back to Andy’s for dinner. Then as they had the first night, they moved everything to Andy’s guest room. They’d enjoyed their girl, loved her until she was a trembling mess between them. And just as he had the first night, Mike eventually headed back home.

But even with the friends who came and went at all hours, Mike’s humble house was quiet and lonely in a way he’d never noticed before.

It made sense for her to stay at Andy’s. Sure it did. Mike just didn’t like it. Not now that he had time to think about it.

Tonight, she didn’t know he was coming, and Mike wanted it that way. He’d had a late meeting with an expert for the Fields case, so he’d sent her home, loving how flustered and confused she was with Andy already gone and knowing the house was empty. He’d called a friend to make sure she made it okay since he had the interview.

And he could have knocked when he reached Andy’s house. He let himself in instead, wanting to see how things really were.

It was an hour until midnight but she already had the lights out downstairs, a hint of her perfume lingering around him as he headed for the guestroom.

It was empty. Mike shook his head, knowing immediately Andy had moved her into his own bedroom upstairs.

Sneaky motherfucker.

Andy knew when he came up with the idea for how their little angel could pay back the money she’d stolen that he had to include Mike. They were equal partners in the firm. And Andy knew Mike wanted her as badly as he did.

But it seemed that’s where equal partners ended. Andy had the advantage, and he knew it.

That being the case, Mike didn’t have to worry about playing fair now, did he?

Quietly, he climbed the stairs, finding her in Andy’s bedroom, in Andy’s bed, just as he expected. Mike lingered in the hallway, just taking her in as she sat against the headboard, flipping through channels on the huge TV in front of her.

His little angel looked small in that huge bed in just a black band t-shirt and little sleep shorts. She looked tired and he knew everything was preying on her mind. The wariness in her eyes as she found something to watch and tried to focus on it brought out a need to protect her, to make her feel safe.

Oh, Andy was in for a fight. He just didn’t know it yet…

Tapping on the door to let her know he was there, he knew he’d scare the shit out of her. He didn’t like the way she jumped on the bed, her eyes wide as he walked into the room.

“Sorry,” Mike whispered. He meant it. “I didn’t want to wake you if you were sleeping.”

She blew out a sigh of relief, trying to smile as he stopped at the edge of the bed. “How did the interview go?”

Mike shoved his hands in his pockets, moved closer. “Good. I think he’s going to be able to help us.”

When he sat on the edge of the bed, she didn’t shift away but she still eyed him warily. Maybe it was because Mike wasn’t supposed to know she was sleeping in Andy’s bed. Maybe because she was reluctant about their arrangement. That would be understandable.

Maybe she preferred Andy to him.

No.

“Had any trouble?” he asked, toeing off his shoes and scooting up to stretch out next to her.

She shook her head. “I got here, had something to eat, and decided to turn in early.”

She didn’t say home. Mike smiled.

“Want some company?”

“You mean for…?” she asked nervously.

Mike traced a finger along her trembling lower lip. Yeah, okay, the arrangement seemed like a good idea in theory. But he didn’t like this. He didn’t want her this way.

But he very much wanted her.

“Anything you want,” Mike told her. “I can go if you—”

“No,” she cut him off. “Stay.”

Mike knew she was mostly afraid of Jimmy and his friends, but he’d take it.

“What did you eat?” he asked.

She didn’t expect the question. “Oh, I had a sandwich… Have you eaten? I could make you something.”

Guilt had his heart clenching in his chest. Still taking care of him even with the situation they’d maneuvered her into. Mike shook his head.

“Let’s get takeout,” he offered. “Have it delivered. Anything you have a craving for?”

Mike didn’t miss the way her gaze moved quickly over him. Oh, there was interest there.

After a moment, she shrugged. “I like most everything,” she said finally.

Easy enough. Mike pulled up the app for an Italian restaurant he liked and delivered late on his phone, placing an order. When he caught her climbing off the bed out of the corner of his eye, he stopped her.

“Where you going?”

“I should at least put jeans on or…”

Mike threw her a grin. “Why? Relax.”

Submitting the order, he considered that. Sitting up, he pulled down the black suspenders he wore, pulled off his tie. When he stripped off the dress shirt, he didn’t miss the way her gaze roamed over him.

She liked that, huh?

In less than an hour, they enjoyed dinner in Andy’s dining room. Him in his suspenders and slacks, her in those cute little shorts. Mike made them drinks. Watching her relaxed and enjoying her meal had him smiling.

That’s better.

They put up the leftovers, piled the dishes in the sink.

‘What are we watching?” he asked with a wink as he herded her towards the stairs.

Mike got an eye full of those curvy legs, her nice ass as he followed her up.

“There’s a crime series I wanted to watch,” she admitted as they reached Andy’s room.

“Crime series,” he mused.

“Right,” she laughed nervously. “Too close to the day job?”

“I can tell you every time they’re full of shit.”

“Pass,” she said, slinging him a shy smile over her shoulder. “A movie?”

“Whatever you want.”

Mike climbed up on the bed with her. Grabbing the remote, she stretched out on her side facing the TV, scrolling through every single streaming service that Andy seemed to have. Once she found a movie she wanted to watch, a superhero movie no less, he grinned.

His little angel could watch whatever she wanted. Playfully, he pushed her onto her stomach, straddling her thighs as he slid his hands under her t-shirt, his fingers finding her muscles tense. He grinned as he got to work on that, watched her fold her arms to cradle her head..

She hummed contentedly under his hands. Her skin was warm velvet under his fingers, the tension eased from her as he worked.

“That’s it,” Mike whispered. “Relax. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Her eyes were closed, hiding some of her emotion from him.

“You… you don’t owe me that,” she muttered.

“Hey,” he stopped to get her attention. “For my part, I’m not upset at all about the money. I told Andy you didn’t know the real reason Jimmy wanted it. I was right.”

His hands began moving again, sliding to her lower back.

“Guys like Jimmy are a dime a dozen,” Mike went on. “I’m just grateful this happened before the loser really did do something to hurt you.”

Her eyes opened, she was watching him in her peripheral vision.

“What?” He could tell she wanted to ask him something.

“You said you’d bought from him,” she said carefully. “So you…”

“Used to be a user?” Mike wasn’t going to hide it. “Yeah. I’m mostly clean these days. Haven’t really bought anything off the street for a few months now.”

She nodded, her eyes closing again as he continued the massage.

“Mike?”

“Hmmm?”

“Why… I mean, you and Andy…”

Mike expected the question she was trying to ask.

“Andy told you that first night,” he explained. “We didn’t talk about it when we first hired you but… Probably shouldn’t have hired you since both found you very attractive.”

She froze at that.

Mike moved his hands down to the globes of her ass. The silky shorts weren’t really much of a barrier.

“But I was recently divorced at the time and trying to get clean so…”

She took a deep breath as he moved down her body, allowing him to get his hands on the backs of her thighs. Her skin was supple, smooth.

“You would have…”

“Asked you out?” Mike grinned. “Yeah. Dating an employee is usually not advisable but since when do I ever worry about things that aren’t precisely spelled out by the law?”

She chuckled. “Never.”

Mike worked on her thighs, letting his fingers roam over that sensitive flesh. He could feel the damp heat near her center. But he didn’t want to jump right in. She’d gotten quiet.

“But now I’m just…”

“You’re just what?” Mike stopped to ask. “It’s a private agreement. We all get something out of it. You get our protection from Jimmy. We get you. But that doesn’t make you any less than the woman we… I want.”

I won’t let Andy keep you.

Gripping the hem of her t-shirt, he pulled it up and off her. Grinning as she shivered beneath him. She wouldn’t be cold for long.

Mike’s hands smoothed over her back, down her sides. She shivered again for a different reason. Sliding his hands under her, he palmed her breasts. The centers were already hard little buds from his touch. Draping himself over her, he teased her ear with his lips.

“Can I have you?” he asked gently. “Right now?”

She rolled her hips, a gentle grind into his aching cock. As an answer, it would suffice.

Mike chained heated kisses over her shoulder, down her back. He took his time, loving the way her fingers dug into the duvet, the restless little shifts of her body under his. When he reached those barely-there shorts, he lifted only long enough to yank those and her panties off.

His gaze met hers when she glanced at him over her shoulder, just in time to watch him grab a pillow from the top of the bed and stuff it under her hips. Her mouth formed a little “o” as he pushed her thighs apart, wrapped his arms around them. It just made him harder for her.

Mike loved the way she struggled in his grip as he took her apart with his mouth. He teased her lower lips, her weeping entrance, not even going where she desperately needed him yet. The tension in her thighs, the grind of her hips against his mouth had his libido growing fangs. His little angel was tangy as summer lemonade and Mike took his time, had her singing before he even got to her clit.

By the time he was drawing on that pearl with the tip of his tongue, she came for him. Cried out for him. She was a responsive little thing and what man didn’t appreciate that? Mike kept her there, worrying that little button with his mouth and enjoying the way her entire body lit up. Once. Twice.

His name was whimper when he brought her off a third time, left her panting. Taking his suspenders down, Mike undid his slacks and took himself in hand. He was so hard it hurt. Pressing inside her, he had to close his eyes, to breathe through it. She felt so fucking good. So tight and soft around him.

She had him fighting like hell not to come.

Once he’d worked his way in as far as he could go, Mike eased himself over her, caging her to the bed. When he began to move, her sigh was contentment. Hell, her walls were still trembling around him.

“You good?” Mike slid his hands over hers, lacing their fingers.

“Yes,” she whispered, her silken walls clamping around him making him groan, urging him to keep moving.

It was so easy to get lost in the feel of being inside her, being joined with her. She fit against him perfectly, her snug little channel able to take him. But the squeeze? Fuck. It was satisfying. Mike dropped enough of his weight on her to hold her in place as his hips worked, grinding into her over and over.

“You like this?” he whispered hotly in her ear, fucking her gently.

Her fingers squeezed his. “Yes.”

“You feel good?”

“Yes.” It sounded like a plea.

A plea for more? He’d give her more.

Mike held her to Andy’s bed and fucked into her, knowing the minute when the tension began building in her again. When her thighs tightened, Mike shifted, pushing them together and holding them tight with his own. Oh, it had her tight little passage clamping around him like a vice, almost brought him off. But the position made it feel like a deeper plunge into her, gave him the angle he needed to hit the mark that would drive her crazy.

“Oh.” The breathy little sighs she released sped up and her grip on his fingers almost hurt.

She struggled as the pleasure built, and he wanted her to. Mike wouldn’t grant her a reprieve, wouldn’t let up. Not until she came screaming one final time and she did, the sound echoing in the quiet of his partner’s bedroom. The flutter of her walls around him triggered his own release and he thrust into her hard and fast, unloading into her as currents of pleasure coursed through him, shook him like a storm.

Rolling onto his back, Mike struggled to breathe. That had been good. That had been so fucking good.

She was shaking when she lifted up onto her elbows, looking wrecked, looking fucking beautiful.

Wrecked because of him. He did that.

Not Andy.

“Hey.” Mike traced a finger over her lower lip. “Want to get some sleep?”

At her nod, Mike pulled her to him for a kiss. He loved the tender feel of her lips against his, the way she submitted to him. Yeah, Andy made her sign a damn contract and that was probably why she’d do whatever he asked. But he could pretend for now. His heart demanded it.

He helped her climb up the bed, get under the covers. She was blinking like a sleepy owl by the time he climbed off the bed to take off the rest of his clothes.

With a smirk, he plucked the suspenders off his slacks, tossing them under the bed.

Mike climbed in with her, pulling her in to be his little spoon.Fighting off bitter thoughts.

Had she been sleeping Andy’s arms every night? Mike was thinking there would have to be some revisions to this agreement.

But she was sleeping in his arms tonight and that was something he very much wanted. He was pretty sure she was asleep by the time he pressed his face into her hair and just enjoyed getting to hold her.

#Barber & Weiss #Andy Barber #Mike Weiss #Defending Jacob #Puncture #Andy Barber x reader x Mike Weiss

[heartofsnark]

This Is Love (Chapter Two: Lukewarm Welcomes

Notes: Well...I was planning on posting this three days ago....but instead i vanished from the internet for a bit, a nice quarantine mental health crisis as i went into the weekend, we love that. 

Word Count: 11,557

Chapter Warnings: Cursing, anti-cop dialogue, harassment, implications of domestic/family violence

For chapter one and the warnings about this fics overarching themes, please click here! 

A little bell chimes over head as Dahlia steps into the registration building for the Moonflower Trailer Park, there’s little racks of magazines, pamphlets, and maps of tourist attractions. A young girl is at the desk, talking on the phone with someone as Dahlia tries to preoccupy herself with looking through things. 

A plain white pamphlet draws her eye, the simplicity of it standing out among the vividly colored ones.  It’s stark white with that strange cross symbol, from the signs and book, like sunbeams coming from the center of it, black text above the symbol says, ‘Eden’s Gate’ and text below it says, ‘We Love You’. 

Before she can flip it open, the woman at the registration desk hangs up, calling her over with a “Miss?” 

“I’m Hale, we talked on the phone, I’m here to rent a trailer.”

The woman’s eyes flicker down to the pamphlet in her hand and her nose wrinkles like she’s smelled something awful. 

“You ain’t no peggie, are you?” 

“A peggie?” 

“Oh, shit, you really are new here, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, this was in one of your racks.”

“Damn it, I told them to stop unloading their shit here. Look, I don’t wanna scare you away from Hope County, but the peggies are fucknuts, steer clear of them.” 

“They dangerous?” 

“No more than most of us, but they’re major prudes and buzzkills. Like, think Jesus is gonna firebomb my ass for cumming, type buzzkills.” 

“Oh, that…sucks.” She has no idea where this woman is coming to that a religious group would think she deserves hell for it, but if the woman says they’re not dangerous, it’s not really any of her business, she really just wants her trailer. 

“C’mon, I’ll show you the trailer and we’ll get everything set up.” 

The trailer park isn’t huge, RVs and regular trailers all over it, a little playground in the middle for the resident’s kids with a slide, swings, and a little pool. A trailer with a diner inside of it, advertising bingo, and a little station filled with washing machines and dryers. None of the trailers outfitted with them. It’s a single wide with a little porch, nothing fancy; a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. All she needs, nothing seems damaged or out of place. 

“Looks, good to me.” 

“Alrighty, we’ll get your down payment and registration settled, then you can have the keys and move in whenever you feel.” 

“It’ll be a bit before I move in officially,” Dahlia tells her as they step outside the trailer, a few people bustling around 

“Why’s that?” 

“I’m coming all the way from Louisiana, still gotta get my shit moved in.” 

The woman whistles, eyes wide. 

“Hell of a move, but I tell you, you won’t find anywhere as beautiful as Hope County.” 

“I’m excited.” 

“Hey, Darcy, we got someone new coming in?” A woman asks, holding a kid on her hip, looking Dahlia up and down. 

“Yeah, we’re just getting her squared away.” 

“I’m Ruth, it’s always nice to see a new face.” 

“Thanks,” Dahlia awkwardly scratches the back of her head, “I, uh, really appreciate the warm welcome.” 

People aren’t her strong suit, she just never feels like she knows what to say, so she’d rather not say anything. 

“Shy girl, don’t worry we’ll knock that out of you, real quick. We’re like a big ole family here at the Moonflower.” 

“I’ll do my best not to get in the way.” 

“Pfft, fuck that, you better be out here getting piss faced with everyone else when the Boshaw’s throw their next barbecue.” 

“They’ll really find any excuse to get drunk, won’t they?” Darcy laughs, running a hand through her dark pixie cut. 

“I don’t even know why they still let Sharky in here, dude got banned from renting, but can still show up, do his laundry and get drunk, makes no damn sense.” 

“Y’know damn well, my mom and dad don’t have the heart to ban him completely.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but if he sets my trailer on fire again, we’re gonna be having another chat,” the toddler squirms, trying to break away for something, “someone is getting fussy, I’ll see ya around, stranger.” 

Dahlia waves goodbye to Ruth, a smile playing at her lips. The trailer park definitely seems to be a bit on the chaotic side from the sounds of it, but the warm welcome eases her nerves. She really can see herself settling in and finding some happiness. 

She goes with Darcy and takes care of the last of the details, a new key in her hand. Pride swells in her chest, it’s just a trailer, but she has her own place. She’s an adult who’s adulting. 

Once everything at the Moonflower is settled, Dahlia’s back at her hotel, haphazardly tossing her things in her luggage before check out time. Always late.  Everything settled, she dashes down to the reception desk, the woman has been thankfully kind about the whole sleepwalking fiasco last night. Not only did she bring Dahlia back in with a blanket, she even had the kitchen make her some hot chocolate before she went to sleep. 

“You checking out?” 

“Yeah, gotta rush back home.” 

“Ah, we gonna see more of you in Hope County.”  There’s a hopeful lilt to the woman’s voice and it makes Dahlia smile, the people in this county are really friendly. 

“I’m moving here, actually.” 

“That’s wonderful! Ah, I’m sure you’ll fit right in, I have some friend who I know would just adore you. Let me know once you’ve settled in.” 

“Uh, will do, thanks.” 

A quick wave bye and Dahlia’s headed out the door, climbing back on her back to ride the long way back to Reinette. 

It’s a long way, a pit stop in Denver along the way to keep her from losing her mind from exhaustion. She finds herself at the same roach motel she stayed at along the way to Hope County, no reason to go digging for something else. It’s past midnight when she’s checked into her room and is throwing her stuff on a creaking bed, staring at a stained ceiling. She already misses the hotel in Hope County. 

Her joints pop and crack as she heads to the shower;  she washes and hums along to her music and she half expects the odd hallucinations to return. It’s later in the day and she’s no doubt more exhausted now than she was last night. But, nothing happens. Her eyes are the same familiar brown when she looks in the mirror, no sirens try to lure her away, and she doesn’t find herself stumbling through a labyrinth. 

She wakes up the next morning in the dingy little bed and she’s back on the road as soon as she can get there. By nightfall she’s made her way back to Reinette, pulling up in front of Lloyd and Caroline’s farmhouse. 

The large wooden home with warm amber light seeping out from the windows. It looks and feels like a home. Sometimes, it feels like it could be Dahlia’s. 

“Stray!” Lloyd yells out as soon as she’s stepped foot inside, pulling her into a warm bone crushing hug before she can say a word. She melts into it, hugging him right back, letting the heat of him chase away the chill outside.  

“C’mon, we’ve been waiting on ya,” he tells her after he reluctantly pulls away from the hug, tugging her towards the dinner table. The smell of homemade stew hitting her nose and making her stomach growl, she can’t remember a time before Lloyd and Caroline where she could come home to an actual cooked meal. She doesn’t think it ever existed. 

“So, what exactly happened, something about a bar?” Caroline asks, as Dahlia begins to gobble up her food. 

“Well,” she slurs out her words around her mouthful of food, unwilling to stop eating just for a conversation, “there’s some bar in Fall’s End, some jackass tried to rob it and next thing I know Whitehorse is calling me his Junior Deputy.” 

“Junior Deputy?” Caroline refills Dahlia’s bowl as soon as she hears the spoon scratching against the china, her eyebrow is raised, and Lloyd looks like he’s holding back a laugh. 

“Thanks, uh, I guess it’s a term they use for their rookie deputies up there.” She shrugs, the term was strange, but she didn’t give it much more thought. 

Lloyd’s unable to hold back his laughter anymore, face going beet red as he bursts into chuckles. Dahlia narrows her eyes at him, unsure what exactly could be so funny.

“That’s what they call the program for the little kids, Stray, when you give ‘em cardboard badges and stickers, they’re Junior Deputies. Earl was giving you shit, you were just too dumb to notice.”

Heat crawls up Dahlia’s face, she’s not sure if it’s from anger or embarrassment. Either way, she’s not happy and finds herself throwing a dinner roll at Lloyd’s head.

“Hey. I’m not dealing with any mess,” Caroline threatens, but Dahlia is busy glaring at Lloyd.

“He knows damn well I’m not a kid.”

“No one would know just by looking at ya.”

“You waste one more roll, you’ll be doing the dishes by yourself.”

Dahlia lowers her arm and instead shoves it in her mouth, looking at Caroline as she chews it, trying to ask if she’s happy now without the words, but the older woman simply rolls her eyes.

“Look, you know damn well that hazing is part of a new job, you aren’t gonna manage to avoid it.”

“Yeah, yeah, one of the other deputies was busting my balls before I even got the job.”

“Just means they knew you’d get the job,” Lloyd says with a grin.

“I’m pretty sure he’s just an asshole.”

“You thought that about Chase, too.”  Chase is one of the officers for the Reinette department, a little shit.

“Yeah and I was right, Chase is an asshole.”

“But you don’t mind it anymore.”

“Sure...we’ll go with that.”

“Was everyone there giving you a hard time?”

“Uh,” her heart seems to beat a little faster when she thinks of Hudson, what is wrong with her, “no, the other deputy was…nice…” 

Caroline and Lloyd shoot each other some look, a meaning behind it that Dahlia can’t catch. 

“Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no, just for some reason when I met that deputy, I just got all weird, I guess.” 

“Weird?” 

“Yeah, like my heart was racing, I felt like I was burning up. It was super weird.” 

“Oh my god.” Caroline places a hand to her smiling mouth, looking over at Lloyd like she just struck gold. 

“Holy shit, I can’t believe it.” 

“Can’t believe what?” Dahlia asks, what the fuck kind of conversation are they having with their eyes, what are they freaking out about. 

“I was starting to think it wasn’t gonna happen, which I mean, is fine some people just don’t feel that sort of way. But, here we are.” 

“She really is growing up,” Caroline remarks, still smiling. 

“I don’t know what you’re freaking out about, I’m probably just allergic to her perfume or something, I don’t know.” That makes sense, right? Why are they freaking out?

“Her?” Caroline raises an eyebrow, why does it matter? Why does any of this matter?

“Eh, lets be honest, Care Bear, are you really surprised?” 

“No, but it’s nice to know, would have been nicer to know when I was trying to set her up with Susan’s boy.”

“Ugh, Susan’s boy, guy or girl Stray needs someone with more than two braincells.” 

“She barely has any braincells.”

“Rude.” 

“That’s exactly why she needs someone with a brain! You can’t have two idiots, that’s how someone ends up dead. You can have a smart person and another smart person, you can have an idiot and a smart person. But you can’t have two idiots, it’s a disaster in the making.” 

“Hey, I’m not an idiot!” 

“Look, it’s not meant to be an insult.” 

“That’s literally the only way it can be meant.” 

“I don’t mean that you’re stupid, you’re just…what’s the word I’m looking for Caroline?” 

“Stupid.” 

“I will start throwing food again.” 

“Okay, okay, lets change the subject for now,” Lloyd holds his hands up in mock surrender, “that bar you were talking about in Falls End, wasn’t the Spread Eagle was it?”

Lloyd was actually born and raised in Hope County, but he left when he was around twenty-eight. He always tells the story of him moving to Reinette like it was magic, taking over an inherited farm from an estranged relative after their death, meeting Caroline, falling instantly and love, raising more foster children than Dahlia could imagine. They had just stopped taking in foster children, having adopted and raised the last one into adulthood, when Dahlia ended up in their barn. Lloyd, ever the dramatic, likened it to adopting cats and then once you’re done adopting, a stray just wanders in and adopts you.  

“Yeah, you know the place?” 

“Gary and Irene always use to give me and Earl discounts, it was always the first place we went after a shift.” 

She can see that, so easily in her mind, the two men when they were younger leaving a long drawn out shift to let off steam in the local bar. It’s hard to imagine just how good of friends they must have been, spending time together after every workday and staying in contact even when Lloyd moved so far away. She can’t imagine having a friend like that. 

“I think the woman running it was called Mary May, something like that?” 

“Seriously, holy shit, Mary May was their little girl, my god she’s all grown up.”

“You’re old.” 

“Thanks, Stray.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

“You know, we should take a trip back to Montana sometime Care Bear, it’s been a while, plus we got a new reason to visit.”

“By the way, do you know what Eden’s Gate is?”  The weird religious group is still on her mind, it seems to be all over Hope County. If they’ve been there for a long while, then surely Lloyd would know what it is and who they are. He raises an eyebrow and she can practically see the gears turning in his head. 

“Can’t say that I do, why you ask Stray?” 

“Some religious group or something, they’re all over the county, even built a damn statue. Figured you might know what they are.”

“You mean, like the big deer statue near the Whitetail mountains?” 

“No, like a statue of a dude, like their founder or some shit, dude with a manbun.” She uses her hands to pull her hair back in a little bun-esque shape, as if the visual aid is necessary. 

“Yeah…that, I’ve never seen any of that, you sure, you ain’t losing it, Stray?” 

“Yes, I’m very sure I’m not losing it. They don’t seem like bad folks, the one I met, but they’re definitely strange.” 

“You’re not gonna go and try to find religion in Hope County, are you?” Caroline asks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Oh fuck no.” 

“I was about to say, I haven’t gotten to set foot in a church in two years.” 

“I’m pretty sure she’d burst into flames.” 

Lloyd and Caroline share a smile, cracking up at Dahlia’s expense as she sticks a tongue out at them. 

“Hope they’re not the Jehovah Witness types, who go door to door,” Dahlia grumbles, the very thought making her stomach churn the stew inside of it. She’d rather blow her brains out then listen to someone preaching at her when she’s trying to relax.

“If they are, they’re about to meet their worst nightmare.” 

She can’t help but grin, the chatting continues for a while, just enjoying a cozy night in with the couple. Before, she knows it the food is gone and the night has gone on longer than usual. Lloyd and Caroline typically sleep early, rise early, while Dahlia is more of a night owl. 

But there’s an unspoken reluctance for the couple to turn in. Even as the moon hangs high in the sky, as Caroline and Lloyd yawn at the table. He even mentions playing a board game, cards, something. When she tells them to go to bed, Caroline nearly drifting off on his shoulder. She’s pulled into another hug, caring touches lingering as they finally drag themselves off to bed; tired voices slurring out goodnights. 

Maybe it’s egotistical, but the hesitance seems to hint at more. An understanding that this is likely among one of the last nights she’ll spend here with them and the desire to make it drag on as long as possible. To soak in every last moment of her being here. 

She knows she isn’t the greatest person to live with or even be around, that anyone should be happy to be rid of a leech like her. But, they’re far too kind for that. 

Dahlia takes a slow walk to the room she’s called her own for the past two years. She hasn’t changed anything in the time she’s been here, despite how much the couple has told her she could. Piles of clothes on the floor are the only thing that could be considered her personal touch. The small bed frame creaks as she sits down on the side, a second later the door is pushed open by Lucy, Lloyd and Caroline’s border collie. 

She lays a fluffy head on Dahlia’s knee and she buries her fingers into the fur, memories of the first time she held the dog. It was the first day she found herself here, hunkered down in their barn for shelter for the night, rain pouring down. She was scared that Lucy would bite her, aggressive towards a stranger. But just as kind as her owners, Lucy just shuffled herself closer to the drenched teenager, helping keep her warm through the stormy night. 

She’s changed so much in these past two years. 

Muscle tone and squish where was once a sack of bones, her fingers no longer able to slot in the spots between her ribs. Skin a healthier tan instead of the sickly pale it was that first night, ink now covering sections of that skin. Her first paychecks ending up in tattoos and clothes, taking control of her body and wardrobe in a way she’s never had before. For years her thick dark hair hung in a curtain down past her chest, that night and many nights before, it was tangled in thick dirty knots, matted to her skull in places. 

The very first day she was allowed to shower here, she grabbed a pair of scissors and hacked it off to the best of her abilities. Caroline later cleaned up the choppy job and now she’s found herself with a short bob of dark brown, nearly black hair. She’s really started to come into her own, feeling like her own person and becoming who she wants to be. 

She just wishes that was a person who could stay in Reinette. This is what has to happen, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t going to miss everything here. Lloyd and Caroline being the biggest thing, but Lucy, living on the farm, so much. It’s not like she’s never going to see them again. 

They’ll likely invite her back for visits, already making plans to visit her in Montana, but things are going to change. That’s unavoidable and undeniable. It’s scary, but most things worth doing are. 

Dahlia sees the sunrise before she finally manages to sleep in that bed for the last time. 

The next day, or more accurately after she’s gotten a few hours of sleep, everything is a frantic blur of activity as she tries to prepare for the move. It’s mostly clothes, a laptop, a portable game, and a few books. Nothing major or impressive, a tight pang in her chest as 

“Come on in.” 

The door creaks open and she looks over her shoulder to see Lloyd, something in his hand. His fingers clench and unclench, there's something in his hand, he shuffles a bit in the doorway.

"Something up?" She asks, throwing a few more shirts in her bag.

"Uh, I, well, what's this?" His eyes are drawn towards her open duffle bag, the same one she brought with her to Hope County, she's just been throwing her stuff in without much thought.

She raises an eyebrow as he starts to shift some stuff around in her bag, pulling out a heavy white book with that familiar cross like symbol. How did that get in there? Chills reverberate up her spine, goosebumps raising on her skin, it's starting to feel like this Eden's Gate shit is following her everywhere.

"That was at the hotel, I uh, must have thrown it in my bag by accident?" It's the only thing that makes sense.

"First day there and you're robbing the hotel?" 

"Shut up, I'll return it when I get back, but, uh, that's that religion I was talking about. Their book." 

He drops what he was holding, it looks like a little booklet, homemade. She grabs it as he starts flipping through the weird religious tome, she opens up the booklet. A photobook, the first one is of her, Lloyd, and Caroline at the fair, big puffy bags of cotton candy in her hand. Second one her holding an alligator and grinning, they drug her out to an alligator ranch one day, knowing how much she loves animals. Pictures from the beach trip they took her on, photos of her and Lucy. A photo from her first day at the station with everyone crowded around her.

 "Book of Joseph...god that's already creepy." 

"Huh," nostalgia interrupted she peers over at the book, seeing a portrait of a guy, “that's him!" "What?"

"That's the guy who had the fuckin' statue of him, their founder or whatever."

"Who the hell wants his face hanging over 'em? Seems like a total creep." 

“I don't know, he looks like Norman Bates there." She grimaces, the way he's glowering is entirely too reminiscent of the famous mother loving killer's signature look.

“Don't get it, I uh, hey, why are you looking at that?" He asks, peering down at the booklet in her hand. 

"It's mine, I'm allowed to look at it." 

"Who the hell said it's yours?" 

"So, you weren't giving this to me as a gift, you just made it for fun?" 

"Caroline made it and ya know, something to remember us by and..." His blue eyes blurring with tears. 

"I'm moving states, not going to war, Jesus Christ." 

"You're leaving, I'm gonna miss you." 

“No one is dying, stop, oh my god, stop crying you baby." She knocks her fist into his shoulder, no force or animosity behind it. 

“I haven't cried this much since Maya left for college," he tells her, talking about his youngest adopted daughter, who had left the home just a year or so before Dahlia showed up in their barn. The couple barely got a year of an empty nest before she barged in.

“Are you done?” She asks him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for the new fresh onslaught of tears to poor out. 

“Yeah, yeah, by the way everyone down at the station wants to see you before you head out.”

“Why?” 

“I don’t fucking know, maybe it’s ‘cause you’re leaving and they like you, some a little too much, as far as I’m concerned. “

“What do you mean?” 

“Oh, my sweet naïve child,” Lloyd dramatically cups a hand on the back of her head and pulls in for a hug, “whoever was supposed to teach ya about the birds and the bees, really fucked up, didn’t they?” 

“Shut up!” She groans, pushing him away, she’s not naïve. He just talks like a weirdo, she’s finally got her stuff all packed up, so she follows Lloyd out of the room. 

Caroline is in the kitchen and has been all day, according to Lloyd she’s been cooking up a storm for the past couple days, ever since Dahlia first left for her interview. 

“You coming down to the station with us?” 

“Uh, I’ll meet you down there later.” 

“Alrighty then.” 

Dahlia’s heart sinks, a pang there as she sets up her luggage and bags to be tried down to her motorcycle, she plans on getting on the road right after this little meeting. She knows it’s silly, but she was hoping Caroline would go with them. It will be the last they see of each other for a long while, she doesn’t want Lloyd’s sobbing, but she’d like at least a little more…fanfare. But, Caroline seems fairly nonchalant. 

“You ready to get going?” 

“Yeah.” 

Lloyd hops in his pickup truck, firing it up and driving into town with Dahlia riding her bike after him. 

There’s an extra weight to her sigh as she parks in front of the little police station, the one she’s been reporting to every day for the past two year and this the last time she’ll visit. Lloyd doesn’t even bother to wait around for her as she stares at the building, soaking it in for the last time before she finally trails in behind him. 

“Surprise!” A chorus of voices cheer out as she steps into the modest station, Micah and Chance two officers blowing on little party kazoos afterwards. 

“What the fuck?” 

“You didn’t think we could let you go without throwing you a party, did you?” Alexis tells her, squeezing Dahlia’s shoulder. 

Alexis has the most experience here after Lloyd and if he’d bother to retire before the station goes out, she’d be next in line. Micah and Chance are the resident dumbass officers, but they’re entertaining if nothing else. 

There’s a banner across the station office, Goodbye Stray. A sheet cake saying Good Luck on a table and Chance is throwing around confetti like a weird shredded paper fairy. 

“You guys are so dumb.” 

“We’re trying to be nice, brat,” Chance tells her, sprinkling confetti directly in her hair. 

“Come on, I’ll cut you a piece of cake before he covers it in paper,” Micah offers. 

Once the initial yell and Chance has run out of confetti, the party winds down into something more casual. Dahlia cramming cake in her mouth, with her feet propped up in Micah’s lap as they talk about everything. There’s a few other cops in the station, but most are on patrol and couldn’t make it. But Alexis, Micah, and Chance are by far the ones apart from Lloyd that she’s grown the closest too. 

Which makes it all the more depressing that the station is slowly dying out. Each of them has already started building their list of places to apply to once the inevitable happens. 

“I’m gonna miss you assholes,” Dahlia brings herself to say, after a moment. 

“Finally, she admits it,” Lloyd yells out excitedly. 

“Shut up.” 

“You’re gonna make some great friends over in Hope County.” 

“No one’s gonna be better than us, though.” 

“Shut up, Chance.” 

Dahlia can’t help but laugh at Alexis and Chance’s interaction, she really is going to miss these dumbasses. She doesn’t make friends easy, so parting with them and getting new ones is just that much more aggravating. Pratt was a dick and Hudson does weird things to her, how could she become friends with them? She doesn’t want to go to work everyday and either hate or be nauseous around her coworkers. 

“My friend Earl will keep an eye on her.” 

“Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid you mean,” Alexis teases and heat flushes up Dahlia’s cheeks.  Why does everyone think she’s stupid, why does Alexis have to think she’s stupid?

“You like it up in Montana?” Micah asks after a beat of silence. 

“I do, it’s colder up there which sucks, but it’s beautiful. Whitehorse is nice, I’ve met some friendly people,” she thinks of the couple with Boomer and the people of the trailer park. 

“I’m glad then.” 

“Watch out or Micah’s gonna be throwin’ in an application there just to follow you,” Lloyd says, grinning. 

“Would you stop?! I just wanted to make sure, she was going to be happy.” 

“Sure, you were.” 

They talk about anything and everything, Dahlia is the first one to leave, but all of them have looked into where they want to be post-Reinette. Alexis is looking into big cities, lots of work, showing just how talented she is. Chance isn’t going far, a county or two over at most. Micah still isn’t sure, but he’s thinking of leaving the state. 

The night drifts on, until the cake is gone, easily two-thirds of it ending up in the void Dahlia calls a stomach. Outside the sky has become a wash of oranges, pinks, and purple as the sun sets. It’s time to get going. 

“I gotta get on the road, if I have any chance of getting there with enough time to settle in.” 

Dahlia reluctantly stands from her chair, the time’s come. The last goodbye, for now at least, she hopes that they’ll stay in some form of contact after this. Alexis is the first to pull her into a hug and Dahlia freezes a bit, taken aback. 

“You’re gonna do great things out there.” 

Dahlia’s heart pangs and she squeezes Alexis back, hoping the strength of her hold can communicate how much those words mean to her. After a moment, they separate. Chance and Micah looking at her now. 

“Don’t think this gets you out of your promise, twenty-first birthday, you’re letting me take you out and get you piss faced drunk,” Chance tells her, grinning at his own stupid ideas. 

“If you wanna drive out to Montana just to see me drunk, that’s on you.”

“Don’t underestimate my stubbornness.” 

“I wasn’t.” 

“Just so you know, if you need anything, all you have to do is call and ask,” Micah tells her, squeezing her shoulder, but she can tell he’s holding back. 

“You can hug me, if you want.” 

And then his arms are around her, hugging her tight to his body. She squeezes him right back. A few moments pass, before they finally pull apart. 

“Well now I want a hug,” Chance says, upon the realization he’s the only who hasn’t gotten one. 

“Come here then, dumbass.” 

And then they’re hugging, Chance going the extra mile to pull her up off the ground. Another beat of just enjoying the warmth of someone who for some reason cares about her. She’ll never understand why. Why any of these people opened their hearts to her, but they did, and she’ll always be thankful for it. 

Lloyd walks her out once Chance has finally freed her, the sun sinking lower in the sky, she buries her hands in her pockets. Her throat is tight, it’s getting closer and closer to the time to leave. 

“You sure, you can’t just stay one more night here?” 

“It takes over a day just to get there.” 

“But uhhh,” Lloyd is nervously looking around as he stutters, like he’s trying to stall. 

“You alright?” 

“Well….um, it’s just…finally!” Lloyd yells as they hear the rumble of an engine coming in, Caroline’s car pulling into the parking lot. 

“Caroline?” 

“Thank god, I managed to catch you.” The older woman gets out of her car, tucking a short strand of blonde hair back behind her ear, she opens the passenger side and is rummaging for something. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Here, we go.” Caroline emerges from her passenger seat with a towering pile of Tupperware, all filled with various meals. 

“What the hell is this?” 

“You can’t cook, how the hell else are you supposed to eat up in Montana,” Caroline says, shoving the containers into Dahlia’s arms. 

“There’s restaurants, microwave meals, I have options.” 

“I’m not letting you eat garbage the whole time you’re there, this should at least get you through the first couple months.” 

“I, I don’t have room for six-hundred plastic containers, I drive a motorcycle.” 

“Eh, I’m sure you can fit ‘em into the under-seat compartment,” Lloyd says, already lifting the seat on Dahlia’s motorcycle and taking containers from her arms to force inside. 

Dahlia’s laughing by the time he’s forced the last of them inside, looks like she was proven wrong. 

“So, I’m just gonna be sitting on three months’ worth of meals all the way to Montana.” 

“Pretty sure that’s more like a week’s worth for you, but it’s better than nothing.” 

Dahlia smiles and chews her lip, not sure what to say. Emotion and sentimentality rising up in her. She feels like she has so much to say, every word cobbling together to catch in her throat. But she can’t just let it go, even if she has to force herself to dislodge a single of those words, she has to do it. 

“I…,” that’s a start, technically, “I, really, really, really, really don’t deserve you guys. Th-there’s not enough reallys in the world, but I’m serious, I-”

“Stray, you deserve all the good that’s comes your way, hell you deserve a lot more of it.” 

“I really don’t, I, I owe you guys so much and I know I can’t ever repay you for everything. But, I, I at least want you to know just how much it all means to me. If it wasn’t for you guys, I’d, be rotting in a gutter somewhere, I mean.”  

“Hey, hey,” she’s being pulled into Lloyd’s chest before she knows it, hugged tight against his chest, when did she start crying?

Her face feels like it’s on fire and her head is throbbing. After a moment, Lloyd pulls away. He places a hand on her shoulder and the other cups her jaw, forcing her to look at him through her tear-filled eyes. All her yelling at him to keep it together, don’t be a crybaby. And she’s the one falling apart. 

“You don’t owe us anything. We did our best to do right by you, because that’s what you deserve. Okay, you deserve a home and a family and people who love you.”

“Uhhh, agree to disagree…?” What the hell is her voice doing? It’s so broken and cracked, everything she says dragging out of her throat. 

“No disagreeing,” Caroline chimes in, her eyes soft and motherly. 

“We just want you to be happy, you deserve it.” 

“You think you can do that for us? Just be happy and you’ll more than pay back anything you think you owe us.” 

“I’ll try, I guess,” she murmurs, wiping tears from her eyes. 

“Good girl,” Caroline says, reaching out to ruffle Dahlia’s hair. The young girl laughs through her tears, pull Lloyd in for another hug before forcing one on Caroline. 

Dahlia wipes away the last of her tears. 

“Uh, sorry about that.” 

“No apologies, call as soon as you get there. We’ll try to come out and visit just as soon as we can.” 

“This ain’t goodbye forever, Stray, we’ll see you again before you know it.”

A bright silver moon hangs in the sky by the time she brings herself to part with them for the last time, climbing onto her motorcycle. 

Two mornings later and she’s pulling into the Moonflower Trailer Park, the sun rising overhead. A smile stretches across her lips as she pulls in, a few people already milling about in the early morning. She notices Ruth, helping ease her kid down the little slide in the miniature playground that’s at the center of the trailer park. The woman waves at her and Dahlia returns the gesture as she parks near her trailer. 

She pulls off her helmet and thanks for a moment, locking up and keeping her motorcycle safe will be difficult with this set up. Moving it into her trailer would be an option, but it’s be a pain the ass with moving it every day. There’s a decent chunk of land behind where her trailer sits, not enough for another to move in there, but enough to mark a pseudo backyard. 

Maybe she can build a shed or something? She’ll have to double check on the rules and what’s allowed. 

For now, Dahlia busies herself with moving her things into the trailer. She basically tosses her bags and luggage in, not bothering to properly unpack things. The biggest thing is moving Caroline’s meal into the fridge and freezer. Once everything is where it needs to be, she grabs a shower and changes her clothes. She’ll have to do some laundry when she gets a chance. 

Dahlia stretches her muscles as she steps back out of her trailer, the activity has picked up somewhat, more people milling about and having conversations about who knows what. She makes a mental list of the things she has to get done; checking about a shed, getting some groceries in, doing her laundry and probably some stuff she hasn’t even thought about yet.

She makes a beeline for the registration building, peering inside and seeing a man talking to Darcy. Taking her chances of a long wait; she steps inside and loiters behind the stranger. Darcy’s bright blues land on Dahlia and the man follows the gaze, it seems like everyone in the county has a set of pretty light eyes. All greens and blues from what she’s seen. The receptionist at the hotel, both deputies and Whitehorse, the dispatcher at the station, Mary May, Darcy, and even Ruth. She’s pretty sure the only other pair of brown eyes she’s seen since she’s been here was the guy who nearly pulled a gun on her.

“You need something, hon?”

“I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re fine, darlin’, we were just shooting the shit.” Pet names and light eyes seem to both be trends here.

“I was just wondering if I could build a shed behind my trailer, to keep my motorcycle locked up.”

“As long as you aren’t blocking anyone or anything, go for it.”

Dahlia gives a little thumbs up in acknowledgement and starts to make a bee line back out, time to find out where the hell to get supplies for a shed. The man starts to follow her out, quickly catching up to her as she’s making her way back to her trailer.

“If you’re looking to build something, there’s a nice hardware and carpentry store, they give you all the supplies and instructions. You just gotta put it together,” he finishes up as they reach her motorcycle.

“Sounds good, you got a number for them?”

“Yeah, I,” he looks at her motorcycle, “you got a way to haul it?”

“Nah, I’d have to rent a truck.”

“I got a pickup, if you order it, I can pick it up for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’m down there most days anyway, I’m Liam by the way.”

“I-”

“Nice bike,” another voice yells out, a guy with scraggly hair looking at Dahlia’s motorcycle, “it yours?”

“Hey, Clyde,” Liam greets him.

“Yeah, 2009 Yamaha FZ1; guy’s kid totaled it and I nearly rebuilt it from scratch.” She tells him, smiling at the memory of finding the wrecked bike in Lloyd’s garage.

The three talk for some time about the specs of her motorcycle and talking about the place Liam recommended. He gives her the number and after some relenting agrees to be paid for at least the gas money. After some time and Clyde rambling about the vintage motorcycle he had as a teenager, she manages to tear herself away from the conversation to make the call. She reserves the materials and Liam is planning on heading that way shortly.

That taken care of for now, she decides to get her laundry taken care of. She grabs her bag of dirty laundry out of her trailer and makes a beeline for the laundry half building. It’s a strange roofed in area with no doors. How they manage to maintain the machine is beyond her. Seems like a nightmare when bad weather hits.

She rattles out her coins and gets what she needs, cooking may evade her but she at the very least knows how to do her own laundry. Dahlia bends over to start shoving her clothes in, she’s struggling to find her other sock when she gets the sense she’s being watched, someone’s eyes trained on her backside. She tucks a lock of hair back behind her ear as she stands back up and turns around.

“Uh, ah…” The guy awkwardly stumbles back, not really forming any words as he avoids her eyes. He’s taller than her; as are most people. Other than children, she hasn’t found a single person in Hope County shorter than her.  

He scratches sheepishly at the back of his neck, why was he looking at her? 

"There something on my shorts?" She brushes a hand down the denim, searching for something. It wouldn't be the first time she's managed to sit in something gross. 

"Uh, shit, sorry I'm just a man, I can't help it."

"Okay…" That didn't really answer her question. Weird guy, she decides and focuses on going back to her laundry. 

"No harassing the new girl, Boshaw." Ruth comments as she walks in, laundry basket on her hip. 

“I wasn’t doing nothing.” He tries to defend himself and Dahlia is left even more confused.

“Don’t let him bug you, he doesn’t even live here. Boshaws are good for nothing but a party,” Ruth tells her, clapping a hand on Dahlia’s back. She just shakes her head, not worth dealing with.

By the time Dahlia finishes up her laundry the sound of a backfiring truck engine is making its way back into the trailer park. Liam with a truck bed filled with hardwood and all the stuff she needs for her shed.

“Me and Clyde will help you put it together, if you want.” Liam offers, him and Clyde already helping her unload the materials. 

“I mean it’d go quicker, if I had more hands,” Dahlia says, she doesn’t need the help necessarily and doesn’t want to be a bother, but she’d appreciate it anyway. 

“Where exactly do you want it?” 

“Just right back behind my trailer, let’s see.” 

The three of them move the supplies to where she needs the shed built, Dahlia’s taking a glance at the building instructions and when she looks back up, Liam and Clyde have managed to grab a radio and a pack of beer. It’s not even noon. 

“Want one?” Clyde offers her a can. 

“Nah, I’m under 21.”

“Pfff, never stopped anyone.” He shrugs before downing the can himself. Maybe as a cop she should give a shit about that statement, but the drinking age is dumb. Even if she feels obligated to listen to it due to her job, she can admit it’s stupid. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, sweetheart, where are you from?” 

“Louisiana.” 

“The hell you doing out here?”

“Moved for work, you two Hope County natives?” 

“Born and raised, wouldn’t trade it for the world.” 

“You guy’s got any recommendations of shit to do here?” 

She happily listens to them ramble about lady’s night at The Spread Eagle, O’Hara’s Haunted House being the best place for a scare, hiking trails in the Whitetail Mountains, the best fishing spots, the 8-bit Pizza Bar’s games, and raving about the burgers at The Grill Steak. The entire time they’re all working, laughing, and the pair of them throwing back beers. 

Sweat is coating Dahlia’s skin by the time they finish, and it feels nice to be able to stand back to look at what’s been accomplished. Put together with hard work and the help of her new neighbors.

“Hell yeah, we got that knocked out in no time,” Clyde boasts, holding his hand out for a high five that she gives right away.

“Here,” Liam tosses her the padlock he picked up for it, all packaged with it’s little key. She pushes her bike inside, already thinking of adding hooks and shelves, for her helmet and other odds and ends. She can really make something with it. She’s more excited to put work into her motorcycle’s home than her own trailer. Go figure.

She locks it up and hooks the key on her keychain. One more thing taken care of.

“I really appreciate it, you guys didn’t have to do this. Uh, I can’t cook for shit, but if you want I can buy you l-”

Engine revving again, better shape than Liam’s backfiring pickup, an old green one comes pulling into the trailer park. Dahlia’s eyes widen in surprise when she realizes who’s at the wheel, Sheriff Whitehorse. The tension of the trailer park draws tight, no more signs of the laughing easy going nature she was getting comfortable in. Liam, Clyde, and every trailer park resident as far as Dahlia can see are now staring daggers at the Sheriff.

No sign of peturbment, Whitehorse parks and hops out of the front seat of his truck, right next to Dahlia and her two new friends. He stops to grab something from the passenger side.

“The hell are you doing here?!” Clyde asks low and threatening.

“Came to see my new Junior Deputy, figured it’d be good for you to get your uniforms,” Whitehorse tells her, green deputy shirts in hand.

“Thanks, Sheriff.” She takes the uniforms from his hand, feeling those glares that were on Whitehorse being turned towards her.

“You...settling in alright, Rook?”

“Uh, yeah, I think…” She thought she was. But, now she has her doubts.

“That’s good, just wanted to check in on you.”

“I appreciate it, I was just about to buy them lunch, if you w-”

“We’re good,” Liam says, definitely with a gruff sound to his voice.

“Are you s-”

Liam and Clyde are already storming away, smiles and laughter drained from their faces and replaced with angry tension. What did she do? Why are they mad? She clenches her jaw and chews her bottom lip as she watches what she thought were her new friends walk off.

“Come on, I’ll buy you lunch, Rook.”  Whitehorse claps a large hand on her shoulder, warm and comforting during her confusion. He gently turns her towards the passenger side of his truck, and she climbs in, fiddling with the uniforms in her lap; the Hope County Sheriff’s Department patch rough against her fingers.

The engine revs to life as Whitehorse climbs in, the radio humming out a country song. She hates not at least knowing what she did wrong. 

“Not gonna lie, when I heard you moved into The Moonflower, I got worried about ya Rook.”

“Why’s that?”

“Hmm, it’s where a lot of the more...suspicious citizens of Hope County live. They don’t have a lot of respect for cops, none actually. More likely to call you a pig than eat lunch with you. Not bad people, but they don’t have any love for law enforcement.”

“So...I’m a cop who just moved into a trailer park of criminals is what you're telling me.”

“Basically.”

“And thanks to you, they all for sure know I’m a cop now.”

“Would have found out when you had to arrest one of ‘em, this seemed a bit better.”

It’s stupid to be upset, she knows that it’s stupid to be upset about losing people she’s known all of five hours. But it felt nice to be welcomed with such open arms and to know that’s already gone to shit. She focuses on her uniforms in her lap because it’s easier than dealing with the lump in her throat and the churn of her stomach. No name tag or badge on her uniforms.

“Where’s my name tag and badge?”

“We’re a small operation, Rook. We’re not investing in patches and a badge until we know you’re staying in for the long haul.” 

“I also found out about your junior deputy crap, I’m not a kid in high school.” 

“Not far off from it.”

He’s looking off across the road to make sure it’s safe to turn, so she uses the moment of him looking away to stick her tongue out at him. Does it make her look any more mature? No. Does she care? No. 

“Caught that, Rookie.” 

“No, you didn’t.” 

“Yes, I did.” 

“Sounds fake.” 

They pull into the parking lot of Aubrey’s Diner, a big restaurant with a pink roof. Whitehorse brings the truck into park, Dahlia tucks the uniforms into the backseat before hopping out of the truck. The sheriff squeezes her shoulder as they walk into the restaurant, as much as he likes teasing her, he seems keen on trying to comfort her. Maybe he just feels sorry for her and her shitty luck. 

“Hey, my name is Cassie, I’ll be your waitress today. Can you take a seat, right over here.” A young girl, probably around Dahlia’s age with long black hair helps show them to a booth. Whitehorse takes his hat off as he sits down. 

“Can I get you two anything to drink?” The waitress hands them menus, there’s a mess of bruises across her forearm. Mixes of blues, purples, and some more faded greens. The indents of fingerprints on her skin. 

“A black coffee, please.” 

“Uh, whatever soda you have is fine, what happened to your arm?” 

The girl’s eyes go wide, reminiscent of a deer in the headlights. She gives an awkward tight smile and pushes a lock of hair back behind her ear. 

“Oh, I was just horsing around with my four wheeler, nothing major. I’ll go get your drinks, right away.” 

“You worry about everyone, don’t you?” 

“You don’t get bruises like that from a four-wheeler.” 

“You gonna do something about it?” 

“Sure as shit gonna try,” she manages to catch the smile on Whitehorse’s face before she looks at the menu, “now, if you’re paying, what’s the limit?” 

“Get whatever you want.” 

“Do you actually mean that? Or are you trying to be nice, ‘cause I can and will eat you out of house and home if you let me.” 

He laughs a little; a dry chuckle, like the idea of her being able to eat that much is ridiculous. She should try to go somewhat easy on him, first impressions or something. She’ll settle on a stack of pancakes and a double burger and fries. 

There are a few people in the diner and when Cassie returns, Dahlia decides now isn’t the time. She doesn’t want to embarrass or make her uncomfortable. Even she has a smidge more tact than that.  Cassie takes their orders and Dahlia feels Whitehorse staring at her. 

“You gonna gorge yourself to make a point?” 

“Pfff, this ain’t nothing to me,” Dahlia tells him with a shrug, drinking her soda, an awkward beat of silence following. 

“You know, it you may not have picked a great place to settle in, but I think you’re gonna like it here, Rook.”

“I’m hoping.” 

“A lot of people aren’t gonna like you. Aren’t gonna like your job, or what you have to do. You can’t let it get you down. The people here are good, most of ‘em will take you in with open arms.” 

“They literally turned their backs on me, like physically looked at me in disgust and turned around,” Cassie brings their food back out, “thanks.” 

“You know why I took a chance on you?” 

“’Cause of the robbery thing?’ She asks as she begins dumping syrup on her peach pancakes before shoving a forkful in her mouth.  

“I was gonna give you the probie position before that.” 

“What!?” She slurs out around the food in her mouth. 

“Well, yeah,” his blue eyes are soft, and he reminds her of Lloyd more than he ever has before, “you’re good people, Rook. And I’m not gonna be the only person who sees that. Anyone’d be damn lucky to have you in their corner.” 

She swallows her mouthful of food, chewing the inside of her cheek as she weighs his words in her mind. Her heart is lighter, it’s nice knowing her new boss is rooting for her, sees something in her that’s worth seeing. 

“That, uh, it means a lot,” this is too serious, “so, if you already knew you were gonna give me a shot before the interview ended, why the fuck did you wait until after to tell me?” 

“Wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t make you sweat at least a little.” 

“I thought I fucked it all up!” 

“Can’t be a cop if you don’t have a good poker face.” 

“Its too good, I hate it.” 

“Well, if you hate that, you’re gonna really hate this.”

“...and what would ‘this’ be?” 

“You’ll be with Pratt on patrol.”

“What!?” She groans out, thinking about that smug asshole’s face.

“Pratt wasn’t too excited either, but I’m sure you two will manage.” 

“Why can’t I work with Hudson?” Dahlia asks, though her voice catches strangely when she thinks about her. Heat prickling up under her skin. Whitehorse sighs as he leans back in the booth. 

“I don’t want this to sound bad. You and Hudson are both perfectly capable officers. But I don’t like having two women officers partnered. I know it’s not right, but around here; perps will think they can push you around ‘cause you’re a woman. They’ll assume you’re soft. It’s not right, but it happens. I don’t want to put you in a bad situation right out of the gate, working with Pratt will make it easier on you.” 

“That’s garbage, you may mean well, but it’s garbage.”

“There’s another reason too,” Whitehorse tells her with lopsided grin. 

“And what’s that?”

“Rook, you could barely even talk to Hudson. I partner you with her and you’ll be a disaster.”

“What are you talking about? I talked to Hudson just fine.” 

“You were bright red and stuttering; blind man could see your little crush.” 

“Crush…?” Dahlia raises an eyebrow, like...feelings… That’s what everyone has been trying to say. 

“Jesus criminy, that’s a whole new can of worms. You know what a crush is?” 

“Yes, I know what a crush is, I just...never had one...I don’t think.” 

“You feel like you’re burning up and gonna puke when you see her?” 

“Maybe…”

“Like your heart is gonna explode out of your chest.” 

“Uhhhh…”

“That’s a crush, Rook.” 

She doesn’t even know Hudson, how the hell can she have a crush on her? You can’t have feelings for someone you don’t hardly know. She’s pretty though. Maybe it’s just physical attraction? Has she ever been even physically attracted to someone before?

“My head hurts.” 

“I’m starting to think you’re even worse than taking on a high school kid.” 

“Look, I don’t mess with that crap okay, I’ve never...ugh, can we move on?” 

They’ve finished their food before they know it, Whitehorse just shaking his head at how easily she managed to gobble up all of the food she got. Dahlia grabs a napkin, doing her best to write down her phone number with it being actually legible. Her hand aches from the effort but it’s easy to read. 

Cassie gives the bill and Whitehorse leaves a tip for her, once the young waitress starts to walk away, Dahlia excuses herself to go smoke. Though, she suspects the sheriff knows her actual intentions. 

“Hey, Cassie,” Dahlia calls out and stops the waitress when she gets to a relatively secluded portion of the restaurant. 

“Is there something else you need?” 

“How old are you?” 

“Uhh, 18, why?” 

Not much younger, but she’s an adult, even a year younger this conversation would be a lot different. 

“I can’t force or do much, unless you ask for it. But, I’m the new deputy with the station. I’m not saying for sure something is wrong, but if you need help, I want you to give me a call, alright?” 

‘Um...thanks…” The girl awkwardly accepts the napkin before darting away and Dahlia clenches her jaw, knowing the chances of that call ever coming are slim. But at least she’s made an effort and if nothing else Cassie knows she has options. More than anyone ever did for her. 

Maybe, she’ll go ahead and step outside for a smoke anyway. 

She steps out and finds herself at the side of the building, where she lights up her cigarette. Dahlia fiddles with the edge of her thigh high socks as she takes a deep drag. She exhales a heavy cloud of smoke that drifts up through the sky, the afternoon sun rays beating down on her. 

Among the trees something moves, a rustling of grass and brush followed by footsteps. Dahlia’s heart sinks when she sees her emerge. The girl from the hotel, the siren is walking down a grassy pathway. Her dress is a little different, no less white or lacy, but the sleeves are shorter and it comes off her shoulders, a white flower adorning her sandy colored hair. There’s a light grace to the way she walks, as if she’s on her own personal cloud floating along. She holds a book close to her chest. 

Why is she seeing her again? Are her eyes playing tricks on her again?

Dahlia is moving without another thought, the siren’s call working it’s magic to draw her in again. 

She expects the girl to vanish again, to fade into mist the second Dahlia gets too close, just as she had done time and time again that night. The second she grabs the woman’s shoulder, she’ll be gone. If the junior deputy even gets that close without the spectre fading away. 

The heat of real flesh under her hand sends her spiraling back to reality. The girl jolting and staring at Dahlia with wide green eyes, scared and surprised at the grasp of a stranger. An expression unlike any seen in Dahlia’s hallucinations. She’s human, flesh and real, an actual person standing before her whom Dahlia just grabbed like a maniac. The panicky yells of others flood her ears. There are other people, a group of five or so people glaring daggers at Dahlia. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” One of them yells, obviously ready to fight and Dahlia rips her hand off of the girl like she’s been scalded. What is she doing? 

“I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry,” Dahlia gushes out a mess of apologies, “I, uh, thought I knew you from somewhere. I’m sorry, I just, sorry.” 

“No, no need for sorries,” she’s speaking actual words for the first time, voice soft and melodic as she gently brings Dahlia’s hand into her own to intertwine their fingers, “you’re here for a reason, what’s your name?” 

“Oh, uh, I-” 

“Rookie, you ready to head out?” Whitehorse yells out from the diner, eyes narrowing a bit when he sees Dahlia with the strange woman. 

“I gotta get going, again, I’m sorry, I, bye.” Dahlia’s off like a shot, ripping her hand from the woman’s and running back towards Whitehorse; desperate to escape the awkwardness. 

She still feels those green eyes watching her as she jumps up into Whitehorse’s pickup. Dahlia settles into the passenger seat with a residual chill in her spine, she can’t put into words but something about this girl and the whole thing feels strange. The engine revs to life and the radio starts to play. 

“You know that girl, Rook?”

“I thought I recognized her but, no.” 

“You probably shouldn’t buddy up too close to the Seeds.”

“Why’s that?” 

“They’re not too dangerous, they run a little religious group around the county, but they keep finding themselves in trouble lately it seems.” 

“Reli- are they those Eve, Ed-” 

“Project at Eden’s Gate, everyone calls ‘em peggies. They’re usually pretty harmless, but they always seem to be getting into hot water with the locals. Two of ‘em were the ones robbing The Spread Eagle that day you interviewed.” 

“That doesn’t sound too harmless to me.” 

“Stuff like that is rare, you just managed to land here at the right time.” 

“Eh, I just know that I kept seeing random crap of theirs, from pamphlets to a book, and apparently that big freaking statue.” She glares at where she sees it over the horizon, the giant hunk of useless cement. 

“Yeah, Joseph Seed is a real piece of work.” 

“Wait, like, you’ve met him?” 

“He’s had some run ins with us.” 

“He’s like a currently living human being?” 

“Last time I checked.” 

“I, what the fuck, I thought he was like their old founder who died or something. You know from like the 1800’s or something. How far up your own ass do you have to be to have people build a statue of you? Ugh.” 

Whitehorse laughs at her discomfort; she was here thinking he must have been some old founder who died a hundred years ago and it’s just some creepy man bun guy probably off somewhere being weird right now. 

“You in a hurry to get home?” The sheriff asks her. 

“Not particularly.” She needs to get groceries and stuff, but she has Caroline’s made up meals and she has water to her trailer, so she can make do and go shopping tomorrow. 

“We’ll take the scenic route then, show you around.” 

Whitehorse drives her around the Henbane river area, pointing out different places and structures that seem worth noting. The Dire Wolf Basin, Lydia’s Cave, Mastodon Geothermal Park, Dead Man’s Mill, and every place that has a name it seems. He prattles on something about each place, where they get their names, history. And she can feel her eyelids getting heavier with every syllable.  They pass by the Drubman Marina, a dock and buildings, a pink helicopter landed there and boats on the sparkling clear water. The sun is starting to sink down and turn the sky into a mess of oranges and purples. His low accented voice rambles on about someone who owns it, divorce, real estate; it’s all a blur as she’s leaning against the door and her eyes finally shut completely. 

 “Rook, wake up,” Whitehorse is calling out and gently shaking her awake. She blinks a few times, clearing the sleep from her eyes. A glance at the radio clock tells her about two hours has passed. They’re parked back in front of the trailer park. He was talking and she fell asleep; not the greatest first impression to have on her boss the day before she starts working.

He doesn’t seem upset though, just smiling and laughing at her.

“You know, I was trying to help get your mind off shit, didn’t mean to do by boring you, but whatever works, I guess.”

“Sorry, I, uh guess, I was still tired from traveling, that’s a lie, I don’t know why I’m trying to lie. I just got bored and passed out.”

Whitehorse chuckles; at least he seems to find her amusing, that might help keep her around for a while.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Rookie, try to take it easy tonight,” she starts to unbuckle her seat belt, “and don’t forget your uniforms.”

“Thanks.” She grabs her uniform shirts out of the backseat and clambers out of the rusted green pickup.

Dahlia hears the trailer park before she steps past the sign. Whoops and hollers, the sound of a radio blasting. Behind her she hears Whitehorse’s truck pulling away and she feels alone again. No matter what it seems like she can’t seem to ever escape that.

In the center of the trailer park, near the playground area is a bonfire. Faces of people she’s seen in her short time here and ones she hasn’t met yet mingle around, laughing, hollering, and downing beers. The smell of food cooking over grills hits her nose, her never filled stomach growling despite herself. No one has noticed her yet. Caught up in the festivities. She adjusts the grip on her uniforms and kicks the toe of her boot into the dirt, she wants to be included. It’s childish, wanting so badly to just be invited. But she can’t help it. She doesn’t want to believe that people she seemed to fit in well with would throw her away because she’s a cop.

“You got a problem?” Clyde suddenly speaks up, noticing her through the party. His voice is low and his eyes narrowed, like he’s ready for a fight.

“Not particularly.” She shrugs.

“Then why don’t you go ahead and get out of here, Johnny Law.”

“I mean, I’ll go to my trailer…”

“Be better off if you just get out altogether,” Liam tells her.

“I paid to move in here like everyone else, you can’t kick me out.” Dahlia looks to Darcy, the only one here she sees that actually works for the trailer park and decided to rent to her.  The girl chews her lip and avoids eye contact, running a hand through her short hair.

“I mean, yeah, as long as you pay you can stay, but I doubt you’ll be too happy here...You should, uh, try to find something else.”

“And the sooner the better, we don’t need fuckin’ narcs moving in on us.”

“I don’t work in narcotics.”

“Do I look like I give a damn what division you work for, a pig’s a pig!”

Dahlia clenches her jaw at Clyde’s yells, the way everyone around him is grinning, supporting him. This was one of the only options, besides an expensive apartment in Falls End or just waiting for the Silver Lake Trailer Park to have something available. She just rolls her eyes, trying not to betray the ache in her heart. 

“This conversation is pointless.” She shakes her head and heads towards her trailer.

“Can’t believe we helped out a fuckin’ cop,” Liam grumbles as she turns her back on the party.

Then something pelts the back of her head, the stench of beer coating her hair as it splashes out of the nearly empty can that’s bounced off her skull.

She bites her lip, she could be an asshole, technically this can be classified as battery. And a little angry gremlin in the back of her brain wants her to teach them a lesson as they laugh at her, cackling like hyenas. 

But it was just a can of beer, basically empty. She’s an adult. She doesn’t need to waste time or energy on this. At least that’s what she tells herself when she keeps her head down and makes her way to the trailer.

Her door does little to filter out the sound of the party. The music and excitement reverberates through the thin walls of her trailer.

Young blood, come to start a riot.

Don’t care what your old man say.

She tosses her uniforms on the couch, not really caring where they fall. The stench of beer is still sticking to her skin. She peels off her jacket and digs out her phone, syncing it to her speaker, might as well blast her own music in return.

Young blood, heaven hate a sinner.

I felt a break in a sacred place where your hands don’t heal.

But we gonna raise hell anyway.

These are the reasons you’re ruled by the things you feel.

The music mingles and mashes in awkward ways. The upbeat country rock and slow drag of indie music meshing into a cacophony of noise. Somewhere between a yell and a sing, she belts lyrics out, sometimes her music, sometimes theirs.

Raise hell, yeah

Out of the deep waters and all their intricacies.

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell

This is the real face of all your enemies.

This isn’t unfamiliar. The ache of loneliness and feeling like she doesn’t belong. There are lots of reasons for it. No matter where she goes, there never seems to be a place for her. She can’t even blame them. Even if they’re open and welcoming, she knows that feeling will creep up again.

Baby, drop them bones.

I felt you escape into empty space where my heart can’t feel

Baby, sell that soul

Down in that darkness, you met all the things you feared

Lloyd and Caroline were the most welcoming people she’s ever encountered, yet that feeling still reared its ugly head. Those doubts of being a burden, a bother, that she’s intruding on their space. A leech of their time and energy.

The party rages on outside, everyone far happier without her around, as she lights a cigarette up in her trailer.

And I knew, I knew..

Baby, fare thee well

There was nothing I could do...

#far cry 5 #fc5 #joseph seed #jacob seed #john seed #faith seed #deputy oc #this is love #dahlia hale

[shitandramblings]

Bank Hours

Summary: 2 weeks holiday with no work while your boyfriend is in town, but you can’t avoid going in anyway.

Genre: Romance, Smut, Short (?) Story, 

Characters: Taeyong x Fem Reader

Rating / Warning : Adult, Sex, Light Swearing

Word Count: 4222 (It was supposed to be short!)

A/N: First real fic I’ve written in many years. I have been missing fics with a story component and also some romance rather than hard smut. (not that I am opposed I just wanted this to be something a bit different) 

When you open your eyes the clock beside your bed says 5:00 am. The room is filled with the soft light that happens just after sunrise in summer. You can hear the birds just starting their morning song. Looking over at the man snoring softly on the other side of the bed you figure he’ll be down for at least another 6 hours. Taeyong looked absolutely beat the night before when you picked him up at the small airport in your town. He looks so peaceful and sweet with that little smile he often has on his face while sleeping. It’s hard to leave but you slide quietly out of the bed and head downstairs to get dressed. You have 2 weeks with your boyfriend and while you had both agreed no work you have a few things to finish off at the bank before you could fully start your holiday.

Getting dressed quickly in shorts and a tank you then slip on your flip flops. You write a note on the chalkboard you keep on the kitchen cupboard for notes and shopping lists, just in case he wakes while your gone. “Went to the grocery store for coffee and muffins, be back soon.” It’s only a little lie, you will pick some up on your way back from the branch after you’re done there.

When you get to work all the lights are off as they should be on a Saturday morning. You get your keys out and go in. It’s a familiar routine letting yourself into the branch, disarming the alarm and going to your office. You like the quiet of the branch when its closed and the fluorescents are off. The only light coming in is the little bit that makes it past the closed blinds in your office and through the back windows. You start your computer up and go to check the rest of the branch to make sure that no one is there that shouldn’t be.  On your way back upstairs after checking out the lunchroom and making a cup of tea, you stop to look out the back windows and their view of the Salish Sea. Your old office used to have this view but when you received the promotion to Branch Manager you had to move to the larger office on the street side at the front of the branch. You miss the view of the sun setting behind Vancouver Island during the summer, the ferries and cruise ships going past, and of the winter storms approaching from over the water.

 You finish your check and go back to your office to see if your computer is ready. While its finishing loading the last programs, you pull your speaker out of your bag. The other thing you like about being at work by yourself is that unless you are on the phone you can play your music as loud as you want. As the first song starts you get down to business. Time to tackle the few reports remaining so your Assistant Branch Manager doesn’t quit while your away. Since you’re planning on disappearing for 2 weeks the least you can do is make it as easy as you can for her.

 You get started checking the numbers for a major report due at the end of this quarter. You realize you’ve been fighting with the spreadsheet for 2 hours. You get up to go down to the staff room and refill your tea. As you come up the stairs one of your favorite songs is blasting from your office. You can’t help but sing and dance along not really paying attention to anything and nearly spilling hot tea on your hand. When you get into your office you put your tea down on the desk and finish the dance. But the spread sheet is not going to fill itself in and you still have a few tasks left to do before you head home. A short while later and your filling in the last numbers that were escaping you. As the song changes from Enter Sandman to Long Flight you can’t help but keep singing along. The music pauses for a second as the text notification comes over the speaker. You save your work happy that it’s done and look at your phone to see who could possibly be messaging you at 8am on a sunny Saturday morning. Its from Tae and only says

 “You’re not at the store.” Damn it, busted you think.

 “Why would you think that?” you answer.

 “The grocery stores don’t open until 9am here, your car is parked outside and anyone using the ATM can hear you singing my music.” After locking your computer, you leave your office to look out to the ATM lobby and sure enough there he is leaning against the front door wagging a finger at you. You open the door to let him in. After locking the door behind him he follows you back to your office. 

“I thought you said no working while we were together?” he asks you after flopping down on the couch in your office. He doesn’t sound annoyed at you, just exasperated and resigned.

 “I just have to finish a couple of reports I didn’t get done Friday night  before I picked you up and call a credit officer about a deal for one of my lenders. If we can get this deal done in time it will make sure the branch ends the quarter and most likely the year at the top of our market. But I need to impress upon the credit officer that time is of the essence.“ You explain to him as you sit back at your desk.

 “I’ll just sit here and watch you work then.” He says as he leans back on the couch. You look over at him knowing that he means to do just that. You get up and go over to him,

 “I think you should walk that pretty ass back home or I won’t get the half dozen pain au chocolat I was planning on grabbing at the bakery.” You say as you reach for his hands to try and pull him up. He easily pulls you onto his lap instead. 

“Well this is much more like I was thinking.” He smiles at you and kisses you deeply. You push him away after a bit and move to sit beside him while lightly punching his chest.

 “Tae I���m dealing with client and bank information here. You can’t be here while I’m working with this. That would be a huge privacy breach. And no office nookie! I need to be able to work here.” You tell him sternly as he starts trying to run his hands under your shirt.

 “So, what can I do to make sure you don’t find just one more task that needs doing if I’m not allowed to be here to keep you honest? I know you. You can always find just one more task that is absolutely critical and I’m going to be selfish. I want to spend this time with you.” He says while you keep slapping at his hands.

 “How about this? You can go sit in the staff room downstairs. There are still some pastries in a Tupperware from Fridays coffee, the tea drawer is full and we just refilled the nespresso selection. The couch is more comfortable there and the TV has Netflix. I promise I have one 30 min task and the call to the credit officer. I don’t think it will take much more to than an hour, hour and half.” You offer this compromise to him. He gives you one of those puppy faces that melts your heart, and damn it he knows he’s doing it.

 “Okay I’ll take an hour and half being bored in the basement of a bank but I’m setting a timer. In 90 minutes, your mine for the next 2 weeks.” He stands up and before you can get yourself up, he grabs your hands and pulls you into his arms. He’s kissing you and then nibbling on your ear, neck and jaw. You find yourself clinging tighter to him before returning the kiss and nipping at his lower lip. When you break apart, he starts to head out of your office, but then he turns back and says to you, “In 1.5 hours I get to finish that kiss.” You can only describe his tone as both promise and threat. And you can’t wait for it.

 You sit down at your computer and try to calm yourself. The merest touch from Tae has your juices flowing and he knew just what he was doing right now. How the hell are you supposed to argue with one of the pickiest credit officers in western Canada knowing that your boyfriend is just downstairs and apparently fully recovered from all the travel yesterday. You try not to think about just how hard he felt through the light shorts you are wearing when he pulled you into his lap.  About how good nibbling and nipping at his jaw and neck make you feel. Especially when he starts making those low groans and his breathing becomes all ragged. You take a moment to breathe a little before unlocking your computer and dragging a file out of the cabinet for the next task. Your ready to finish this and really start your holiday.

 A little less than 90 minutes later you have finished 2 pressing tasks and sent an email to your lender regarding her deal. You feel elated and accomplished as you log off your terminal and lock your cabinets. Not only did you finish what you needed to, but you got an extra one done that your Assistant Manager was not expecting you to do and you knew she was dreading. The email that you just sent to your lender was going to make her so happy when she read it on Monday. Not only did you get the exceptions that you needed for the deal, but you and the credit officer worked to get all the terms and conditions satisfied. The only thing left was signing with a lawyer and letting your colleague wrap up this deal. You gather your bag and put your speaker in it still playing softly and grab your empty teacup before heading downstairs. Tae would also be pleasantly surprised you got done before you said. As you round the corner to the staff room you don’t hear the TV as you expected. When you come through the door you look past the lunch table to the couch in the corner and smile. Tae is lying there on his left side with his hand under his head and his right hand tucked over his left shoulder. The fuzzy blanket that your staff keep here for cuddling under on cold winter days during their lunches because the heating sucks is tucked up under his chin. You smile at him sleeping soundly and quietly put your mug in the dishwasher.

 You hesitate for a moment over waking him or letting him sleep. Maybe he’s not as recovered from jet lag as he seemed earlier. While more comfortable than the couch in your office this one is too small for your lanky boyfriend to be comfortable on for very long. Putting your bag down in the table you crouch near his head. You put a hand on his shoulder and give him a kiss.

 “Wake up sleeping beauty.” You say to him while shaking him gently. You see him start to rouse. He peeks his eyes open and tries to stretch a bit. “I got all my work done, time for us to leave.”  He reaches out and pulls you into a kiss. This over balances you a bit and you fall forward. He sits up as you right yourself and draws you back in. Your hands automatically go around his neck and play with the hair at the nape of his neck. He helps you up onto the couch while never taking his soft lips off you. He slides his hands up your back under your tank top and chuckles while your kissing.

 “What’s so funny?” you ask him as you move to get his earlobe between your teeth. 

“I was right,” he answers you once you stop nibbling on his ear and he can focus again. “You’re not wearing a bra.” 

“Mmhm, didn’t want to wake you this morning rooting through my drawers for one. And you were supposed to be sleeping still when I got home.”

 “Oh, I’m not complaining, quite the opposite, I find it rather hot.” He says as he brings his hands around to cup both of your breasts and starts to rub your nipples with his thumbs. Now your really turned on yourself. You can feel it gathering in your hips and spreading out over your upper legs and your chest. You lean back against the arm of the couch as he trails kisses and nibbles down your throat and chest. As he’s trying to lift your tank top over your head you come back to yourself a little bit.

 “Um, Tae, I think I said no office nookie.” 

“But this isn’t your office.” He points out as you help him take your shirt off. 

“No, you’re right it isn’t but I do have to eat lunch down here everyday and so do my staff.”

But you’re not really concerned. The way his hard on is pressing into you and how wet you are there is no way either of you are leaving this bank until you’re both completely satisfied. And better here than in your office where someone might notice from the sidewalk or in your car, as you don’t think either of you would make the 5 min drive back home.

“Well I guess I can just sit on the other couch and try not to smile too hard at lunch time.” You tell him as you drag him up onto you and reach into his loose shorts. Besides your damn sure your assistant manager has had at least her last 2 boyfriends here and possibly in other places in your branch as well. As you move to cup his balls and cock, he moans loudly. He’s already very hard and starting to drip with precum. You slide his foreskin back to reveal his sensitive head. Using you thumb while gripping his dick you lightly spread the slickness over it. A shudder runs through him as he gives a little grunt. He starts rolling one nipple between the thumb and finger of one hand while his mouth licks and nips at the other. You momentarily have to stop your ministrations on his cock as this feels so good. That gives him a chance to get in your shorts. His fingers slide past you lips and his thumb finds your already engorged clit. Slow lazy circles of his thumb have you arching you’re back and making noises in your throat.

 “Mm so wet already. It’s like you missed me or something. Or does running a bank do this to you?” He asks while he slips one finger into your heat.

 “Definitely not the bank!” You answer back between gasps. You pull your hand out of his shorts and start grabbing at the hem of the T-shirt he’s wearing. 

“Take this damn thing off” you grunt at him “I want to feel your skin on mine.”  He needs to remove his hand from your shorts to accomplish this and you have a moment of regret for your request. As his thumb leaves your clit and he slowly removes the digit that was quite effectively fucking you the regret grows but then his shirt is off and he’s right there in front of you. Not to toned or too soft. His shorts riding low enough you can see the edge of hair peeking out.

 “Your turn to lie back.” You say to him as you gently push against his chest. One of your hands start circling one of his nipples and his breath starts hitching. He lays back for you as you move up over him. Your other hand catches his waistband and tugs his shorts down to his thighs. He looks down his chest at you as move higher up his legs and he leans his head back expectantly. You go right past his cock and start nibbling and sucking at his other nipple. You hear a sharp inhale as he opens one eye too look at you. 

“Guess I can still surprise you” you say as you lick his nipple lightly. You kiss your way up his chest to his throat. More nibbles and kisses there. Past his jaw with a few nips and now a soft moan right in his ear. He lets out another low moan when you do this, and his hips buck upwards. You drop the hand that was flicking his nipple to his dick as you move from his ear across his jaw to nip at that full lower lip. You can feel his cock twitching in your hand. With one last kiss that has you crushing your lips against his and sucking his tongue you suddenly move down to his cock and go down hard. He mages to gasp out “still surprising me” before he lapses back into incoherent mumbles, groans and gasps. You can feel just how wet you are. Your underwear sticking to yourself. Being able to do this to him gets you going so much. As you move up and down his shaft with hand and mouth you can feel him reaching for you. He always thinks he needs to give back what he’s getting right away.

 “Nope” you say to him saucily with his dick still in your mouth and slowly pumping the shaft. “You just lie back and enjoy. Don’t worry about me now, we’ll get to that later. This is for you.” You turn back to his cock as he decides to listen to what you said. You continue to slowly stroke him while you use your tongue to lick around the edge of his soft glistening head. As you lick you also stroke the frenulum underneath. That gets a grunt of approval. Quickly you wrap your lips around his length and start sucking with much enthusiasm. He puts one hand by his waist and the other goes to your shoulder. He knows your not a fan of having your head grabbed so he uses his hips and his grip on your shoulder to help you set the pace. When you feel him start to stiffen everywhere and he’s no longer leading you know he’s close. You slow it down and release his cock from your mouth with an audible pop and much drool. The hand that was stoking him moves down to fondle his balls before going past to rub his taint. You can feel how hard he is still even right to the root.

 “How do you always know when I’m at the brink but not so far gone that it hurts when you stop?” He says to once he can speak again. “How many times have you taken me there to just bring me back and do it again? God your so good. But now I think its my turn to return the favor.”

 “Please do.” you say to him. He moves so he’s kneeling on the floor and scoots your ass to the front of the couch. He then pulls you shorts and underwear off one leg. You lost your flip flops at some point, but they can’t have gone far. He nudges your thighs apart with kisses. You are more than happy to open wide to him. His breathe is very warm on your clit as he moves in to start sucking. You feel his tongue flicking over as he applies light pressure. You drop your head back and let him go. You can feel the heat starting to concentrate in your hips as everything else gets all tingly. 

 “Oh god you taste so good. And still so wet, I’ll have to let you suck dick more if it does this to you!” He says to you as he comes up for air. He keeps up the motion on your now very swollen and sensitive bud. You roll your hips into his motions. Your coming so close to the brink yourself but you think in the back of your mind that he must be feeling it bending down to reach you on the couch. 

“Gods Tae your so good but I need you now. I need to feel you in me when you go over.”

 After some rearranging you end up changing places once again but this time your riding him while he’s seated. You lower yourself fully onto his cock and both of you moan as you take him all the way.

 “Fast, slow, something in-between?” you ask him while rolling your hips and trying to find just the right spot on his pelvis to create the most friction on your clit.  He crushes his mouth to yours while grabbing your hips to set a quicker pace. Both of your hands roam all over each other as you ride him as fast as you can.

 “Almost, almost, fuck, now, nownownow.” He gasps in your ear as you feel him go ridged under you and then his load being released as he crosses over. You keep going chasing that same release and soon you feel your own center tighten completely and you go over as well. You move for a few more strokes to capture the last few waves that have you both shuddering.

 You collapse onto his chest and he wraps his arms around you. Both of you sit there for a few moments catching your breath and letting your heart rates settle a bit before you gingerly get up and grab a fresh tea towel from the package on the lunchroom counter. “I was wondering why the laundry service leaves us 50 tea towels for 2 weeks, when we have a dishwasher and a staff of 10.” You joke as you dampen one end and go back to clean him and yourself up. You both finish getting re dressed and you toss the used towel in the laundry bag. Good thing linen service is tomorrow you think to yourself.

There is not much space for a post coital cuddle as you usually do but then sex in a semi public place is also not something you usually do. He comes up behind you wraps you in hug while leaning his head down on your shoulder. 

“I love you so much. I hope you know that it’s not just the awesome sex, I do love you.” He says into your ear while squeezing you tighter. You turn around in his hug and wrap your arms around his waist while leaning your head on his chest.

 “Yeah I know. I love you too. And the mind-blowing sex doesn’t hurt either.” You laugh.

 You go up the stairs hand in hand laughing together. “I’m going to lock the door after you go into the ATM lobby then set the alarm and come meet you back at the door.” You say to him has you give him a kiss and push him out the door.

 “I’ll just wait here then. No more working.” He says to you as you lock the door behind him. As your crossing the branch while the alarm gives its arming beeps you hear Baby Don’t Stop comes on your speaker again. You smile and think at least this time you don’t have a cup of tea in your hand as you let yourself out and lock the door behind you.

 After getting into the car Tae turns to you when he realizes what song is coming out of your bag. “One of these days I’ll teach you the proper choreo for that one as I don’t remember a cup of hot tea being involved. And your pronunciation still sucks.” He teases you.

 “Shit you saw and heard that? How long were you standing there before you texted me?” You ask feeling slightly embarrassed.

 “Long enough but then you seemed to be concentrating on something important after your dance break. I couldn’t see much once you moved into your office because of the blinds. It was only about 10 minutes really.” He says back to you with a smile.

 You think about this. “Okay non apology accepted. And as for my shit pronunciation, you sing something in French and then we can talk.” You tease him right back.

 “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, çe soir?” He sings back to with a wink and to be honest pretty damn good pronunciation. You turn the car onto the road and head up the hill to the grocery store while laughing. 

“Not fair! That’s a 20 year old song with one line that everyone knows.” He just looks at you and smiles. This is going to be a good 2 weeks you think as you pull into the grocery store parking lot while you laugh and joke with each other.  

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