#so now I have to wait a while for another appointment (hopefully soon!!!)

[dfortrafalgar]

I'm Losing You

Having a family isn't always as easy as fairy tales make it seem.

I'm going to say this on every chapter i post here LOL, but GO TO CHAPTER 1 AND READ!!!!! MY!!!!!!! WARNINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 3

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You loved your office, you really did.  Two of your coworkers were your best friends from high school, the work-life balance was ideal, your bosses were super understanding and encouraging of all their employees endeavors, and the weekly catered lunches truly felt like a luxury.

The only qualm was the noise.

The office had an open layout, and while everyone had their own desk, it was very easy to move around the space and talk to everyone while on and off the job.  This meant any personal phone calls had to be taken out of the entire vicinity.  And in your case, into an unlocked broom closet across the industrial building’s hallway, in front of another agency’s door.

You were sitting on a plastic box containing something you weren’t sure of, anxiously bouncing your feet as your heart hammered in your chest.  Each time the ringback tone exited your speakers caused another cold wave of anxiety to flood from your head to the soles of your feet.  You swallowed a thick glob of spit as you struggled to maintain your breathing.  You were sure your blouse was going to have armpit stains when you returned to your desk.

Finally, a voice picked up the other line.

[Thank you for calling Grand Line Gynecology and Obstetrics, how can I help you today?]

The sweet, welcoming voice of the receptionist on the other end of the line made you breathe a sigh of relief, though you weren’t out of the woods just yet.  Far from it.  “Hi, uhm, I’m a patient with Dr. Robin, and I was wondering if I would be able to get an appointment as soon as possible.”

A few keyboard clicking noises followed your request.

[Can I have your name and date of birth?]

You quietly relayed your information, biting your lip impatiently.  More typing sounds could be heard.

[Alright, Mrs. Trafalgar, and do you mind if I ask the purpose of your visit?]

You knew it was important information for your doctor to know prior to seeing you, but the thought still made a heavy pit develop in your stomach.  “Uhm… f-fertility consultation…?  I guess.”

More clicking.

[Of course, I’m looking up Dr. Robin’s availability right now, hold on just a moment, please!]

You’ve dealt with crappy phone receptionists in the past, but whoever was usually on the receiving end of your calls to your gynecologist was always so pleasant.  You could never quite recognise her voice in person, but her bubbly and patient speech was always greatly appreciated during your otherwise anxious phone calls.  Finally, she came back onto the line.

[Dr. Robin’s next available appointment isn’t for three months, unfortunately, but I can still fit you into that time slot if you would like!  I can also write your name down, so if any appointments open up sooner, we will give you a call.]

You breathed another sigh of relief.  “That would be amazing, thank you.”

[Alright, Mrs. Trafalgar, I have you marked down for Thursday, May 1st at 10:00 AM.  We’ll give you a call if anything changes and you can always call us if you develop other concerns, okay?]

You smiled at the broom closet floor.  “I appreciate it, thank you very much.”  The phone clicked off after trading goodbyes, your arm falling onto your lap.  You hadn’t realized how tight you were gripping your phone until then, your hand trembling with how harsh your hold was on the device.  With a sigh, you opened your text conversation with Law.

Hi baby, I just called the obgyn, they cant fit me in until may 1st but she said if anything opens up theyll call me back.  Fingers crossed something opens up sooner, hopefully you dont have to wait as long!  I’ll see you later, i love youuuuu ^3^

You put your phone to sleep and stuffed it into the pocket of your trousers as you finally exited the broom closet.  An employee of the agency across from yours was entering his office and tossed you a very confused glance at you leaving the innocuous room, but you paid him no mind as you walked back into your office to continue your work.

“There you are, I was wondering where you went!”  Ikkaku was waiting for you at your desk with her work laptop in hand.  “I wanted to go over a few designs with you, but when I went to find you, you were just, POOF!  Gone like the wind!”

You laughed at her excited talking, finally sitting at your desk again and grabbing an unoccupied chair for your friend to sit in.  “Sorry to make you wait, I had to take a phone call.”

Ikkaku brushed off having to wait with a cheery, “It’s fine!  No biggie!” before opening her laptop and inputting her passcode.  You felt your phone buzz in your pocket.  While Ikkaku was opening her files, you slipped out your device and tapped the screen.

Baby~~<3

Hopefully something opens up, but it’s good that you at least got an appointment.  I got my appointment with urology on my lunch break today.  We’re making steps.  I love you, see you later.

You smiled at the text.

“Why does Law need to see a urologist?” Ikkaku whispered beside you, making you jump and hide your screen.  She was looking at you with curiosity in her big, brown eyes.

“It’s nothing, really.”  You quickly shoved your phone back into your pocket.  Ikkaku was your best friend, she really was, but the last thing you wanted to do was bring up your potential infertility issues while on the clock, and especially while your anxieties were still fresh and raw at the forefront of your brain.

Ikkaku must have sensed your profound fear, as she shrugged and turned her attention back to her laptop.  “So here’s what I was drafting…”

—

While you had to wait around three months for your appointment, Law’s was scheduled shockingly quick.  Almost too quick for his liking.  The following week.  Which, to Law’s mutual discomfort and relief, came much quicker than he thought it would.  

He was thanking the heavens above that he had the day off for once.

Law followed all the rules to a T before the appointment.  No ejaculation 2-3 days prior, but no longer than 5.  He’d jerk off into a sterile cup in the clinic, hand that to the doctor, and wait a few hours.  While waiting, he’d get his hormone blood work collected.  Easy as pie.  He walked into the clinic feeling oddly confident in himself and his abilities to follow pre-procedure protocol, as a doctor himself.  The brief moment of cocky joy was interrupted as soon as the fertility doctor entered the examination room Law was sitting in.

“Alriiiight!  Mr. Trafalgar Law!”  The doctor was shouting his name before even closing the door, making the black-haired man cringe.  The nametag on the open laboratory-style coat he wore read ‘Dr. Franky.’  Next to the name tag was a little enamel pin of a robot.  The door was closed with a moderate slam.  “You’re that cardiologist from New World Hospital, right?  You’re crazy popular, so cool to see you in the clinic!  So we’re here to check on your little swimmers, huh?”  Dr. Franky, who was shockingly tall and very broad in the shoulders, plopped into his seat and placed his laptop on the counter in front of him.  

The force of him sitting on the stool caused the pneumatic tube to compress forcefully downwards.  Law had a mental image in his head of the tube exploding and propelling the spring upward into the doctor’s ass.  He barely even registered the fact that his reputation as the city’s leading cardiothoracic surgeon seemed to have followed him to his semen analysis appointment.  He shook his head quickly before nodding.  “Uh, yeah, semen analysis.”

Dr. Franky was rapidly typing in whatever patient portal he was using.  “Semen analysis is such an uppity thing to call it, I personally like calling it the Super Swimming Meet!”  He laughed, the voice echoing around the small room and making Law wince.  He finally finished typing, slamming his laptop closed.  It was then Law noticed a few pieces of scotch tape holding the laptop’s hinges together.  (What kind of clinic is this?)  Franky’s booming voice interrupted Law’s thoughts.  “All you have to do is wank off into this cup here.  Cap it tightly and bring it to the nurse’s station when you’re done and it’ll get sent off into the lab!”

Law carefully took the cup from the doctor, his face heating up in embarrassment.  “Uhm… thank you.”

“Is there anything else I can help you with before I leave you to it?”

Law wanted to ask if there was a different room he should be doing this in, or if handing the cup to a random nurse was proper protocol, but he honestly wanted nothing more than to get out of there as quickly as possible.  He was starting to regret his colleagues at the hospital giving him clinic recommendations.  “Uhh… no thank you, I think that’s everything.”

“Alright, Mr. Trafalgar, I’ll let you get to it!”  Dr. Franky left fairly quickly, much to Law’s relief.  His ears were still ringing with the volume of the doctor’s voice.

Law was now left alone, sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair, holding the empty sterile plastic cup.  After that interaction, the last thing he was thinking of doing was masturbating, but he needed to get it over with.  For your sake, and his.

He awkwardly stood and undid his belt, letting his pants and boxers fall to the floor before placing a few napkins onto the plastic chair and sitting back down.  He shivered at the cold feeling of the napkin-covered chair against his bare ass.  This was the least erotic situation he could’ve ever experienced.  He figured it would be far from the norm, but this was beyond any expectation he could’ve developed.  He shivered.

Grabbing the cup again, Law unscrewed the cap just enough so that he’d be able to pop it open as soon as he needed to.  When he stared at his flaccid dick, however, he uttered a defeated sigh.

‘Think of something to get you hard, man, think of your wife,’ he told himself.  Even his inner voice was desperate.

The sterile doctor’s office was completely inhibiting any thoughts of you to remain permanent in his head.  Every time he tried to think of your smell, your taste, the feeling of your bare flesh against his fingers, he would inhale and take in the bland stench of sterile alcohol and plastic.  He groaned.

Reaching into his pants pocket on the floor, he procured his phone.  Opening an incognito window on his web browser, he inwardly apologized to you (and double checked that the door was locked) before opening up a porn website for the first time since he was an undergrad in college.

—

Law came home a few hours after you.  You were standing at the stove setting the oven preheat temperature, a loaf pan of uncooked banana bread sitting on the stove top waiting to bake.  You turned to ask how his appointments went, but kept your mouth shut when you saw Law kick his shoes off and sit at the bar counter in your kitchen, placing his head in his hands.

“What happened?” you hurried over to him, immediately growing anxious that he had received bad news.  Your stomach turned.

He lifted his head.  “I… I had to watch porn today.”

#trafalgar law x reader #fem reader #law x reader #reader insert #x reader #trafalgar d water law #trafalgar d water law x reader #trafalgar law #one piece x reader #op x reader #im losing you

[lucy90712]

Road to recovery- part 8

Masterlist

Part of me was hoping that the hate would slow down a bit but of course it didn't. Every time I checked any form of social media all I saw was people posting about how much they didn't like me and assuming that I'm only friends with Pablo to gain something. I thought I'd be able to handle the comments but I just can't there has been so many more than I thought there would be and people have said such hurtful things about my appearance and my character. Pablo keeps apologising and asking if I'm ok and I just keep telling him I'm fine which is a bit of a lie but I can tell he already feels bad enough I don't want to make him feel worse by telling him how I really feel. The worst part about it is that everyone seems to be drawing attention to the things I was already insecure about which hasn't helped my mental state at all.

Today though I have a chance to cheer myself up a bit as I have a big check up with my doctor to see how my recovery is progressing. I think it's going pretty good so hopefully he agrees and says something positive as that would really lift my spirits. I've been nervous about the appointment today as well which has really made the last few days even more challenging on my mental health but I'm trying to stay positive as I know wallowing in sadness and anxiety won't do me any good. 

Alonso came to pick me up a bit before my appointment; when I got in the car I expected him to tease me about everything that happened with the game this weekend but he didn't instead he asked if I was ok. I was going to lie to him too but because he's my brother he knows exactly when I'm lying so I had to tell him the truth. It was kind of nice to get all of my feelings off my chest and Alonso was really supportive and gave me some good advice. He's been through things like this before with getting hate for his performances out on track so he told me to just delete the apps off my phone for a bit that way I'm not tempted to look at what people are saying. In fact he stole my phone and did it for me as I think he knew I probably wouldn't do it myself. 

Once I had my phone back I went into the hospital on my own leaving Alonso to wait in the car for me. The wait for my appointment wasn't long at all and then I went in and was immediately taken for some new scans to see how everything was healing. After scans I was subjected to a load of tests on my range of movement, how much weight I could put on my leg and how much pain I was in. The testing was rigorous and honestly quite exhausting as it's been a long time since I've done this much movement with my knee but for the most part it felt good. After I had done everything the doctor left for a while to review it all and look at my scans which left me just staring at the wall hoping to hear good news. Just as I was daydreaming the door opened again and the doctor came back in, his expression was impossible to read which for some reason filled me with a few more nerves.

"Ok Lola things aren't progressing as we would like them too internally you aren't healing as quick as we thought you would and your movement isn't at the range we would expect it to be" he said 

"What does that mean?" I asked holding back tears 

"For now it doesn't mean too much this can happen as we can't always accurately predict how quickly people will recover but we will set another one of these appointments in a few weeks and if we aren't seeing improvement you may need a second surgery so that we can see what's going on" the doctor explained 

"Ok" was all I could manage to say 

"I know this isn't what you wanted to hear but don't let it discourage you if you keep working hard you won't need the surgery" he said 

We scheduled my next appointment and that was as long as I could hold it together. All of my emotions that I'd been holding onto for the last few days came out all at once, as soon as I left the hospital doors I burst into tears and I couldn't do anything to stop them. I made my way back to where Alonso parked but before I could get into the car Alonso had got out and wrapped me in his arms. He tried to get me to stop crying and tell him what was wrong but I just couldn't he tried everything to help me all of which had worked before but today nothing could stop me. Eventually he gave up and let me get in the car so we could go home because right now all I want is to just go home and get to grips with my emotions as I clearly have a lot to process. 

As much as my eyes were filled with tears I could tell that Alonso didn't take the turn to take me back to my place which meant he was going to take me somewhere in hopes of cheering me up. I really didn't want to go wherever it was he was planning to go but I was sobbing too much to tell him to take me home. We went a bit further before the car stopped and I looked round a bit as at first I didn't recognise where we were but then I saw Pablo's house and realised we were just down the street. I should've known Alonso was going to bring me here but this is the last place I want to be I don't want Pablo to see me like this. I knew we said we would help each other out but I know for a fact Pablo is doing better and I know he's in a better place mentally and I don't want to ruin that by projecting my problems onto him that wouldn't be fair. 

Alonso had to practically drag me out of the car and down the road which was rather easy for him as I'm not strong enough to put up too much of a fight. We walked down the street to Pablo's house where Alonso left me to ring the doorbell, part of me was hoping that he wouldn't be in even though he said he had no plans today. Of course after just a few seconds the door opened and I locked eyes with Pablo who straight away rushed over as quick as he could and wrapped me up in his arms. I wanted to stop crying but for some reason I only cried more once I was in Pablo's arms it was like he made me feel safe enough to truly let all of my feelings out. Pablo said a few words to my brother before taking me inside and allowing him to leave. 

Pablo took me to the sofa and allowed me to settle into his embrace with my head buried in his chest so he couldn't see my tear stained and probably red and puffy face. His hand was gently stroking my back trying to calm me down while he whispered comforting words in my ears. It wasn't anything special what he was doing but hearing his words and feeling his hands on me did wonders in helping calm my emotions which I didn't have any control over. As my tears began to slow down Pablo kept rubbing my back and he even wiped some of the tears from my face that he could reach as I was still hiding most of my face. I never would've thought he would be so good at comforting me I mean he's always so hyper and full of energy I never imagined that he'd be any good at keeping calm and radiating that onto others but clearly he is. Once I had completely stopped crying and my breathing was getting back to normal Pablo put a hand under my chin and got me to look at him.

"Can you tell me what's wrong I hate seeing you so upset and I want to help" he said 

"The doctor said my knee isn't healing properly and I might need another surgery if things don't get better" I said still sniffling slightly 

"I'm sorry that sounds awful but that's not the only thing on your mind is it" he probed further 

"No that's it" I lied 

"Don't lie to me please just tell me what's wrong I'll do whatever I can to help and I won't judge you you know that" he said 

Damn why doesn't he have to be able to read me like a book.

"Ok I've been getting a lot of hate since we were seen together at the game and it's been getting to me a bit I thought I could handle it as I'm used to criticism but I can't some people are just so mean" I admitted letting a few more tears fall 

"I knew it was getting to you people on social media are assholes because they don't feel the consequences of what they say but none of what they say is true" he said 

"But they keep talking about how I must be using you or how I don't deserve to even be friends with you which that part is kind of true" I rambled 

"No it's not true I can't even imagine what my life would be like without you I love spending time with you just because you aren't famous doesn't mean you don't deserve to be friends with me and despite what they say I know you aren't using me I know you would never do that" he said 

"And before you say anything all of the things they say about your appearance aren't true either you are beautiful inside and out and they are just jealous" he added 

Hearing him say that put a smile on my face. Pablo has never really complimented me before he's told me my outfit was cool a few times but he's never called me beautiful so hearing it made me feel a lot better about myself. He must've noticed that I was finally smiling again as he told me I looked pretty when I smiled which only made my cheeks heat up but luckily my face was already red from crying so Pablo probably wouldn't have noticed. Although I kind of wish he knew how he made me feel because as time goes on it's getting harder and harder to hide my true feelings from him. 

Pablo's POV

The pain in her eyes just shattered my heart. She's been my rock throughout every step of the way so far so to see her breakdown right in front of me really hurt. This whole time she's been the strong one never letting anything get to her but finally it's caught up with her and part of it's my fault because we got seen together at the game and now people are tearing her apart and one person can only handle so much. I feel so awful that I'm part of the reason she's so upset but knowing that I can be there for her and calm her down makes me feel a bit better. When she arrived she was hysterical and her brother told me he couldn't get a word out of her so he wanted me to try so that's what I did. I'm not very good at keeping myself calm at times let alone other people but I tried my best and after a while of just rubbing her back and whispering to her she calmed down. It felt good to be the one to help her because she's done so much for me that anything I can do to even remotely repay that I'll do in a heartbeat.

Hearing the way she criticised herself as well it pained me. She's the most beautiful and kind person I've ever met so to hear her say that she thought she didn't deserve to be friends with me hurt but what hurt more was to see that those horrible people got to her and made her feel insecure in herself. Throughout the time we've known each other I've always wanted to tell her just how beautiful she is but I've refrained as I know once I open the flood gates there's no going back. Once I start complimenting her I'm scared that I'll let my feelings show but today she needed it so I knew I had to take the risk. Seeing the smile that my compliments gave her made the risk feel worth it though as I'd do anything to keep her smiling 24/7.

Looking into her eyes as she smiled and blushed at my words made me feel some type of way. I've felt something for her since we first met and I've kept those feelings repressed until now but I don't know if I can do it any longer. She's just the most perfect girl I've ever met and I don't want to lose her whether that be to another guy or to the fear of what us being friends might mean for her. I have to tell her how I feel in hopes that as long as she feels the same way it gives her a reason to stick around even when things are tough like they are right now. As scary as it is I have to take the risk. 

#gavi imagine #gavi imagines #pablo gavi imagine #pablo gavi imagines #gavi #gavi oneshots #football imagine #gavi x reader #pablo gavi

[neuroprincess]

Peanut - Elle Greenaway/Female Reader

Elle Greenaway/Female Reader

Summary: Elle doesn't show up for another appointment and Y/N is frustrated not having her wife by her side when she needs most, while she's carrying their Peanut.

Classification: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Swearing, pregnancy, sad talk, discussion

Word count: +1800

Unrevised

The pregnant girl sighs as the doctor finishes running the gel over her belly, smiling what she knows is a pitying smile. This is already the third appointment she has gone to alone and there have been five so far as she is starting the second trimester. Y/N tried to smile back, but it didn't reach the eyes and she swore she might cry right there, finally managing to swallow tears to continue the procedure. Dr. Mitchell approached again, this time placing the ultrasound stick where the gel was passed and soon an image takes over the screen, it's still small, not like last time when it looked like a big headed bean. Everything seems to become much more real when the bean becomes a miniature human being with tiny little nose and arms.

"And this is your baby, see, they have arms, feet, hands and little fingers, now they are developing respiratory, muscular and hearing functions." the obstetrician says pointing to the baby's little limbs "And as you soon turn 15 weeks we can see the baby's gender."

"Does that mean they will soon start to hear us? And kick?" she asks hopefully and filling herself with excitement at the idea, something she has dreamed of since the positive test.

"I believe so, the baby will definitely hear you, but I can't bet they will kick that soon, if so, get ready because baby Greenaway will be a restless child." the woman jokes and works a few buttons on the machine as she moves the stick around the bulge "I was right, we are lucky, we can already know the gender, do you want it?"

"I..." Y/N starts to speak, automatically agreeing, but doesn't complete the sentence, thinking better of it. When she imagined and planned the pregnancy it was with wife by her side at all times, especially these, she wanted to find out alongside her as they share reactions or bet, that is not happening, at least not this afternoon "No, thank you. I think I'd rather wait."

"Right." Dr. Mitchell smiles and uses a tissue to wipe the gel from her belly, being careful "Now that the nausea has stopped you will experience some energy spikes and excessive hunger, the longer you can stay on the recommended diet the better." she goes over the last recommendations "Now I'm going to take some copies of the ultrasound, you can get ready."

"Okay..."

Less than half an hour later she is home again, taking off the sneakers that however comfortable they were are killing her, swollen feet won't let her wear anything but slippers, against her own body Y/N tried to look decent wearing her favorite pair of sneakers and a set of comfortable clothes, similar to yoga clothes. She takes a deep breath and lies down on the couch, pulling the blankets she leaves there for practicality, when the obstetrician told her about energy spikes she almost laughed when heard this, for the last few months she has been sleeping more than usual, taking random naps during the day and usually on the couch in the living room where the sun beats down creating a warm and calm atmosphere. This calmness is soon interrupted by the front door being opened, she knows who it is, but she doesn't want to see or hear her, not this time. She has already had to listen to many excuses that were accepted when the detective used those cute brown eyes to gain a little sympathy.

"Sweetie..." Elle approaches the couch, voice low and worried, the girl just covers the head with blanket without answering "I swear this time..."

"I don't want to hear you now."

"Don't be childish, the precinct..."

"Childish?" Y/N instantly gets up, throwing the blanket to the ground, eyes filled with anger and her heart aching, to her this doesn't seem fair, to either of them "I went for another fucking ultrasound without you, seriously, even the receptionist looks at me with pity. I'm tired, physically and emotionally. My feet are killing me, I've gained at least 11 pounds, fatigue makes me sleepy all day, I've cried watching Cinderella and I'm not complaining about you not being here to stay with me in these moments, but for you never being there for me in the only moments when I ask, no, beg for your presence."

"Y/N..."

"Be honest, do you really want it?" she shouts pointing to the apparent bulge.

"Please don't call our baby it." the detective's voice doesn't change at any point, she lowers her gaze and stares at where their child grows, it's now apparent, visible, just beautiful and she hadn't realized "Just..." tears gather at the edges and her lips pucker trying to control herself.

"Elle, I just wanted to have you there, with us, for us." now Y/N finds herself in the same state, trying not to cry the tears that have accumulated since the appointment.

"And I wanted to be there, I went to the clinic, but you had already left." the brunette approaches, just a few steps away from her wife, they face each other eye to eye "I swear I wanted to, we had an emergency case, her ex-husband found out where she was and... it was close, we got there in time before he could do something against her and the children."

"I'm sorry, now I sound so foolish, so selfish. I had no idea..." the girl turns away in shame and puts hands to her face as warm tears fall freely "I am really childish, you are right."

"Fuck, no, I'm not." Elle runs to her and hugs from behind, hands protectively wrapped around the belly, face nestled into her neck and suddenly her tears join the moment as well "You shouldn't have to go through this alone, we decided to be moms together and there is no excuse for my absence, I hadn't even realized the baby is already showing."

"Neither did I, until the shower. Geez, they're already here, it's real." she sighs and places her hand over the other woman's "And we have to stop cursing so much, Dr. Mitchell said they'll soon start listening to us if they aren't already."

"Really? Shit, I can't believe maybe the first thing Peanut has heard is our fight." the detective sighs and hugs her tighter, she pauses, thinking carefully about the words "I've been working too hard, even more than necessary, I think I subconsciously let my fear take over." Elle whispers against her wife's ear and tries to control herself, not wanting to cry anymore, failing miserably.

"Fear?"

"Yes, fear, very fear of not being enough or what you need, at the first ultrasound I almost fainted seeing the little human being we made, so small, helpless and dependent on us. So when a call comes in to the police station I am there, I don't know why, maybe trying to prove that I am worthy of you, of the gift you are carrying. Trying to make the world safe for when she arrives."

"She?" Y/N catches the small detail in her wife's speech, just her who swore even before the insemination that they would have a boy, confident of it. She turns around staring into confused chocolate eyes "How..."

"I thought you found out this afternoon, at the second appointment Dr. Mitchell had told us that starting this pregnancy week we might be able to know the gender and her assistant congratulated us." Elle whispers and her mouth opens in realization "Oh, you didn't know.... I don't understand, you were so looking forward to it."

"I told her I wanted to wait."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I messed up..."

"No, you didn't. I wanted to find out with you, but finding out from you is even better." she wipes away the tears and smiles, a weight being lifted from her chest by this moment "We're having a girl!"

"We're having a girl! Our little girl!" Elle gets excited and cracks a big smile, the fact hitting her like a train, in five months they will have a child in their arms who will be the princess of the Greenaway family, the first daughter and the first granddaughter of her mother, Eva "My mom is going to spoil her so much, damn, me too! I can already picture Mom teaching Peanut spanish, dressing her and doing fancy hairstyles. I didn't see that coming..."

"I know... I just hope she has your smile and dimples, then she could have the world in her hands." Y/N stares at her in awe and hugs her tightly, head against the woman's chest, hearing heart beating fast and feeling fingers stroking through her hair as she hugs her back "You know, I didn't expect it either, you were so confident we would have a boy that I was believing your intuition."

"Hey, it's detective intuition."

"That's why." they break away from the embrace staring at each other.

"I promise, for my life, that I will not miss any more appointments. If I'm late you can punish me, all your right." the brunette squeezes the girl's hands and looks at her tenderly, a depth of pain in her eyes for having done such a thing, she would never forgive herself for missing such important moments of pregnancy and leaving her wife alone when she should have had her by side, giving her all the love, affection and support "And I'll go back to my normal schedule, I'll come home on time, without looking for more cases and I'll be there, always."

"I will believe you. But the first slip-up you sleep on the couch."

"Fair enough!"

"And stop putting yourself in danger, our daughter needs both moms." Y/N touches her face, voice almost breaks mid sentence, being a detective's wife is living in constant fear of a call with bad news and now they are adding a third family member to the mix "I think we need a name for her, we only think of names for boys.... And no, we're not naming Peanut as Roberta."

"It's the female version of my dad's name, our daughter..."

"No."

"You're the boss." Elle smiles and lifts her onto the lap catching her behind the thighs, strong arms holding her tightly, lips close inches apart "I will reward you for every thing, every absence, every teardrop. How can I start?" she asks suggestively.

"Well, I'm hungry, so you can start by preparing dinner because I'm exhausted." the girl smiles knowing she has thwarted her seduction plans.

"And what Dr. Mitchell said about sex?"

"We can, with limitations."

"Perfect." their lips come together in a slow and tender kiss, it's gentle, both feel as if all the pain and frustration of the day left after the conversation is gone for good, keeping only the joys of shared motherhood and the euphoria of knowing they are having a little girl "I'll let you sleep now, how about some beef stew?"

"With potatoes?"

"And carrots."

"Great!" Y/N smiles and kisses her again "Be quick, Peanut is hungry."

#elle greenaway x reader #elle greenaway #female reader #fluff #criminal minds fanfic #fanfiction

[th3p0rtalmaker]

Triumphant Update: I Am Now a Homed Person!!! 🥳🙌🏻🥳🙌🏻🥳🙌🏻

(Gaze upon my illustrious air mattress bed, lol. 🤣)

So a summary of everything that's happened in the last week:

Last Tuesday:

- I took a bus to visit an organization that offers case management services (among other services for the homeless, mentally ill, struggling with addiction, etc.)

- Said organization isn't offering the services I need until Feb (at least, maybe longer) and someone stole my phone after I dropped it on the bus. They then tried to pay their Cricket Wireless phone bill with the Venmo debit card that was in the back of my phone case (Did I mention my legal ID was also in the back of aid pone case?)

Last Wednesday:

- One of my social service workers drove up to the city I was staying in with her boss; they purchased a new prepaid phone for me (and the first month's service), took me to the local DMV to order my replacement ID, and then treated me to lunch at Olive Garden

- The warming bus I usually sleep in (since getting kicked out of the only night shelter in town for no reason) was closed that night, because the temperature wasn't cold enough; I ended up sleeping under a bridge with another homeless person - he was an older man that I did not know well at all, and we had a snuggle a bit for warmth, but thankfully he didn't do anything inappropriate

Last Thuresday:

- My social worker from the day before returned to pick me up and drive me back to Lynchburg; she treated me to lunch and dinner at Chick-fil-A, then put up in a hotel for the night

Last Friday:

- A different social worker from my team took me to the apartment that accepted my housing voucher so I could move in

Today (Wednesday):

- I had an eye exam and placed an order from a new pair of glasses, both of which were covered by my insurance (because I'm tired of running around half blind)

- At the end of my eye appointment, I find out there's a $49 copay for things that weren't covered by my insurance for undisclosed reasons; even tho they were willing to communicate with my social workers and figure out how to take care of the copay, then will not order the glasses I need until that copay is paid

And I've been relying on food pantries to feed myself while I wait for my food stamps to get refilled. (I also can't cook anything until I get some bakingware/cookingware, but I'm fully stocked with boxes of mac n cheese and regular pasta. 🤣👏🏻)

Hopefully now that I've got a stable living space, I'll be able to land a job and/or get more students to pay me for online tutoring very soon. (My team of social workers is also working on acquiring some furniture for me!)

Thank you so much to everyone who's been supporting me! I would never have lasted this long without you. I think there are still plenty of experiences from my time being homeless that I need time to process and work thru. But I'm moving forward with the idea that this is my official new beginning since escaping my abusive family. It's going to take a lot of work to get the meds I need, to fnd work that will support me, and get the therapy I need for my lifetime thus far of abuse and trauma. But I have help (in multiple forms), and hope. ☺️

#homelessness #homed #victorious #one battle ended #a new battle begun #a new beginning #hopeful

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Silver Springs Part 10 

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~10.5k

Summary: Wanda tries to leave her mob life behind to start a family with you

A/N: I’m very impatient and need to post this before I fall asleep. If y’all noticed me post the wrong thing, no you didn’t. Enjoy the angst!

Chapter Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, death, and heavy angst.

When you hang up a while later, you look to the appointment that’s been added to get a little more information. There’s not much there, but you assume people are working on getting it for you, so you don’t worry about it for now. You have another half hour until your appointment starts so you decide to try to eat something. You grab your water bottle and open it right as your phone rings again. You sigh but answer it to find out you have a walk in. A large dog who was attacked by another dog. When you hang up after saying you’ll be right there you go to stand up forgetting about your water and you spill it all over your desk. You curse as you pick up your keyboard to stop it from reaching the computer as you grab a nearby towel. You start to clean it up before you realize that you’ve soaked your com and you curse again.

“Bucky? Can you hear me?”

You don’t hear anything and you quickly text the brunette that you might have fried your coms before heading downstairs to see this dog. You arrive to near chaos and you curse the fact that you hadn’t taken a little longer to figure things out.

Sometimes you forget how scared some dogs can be. You are reminded of this as soon as you realize that the large dog that an assistant is holding is snapping and trying to lunge at anyone who comes near him. This isn’t something that’s acceptable and you honestly need to talk to your boss a little more about dealing with aggressive pets, but for now you just hurry to grab a big enough e collar that you can throw over this dog to hopefully stop him from biting someone.

You’re also reminded of how scary terrified dogs are when they’re lunging and growling at you. You hold the e collar up towards him and he clearly recognizes them and tries to avoid it, but eventually you slip it over his head and you do it without getting bit.

“Okay, can someone tell me what’s going on?”

Apparently, this dog was in a fight, and despite being the instigator, his victim got in a couple of good bites. The other, smaller dog was dead and that not only depressed you, but concerned you. You're not sure you can send this dog off on his merry way without knowing his situation. So after sedating the dog to get a good exam in you go and talk to his owner to find out as much as you can.

It sounds like a classic dog fighting scenario from what you can gleam from the man’s vague answers and reassurances that it’s ‘no big deal, doc’. Not to mention, his dog is covered in scars on his face, front legs, and hips that are both bite wounds and scratches. Again, you’re at a loss for what to do and you consult another doctor to figure out what the best course of action would be. You both agree to call animal control and have them handle the situation as soon as the dog is treated for his injuries.

You end up running late for most of your appointments in the afternoon due to how involved this case ends up being. You had almost forgotten about the euthanasia at the end of the day when it comes in right before closing. You curse under your breath before running upstairs and grabbing your phone to let Bucky know that you were going to be a little late leaving today.

“Hey.”

“Hey sorry it’s so late, but I forgot to tell you I have a euthanasia coming in now and I won’t be able to leave for a while.”

Bucky insists that it’s fine and that he’ll wait outside for you. You apologize again for breaking the coms, but you promise to have your phone on you at all times.

Mark is the assistant who is with you on this appointment, and you’ve already promised him that this shouldn’t take too long. You feel bad for keeping him here, especially since this is only his third week or so, but he insists it’s fine as you go to get the drugs for the dog. You walk into the room alone first to talk to the owner and examine the moribund dog. You honestly aren’t sure that he won’t just die on his own here, but you’re not going to find out and you bring a technician in to help place a catheter as you go over the process with the owner who just nods silently throughout.

“What questions can I answer?”

When he says he doesn’t have any, but that he’ll want to take his dog home with him, you insist that you can help him take him back to the car. The technician leaves and you and Mark are left alone with the owner. You’d placed the drugs down next to you as you knelt by the dog who had stopped breathing at this point. You’d gotten permission to start and you are about the grab the sedative when the owner speaks up for only the second time since getting here.

“Thank you for making this so easy, Dr. Maximoff.”

You don’t realize he’s said your married name immediately, and you frown in confusion before turning to see him smiling at you. You open your mouth to say something but you don’t get the chance as something pokes you in the neck and you're grabbed from behind.

Bucky sighs as he looks at his watch once again. It’s almost 7 o’clock and he’s starting to get antsy. A few minutes ago, he’d seen the last car leave other than yours from the parking lot. He was certain that you were done at this point and he was getting worried. About 20 minutes ago, two men had come out hauling the euthanized dog to the client’s car. He’d watched them stick it in the trunk and he frowned at both the idea and the visual of that, but he’d just looked away before watching the assistant head back inside.

The client left, and then the assistant left a little later, but you had yet to come out. He knew you were on that appointment, so he decided to give you until 7 before calling you. He knew you were eager to get home and you would let him know if the plans had changed.

He sighs again before reaching into his pocket to grab his phone. He calls you and settles back in his seat as he listens to the phone ring. By the fifth ring it goes to voicemail and Bucky’s frown deepens. He hangs up and calls again, only to get your voicemail a second time. He decides to go find you himself because if everyone else is gone, no one will care.

He gets out of his car and locks it before heading to the yard. The fence around it is always open, and the door into the clinic behind it isn’t locked up until later at night. He walks into the clinic and waits and listens to confirm no one else is here. He looks to the dog runs and pokes his head in to look for you. You’re not there, but Boone is and he barks and jumps up when he sees Bucky. The brunette lets him out and gestures for him to follow.

“Let’s go find your mom, Boone.”

Boone whines as he hurries through the empty building to the stairs. He’s been in here exactly once before and there hadn’t been anyone here at that time either. It was eerily quiet as they walk up the stairs. All of the doctors’ offices are empty, and when he gets to yours and sees your things are still there, he becomes more confused. He takes them with him as he walks back down the stairs and looks in the empty exam rooms before coming to a room that’s still shut. He knocks, but when no one answers he opens it carefully. When Bucky sees what he assumes is a dead dog lying on the floor he runs back out to his car. Boone follows him and he jumps into the passenger seat as Bucky dials Wanda’s number.

“Hey Bucky.”

“Wanda, I think someone took Y/n, I need you to track her. “

Wanda drops the drink she was holding and the glass shatters in the sink. She doesn’t pay it any mind as she scrambles to open the app in her phone.

“You think?? What happened, Buck?”

While Wanda’s checking for your location Bucky quickly explains what happened today. First you spilling water on your coms and then you having to stay late for a euthanasia.

“She told me about that. How do you know it was him?”

Bucky tells her about how he saw the dog in the clinic just now, but that the client had definitely been carrying something to his car in a body bag. Wanda’s panicking by the time Bucky says this, and it only becomes worse as she realizes where your trackers are. Your phone is at work as is your car. The one in your shoulder, however is somewhere downtown. Only about 30 minutes away from the clinic. She gets the address and gives it to Bucky before she claims that she’ll be there too.

“I need to talk to Steve and Nat but I’ll meet you there.”

Bucky’s nodding as he starts his car before peeling out of the parking lot.

“Okay, I have Boone with me. I’ll let you know when I get there.”

Wanda thanks him before she’s running out her door. She just manages to grab a jacket, an extra gun and her keys before she’s calling Steve and letting him know what’s going on. He says that he’ll call Nat and they’ll all meet Bucky at your location.

Wanda is freaking out and hates that she considers going to see Vision before leaving to find you. She has no idea what happened today, but it’s all part of his plan. She makes a detour to the basement and storms down the hall to the room where Vision’s being kept. She throws the door open and starts speaking before she even knows if he’s awake.

“Where did you tell him to take her!?”

Vision looks up lazily and frowns as he’s just returning to consciousness. He’s exhausted and he’s lost a lot of blood in the hours that he’s been down here. He jolts awake when Wanda slaps him across the face to get his attention, but she only glares at him expectantly.

“What?”

She’s losing patience with him and she pulls her gun out before holding it to his forehead with a growl.

“You either tell me where Rumlow took Y/n in two seconds, or I’m putting a hole in your head.”

Vision just stares at her for a moment then he shakes his head before he speaks. He realizes that his time is up and he’s not going to get another chance to have Wanda as his own. He’s lost her already and he’s not sure what else he could do at this point. He sighs in defeat before he shoots Wanda one last smile.

“He’s going to do worse than kill her.”

Wanda shoots him and is out the door in nearly the same second, and she doesn’t look back as she races to her car. She’s already going through all of the scenarios in her head. You’re not going to get out of this scot-free and she may not get there in time to stop Rumlow from killing you. As she gets in her car and it roars to life, she just prays that Bucky gets there before her.

You’re still very sedate when you are handcuffed to a chair. You don’t know where you are, and your eyes refuse to focus as your head rolls back and forth between your shoulders. You realize eventually that you’re in a chair and being held in place by something cold, but beyond that you can’t identify it. You open your eyes and groan in pain before you realize you’re not alone.

“Nice to officially meet you Dr. Maximoff. I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”

You focus on a figure in front of you. It takes you a minute as you see three of him at once before your brain finally settles enough to recognize that the person in front of you is not the last person you saw. You can’t remember how you got here from work. You’d been doing something, but somehow, now you’re here.

You take a moment to stare at the brunette who’s practically leering at you. He’s older than you, maybe 5 years or so, and he’s got a mustache, short hair and a few scars. You don’t recognize him and even if you weren’t drugged, you’re convinced you wouldn’t know who this man is. You try to sit up more or even stand up but you realize that’s not going to happen as soon as you try. You look down at your arms and you scowl before looking back to the still grinning brunette.

He takes a couple of steps towards you and it’s then that you notice the large knife in his hand. You try not to flinch as he raises it to your eye level but you’re still a little groggy so you can’t help but jump slightly.

“I’m Brock Rumlow. I’m sure your wife’s mentioned me. We’re really good friends.”

Even without looking at him you pick up on the sarcasm, it’s practically dripping from his voice at the last statement. You recognize the name immediately and try to see this guy as the one who trespassed on your property and shot up your house in the middle of the night.

“Y-you shot my dog.”

He just laughs at this before nodding and scowling at the thought. He wasn’t sure why Vision had gone about things the way he did. He honestly had just wasted a lot of time and pissed Wanda off instead of won her attention. Hell, she had probably killed him at this point and Rumlow was just glad that Vision paid him up front.

“Yeah, that was pretty stupid. He told me not to kill him, but to hurt him just enough to make you suspicious. A waste of time if you ask me.”

He’s close to you now and you don’t realize why until he circles the chair you’re stuck to and stands behind you. You flinch again when he touches your back and you’re about to ask what he’s doing when he speaks up. You try to get away from him but realize it’s just silly to try. You’re handcuffed and there’s no way you’re getting out of here without some help.

“Speaking of wasting time. I need to get this out of you.”

You have no idea what he’s talking about, and you continue to struggle as he starts to rub your shoulders.

“What the fuck are you doing??”

You don’t get an answer from him but he stops for a moment and you briefly think that he’s not going to do anything bad. You see him reach into his pocket for something but you don’t realize what until he’s holding it in front of your face. You’re still waking up from the sedative and you’re slow to respond to the familiar voice.

“Say hello, doc.”

You don’t realize he’s talking to you and you just frown in confusion before you hear your wife’s voice. You stiffen and try to open your mouth to respond but you’re too shocked to.

“Y/n? Are you there? Talk to me please.”

You squeeze your eyes shut before shaking your head with a groan. Your vision is only slightly clearer as a result.

“Wanda?”

Wanda feels her heart start to race when she hears your voice confirming that you’re with Rumlow. She starts to drive faster, but she’s still too far away to stop whatever is about to happen. She’s about ten minutes away and she just hopes that Bucky’s closing in on your location.

“I’m on the way, Y/n. I’m only ten minutes away.”

When Rumlow laughs Wanda’s knuckles turn white from her tight grip on the steering wheel. Wanda’s considering getting out of the car and just running, but she knows that won’t be any faster. She’s in the city now and can only go so quickly. She takes a second to text Bucky ‘ETA’ as Rumlow speaks up. Wanda almost drops the phone and considers running the red light she’s at when his words register.

“Oh, don’t bother, Wanda. We’ll be done by then.”

You stiffen further as Rumlow’s words hit you like a cold shower. You get a better look at the knife that he’s holding and you gasp as he grabs your shirt and pulls on it before he starts to cut it. You go stock still afraid that he’s going to take it off completely, but he stops once he exposed your shoulder and you’re confused once again. You hiss at the feeling of the cold metal against your skin and then you quickly curse when you feel it cut into you.

“Fuck.”

You clench your teeth at the same time that Wanda does as she looks to the text that Bucky just sent. He’s three minutes out. You can’t stop yourself from groaning as Rumlow cuts deeper into your shoulder against your shoulder blade and you can’t hold back your pained screams when he doesn’t stop. You have no idea what he’s doing and neither does Wanda as she just listens to you scream in agony. She’s running another red light and is only a few minutes away when she hears from Bucky again.

“Rumlow! Stop now and I may not torture you before killing you!”

You can’t hear Wanda over your screaming and tears start running down your face as Rumlow carves up your back. He doesn’t stop until he hits what he was looking for. He peels your skin back, ignoring the curses you let out as he digs out the small metal chip that Wanda’s used to track you for years. He smiles as he walks away from you and tosses it on the floor with a smile.

“Got it. Now how will you keep track of your wife?”

You’re breathing heavily and still crying when Rumlow says this so you’re not really able to register his words immediately. You take a deep breath before you hear your wife threaten Rumlow again. You hear something slam on the other end of the phone and Rumlow must realize he’s running out of time because he grabs his gun from his hip quickly.

“Any last words, doctor?”

You can think of a dozen things you’d like to say, but you’re in too much pain to form words. You just glare at him before you brace yourself. You try to block out the sound of Wanda shouting and pleading with the brunette, but it’s difficult. When Rumlow raises his gun and aims, you close your eyes and take a deep breath.

It hurts a lot more than you thought it would. You’ve never gotten shot before, and you’re eternally grateful for this as the bullet tears through you and hits the wall behind you. You start to feel dizzy and everything sounds muffled as you grow limp in the chair.

“Y/n, no!”

Wanda’s running as fast as she can at this point, and she doesn’t stop despite feeling her breath leave her lungs at the sound of you getting shot. She needs to get to you and get to Rumlow before he escapes. He needs to die for this and she wants to be the one to do it.

Rumlow just smiles as he looks at you slumped over and bleeding out. He heads for the door behind him to leave. He’s done his job and now he can disappear again until Wanda gives up or he has time to slip away from her reach. He goes to open the door but he’s stopped short when it slams open in front of him. He stumbles back slightly and in the same instant he’s shot dead by Bucky who’d run all the way here after hearing him shoot you.

“Y/n!”

The first thing he notices is all of the blood. It’s covering the floor around you and leading toward the door in bloody boot prints.  It’s still dripping down the chair you’re sitting in motionless and Bucky feels his breath catch at the sight of you. It’s not until he hears footsteps behind him that he snaps out of his trance. He runs towards you and tries to take stock of the damage. Your head is against your chest and he doesn’t see an exit wound which he’s grateful for, but the amount of blood tells him that he still has to worry.

“Holy shit.”

Bucky turns when he hears Nat’s voice but he quickly turns back to their friend in front of him. Bucky’s phone is ringing, but he doesn’t notice as he looks at the wound on your shoulder before managing to lift your head and feel for your pulse. Nat grabs his phone since he’s too distracted and answers it before practically throwing it on the ground. She grabs her bag that’s got basic first aid, but looking at how much you’ve bled, she’s not sure it will be enough.

“Bucky, please tell me you’re there.”

Nat nods as she looks to you and has to hold back a gasp at what she sees. Bucky’s confirmed that you’ve been shot in the abdomen and at that same moment it hits the both of them that you’re still breathing. Blood falls from your lips and Bucky’s quick to shoot through your handcuffs to lift you out of the chair.

“We’re here, Wands. She’s alive, but it’s bad. We’re bringing her out now.”

Wanda stops in her tracks on the stairs before trying to figure out what to do. She wants to see you, but she’ll be more helpful once they get you outside. She asks what floor they’re on and Nat says they’re on the third floor but they’re headed down the stairs now. Wanda’s about to turn around and head to her car, but something occurs to her and she stops short.

“Where’s Rumlow?”

She waits for what feels like an eternity before she hears hurried footsteps on the stairs and Nat’s voice comes in through the phone as well as above her.

“He’s dead, we’ll get Steve to take care of him.”

When Wanda sees Bucky and Nat come running down the stairs with you, she feels her breath leave her lungs once again. You’re bloody and unconscious in Bucky’s arms and Wanda’s already hanging up on Bucky to dial another number.

“I’ll call Dr. Palmer.”

Bucky looks a little uncertain and Nat’s already shaking her head as she follows Wanda down the stairs. They’re trying to figure out where to take you and since they’re over half an hour from the compound they might have to go to the hospital. Wanda doesn’t realize this until Nat says it but she curses before pushing the door to the parking lot open.

“I think we need to go to the hospital, Wanda.”

Wanda opens the back door to Bucky’s car knowing he’ll drive faster before getting in to help him lay you down. Boone jumps out of the car with a series of high-pitched whines, but Wanda ignores him. Nat’s wrapped your wound to stop the bleeding, but the bandages are already starting to turn red. Wanda takes off her jacket to cover you when she realizes how cold your skin feels. She reaches in her pocket to grab her keys to give to Nat as she asks for them before she shuts the door. The other redhead’s grabbed Boone at this point and started to drag him back to Wanda’s car. He’s near hysterical as he tries to break free to get to you, but Nat mutters a command to him that only gets him partially calm but it’s enough to get him loaded into the car for the ride to the hospital. Bucky’s already in the front seat and starting the car as he shouts over his shoulder to Nat.

“We’ll meet you there!”

She just waves at him as she gets into Wanda’s car, but Wanda doesn’t notice as she looks down at you worriedly. She takes a moment to breathe and look at your injuries carefully. She can tell you’re bleeding all over her jacket and the seat from a wound on your back that she realizes is from Rumlow removing your tracking device. She knows she’ll have to find a way to explain that to you, but for now she’s more concerned about the larger injury.

Even without being in the room, Wanda knows that Rumlow was close to you when he shot you. She’d expect nothing less from a man who in the past had always tried to do the most damage possible. The wound has bled profusely and you’ve turned sickly pale and it’s making Wanda nervous. She feels your pulse and is only worried further by how weak it is. Wanda doesn’t realize she’s crying until one of her hands finds yours and she squeezes it tightly.

“Please be okay. Please, please, Y/n I need you to be okay.”

The ride to the hospital seems too long, and she just watches you breathe for the entire time that is in reality only about ten minutes. When the car comes to a stop, Wanda jolts slightly before she gets ready to help move you. Bucky stops her short though telling her that someone will be out to grab you in a minute. She doesn’t get a chance to tell him that she’s not waiting when a door opens nearby and four people come running out of it. One’s pushing a gurney while the other two have various medical supplies in hand and the one in the front has something on a clipboard.

Wanda helps Bucky lift you out and you’re quickly deposited on the gurney and taken inside. Bucky and Wanda follow as the one nurse starts taking notes.

Wanda barely hears what she says, but later as she’s watching you get stabilized and then wheeled off to surgery, she’ll remember the words. Female, early 30s, gunshot wound to the abdomen with stab wounds to the back.

What really sticks with Wanda though when she’s standing next to Bucky in your room with the nurse, is the question she asks last.

“Any other health concerns we should know about?”

Wanda can’t think of any to save her life, and it’s after a prolonged pause that Bucky says two words that shoot through Wanda like lightning.

“She’s pregnant.”

Steve was just returning from making sure Vision’s body was taken care of when he gets a call from Nat. Apparently Rumlow had been working with someone who posed as a client from at your work to kidnap you. You disappeared and Bucky, Nat and Wanda were all going to look for you. He’d been put in charge of calling the police and filing a report against the vet assistant at your work who had helped him. You weren’t conscious to tell them the name, so he’d given the name of the clinic and then the lead doctor’s phone number for them to investigate further.

It wasn’t until he heard that you had been shot and Rumlow was dead, that Steve left the compound. It was getting late and he knew that he had to get someone to take care of Rumlow, but he left that be for a few minutes as he called Bucky.

“Steve hey.”

Steve can tell that his friend is tired and stressed just from those two words and he fears the worst as he listens to what Bucky has to say.

“How is she doing?”

Apparently, you were in surgery and it wasn’t going well at all. You had lost a lot of blood and you were at risk of kidney and brain damage if your blood transfusion didn’t work fast enough. They hadn’t heard word on anything else yet and Wanda was appropriately beside herself at the uncertainty of the entire situation. The doctors hadn’t committed to an answer on your prognosis at this point and the only thing they had told Wanda was that you’re likely to lose the baby, if you haven’t already.

Steve falls back against the driver’s seat with a curse at this news. He feels horrible about the possibility that you and Wanda, all of them really, were so excited about this only to have it ripped away so soon after. He can’t imagine how Wanda’s feeling and he tries to think of what their options are.

“Has anyone contacted Pietro?”

He and Bucky were usually on the same page and he claims to have already called him and he’s on his way.

“I’m worried about her, Steve. She’s just been sitting in silence and staring off into space. She’s not even crying.”

Steve frowns at this because he’s seen Wanda get emotional before. He’s seen the entire spectrum of positive and negative emotion from the redhead. When she was distraught, she could behave similarly to how she did when they confronted Vision. She would scream in anger and resort to violence if necessary. Steve had only seen Wanda like she is now a couple of times. The first was when the Maximoff parents had died and Wanda and Pietro became orphans. The second time was when Pietro had gotten into a horrible car accident and almost died.

This had been while you and Wanda were married and luckily, you’d been there to help her through it. Steve hopes that Pietro will be enough to get her through this. Luckily Bucky says he’s not too far away that he should get there before him. Steve decides that since you’re still in surgery, and most of the family is flocking to the hospital, he’s going to grab dinner to bring to them. Despite appreciating his presence, Wanda really needs her brother, or you. Honestly, she needs both of you right now and Steve just prays that by tomorrow she’ll still have the two of you.

Wanda’s sitting in a private waiting room staring at the wall across from her. She’s been doing this for close to two hours since you went to surgery, and the only interruptions have been from nurses that have stopped by periodically when there are updates. There has only been one real update and it was not a good one, and Wanda’s been silent ever since. She was told that you may not make it. That your body is struggling to deal with the amount of blood you’d lost. The term the doctor used was vaguely familiar to her, you’d know it for sure, but the important part of it is that you’re in trouble. They were doing everything they could, but it was up to you at this point.

The kicker was that not only was she at risk of losing you, but she’s almost certain you’re going to lose their baby. It wasn’t your fault and she wasn’t mad, at least not at you. She was angry at Rumlow and Vision, and if she could kill them again, she would, slowly. However, right now she’s just deeply depressed by the idea of losing you and your unborn child. As horrible as it feels, and Wanda’s been struggling with this for a while, she’d gladly pick you over your baby. She wants kids so badly, but not at such a high price. She wants you more than anything, including kids, and she’ll go the rest of her life just being a cat mom if you make it through this.

Pietro arrives to find an odd sight that starts with his sister. She’s staring at the ceiling now contemplating her life without you and kids, and she’s oblivious to her concerned friends that surround her. They’re equally worried about you and Wanda at this point, as they sit in uncomfortable chairs waiting impatiently for good news that may not come. Bucky’s going between staring at the floor or checking on Wanda. Nat’s looking less worried, but she’s clearly concerned as she watches both Bucky and Wanda and the door restlessly.  She’s petting Boone who is just lying down on the floor whining occasionally. He doesn’t know what’s happened, but he knows that everyone seems tense, and you’re not here, so he’s upset.

Nat spots Pietro first and she sighs in relief before glancing to his sister who’s still spacing out. Bucky jumps to his feet and hugs the blonde before filling him in.

“How’s she doing?”

“They’re both hanging in there, but we could use your help.”

Pietro nods as he moves over to his sister after shooting Nat a smile. He sits down beside her, but its not until he reaches out for her that she realizes he’s there. She jumps slightly before looking to her brother with a frown.

“Sestra.”

He says a few things in their native language, and Wanda responds in a way that tells her friends what she’s saying even if they don’t understand it. She’s still frowning until Pietro says something with a smirk and a suggestive tone. She smacks his arm before rolling her eyes and leaning into the older Maximoff’s shoulder with a sigh.

“I’m tired, Piet. Tired and worried. I feel like I failed.”

Pietro knows this without her even saying it because he knows his sister well. She’s blaming herself because she let you go back to work, and someone somehow slipped by Bucky and took you. There’s a lot to be upset about, but it’s no one’s fault but Rumlow’s and Vision’s. He’s glad that they’re both dead, but he would have liked to participate in that. Still, he focuses his attention on his exhausted sister who’s only minutes away from falling asleep on him.

“You know what Y/n would say about this, don’t you?”

There’s no response despite having heard what Pietro says. Wanda just doesn’t have the energy to argue with him right now. She’s convinced that she should have done more and by not doing so, by letting you go back to work, she let this happen. As if Pietro can hear her thoughts, he shakes his shoulder to get her attention. Wanda scowls in annoyance and sits up to glare at her brother, but he beats her to it with a pointed look.

“Wh-?”

“She’d look at you like this, and tell you to shut up and you know it.”

Wanda sighs as she starts to cry at the thought of you saying this exact thing to her. You do it occasionally, when Wanda’s really stressed for no reason and you’re trying to convince her to calm down. It’s reserved for special cases, and this would certainly be one of them. Despite how it initially annoyed her that you did this, she would love to hear this from you right now. Even if she doesn’t believe it.

Wanda nods as she wipes her eyes and rests her head back on her brother’s shoulder. She sighs heavily as she looks to her brother and then her friends who are watching the exchange between siblings.

“I know. You’re not wrong.”

Pietro laughs at this before he just shakes his head and leans against Wanda with a smile.

“That’s the closest you’ll get to saying I’m right, isn’t it?”

Wanda rolls her eyes but doesn’t deny it as she closes her eyes and takes another deep breath. She smiles slightly before looking around the room at her friends. She sighs again before offering them a grateful look. She feels bad that she’s ignored them for so long while she’s been stuck in her head. She’s sure they are worried about you as well.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t thank you guys for finding her. I really appreciate it.”

They both just nodded and were about to speak up when there’s a knock on the door. Wanda immediately sits up and Bucky straightens up as well when the door opens to reveal someone in a white coat.

“Mrs. Maximoff, your wife’s out of surgery.”

Wanda stands up to meet the doctor in the middle of the room with a concerned look. She needs to know how you are doing. She assumes that he would have led with the bad news if you hadn’t made it. That said, she’s been hard-pressed in the past to find medical doctors that she’s liked. Maybe she was just picky, and she held everyone to higher standards than was typical. For this reason, she wishes she could have gotten you to the compound and Dr. Palmer.

“How is she?”

The brunette in front of her frowns slightly and Wanda feels her heart rate pick up. Pietro gets up and comes to stand next to her, but she barely notices as she’s waiting anxiously for the doctor to speak up.

“She’s still not in the clear yet, but let’s give her time before we talk any further about prognosis.”

Pietro cringes and Nat shoots the doctor a glare as Wanda stares at him in shock. Bucky crosses his arms and shoots the brunette a disapproving look, but he says nothing as Pietro speaks up. Wanda’s still trying to figure out how someone told her that you’re still not guaranteed to make it, but that he doesn’t care to discuss it at the moment.

“She’s not in the clear. Can you elaborate on that?”                                              

Wanda’s already trying to figure out how to get you out of here and to the compound by the time the doctor dares to sigh. He might be tired, he might be annoyed, but it’s not appreciated by anyone in the room. Wanda tilts her head to listen to the doctor’s explanation and her faith in him continues to drop with each passing second.

“At the end of surgery, she wasn’t doing well, so she was put into a medical coma to give her time to recover.”

Pietro stares at him incredulously while Wanda contemplates how to kill this brunette in the most painful way possible. She wonders where this guy came from and why they weren’t seeing their regular doctor. She’ll have to ask about this soon. Nat stands up and Wanda realizes that she needs to speak up or else someone’s going to get punched.

“Is she stable right now?”

This question seemed to be more complicated than Wanda intended and the brunette just frowns as he thinks about it for a moment. Wanda’s lost patience at this point however and she’s speaking again before he can respond.

“Assuming that she’s able to stay on the same medications/treatments, would she be at risk if she went for a 30-minute drive?”

The uncertainty on his face was enough to cement Wanda’s decision and Bucky seems to know where she’s going with this as well, and he grabs his phone in preparation. Pietro is also understanding what Wanda’s getting at and he prepares to follow his sister as she storms out of the room.

“I suppose. I wouldn’t advise it, but I doubt she’d decompensate.”

That’s all Wanda needs to hear and she nods before shooting the doctor a displeased smile.

“Thank you doctor, we’ll take it from here.”

Pietro and Wanda head for the door, the former on the phone to call Dr. Palmer, while Nat and Bucky stay back to organize a pick-up team. Wanda’s going to get you out of here and under the care of someone that she trusts as soon as possible. She ignores the doctor’s protests and follows the hall to the first person she finds.

She asks where you are and she’s shown to your room immediately. She stops in the doorway when she spots you and it takes her a moment to move again. You’re hooked up to a lot of different machines and you’re still too pale for comfort as she walks further into the room to see you. Your breathing is slow and deep like you’re asleep, and she takes a deep breath before reaching out for you with a small smile.  

“Hi detka, we’re going to get you out of here, okay? I’ll get you taken care of.”

Wanda squeezes your hand and just kneels at your bedside not bothering to get a chair. She sighs as she listens to your monitors and closes her eyes to try and take a breather. She vaguely hears her brother get off the phone and walk towards her, but she doesn’t pay him any mind until he starts talking. She looks up when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and she sees Pietro smiling at her.

“Christine will be waiting for us when we get there. She’ll be safe and away from that ass.”

Wanda can’t help but smile at this and she nods before standing up to hug her brother. She always gives him shit for being obnoxious and egotistical, but she knew it was really a front and that the blonde wasn’t like that. He was protective, caring and dedicated to his family above all. She loved him an embarrassing amount and she was glad that he was here with her.

“Thank you, Piet.”

By the time they all get to the compound, Dr. Palmer is already there waiting with Dr. Hale, and a few others who have been briefed on what happened to you. The team had already been in touch with the doctor you’d been treated by and they had everything they needed to know. Wanda walks in and watches you get hooked up to everything, but she’s distracted by a hand on her shoulder.

“Wanda, I’m so sorry. “

Wanda turns into the touch and sees Christine shooting her a sympathetic look. She’s pulled into a hug by the other redhead and she sighs as she allows herself to relax. You’re going to be well taken care of now, and she trusts her expertise more than anyone else’s in the field.

“Thank you, Christine, and thank you for helping.”

She nearly rolls her eyes at the younger redhead but she ends up just scoffing before waving her off. She can tell how rattled Wanda is and instead of addressing this and making her more nervous, she focuses on you and your care. She’d called your doctor and asked for all of the information he had, and after going through his surgery step by step, she determined that you were treated appropriately.

“Of course. I want you to know, that despite being an ass, Dr. Frick did all the right things.”

Wanda begrudgingly accepted this with a frown and she turned back to see that you were all set up. You were still undisturbed by the hustle and bustle around you, and Wanda was at least grateful that you didn’t seem to be in pain.

“That’s good to hear at least.”

Christine nods before looking over to you and then turning back to Wanda with an apologetic look.

“He’s smart, but unfortunately his bedside manner leaves a lot of be desired.”

Wanda actually laughs at this because it’s certainly true, and she thinks about how you’d feel about all of this. You didn’t like a good number of medical doctors that have treated you and you certainly wouldn’t have liked this one. This thought makes Wanda think of the last time you both were at the doctor and how disappointed you’d been to find out you weren’t pregnant. Felling this familiar disappointment again causes Wanda’s frown to deepen.

Realizing she’s distracted, Christine turns to Pietro before doing her best to make the redhead relax.

“We’re going to take good care of, Y/n, okay? I’ll let you know as soon as we know more.”

Despite insisting that she wasn’t going to leave your side, and that she was going to spend the night next to you in the hospital, Wanda finds herself back in her rooms. She’s since reunited with Boone who was confused and upset about his mother’s absence. He didn’t understand what was going on, and Wanda wasn’t in the mood to coddle him. She lies down on the bed before thinking about how fucked up things had gotten in the past week.

Vision was dead.

Rumlow was dead.

You were fighting for your life in a hospital bed.

All of this because Vision was a jealous, vindictive person who couldn’t let go of the idea of winning her over.

She becomes furious at the thought of everything he’d put you through this week and over the years. She thinks back to what you said about Vision harassing you without her knowing, and she wants to kick herself for not mentioning it to him. She’d been so distracted by everything else going on that she’d forgotten to address it, and now it was too late. Sure she supposed he was dead, and he wouldn’t be able to lie to you anymore. However, as far as Wanda was concerned, he hadn’t been punished nearly enough for what he did to you, but she was just going to have to live with that. She sighs heavily before she looks around the room and sees Boone staring at her from where he’s lying down on the ground. She shoots him an equally sad look before she pats the bed next to her.

“Come here, boy.”

She waits as he rounds the bed before jumping into your spot quickly. Wanda usually doesn’t let him in bed, but tonight she’ll make an exception. She doesn’t want to sleep alone right now, and Boone is the closest she’ll get to being with you at the moment. She waves him closer and he ventures across the bed to lie down next to her. He places his head on her shoulder and licks her face which makes her smile despite how gross it is.

“Thanks, Boone.”

She’s thinking about when Boone will be able to see you again when she falls asleep a few minutes later. Wanda wakes up the next morning despite being exhausted because her phone is ringing. She didn’t hear it at first. It was Boone who sat up and started to nudge her before she realized someone wanted her attention. She reached out blindly for her phone and checked the caller ID. It’s her brother and she almost considers not answering it, but then the sound of knocking motivates her enough to press the call button.

“Piet?”

“Hey, let me in. I brought you something!”

Wanda sighs in defeat and watches as Boone runs to the front door to greet the other Maximoff. She doesn’t bother with a change of clothes and heads to the door in whatever she put on yesterday with a sigh. Boone’s pawing at the door and she just nudges him out of the way so she can let her brother in.

She’s not expecting to see him there with a cake and a bottle of booze, and she just stares at him as he walks through the doorway.

“Piet, what are you doing here?”

He just smiles at her as he turns around and gestures to the items in his hand. Wanda can’t read what the cake says, but it has blue icing that spells something. She decides to worry about that later and watches as Boone greets her brother while sniffing the cake in his hand.

“I brought you breakfast.”

Wanda follows her brother to the kitchen where he sets down the cake before handing her the alcohol. It’s her favorite drink that she doesn’t have much because not only is it crazy expensive, close to $10k for a bottle, but it makes her very drunk, very quickly. The few times she had it with you had been predictably wild. She eyes the bottle with longing because she’d love to have some now, but it is only 8 in the morning, and you’re still sleeping in a hospital bed.

“Thanks, Piet, but isn’t it a little early? I should probably check on Y/n first.”

He knew that Wanda was going to say that, but he’d already checked on you and you were the same. He mentions this before deciding that he needs to tell her the truth. He suspects that Wanda already knows, but telling her now that it’s certain is something that she needs to hear so she can start to process it.

“I just came by from checking up on her. Christine told me a couple of things to pass to you.”

Wanda frowns as she looks away from the bottle that she’d taken from her brother. She sets it down on the counter and waits for Pietro to get to the point.

“What did she say?”

Pietro pulls out two of the stools at the counter and sits down before gesturing for his sister to sit. She does and she tries not to get too nervous when Pietro sighs again.

“She told me that Y/n probably needs to be asleep for a week before waking her up. She wants to make sure that she’s healthy enough.”

Wanda sighs in defeat at the thought of this. She hates that you’re so hurt and that you are in a coma. Mostly she hates that she couldn’t stop it from happening. She just wants to have you with her again, to hold you close, but she knows you need to get better. She needs to give you this time to get better despite how much she wants you awake right now. She nods in agreement because she’s not going to do anything to compromise your recovery. She’ll make do.

“Okay, what else?”

Pietro hesitates and that’s all Wanda needs to realize this isn’t good news. Not that the last bit was exactly good, but she could at least live with that. She waits as her brother finds the words to confirm her second worst fear.

“She also confirmed that Y/n is no longer pregnant.”

Wanda doesn’t respond immediately and Pietro watches as her face falls and he sees a blip of sadness before the mask is up. Wanda just shakes her head before she looks away and tries to find a distraction. It works about as well as she thought it would, and by the time she spots Boone nearby she already has tears in her eyes. She hates this. She hates it so much, and she wants to scream and hit someone, but there’s no one here but her brother.

She also knows that it won’t make anything better in the end. She might feel good for a few seconds, but the end result will be the same. She’ll feel defeated, cheated and angry for the two of you. She wipes her eyes, watching as Boone comes up to put his head on her leg with a whine. She pets him, not noticing as Pietro stands up and grabs a glass for his sister.

“I’m sorry, sestra.  I know you and Y/n were excited.”

Wanda can only nod with a sad look as she takes the offered glass with a very large shot poured into it. She doesn’t drink it immediately. She looks to Boone who’s practically in her lap now before she takes a sip, not the whole thing because she doesn’t want to get drunk quite yet.

“I had a feeling. I hate to say this and make it all about me, but I--.”

Wanda trails off as she shakes her head with a heavy sigh. She doesn’t want to say this out loud. Even though she’d decided in the hospital yesterday, she still felt bad about admitting that she was more worried about you than your baby. She could live without a kid, but she wasn’t sure if she could live without you.

Pietro frowns as he reaches out for his sister’s glass to take it from her. She doesn’t seem to notice, but her hand’s shaking so badly, Pietro’s worried she’ll drop it. He sets it down before looking back to her sister who’s lost in thought.

“What is it?”

Wanda considers shaking her head and taking it back. She doesn’t want everyone to know this, and her brother is a bit of a loud mouth. That said, with something this important, he might actually be able to keep a secret.

“It’s horrible, and I hate that she lost the baby, but I care about her first and foremost. I need her to be okay. I don’t need a baby.”

Pietro nods at this and is about to tell his sister that he understands when she speaks up again. She’s starting to really worry about how you’ll react when you wake up. Will you remember everything? Will you get angry at her? She has no way of knowing and that’s stressing her out, and she hates that it’s overshadowing her fear of you not waking up at all.

Wanda doesn’t realize she’s crying again until Boone jumps up on her as she’s wiping her eyes. She pushes him back down before she turns to face Pietro. He’s already standing up and Wanda meets him for a hug as she starts to cry harder.

“I just –I don’t want her to be mad at me.”

Pietro sighs as he holds his sister tightly. He’d considered this briefly as well when he’d thought about what had happened to you. He’d known about the tracker because he’d actually suggested it when you’d first gotten hurt by Wanda’s enemies. You’d been unconscious and he’d joked about putting one in you to be able to find you if this happened again. He hadn’t realized his sister took him seriously until he asked about it a little later.

“I know you don’t, but honestly Wanda she’s not going to be happy. She might be annoyed for a while, but you know how much she loves you. She’ll get over it. You honestly just wanted to help her, and you did. You found her a lot faster than last time.”

Wanda thinks about this and despite her brother’s sound logic, she knows that she won’t be able to stop worrying about it until she talks to you. She just hopes that you feel the way that Pietro says you will.

It’s a very weird feeling being conscious of your unconsciousness. Your entire body aches and you’re glad you’re lying down because you doubt you could even hold yourself up. You’re sore and you can’t remember what happened to you immediately. You’re going in and out of consciousness when you hear people around you start talking. Their voices are muffled and you definitely don’t recognize them as you try to fight your fatigue. Sometimes you want to wake up, and other times you wish you were in a deeper sleep. You feel pangs of pain every now and then in your abdomen, and that’s how you remember what happened to you.

You remember getting shot and then it’s all a blur after that. You don’t remember anyone coming to rescue you, and you don’t remember how you ended up here. Still, you hope that Vision and Rumlow are dead, and that Wanda’s okay. You hope that she’s not too worried or too mad at you.

You miss her. A lot. You wish you could be with her and Boone and the rest of your family instead of stuck in this bed. You wonder why she hasn’t visited you yet. How long have you been here?

You don’t realize that when you dream of Wanda visiting you a little later, it’s not a dream at all.

Wanda and Boone head down to medical to visit you later that afternoon. She’d gotten drunk with her brother before sleeping it off and deciding that she’d avoided you for long enough. It wasn’t right to ignore you when you were bedridden because of her own fears. She just had to believe that if you did get mad at her, you would forgive her.

Boone’s sniffing frantically as he follows Wanda down the hall to your room. She can tell he’s looking for you, and it makes her heart break a little at the idea of him not understanding what’s going on, or why you’re down here yet again. She ignores the looks she and Boone get as she comes up on your room. She grabs Boone’s harness before telling him to sit, and despite realizing he’s found you he does as he’s told before looking to the rest of the people in the room.

She steps into the room to greet the nurses and the one doctor she recognizes. She’s still a little drunk she thinks because it takes her a solid three seconds to come up with her name, but she uses her time to think watching you sleep.

“Dr. Hale, how are you?”

Wanda looks away from you because she knows you’re about the same as last time. If not, she’s sure your doctor will tell her otherwise. She watches as the blonde smiles slightly before claiming that she’s been busy but she doesn’t mind it. She then looks to you before telling Wanda how you’ve done overnight.

“She’s been stable overnight. Nothing really new to report luckily.”

Wanda supposes this is good news and she’s about to nod in agreement when she hears Boone whine from the doorway. Dr. Hale turns first and Wanda sighs before she shoots the doctor an apologetic look.

“Sorry, he’s just been restless without Y/n. I just wanted him to see where she was.”

She nods in understanding because she knows how upset her cat gets when she leaves for too long, and she imagines it must be worse for a dog. She turns to Boone before waving to him and patting her leg in a ‘come here’ motion.

“I understand. Hi Boone. Do you want to come in?”

Boone practically runs into the room and Wanda smiles as he nudges Taylor’s offered hand with his nose before running over to you. He’s tall enough to see you but he tries to jump up on your bed. However, Wanda sees it coming, and she stops him with a frown.

“No buddy. No jumping.”

Boone whines but he doesn’t try to jump again as he licks your hand before nudging it with another whine. He moves your hand so it’s on his nose before he just sits next to you and leans into the bed. He looks very uncomfortable, but Wanda just lets him be for a moment before she takes a closer look at you. As she moves towards your bed, Dr. Hale shoots a pointed look to the nurses and they just nod before heading for the door. The blonde follows behind them with one last look as she leaves the trio alone.

“I’ll give you privacy. Let me know if you need anything.”

Wanda thanks her before she looks around the room for a chair. She sighs as she spots one on the other side of the room. She grabs it and sits next to Boone by your side with a groan. She really shouldn’t have drunk all of that this morning, but she’s honestly just wanting to sleep. She holds your hand before kissing it with a smile.

“Hi Y/n. I should apologize to you. For a lot of things.”

She stops as she looks to Boone who’s putting his paw up on the bed next to you, but not attempting to jump up. He’s watching Wanda though because he knows he’ll get in trouble if he does it, but he can’t help but want to.

“I shouldn’t have put all the pressure on you when we decided we wanted to have kids. I know you volunteered, but it put a lot of unnecessary stress on you and I’m sorry I didn’t realize it. I want you to know that I’d rather have you over kids any day. So, I need you to wake up soon, detka.”

Wanda wipes away her tears before she takes a deep breath and squeezes your hand. She touches your cheek glad to at least feel that you’re warmer than the last time she saw you.

“I know I should have told you about the tracker. It wasn’t right to do it without your consent. I apologize, and I’ll do whatever I have to, to make it up to you.”

She sits next to you in silence for a while before she decides that she needs to leave you soon. If she’s doesn’t, she’ll stay here for the rest of the day just watching you sleep and quickly getting more anxious. She knows this is just day one for you, and that you have a lot of time to go before you’ll feel better, let alone wake up. She needs to give you time to recover, and she knows hanging out here all day will be bad for everyone. She’ll be in the way, and she’ll become more depressed with each passing hour. So after about an hour of sitting with you and talking to you about what’s transpired since you were awake, she decided to leave. She thought about it a lot last night, and after drinking with her brother this morning she’s decided to pay Strucker a visit. She wants to see if he knows about or played a part in Rumlow’s involvement in Vision’s plot. She kisses your forehead before standing and returning her chair to its original place. She turns to Boone who’s still resting next to you before waving him along.

“Come on Boone. We can visit again later. We’re going for a drive.”

It takes a little more than that and a tug or two to get Boone to follow her. He whines a lot, but he eventually leaves you and follows Wanda to the elevator. She can already tell he’s moping but she’s hoping a ride in the car will make him feel better. She checks in with Bucky and then Steve to tell them of her plan, and she’s not surprised that they’re both a little caught off guard by her sudden interest in Strucker.

Nevertheless, Bucky agrees to hang out here and keep an eye on you while Steve gets ready to accompany Wanda. She’s not going to bother calling. She’s hoping that he’ll be exactly where he usually is, and after getting changed and loading Boone into the car, she sets off to find Strucker.

Taglist: @whitewidowsbite, @exclusivitymajor, @natswifeysblog15, @the-mute1

Part 11

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff fanfiction #wanda x reader #wanda x you #natasha romanoff & reader #natasha romanoff #yelena belova & reader #yelena belova #pietro maximoff #sliver springs #mob au #marvel fic

[ukulelevillainwrites]

who follows the rules anyway?

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

pairing : anthony lockwood x reader

summary : y/n gets fired from Fittes and seeks refuge with George, only to find out he works with the worst guy she's ever met

word count : 3.4k

notes : with this part the plot actually takes off, more will happen in part 3 obviously i'm just getting started ;)

---

The following day they met again at the client’s house to take care of the final details. They explained that the clock was the source and that they had to get rid of it for the haunting to cease. She simply needed to open the case and they would be on their way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as it should have been.

“This clock has been in my family for generations. I don’t care what you say, you are not taking this heirloom to be burned among other rubbish.” Mrs. Overton was very upset. She didn’t want to hear any advice given and categorically refused to open the case.

“I understand your disappointment Madam, but if you want your house to be safe again, I really don’t see any other solution.” Mrs Dufour explained.

The conversation had been lasting for hours. Well, metaphorically at least. It really had been 15 minutes, but hearing a client complain about the source wasn’t what y/n liked about her job.

“What if you got display cases made out of silver glass?”

All eyes turned to her.

“Maybe we could find a compromise, we keep your clock while you install new displays and put it back once everything is made safe. That way you can still enjoy your family’s history without the creeping fear. Would that be possible Mrs. Dufour?”

“I don’t think-”

“That is an excellent idea!” Mrs. Overton exclaimed.

“But Mrs. Overton I’m not sure it could be that simple. I really think you should consider giving up your clock.” Mrs. Dufour objected.

“I’d rather keep it. Hopefully you oversee young people with practical solutions! You should listen to them.”

Kipps and Bobby had smiles on their faces, but Mrs. Dufour glared in her direction.

They agreed on a date to bring back the clock, signed a few papers and soon after the team was on its way back to the Fittes headquarters.

“You did a great job keeping our client satisfied today y/n. I’m really impressed.” Kipps said.

“Th- Thank you. That means a lot.” She looked down at her feet, she felt incredibly intimidated. Somehow, she still wasn’t used to receiving that many compliments. She finally got those four words she had waited a month to hear. Her dream of taking on more responsibilities was getting closer, she could feel it.

“Miss y/n, could I have a word with you?”

Her happiness was cut short. Was she really in trouble because she tried to keep a client happy with their service?

“Your behavior today was extremely disrespectful. Contradicting a supervisor in front of a client is beyond unprofessional. What image of the Fittes organization does it send? I hope you won’t do this again.”

“I was just trying to keep Mrs. Overton satisfied. But I understand.” She tried to remain civil. But really she had a hard time not rolling her eyes.

“Good. Now I must leave, I have another appointment.”

“I can take the clock back to Fittes’ if you want. It’s where we’re headed anyway.”

“Thank you but it won’t be necessary.”

“Really it’s no trouble at all.”

“I’ll take care of it myself, no need to insist. Good day.”

What a nice and pleasant person. Clearly if she considered this insubordination, she must have had her hands full when she had to supervise George. As she thought about him, she noticed how insistent she was on bringing the clock back herself. Especially if she had another meeting before…

---

“You should break into her office too.”

“Haha very funny. Will you ever stop making fun of George? He really was worth knowing if you gave him a shot. You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him.” she told El.

“I’m not joking. If he’s such a great guy maybe, he was onto something. And her behavior with you was in fact very suspicious.”

“I think I might be reading into some things. I was tired, I’m probably not even remembering it right. Plus, it would serve me right if I got caught and ended up like George. How am I supposed to become a higher up in the Fittes organization with that on my record?”

“Yes, but you don’t see the bigger picture. If you expose her activities, you get all the praise and move up the ladder even faster.”

They couldn’t be serious. How could they even offer to do this? On the other hand, she was very curious to see what Mrs. Dufour could be hiding.

“There’s no way I’m doing this.”

“I wouldn’t let you do this alone! I’ve got your back. I would be on the lookout; you take five minutes inside her office and you come out without being seen. It’s no big deal. And if she is at a meeting right now chances are she won’t be back for hours. Now’s our chance!”

She considered their offer. How could she even think about doing this? But if she didn’t find anything, it would put to rest her suspicions. And if they did find something, it would benefit her in every way possible.

“Okay let’s go right now. But I’m only staying inside for two minutes, non-negotiable.”

“As you wish.”

They located the office easily. It was on the first floor, second office on the left after the elevators. It was lunch time, everything was quiet. y/n couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. Her mind dissociated from her body. It went totally blank and watched as her fingers methodically picked the lock to Mrs. Dufour’s office. El stayed outside to warn her if someone came nearby. She entered the room with determination, trying to remain calm. Her heart was beating atrociously fast. What was she doing? As she stared at the desk in front of her she realized she had no idea what she was looking for. A source from another case that hadn’t been burned maybe? She opened a first drawer, and a second, a third… Nothing. That was such a bad idea. She had to leave. Now. As she turned around the door slammed. Oh no. Was Mrs. Dufour back already? Would El be able to distract her long enough for her to exit discreetly?

“I heard her mumble something about sources being stolen and suspicious behaviors, I didn’t catch all of it but it sounded like nonsense.”

That was El’s voice. What were they doing? She heard steps coming her way. She needed to hide. As she stepped behind a coat hanger near the door, Mrs. Dufour entered the room.

“Miss y/n, I know you are in here. Come out. Right. Now.”

She was holding her breath. There was no escape. She took a step forward. El was standing next to Mrs. Dufour. But they didn’t look panicked. In fact, they were smiling.

“I can’t believe this is the second agent I find here illegally this week. Between your behavior this morning and your break-in, insubordination isn’t enough to describe your insolent attitude.”

No words came out of her mouth. The shock she felt froze her in place.

“You are of course fired, that goes without saying. You can collect your things, I want you gone by the end of the day.”

“I’ll walk her out.” El said, a proud look on their face.

This wasn’t happening. It was just another vivid dream that merged with reality. She was going to wake up in her bed, the sun slowly rising in her window, and none of this would have happened. This could not be the end of her career. Her dream could not be crumbling in front of her eyes in just an instant, to be replaced with a horrific nightmare instead. No this wasn’t real.

“I can’t believe you followed me that easily to be honest.”

She looked up at El, tears now starting to blur her vision. She could only frown.

“But I guess when you’re that naïve and gullible you can’t possibly be qualified to be a supervisor. People like you shouldn’t be put in charge at all to be honest. I’ll never understand why you of all people were selected to be on Kipps’ team. Well now I guess there’s a spot open.” They said with a wink.

She shoved her “friend” aside.

“You betrayed me to get my job?”

“I would say I was smart and did my job correctly, betray makes me sound like a villain.”

y/n had shared a room with El for the past 4 months, she had grown to like them. Of course they were close, they basically lived together. Trust was part of the deal. How could she ever sleep next to that person again? Oh. Right. She wouldn’t have to. As of now she didn’t have a job and didn’t have a place to live either. She would be kicked out of the Fittes housing. She needed to get out, to walk, to breathe. She felt the walls closing in on her, she couldn’t breathe.

She rushed back to her room, tears streaming down her face. She opened her suitcase and bags, filled them with her stuff without taking the time to fold anything. She had to get out of here fast, she couldn’t look El in the eyes. She didn’t want to see their face at all. How could they have pretended for so long, putting on phony smiles and cheering at her success when really they just planned on replacing her one way or another? What did she do to deserve their hate? Was she really the problem? Maybe El was right. Maybe she was too naïve to ever be successful. Maybe she had brought this on herself.

She put on her backpack, took her rapier and her suitcase and exited the room. As she closed the door, El was coming back.

“I see you can’t get out fast enough. Good for you. Enjoy the night watch!” They had an arrogant smirk across their face.

She dropped her luggage, took one step closer and punched her dear friend in the face. They brought their hand up to stop the bleeding and looked at her with pure hatred in their eyes.

“Enjoy the broken nose!”

----

That helped relieve some tension. But she still felt like shit. What was she going to do? She couldn’t just go back home. Her parents would be so disappointed. Not because of the career but because she got fired. And because of the reason why she got fired. She was so ashamed of herself. How could she do something so stupid?

She wandered the streets of London, luggage in hand, for hours, lost in thought and mostly beating herself up. Aside from her life falling apart it was a beautiful day. The leaves were starting to change color, the light was still warm and golden. A fresh breeze rustled her hair as she crossed the street. She had no idea where she was going. She didn’t know that part of London well. She had passed Mayfair at least 15 minutes ago and was now in a more residential part of the city. The white houses had lavender at their balconies and most of them had an iron gate in front of the stairs that led to their door. The neighborhood was quiet and everything was still except for two crows hopping around at the end of the street. She was staring into space when a sudden loud noise made her jump. It was a malfunctioning ghost lamp that had went off even though curfew wasn’t for another couple of hours. It made her look up and she saw a sign reading Portland Row. That sounded familiar. Where had she heard of that street before? Wasn’t George living nearby? What was the number he had told her… 45? No, 35. She could always pay him a visit. It’s not like she had any place to be.

She hesitated. He would probably laugh at her. Though the situation was ridiculous. At least she would make someone smile. And she would get a cup of tea before wandering some more for the whole night. She looked for the number 35 and saw the sign across the street. She stared at the house for a while. She felt nervous for some reason. She looked at herself in a car window. She looked like a mess. Her hair was tangled, her eyes swollen from crying so much. George would probably take pity on her. That was so embarrassing. But given how her day was going she didn’t really care anymore.

As she opened the iron gate, she noticed a wooden sign that read “A. J. Lockwood & Co. Investigators”. The name didn’t ring a bell. The sign looked brand new. She vaguely remembered George mentioning a friend he was working with, but it didn’t look like she had met them before.

She felt lost. She wanted to run away, her shame growing with every step she took towards the door. It was almost unbearable. Burying herself into the woods in the middle of nowhere sounded more appealing suddenly. She forced her hand to knock on the door. She waited a few seconds that felt like hours. After a minute she figured they might be out. She turned around, ready to leave. This was a terrible idea. It was getting rid of the last tiniest bit of dignity she still had. As she stepped back one step the door suddenly opened.

“Hello, welcome to Lockwood & Co. Do you have an appointment?”

She turned around, surprised by the voice behind her.

“H-Hi George…”

“y/n? I didn’t expect you to come by so soon.” He looked at her and realized she didn’t look as proper as she’s used to. “Are you okay?”

“Not really if I’m being honest. Could I come in?”

“Of course, yes please”

He showed her inside.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Don’t worry it’s a slow day, I was just cleaning the kitchen.”

The hallway felt welcoming and seemed traditional at first. But as she walked deeper into the house, she noticed the masks hanging on the walls, the rapiers in the umbrella stand, the ancient weaponry on the shelves. The atmosphere was homely but also unsettling. It wasn’t unpleasant or threatening though. She felt strangely at ease.

They settled in a living room with the same atmosphere as the hallway. He brought her some tea and doughnuts she felt really grateful for.

“So, do you wanna talk about what happened to you? You clearly look like you’ve had a rough day.”

“I got fired from Fittes.” She blurted out. There. She’d said it out loud. It was official. George opened round eyes and looked at her in total disbelief. As he was about to say something she added

“For the same reason you got fired.”

George stared at her. His eyes couldn’t get any wider. They looked at each other for several minutes. After what felt like an hour George burst out laughing. y/n quickly followed. She relieved all the tension and stress she had been accumulating today. They laughed, laughed and laughed until they were out of breath.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Unfortunately, I am.” She said wiping a tear. At least this one wasn’t from sadness or anger.

“But what? How?” He could barely articulate full sentences.

She told him the full story. How she hadn’t believed anything he had told her. How Mrs. Dufour’s behavior had been strange. How she got talked into breaking the rules. How she was betrayed. How stupid and gullible she felt. How guilty she felt. For once it was her turn to talk. George found himself on the other side and listened closely to the whole thing.

“You really go all out when you break the rules.”

This threw them into another fit of laughter. At this moment, they heard the front door close.

“Hey George, sounds like you’re having fun. Who’s your friend?”

She turned around to look at the guy who had just entered. Her smile dropped. Could this day get any worse? Standing in front of her was the most arrogant and pretentious guy she had ever had the displeasure of meeting.

He took a step forward, putting out his hand as he said

“I’m Anthony Lockwood, pleasure to meet you. You must be y/n, George told me you would be stopping by.”

She stared at him; her anger rekindled. She didn’t shake his hand and simply waited, remaining perfectly still. After a few seconds he casually took a seat in a sofa opposite the couch she was sitting on.

“You look familiar, have we met before?”

She couldn’t believe him. Of course he didn’t remember. If the doughnuts hadn’t been that good, she would have gotten up and left without looking back. But she was desperately hungry, and she wasn’t so eager to spend the night wandering the streets of London with no place to go.

“You might have seen me around near Fittes, but I don’t think we’ve met.” She answered politely. He looked at her with a strange intensity, his expression briefly unreadable before changing into a complaisant smile. “It’s nice to finally meet George’s colleague.” She concluded.

“Well, more like his employer technically.”

For heaven’s sake. She mustered all the self-control she had left to not roll her eyes. She forced a smile, but it looked cold and stiff. The room fell silent, but it was probably for the best.

“So how are things going over at Fittes?” Lockwood asked her. He was trying to start the conversation again but there was a certain disdain in his tone that she didn’t appreciate.

George shot her a glance before turning insistent eyes towards Lockwood. It was sweet how considerate he was trying to be.

“Not that great actually since I was fired a few hours ago.” She said in a nonchalant tone.

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.” He looked at his shoes, avoiding eye contact. “Having heard you laugh so much I expected a much happier context.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“No, I didn’t mean-” He stopped mid-sentence. He looked defeated and just drank his tea in silence.

George turned towards her.

“So what are you gonna do now?”

“I haven’t got the slightest idea…” She admitted. “Maybe wandering the streets of London tonight will inspire me.”

“You don’t have a place to stay?” George asked, a certain worry in his voice.

“All the trains were booked, so I couldn’t go back home.” She lied. She didn’t want to admit that she was scared to tell her family about her situation. “I could always find a hotel I guess.”

“Don’t bother, you can stay with us tonight. Right, Lockwood?”

“Um, sure. I have an extra room in the attic.”

Fantastic. That was just what she needed. To stay even longer in his company.

“I really don’t want to impose. I’m sure you’ll be better off without me.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, it’s just one night. It’s the least I can do after putting those ideas about Mrs. Dufour in your head. It’s all my fault really.”

“Why would you say that?” Lockwood asked, intrigued.

“I sort of got fired for the same reason he did.” She admitted. She couldn’t help the shy smile that appeared on her face. She genuinely wanted to laugh at herself.

Lockwood laughed at the situation too. He looked at her with a charming smile but she felt like he was laughing at her for being so naïve.

“Rule number one around George is to do the exact opposite of what he does.”

“I had my reasons for acting like this. I wasn’t blindly imitating him, she was being suspicious.” She said defensively.

“Maybe next time, or at least if there is a next time, don’t let George’s wild theories get to you.” He said with a wink. There was another face she wanted to punch.

She took a deep breath to keep her urges under control. Giving in to anger would only get her kicked out and then she would really be wandering the streets all night. She could always find another plan tomorrow but for now she needed to eat and to sleep soundly. The day had been exhausting.

#lockwood and co #lockwood and co fic #ukuwrites #anthony lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood x y/n #lockwood and co imagine #who follows the rules

[mj-iza-writer]

Whumpee nervously waited for the doctor to do the eye check for their appointment. They hadn't told Caretaker yet, but they desperately needed new glasses. Whumper broke their other pair during their captivity.

They had made it this long without telling Caretaker, but it was getting terribly difficult to see and hide the squinting.

"Uh doctor", Whumpee sighed, "I can save you some time if you like. I'm not going to be able to read those letters."

"Let's try anyways, it's part of you checkup", the doctor started the test.

"Yes. You failed that", the doctor sighed, "is this something that came about during your time with Whumper?"

"No doctor, I've always had glasses for a while, Whumper broke my other pair", Whumpee looked down shyly, "I've been too nervous to bother Caretaker with it though. They've been so busy with me already."

"I understand that, but it's not good or fair for you to go about with bad vision", the doctor smiled, "I know Caretaker very well, they will be happy to know their is something they can help you with."

The doctor finished the rest of the exam, "given the circumstances, you are in fairly good health, just a few things. You need to get your weight up, and new glasses. You'll also find rest to be your best friend while you heal."

Whumpee nodded.

"Let's bring Caretaker in. We can tell them the news together", the doctor patted Whumpee's shoulder, then left.

Whumpee sighed, 'something else they have to deal with.'

Caretaker came in and winked at Whumpee, "so you are blind", they smiled, "I was kind of figuring, but didn't want to say anything in case you just couldn't read."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you with it. My other pair got broken by Whumper", Whumpee looked at the doctor.

"It's not a bother at all, I'm sorry you've gone so long without seeing", Caretaker sighed, "you've been with me a week and a half, plus however long it's been since those were broke. You definitely need them. Anything else you want to tell me."

"No besides what the doctor said, I seem healthy", Whumpee watched Caretaker pull out their phone.

"I'll get the appointment scheduled. Hopefully they're not booking way out", Caretaker looked, "please don't keep secrets from me. Your care is my top priority right now, and I need to know stuff like this to get you back to health. Don't worry about bothering me, I'd rather know, then find out."

Whumpee nodded.

Caretaker managed to get Whumpee in the next day for the eye appointment.

"Okay right in here", Caretaker led, "don't want the blind one to get lost", they teased.

That's was the running joke, and Whumpee enjoyed every bit of the humor.

The doctor clicked away with the lenses, and made the adjustment just right.

"Okay, you can pick your frames. You'll have to deal with this for about a week or so while the glasses are made", the doctor led them to the room.

Caretaker and Whumpee went through several glasses.

"These are just like my old pair", Whumpee held up a pair, "I kind of liked how they looked."

"Try them on and see if you still like them", Caretaker smiled.

"Okay", Whumpee slid them on and looked at Caretaker.

"I like them, what do you think", Caretaker held up a mirror.

Whumpee looked for a second, then felt their lips quiver.

"Are you okay?", Caretaker worried.

"Uh yes, just, overwhelmed", Whumpee smiled, "this is what I remember myself looking like, and when my glasses broke, I lost that, and I lost my sight. Now I'm seeing myself again, and I'll have my vision soon. I'm overwhelmed with excitement."

"I'm happy I am able to do things like this, these moments are the best. I'm able to watch someone be built back up", Caretaker smiled, "this is my favorite part of the job."

Whumpee pulled off the glasses and wiped a away a tear.

"Are these the glasses?", Caretaker questioned.

"Yes Caretaker", Whumpee wiped another tear away, and smiled. They took a deep breath, "these are the ones."

After they finished the order, Caretaker and Whumpee waited for the call for new glasses.

Taglist. As always please let me know if you want to be added or taken off of the list. It's not a problem at all. @villainsandheroes @the-beasts-have-arrived @sacredwrath @porschethemermaid @monarchthefirst @generic-whumperz @bloodyandfrightened

#whump community #whump stuff #whump writing #whump ideas #whumpee #whump #whump scenario #whumper #caretaking

[myers-meadow]

Severus Snape and his assistant: More than the sum of ingredients (ch. 1)

Title: More than the sum of ingredients

Chapter title: Introduction

Pairing: Severus Snape x his assistant, my female OC.

Summary: The start of a new year: fresh and bright! And this year, students are allowed to practice potions in the classrooms after hours - to great joy of many studious witches and wizards. To help Snape cope with the added workload, Dumbledore hires an assistant for him. Soon there will be more brewing than just potions.

Wordcount: 1341

Warnings: nothing for this chapter. This story will have it all: angst, fluff, and especially smut ^^. There will be warnings for future chapters, of course. This is probably not canon timeline wise.

Divider by delishlydelightfuldividers

For Hermoine, the new schoolyear started off ripe with promise. She was determined to excel once again, and with a new, hopefully better, Defence Against the Dark Arts professor – things were looking up. And as a cherry on top, during the first Potions class, professor Snape announced that he now had an assistant.

“Professor Dumbledore and I have come to an agreement,” he said it like it disgusted him, “to allow students to use this classroom outside of classes, to practice potions for the final exam. To make this go smoothly, I have appointed an assistant.”

Murmurs started in the back of the class. He swiftly ended those with a sharp stare.

“Groups of maximum four students can schedule a timeslot with her. Use of ingredients also goes through her. I strongly urge you to make use of this opportunity, since some of you seem to forget you need an Outstanding in this class to succeed in your O.W.L.s. Only the best can take Advanced Potions classes next year. Class dismissed.”

The word spread fast. Hermoine wasn’t the only hopeful student wanting to make use of this new opportunity and the timeslots filled up fast in the first week (as long as it didn’t clash with quidditch practice). What spread even faster, was that the new assistant was a cold-hearted and impatient young woman, named miss Medea Pimpelmees, and was almost as bad as Snape. The buzzing enthusiasm to improve Potion grades faded quick.

For Snape, it was easy to refer to her, so he didn’t have to deal with students himself, but for the students it was a puzzle. She was never at the place they expected her to be, so finding her was the first obstacle. Then there was hoping she was in a good enough mood to let them write their name on the sheet – at times it laid prominently on the desk while she simply said she didn’t have the parchment with her and they’d better come back another time.

After that step was completed, and it was time for brewing, she guarded the ingredients closely. When you needed something from the stores, there was a chance she’d give you something else, purely to mess with you. “Should’ve paid more attention and you’d know what horklump juice looks like,” was all she’d say, barely hiding the meanness on her face.

“Miss Pimpelmees, it says here we need wormwood, but there’s not any left,” said Neville, steeling himself, looking down at his feet in front of the desk where the new assistant sat.

She glanced up at him, “Wormwood? I could’ve sworn I refilled the vials yesterday.”

Standing up, she pulled Neville’s hand towards her, almost yanking the poor boy over her desk, to examine the empty vial, then went to the shelf to look for the rest of the supply.

“There really is none,” she muttered. “I’ll have to bring this up with Professor Snape. Thank you Neville. If it isn’t too late for your schedule, you may practice another potion. Amortentia doesn’t have wormwood as one of its ingredients.”

“But miss, what about the group after ours?” asked Neville.

She waved him off. “They’ll just have to wait. And I will have to search for the wormwood thief.” The venom in her voice returned at the mention of the thief.

Once back at his table, Neville barely sat down before Harry and Ron leaned towards him.

“What’s gotten into her? She hates us.”

“Do you think it’s some sort of trick? That she’s secretly telling Snape?” said Ron.

“I think she likes Neville,” Hermoine said, already cleaning up the remains of their failed wormwood-less potion.

And so it became that when a group had to put their name down on the list, or had to ask for specific ingredients, they sent Neville.

“Please, just this once?” begged a fifth year Hufflepuff. “I’ll do your Charms homework for the rest of the week!”

“You said that last time,” said Neville, begrudgingly. It did sound lovely to be able to go to Hogsmeade during the weekend with less homework to be done. “I can’t promise anything.”

“Thank you so much, Neville!” and they ran off with a bright smile.

“Why won’t you let us make Amortentia?” asked Draco, during one of the sessions he booked with Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy. The golden trio and Neville sat at the other end of the classroom. The way Draco seized up the new assistant, it was clear he looked to play a prank, ready to push and prod until getting a reaction. 

Not looking up from her book, she said: “I hardly think a guy like you should need it, do you?”

Satisfied with the answer, Draco looked at the other table, wearing a triumphant smile.

“A Wit-Sharpening Potion might prove useful instead,” she said, which wiped the smirk off his face. The snickers at the Gryffindor table were silenced similarly quickly by a sharp glare. The mess they left for her to clean up, however, had her cursing them out at the end of the lesson.

“Neville,” she called out, before anyone had a chance to leave the room. Of course they expected him to have to stay behind to clean it, even though Draco caused the mess. The group was used to such favouritism from the Potion's professor, so it wasn't at all surprising. He was met with grins from the Slytherins, and pitied looks from his friends, but he obediently trudged over to her desk.

“Yes?” he gulped, focussing on anything but the frown on her face.

“You need to negotiate with your peers. When they’re trying to get you to do something, you should say; ‘you do both Charms homework and History of Magic, then we have a deal’. Understood?”

Surprised, the boy nodded.

“Good. Leave.”

That night, professor Snape sat at his desk, grading essays, as his assistant, Medea, noted down which supplies needed restocking.

His low voice shook her from her thoughts. “I’ve received some complaints today.”

She just hummed, leaning the ledger against the shelf to make a note to order more wormwood.

“It was Draco. He said you insulted his intelligence.”

“And complimented his romantic prowess.”

Unbothered by the interruption, Snape continued: “By suggesting which potions he would or wouldn’t do well to brew.”

“I suppose so, yes,” was all she said, finally putting the paper down and walking to his desk. “If you want me to go easier on your Slytherins, I’ll keep it in mind, although I prefer to treat them like everybody else.”

Snape stared up at her for a moment. It all seemed too easy: she was quick to yield to him, despite that spark in her eyes. There was no ‘Malfoy deserved it’, nothing of the sort. No apologies either. He knew she was still testing him, seeing how far she could go before pissing him off. His demeaner invited that challenge. She wanted to see what made him angry, what he cared about, what he would do if she crossed a line.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said, eventually.

“Thank you, sir,” she said, looking him over once again, and walked to his side of the desk, until she was right next to him. With a rough movement, she opened the top drawer – it was often stuck – and got out a few sheets of parchment to write the orders on, to send them in the morning.

This close, Snape caught her scent. The potions of the day had clung to her, hiding her natural smell. A woman… She smelled like woman, like metal, something heady, and an amber and honey perfume. He hated her. He hated Dumbledore for assigning him an assistant.

Sometimes at the end of his classes, before she’d come to clean, he mixed up items in his storeroom on purpose. Her frustration at the mess outweighed his annoyance that it kept her around him longer in the evening – and he’d tell himself that as he fell asleep with images of her before his eyes.

#pro snape #severus snape #severus snape fanfic #harry potter fanfic #severus snape x oc #snape #snape x oc #snape fanfiction #snapedom #pro severus snape #meadow's writing #severus #snape fanfic #severus snape fanfiction #severus snape fandom

[themoonsbride]

hi our gorgeous girl 😻 i have an idea for another fluff for peter (i just love him with my heart) where he's one of the doctors at the lab and y/n is one of the numbers, they are a couple, and when he's assigned to do her regular check-up he sees that she's sad and he's worried she's not feeling well, but she finally tells him that she's sad because she feels like she's not good and pretty enough for him:( and he kisses her all over her face to make her smile and just being the cutest boyfriend ever ❤️‍🩹 ahh i need cute lovely peter:( also i love your works so much, thank u for sharing them with us lovely girl, mwah 💌

I literally love you so much GORGEOUS GIRL??? WHOSE GORGEOUS?? 🤭🤭 also I love this idea so much omg!! thank u so much for requesting me! I really appreciate it deary ! <3

You Know I Love You .

pairing; Nurse!Peter Ballard x Fem!reader

summary; in the request above! Reader is getting her regular check-up from her secret boyfriend, who suspects somethings wrong, only to find out she's feeling insecure about herself :(

warnings; use of medical tools, descriptions of insecurities, feeling overwhelmed :(

a/n; I hope I can start getting more requests ! I love to write for requests sm, so hopefully my inbox will start to explode soon hehajshs

--×♥︎×--

It was check-up day. You never liked check-ups before the lab the doctors made you nervous and their medical tools looked foreign

The youngest were getting their medical exams first.

And you were the oldest there so you'd be going last, which wasn't very reliving at all. Infact your anxiety only went higher in rate at the fact that with each subject that returned made your appointment approach closer and closer

Before you knew it, your time-eating coloring was inturupted, and you were being escorted to the infirmary

'what if I mess up the exam what if I don't do good enough? what if I'm already not good enough? it would make sense.. I'm not that pretty for a girl with her hair just below her ears.. oh god, I'm not good or pretty enough, why is Peter even with me in the first place?'

"010?" Peter's voice rang through your ears and echoed against your eardrums

You blinked up at him as your boyfriend smiled at you, taking you back to his station

You and Peter had been dating for about 3 months now and though you usually didn't see him too often, you'd do small things purposefully just to go to the infirmary to see him.

He'd often visit you after his shifts and sometimes you'd spend the night together talking, and you'd end up asleep in his arms while he pampered you with kisses. He made you feel happiness you never thought you'd expirence in a place like this.

You sat down on the hospital bed as he filled out some quick files at his desk. You loved the wheels on his chair, sometimes he'd even let you sit on it and wheel yourself around his station.

You looked down at your fingernails while you waited, you wished you could paint them, once you let Eleven put purple marker on them, it looked good for an 8 year old, Peter thought it was cute.

You tried to distract yourself but your mind seemed not so fond of your actions of trying to run away from yourself.

'Why is he even dating me? he could find someone better who actually works in the same category as him.'

You didn't even realize Peter was sitting infront of you now, you jumped a little as you looked into his already staring eyes.

"what's up with you today baby?" He asked you quietly as he used his Opthalmoscope to check your eyes.

"nothing.." you murmured out, he lowered his medical tool and gave you a concerned look, you usually never hid anything from him. mostly because you didn't need too, all your secrets were safe with Peter, and you knew that.

"Am I pretty enough for you?" You blurted out, it was like your words didn't care what your mind thought about you speaking the harsh statements that you were stabbing yourself with.

"What? Y/n, what are you talking about, your more than enough for me dear." a small frown stretched on his lips, you hated to see him upset, especially if you're the cause of it.

"how do I know you aren't just saying that Peter?" your voice felt hoarse like you were about to cry, and you weren't sure if you were from how overwhelming everything was, the check-up, your racing mind, his comfort, his comfort was appreciated deeply, but your nerves weren't sure if they could handle all of this at once.

"Hey." Peter's voice was soft but it was also firm, it pulled your attention away from everything at once and back onto him.

"Breath, deep breathes alright?" His thumbs started rubbing against the backs of your knuckles, you anxiously nodded your head and practiced your breathing methods.

after a few moments of calming down your nerves and anxiety that seemed as if they wouldn't land back down from space from how sky rocketed they were.

"You should know you're pretty and good enough, your perfect y/n." His voice lingered in your ears and the deepness of his vocal cords whispers against your arms.

"You," He started to place gentle kisses on your face between each word he said. "Are. Perfect."

You giggled at his affections, the sounds of your tiny laughs escaping from your lips made him smile at you like he was 3 years old, staring at a huge lollipop he'd seen inside of a candy shop.

"How about I let you sit in the wheeled chair while I do your exam yeah?" He smiled with his teeth, they were shiny and seemed like porcine to you.

You smiled big also flashing your teeth back, his cheeks seemed to have reddened at the sight of your happiness as he stood, and before you knew it you were giggling and rolling yourself around his station and spinning in circles.

#peter ballard #peter ballard fluff #peter ballard x you #peter ballard x reader #henry creel fanfiction #henry creel x y/n #henry creel x reader #henry creel #001 fluff #001 x reader #001 #vecna/henry/001 #vecna stranger things

[abbatoirablaze]

Everything, Sebastian Stan

Word Count:  1.4k

Sebastian stared angrily at his co-star, his jaw ticking as he watched him with her.  Rage coursed through his veins as he put his hand on her lower back.

While he wanted to get up from his spot at the bar and walk over to the man, only to punch him in the face, he tried to keep his cool, instead taking a long drag from his beer. 

He winced at the warmth of it.

He’d been sitting there watching her for far too long. 

Was waiting like some weirdo in the shadows while she mingled. 

“And you’re sure you want this one?” his manager asked, half paying attention to the star.  Sebastian nodded, looking at the glamor shot.  You were tastefully dressed, yes, but it was a boudoir photo, one that was driving him wild.  His manager nodded, returning to the phone call, and shuffled the photos together, placing the chosen one on top, “give me one minute, Max.  I got a client in here, and he’s picking a girl from the agency.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.”

Sebastian tried to keep a poker face as he fought the annoyance at his manager.

Why did he have to take the call during his appointment?

“Sebastian…when do you want her?”

“As soon as possible.” The manager nodded and wrote something down on a notepad, before tucking the photos away into an envelope, “I’ll make the call after I get off the phone with Max, yeah?”

Sebastian sucked in his cheeks and nodded, getting up from his spot, “alright.  I have an audition to get to across town, so give me a call when you get the confirmation.  I have a Christmas party with NBC and I want her at my side.”

“She will be, don’t worry.”

“Sebastian…”

He felt his heart skip a beat as he looked up from his drink at the bar.  You were smiling sweetly at him as you wrapped your arm around his waist and leaned into him, “you okay honey?”

How long had he zoned out?

“Yeah,” he nodded, offering you a simple smile as he turned to envelope you in his arms, “didn’t want to bug you while you were making friends.”

You could hear the tinge of jealousy in his voice and your brow rose, “Sebastian…”

“You know me too well, honey,” he chuckled, “why you back over here with me, huh?  You looked like you were having fun!”

“Yeah? Well maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you,” you whispered into his side.  He noticed you inhaling deeply and he smiled at the thought that his scent was calming you down.  He knew that despite your job, you hated to be around too many people for too long, so he found himself loving the fact that he was becoming your security blanket.  He lived for how you nuzzled your way into his side, snuggling up to him, “you’ve been hiding out by the bar for a while now…

“You’ve been hiding out at the bar all night, Stan.”

“Yeah, well Ed got me the wrong girl,” he grumbled angrily, watching as his date was giggling and flirting with his other co-stars, rubbing shoulders so to speak to sleep her way up the ladder, “remind me to fire that useless ass in the morning.”

“Your manager or the girl?” his friend teased.

Sebastian scowled, “Who do you think, Chace?”

“Will do,” Chace chuckled, clapping his friend on the shoulder, “so which one did you want?”

“Number twenty-seven,” he said simply.  A smile lit up his face as he dreamily thought of that shot.  Everything about the photo of you set off fireworks in his mind, “I’m telling you…she’s not just any girl either.  That woman is my future wife.”

“Whatever you say, brother,” he laughed, “so you have her number memorized?  Does this mean I shouldn’t pick her when I look at the photos tomorrow?  My manager is hooking me up with the company for another date to a Gossip Girl party I have going on and they couldn’t squeeze me in on time for this one.”

“You pick her and you’re no longer my brother!” Sebastian joked. 

“Yeah…that so?”

Sebastian smirked, “it’s a fact.  I’m hoping that I can get ahold of the agency in the morning and explain Ed’s mistake…hopefully they can send her over for tomorrow.  I’ve got a ‘party’ for Marvel…”

“You’re not cast in anything for them, are you?”

“Not yet,” he shrugged, “a few agents called…said that they’re looking for a bunch of guys for a few long-term projects.  I guess I made the cut for their first round short lists.”

“Lucky,” Chace chuckled, “I can’t even get them to look at me for a superhero role.  All they see is Gossip Girl.”

“Baby?” His eyes snapped to yours as he drifted back from another memory, “you okay?  You’re zoning out a lot, tonight.”

“Just thinking…” he admitted softly.

“Ohh, anything in particular,” You teased as your fingers drifted up his toned chest, “what’s on your mind?”

“Thinking about how we ended up together.” He replied thoughtfully, lifting your hand to his lips only to kiss each individual knuckle, “just thinking about how that almost didn’t happen…how I almost missed out on you!”

“You mean, how you stole me away from Evans?”

“This is my girlfriend, (Y/N).”

“Pleased to meet you!” you smiled sweetly, shaking hands with a few other perspective superheroes as you indulged the mixer.

Sebastian was pissed.

He’d gotten ahold of the agency. 

But when he’d asked for you, he’d been told that you had already entered into a contract with another star.  When he tried to press them for a name, stating that he’d been the first one to turn in his paperwork, they reminded him that he’d chosen a different girl, chalking his comments up to no chemistry, and not the manager’s error. 

But when he saw you walk in on Chris Evans’ arm, he felt his heart plummet. 

Chris was fresh off of two Marvel movies, playing Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four.  He knew that Evans had more star power than he did, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get you even if he tried.

But then he saw the glimmer in your eye as Chris introduced everyone to you.  And he felt the emotions.  It was like some cheesy romantic comedy where everything slowed down, and it was like the two of you were the only ones in the room. 

No one else mattered.

He shook your hand, just like everyone else, but both you and himself held some secret smile as the sparks flew between you.

“Sebastian…”

You felt your throat go dry as you merely nodded along, hoping that the star wouldn’t see through your charade. 

“Nice to meet you!”

“You’re Chris’ girlfriend?” he asked, hinting subtly that he knew of something.  But you gave him a polite smile and nodded.  Sebastian’s gaze never wavered from you, “how long have the two of you been together?”

“Few months, right?” Evans lied. 

You gave another sweet, albeit fake nod, but agreed with him, “feels like just yesterday we stumbled across each other while jogging.”

Another thing he knew that you hated.

“I remember you saying you two ran into each other, jogging.”

You frowned, remembering the night, “we didn’t really have a lot of time to dig into a backstory…and we didn’t think that someone would ask so many questions about our ‘relationship.’ Little did I know you were interested in me before he was.”

Sebastian smiled as he leaned down and kissed you softly. 

He had seen right through you that night.

In an instant. 

“You’re from the agency.”

You spun around so quickly, you nearly stumbled.  But Sebastian was quick to catch you in his arms. 

Your hands wrapped around his neck, and his arms wrapped low around your waist. 

“S-Sebastian…” you whimpered softly, surprised at the man sneaking up on you in the powder room, “Wh-what are you doing here?”

“I tried calling again after that Marvel first round mixer,” he answered honestly, “said I knew Evans had you…I’ve been trying to see you again since then.”

“Sebastian-“

“Tell me that the kiss meant nothing that night,” he said quickly, his eyes searching yours, “tell me that when we snuck away from everyone and danced under the stars that it meant nothing…tell me that the kiss meant nothing and I’ll ju-“

“It meant everything…”

“It meant everything,” you whispered softly, knowing those three words would affect him even years after the first meeting, “you still mean everything to me…”

“Me,” he replied gently, his hand pulling away from your waist to rest lightly on your stomach, “and the baby?”

“Of course…and Noel will be here soon enough,” you reminded him, giving him a sweet look, “our little girl is due any day now…”

“And I couldn’t be happier!”

“I love you, Sebastian!”

“I love you too, (Y/N!)”

#25 days of christmas #everything #sebastian stan #one shot #1 shot

[oo-hazel-oo]

hey everyone, i’m back… sort of.

i know i disappeared off the face of the planet for a while and i’ve been absolutely awful at keeping in touch with so many of you, which i am so, so sorry for. i’ve been dealing with some health stuff that prompted me to take a social media break, but it was one of my new year’s resolutions to reconnect with you all. i’ve missed everyone so much. so to start 2024 off on the right foot, i thought i’d give you all a recap of the past six months! i also thought i owed y’all an explanation for why i disappeared for so long, so i included that below the cut (tw: health stuff - if you have health anxiety, don’t read - or if you’re just wanting some happy news, feel free to read the fun update instead!)

fun update

some amazing things have happened this year!

♥️ i graduated university with first-class-honors!

♥️ i got to meet some of my amazing internet friends in-person (shout out to @just-another-dreamerr <3)

♥️ i finally got my u.k. citizenship and decided to move to scotland on a more permanent basis (will be starting grad school in sept. 2024)

♥️ got to spend some quality time with my best friend before she moved across the country

♥️ rediscovered the joy of live music

♥️ received amazing recommendations from my professors for my grad school applications, which really helped validate my writing and made me smile for a week straight

♥️ i got to travel across europe with friends and family - saw some beautiful places, ate incredible food, and met some of the kindest, most generous people

♥️ got to witness my favorite football (soccer) team make it to playoffs

♥️ improved my crocheting so i now i get to make lots of little gifts for friends and family

♥️ finally found a curly hair routine i love!

not-so-fun update

(again, tw: health stuff)

so over the past year i’ve been dealing with health issues, both physical and mental, and i finally went to my GP to address them last january. they essentially told me that everything could be attributed to anxiety and low iron levels; i accepted this at first, but when symptoms persisted over spring/summer, i became a bit frustrated - i felt like once anxiety was added to my record, it was all the doctors would acknowledge. anyways, flash forward to a month ago when i finally found a symptom that was a bit more difficult to just brush off as anxiety - a painless, hard lump at the base of my neck.

as soon as i found it, i booked an appointment with my family’s doctor, as i have family history of cancer (including my mom and grandma), and have since become wary of any unusual lumps and bumps. but to be honest with you, i wasn’t that worried - i was assuming it was just a swollen lymph node. this new doctor was more thorough than any doctor i had seen in the past. she ran a bunch of tests and discovered that my WBC count was low. my iron levels were actually great, which surprised me because i had attributed lots of my previous symptoms to iron deficiency. she took a look at my neck and immediately was concerned by the size, texture, and location of the lump and referred me for an urgent ultrasound, which i have on the 8th, to (hopefully) rule out the possibility of lymphoma.

needless to say, i’m panicking a bit. on the one hand, i’m glad i’m finally being taken seriously by a doctor. on the other hand, i’m supposed to move to the u.k. on the 19th and no longer know if that will be happening. the not-knowing and waiting around is really, really hard.

so it’s been a difficult start of the year for me and i feel a bit burnt out by everything. but i’m trying to keep myself busy with the things i love and hope that this will at the very least give me some much-needed answers.

anyways, i love you all so much and hope the new year is treating you well. and if it’s not, know that you definitely are not alone. please shoot me a message, even if we’ve never really talked, i really want to catch up and hear about all the amazing things y’all have been up to! ♥️

#i’m alive!!! #hazel rambles

[twice-inamillion]

Jihyo’s Reaction

Fluff

(TIS: 62- 65)

(Jisoo comes home.)

* Decided to put some of these chapters together to make easier to read. My parts are on the top and @coldfanbou ‘s comments are on the bottom. Easier to read both to understand. Hopefully this is easier to read.

Chapter 62:

You do last minutes details to the baby’s updated room and finish unpacking all the new toys. A blacked-out car arrives at the front door, and out comes Jihyo with baby Jisoo in her arms. You give them both a long kiss and hand Jihyo a large bouquet of flowers. Dahyun takes this opportunity to hold Jisoo while you walk to the house holding Jihyo’s hand. You show her Jisoo’s new room, and she is so overjoyed. All four of you are in the living room and Jihyo shows you all the pictures she printed out of Jisoo on her phone. You all have dinner and wait for Mina’s arrival the next day. You arrive at the airport and wait for Mina at the airplane hanger waiting for her private jet to arrive. The jet arrives, and she walks down the stairs and runs towards you and gives you a big hug that turns into a long sloppily kiss. You walk her to the car and make sure that she is comfortable in the back seat and close the door. You load the bags and open the door for Sana. Sana then whispers in your ear that she knows what you did with Dahyun during your time alone.

“I get Sana alone later to talk about that. Telling her I was going to go crazy with what she was doing. I won't make any more excuses though and take responsibility for what I did. I'll also tell Jihyo and Mina after.”

Chapter 63:

You drive home and help Mina with her belongings. Sana helps Mina to the house, and Jihyo gives her a huge hug after not seeing each other for a while. Jihyo rubs Mina's belly, now that it's noticeable and looks cute. Mina says that her little penguin is growing bigger every day. You take this opportunity of then bonding to talk to Sana. You ask her how she knows and she says that Dahyun mentioned that she was teasing you a bit. You reply that it was not just teasing but torture for you. You tell her that you reached your breaking point and ended up ravaging her. Sana replies that she knows and asks you if you used protection. You look down and say no. "What are you thinking? You know that you can get her pregnant like that. Do you like getting girls pregnant? Is that a new kink you have?" You don't respond and instead say, "if she does, then I'll take responsibility. But can you keep this from Jihyo and Mina until I find the best time to tell them?" She agrees but can't make any promises about Dahyun saying something. You both go back with the rest of the group, and Mina announces that she has an appointment soon with the doctor to know the gender of the baby.

“I hug Mina and say that's wonderful. I'll look over to Jihyo and Dahyun as a sign that we need to talk later. For now though, it's just about getting them to feel comfortable at home.”

Chapter 64:

Mina asks you if you can go with her to the appointment. You tell her that you should be free that day. She nods. She heads to her room, stating that she is tired. Sana helps her move to the room, and its just you, Dahyun and Jihyo. You use this opportunity to tell Jihyo that you cheated on her with another person while she was gone. She is confused and asks who. You can't get yourself to bring up the name of the person and Dahyun tries to speak up, but Jihyo quiets her down. Jihyo demands you to speak up and asks you if a cat has your tongue. She stands up and slaps you on the face and says that she is disappointed in you. "How can you cheat on me with a stranger?" You cough up the balls and tell her it is Dahyun. You say it wasn't a one-time thing but multiple times because she teasing you. She asks, "if its just Dahyun and not someone else?" You nod yes, and you are ashamed. Jihyo just stays quiet, and there is no noise for a couple of minutes. Not being able to keep it any longer, she laughs (her loud Jihyo laugh). You are confused, and she asks you if that's it. You ask, "what do you mean that's it? I cheated on you. She then asks Dahyun if she is okay. Dahyun says that after some teasing, you took advantage of her and took her from behind unexpectedly. You were rough, and she couldn't stop you, and you came in her a lot. Jihyo asks you why you didn't treat Dahyun nicely. You can't believe what Dahyun is even saying? Is she not bit mad?

“I'm going to keep asking if she's not even a little mad after I cheated on her with Dahyun out of shock. Then I bring up that she could get pregnant, and that I'm not sure I'd be able to support everyone, of course I'd try but I don't think I could. I'm worried about letting them all down. Of letting her and Jisoo down.”

Chapter 65:

You ask her if she's not even a little mad after I cheated on her with Dahyun. She tells you that before you had sex the first time, Dahyun went up to her (Jihyo) and said she was interested in you. She was surprised at first, but she understood that you were a catch, and she can't stop Dahyun from doing anything. The only one that can stop it is yourself by not acting upon it. You tell her that it is possible for Dahyun to get pregnant, and he says that it's not the first time this has happened (Mina). You tell her that you might not have the funds to support everyone and that it might be an issue. Dahyun says that every member has hidden funds and other resources for the emergency type of situations. Jihyo asks Dahyun if she is pregnant and Dahyun says that she wouldn't know until she tests.

“I'm just gonna sit down for a moment and take this all in. I thank them all for their support. After that I'm going to spend time with Jisoo, if she's asleep all just stay by her side.”

Previous Chapter (62-65) Next Chapter (Soon)

#twice #male reader #twice fluff #kpop fluff #twice smut #kpop smut #jihyo #park jihyo #twice jihyo #Jihyo angst #TM smut

[pensat-i-fet]

A Manchester Affair (Rúben Dias): Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Masterlist

Wattpad

“It’s done. We’re going to Manchester”, said her boss.

“We?”

Lucía moved to Munich 10 years ago, looking for a drastic change in her life, but she couldn’t imagine what was coming her way. While she was studying physiotherapy and nutrition, she was hired by Bayern Munich as a translator after they appointed Pep Guardiola as their coach. And that’s when her life really changed.

Once she finished her studies, she got promoted to work in the medical team. But before working with the first team, they wanted her to work with the Academy, which is when she met Erik ten Hag, her current boss. Once he moved back to the Netherlands, he knew he wanted her in his team and she’s been working for him ever since.

Now, however, he was leaving Ajax. He was leaving to sign for Manchester United, a decision that Lucía both understood and didn’t really understand. And that it also terrified her. What if he didn’t want her joining him at United? What if the team had already enough people on their medical team and refused to hire her? But her worries were pointless.

“Yes, we. Did you think I’d leave you here on your own?”, he laughed.

“Well no, not you. But maybe United didn’t want me?”

“Not happening. So start looking for apartments in Manchester. We’re moving to England!!”

Another move, another country, another language…plus a new team. But she moved to Munich running away from the life she was destined to have in her hometown. And from other things. She wanted this. So it was time to pack her belongings again and move to Manchester.

**

Erik had actually moved to England straight after the Dutch League ended, but Lucía decided to go on her holidays first. The holidays she had booked with her ex, the one who cheated on her. Not only did she not give him the opportunity to get his money back, but she also enjoyed the amazing double room he had booked for them in Greece. 

She spent long days on the beach and long nights eating the delicious local food, drinking their fantastic drinks and…well, not flirting with their gorgeous men because every time she tried, there was something that stopped her. Something that will hopefully disappear soon, because he didn’t deserve her being affected by his actions so much.

As always, she made an excuse to not go back home and went from Greece to Amsterdam and then to Manchester.

The job paid well at Ajax, but once she saw the salary United was offering, she almost fainted. It was almost double what she got before, for the same exact job. How much money do these people have?

That, plus the fact that she was always very smart with her money, meant she didn’t have to worry much about which apartment to rent. So she ended up in quite a central area, in a 3-room apartment that was definitely too big for just one person. Funnily enough, she could see Manchester City’s stadium from one of the windows. Hello, rivals!

When a few signings were finalised, she was happy to see Lisandro and Eriksen were joining the squad. She knew them both from her time at Ajax, and it was especially nice to have Lisandro and his partner in the city with her. Lucía loved having someone she could speak Spanish with.

**

“Ready for the tour?”, she heard De Gea say while they were all waiting to board the plane.

“Sure?”

Her uncertainty only made him laugh. He was one of the players that had made her feel the most welcome. Since they both came from Madrid, there was a natural bond there. 

“It’ll be fun! Especially Australia”.

“You’re right. I’ve always wanted to visit”, she said with a smile. “Who are you sitting with on the plane?”

“Bruno, but I can sit with you for a couple of hours if you want. It’s a long flight”, he offered.

“I’d appreciate that. I’m not a big fan of flying in general. And these super long flights make me more nervous”.

“It’ll be alright”, he said, squeezing her shoulder. 

And that alright was true for the whole tour. The whole squad wasn’t there, but it was a good opportunity to get to know the new players she was going to be working with. And the results were good too. Maybe the season wouldn’t be as bad as she feared.

Despite the jet lag and how cold it was in Australia, the two weeks flew by. Time to go back to Manchester to finish getting ready for the season. 

**

One of the things she knew she had to do now she was in Manchester was contact her old boss Pep. They had remained in touch with each other the last couple of years but definitely drifted apart a bit once he left Germany.

To so many, it’d be weird, what with them working for rival teams, but he was a good friend. Someone who made sure she was treated right at Bayern and someone who helped her build her career.

Lucía: “Hey Pep, just wanted to let you know I’m back in Manchester and it’d be lovely to meet one of these days for dinner or something. Whenever you’re free. Let me know. Looking forward to catching up. Xx”

Pep was terrible at texting back, so she just knew she'd have to wait for many days until he saw the message and answered back. She was the complete opposite, someone who had to text back the moment she saw the message but she just had to get used to other people not having the same weird quirks as her.

And seeing how they had just lost the Community Shield to Liverpool, she just knew he would take even longer. He tried not to go on his phone much after big losses. Again, the total opposite to her. Maybe that’s why they got on so well. Opposites.

At least he won the first match of the Premier League season. United, well, they didn’t. After a great pre-season under Erik, it seemed like they went back to all of their old bad habits the moment the matches were official and not friendlies.

“And what are your thoughts, Lu?”, asked her one of the assistants while they were having breakfast. Sure, Lucía was part of the medical team but they knew her well and knew how much she knew about football, so her opinion mattered to them.

“I mean, conceding again in the first 20 minutes is just ridiculous. Their lack of concentration in the first half kills their matches. It was the same last season”.

“Yeah, we need to work on that”.

“Are you having your talk with them today? About nutrition?”, asked Erik.

“Yes, before training if that’s ok”, she said and he nodded. “I can’t wait to hear them moaning about how I don’t let them eat or drink what they want to eat or drink. Babies”.

To that, the whole table laughed. She was good at her job because she took no shit from any of the players, no matter how famous they were. At least the cooks were always lovely and accepted her menu changes without complaining.

**

“But, I don’t see how having a beer after a match is going to be bad for me?”, came the first complaint to her no alcohol during the season rule.

“Funny, because I literally did a 20-minute presentation explaining why it’s bad for you. And I also spent 3 years in Uni learning about the effects alcohol has on athletes so…your choice. But I’ll be able to tell if you’re drinking so it’s up to you”.

Of course, she couldn’t tell if they had been drinking one silly beer before a match but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Scaring them was enough.

“Besides, after that pathetic performance you had against Brighton, there were no reasons to celebrate. So a nice glass of warm milk before bed will do the trick, right?”

She regretted her words immediately. She was too used to the players that already knew her “sense of humour” but these ones barely knew her. It was obvious they were really hurt by those words. Great, fantastic start at the new team.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. But listen to me, ok? I’m doing this for you. All the players I’ve worked with have improved their fitness and their performances, right Licha?”, she said, looking at Lisandro, who seemed to be the only one not shooting daggers at her.

He gave her a thumbs up and a huge smile. At least he still liked her. 

“How was the chat?”, asked the head of the medical department after you all left the room.

“Brilliant, I insulted them without meaning to and now their huge football ego is hurt”, she said, rolling her eyes.

“They’ll get over it”.

**

“Hey, there you are”.

“What is it?”, she asked, lifting her head from the papers she was reading.

“We need you outside, McTominay hurt his knee and we need your opinion”.

“Of course”.

When she got to the pitch where the first team was training, she saw McTominay already standing.

“You ok? What happened to your knee?”

“I twisted it trying to make a tackle and I stopped quickly once I noticed the pain but it seems to be alright now”.

“Let me see”, she said, ready to check for any inflammation or bruising. 

“You know”, said the Scotsman, “I liked your feisty moment yesterday”.

“What do you mean?”, she asked looking up at him.

“When you called us pathetic”, he said, making her look down to hide her blush. “It’s fine, we were pathetic”.

“But I didn’t mean it like that. It was…a joke. But my humour is a bit dark for those who don’t know me, I guess. I bet Licha found it hilarious”.

“Yeah, he only has good things to say about you”.

“Good, I threatened him so he better be only talking about how beautiful and smart I am”.

“We don’t need him to tell us you’re pretty. We can all see that”.

Great, a player flirting with her…again. She was allowed to date footballers if she wanted to, but she didn’t really fancy that. So she concentrated on looking at his knee, which seemed to be absolutely fine, thankfully. 

“She’s off limits, Scott”, she heard Erik say.

“What?”, said Scott, surprised by his coach’s words. “I wasn’t doing anything, I…”

“I know, and still off limits until she says otherwise. Is the knee okay?”

“Seems to be fine, yes. Maybe be careful the rest of the session and get a scan once you’re done, even if it doesn’t hurt. Just to be on the save side”.

“I will”, said Scott, clearly still bothered by the interruption and how Erik cut him off.

Going back to her office, she had that weird feeling again. The one she’s had since breaking up with her ex. 

Will it ever disappear or was she destined to never be able to talk to a man again?

**

A couple of days before the Brentford game, she finally got a text from Pep. He told her to meet him that Sunday since she’d be back from London and they played at home.

It was such a simple thing, meeting her ex-boss, her friend. But it made her really look forward to the weekend.

However, the plans for a nice Sunday off were completely gone once United were humiliated by Brentford after conceding 4 goals in the first half. Yeah, her analysis about them not showing up during the first 45 minutes couldn’t have been more spot on.

“Training tomorrow! I want you all at Carrington at 9 am. No excuses! You’ll ran the miles you didn’t run today”.

She could hear Erik’s yelling from outside the dressing room and so could everyone else.

But when he got out and saw her, his expression softened. 

“Are you up for a bit of running tomorrow?”, he asked.

“Oh…not again!”, she whined.

One of his punishments in the Netherlands was running 13k after a really bad performance. And he invited everyone in the staff team to join him since he ran the same distance as the players. Showing that he leads by example. She had joined him a couple of times, especially around the times she was training for a few half marathons. But it had been a while and her fitness levels were not as great as they used to be.

“Ok, I’ll try. But if I get tired, I’ll fake an injury”, she said, making him laugh for the first time since the match started. Well, that’s something.

The next day, after all the long faces, when they heard about their punishment, they all ran the 13k and she could feel a switch in the way the players behaved with the coaching staff. Also, many of them congratulated her on her great form, since she did finish the same distance as them. 

“You’re going to embarrass us”, laughed David. “Don’t tell me you’re good at goalkeeping too. My ego won’t be able to take it”.

“Don’t worry about that”, she said, joining his laughing. “I just look at the ball coming towards my face and do nothing. You’re fine”.

“Any plans for the rest of the not really day off?", she heard Dalot ask and realized he was talking to her. Was that the first time he did it? It felt that way. 

“Yeah, actually. I’m meeting an old friend for dinner”.

“Cool. Have fun”, he said with a genuine smile. “And if you ever need something, my girlfriend and I will be happy to help”.

“Thank you”, she said, feeling a bit emotional. Yeah, that was definitely progress.

Hours later, she took a taxi to take her to the restaurant Pep had made reservations at. When she got out of it, she could already see him waiting near the door.

“Hey!! It’s so good to see you!”, she said, giving him a hug.

“It really is. It’s been too long. How are you? How are you adapting to the city?”

“I’m doing pretty well. But let’s go inside and catch up properly”.

“After you”, he said, opening the door for her.

And that's exactly what they did. They caught up while eating some delicious food.

"So, that boyfriend of yours…I saw he disappeared from your social media. I guess it didn't work out".

"It was working until he cheated", she shrugged, trying not to sound too bitter or hurt.

"Bastard. Then he never deserved you. You know that, right?"

She was about to say something when she noticed Pep's eyes looking at something or, more specifically, at someone. 

"What…", she started to say, turning to see what he was looking at, but was interrupted by Pep.

"Rúben, what are you doing here?"

And that's when she saw who caught Pep's attention. It was one of his players, Rúben Dias. 

"Hi, coach. Nice to see you and…your friend", he said, looking at her curiously. She didn’t like the way he said the word friend. Was he trying to insinuate something?

"A friend, yes. I’m Lucía, nice to meet you. We worked together in Munich and now that I'm in Manchester working for United we are catching up".

"Oh, you work for United. Well that makes this dinner weird in a different way, I guess".

"How was it weird before?", asked Pep, oblivious to what had gone through his player's mind.

"What are you doing here? Are you meeting someone?", she asked Rúben, trying to change the subject.

"I was but she cancelled on me so, I was going to go home".

"Don't. We were about to have dessert. Sit with us", offered Pep.

"I don't want to bother you", he said, looking at her.

"You won't. Please join us".

And so he asked the waiter for a chair and sat with them.

#ruben dias #ruben dias imagine #ruben dias x reader #footballer imagine #ruben dias fluff #footballer x reader #footballer fluff #footballer fanfiction #ruben dias fanfic

[fractured-legacies]

Imprudent, Chapter 15: Knowledge

Prologue | Chapter 14

Chapter 15: Knowledge

Whatever happened, we can only conclude that it happened a long time ago. And due to the fact that there has been no attempted relief mission or other intercession from the Empire, we are growing more and more certain that the Empire is no more, and that we might be all that is left of our society.

We are preparing for another attempted transit after investigating the Gateway. Hopefully this time we will reach the capital. We are bound to reach the capital. Lt. Alphonsoni has promised to do his best.

~o0O0o~

Lady Fiaswith of House Rechneesse

The pirate in the back of Fia’s mind was gibbering a little as she and her people were escorted into the Gehtun King’s palace. To say that the place was splendidly appointed would be an understatement. The floor was carpeted with rugs woven with expert care and splendidly dyed, while tapestries covered the walls, and exquisite pieces of sculpture sat in small niches and alcoves along the way. The wealth and taste on display was astounding.

Fia didn’t remember much of her childhood in Singharrow, but she knew that a lot of people around the Center Sea sneered at her homeland for its supposed backwardness and lack of culture. More than once, she’d used that to her advantage, letting people underestimate her.

Now the shoe was on the other foot. She’d heard ‘nomadic horsemen and herders’ and assumed that meant ‘backwards’ and ‘uncultured.’

More fool her.

The guardsmen were living men and women, dressed in polished scale-mail armor and a distinctive helm with a ridge along the top of the head and ending with a downward peak on the forehead, framing the eyes. They had swords, but those were sheathed, and carried horsebows and quivers strapped to their backs. They moved with the ease of training and familiarity, which shot another hole in her personal theory that the oathwalkers had been the king’s personal guard and retinue of soldiers. That’s how it was in most other lands that had oathwalkers, but apparently here the living did the work of safeguarding the royal line.

They were brought to a small side chamber—Raavi had to be told continuously to keep up, as he kept getting distracted by the art—where a table with food and drink was waiting, along with several cushioned chairs and couches. One of the guards spoke, his words broken by unfamiliarity, “You here wait. Drink. Eat. Safe be. Soon King meet.”

She bowed deeply. “Thank you.”

He nodded back, and for a moment—just a moment—his professionalism cracked.

And she saw terror… but also, oddly, hope in his eyes.

The moment passed, and he went out the door, closing it behind him.

“So we’re here,” Zoy commented, heading over to the table and picking up a pasty. “Damn, look.” She held it up. “Even their cookies are little works of art!”

Fia walked over and peered at it; the rectangular cookie had been stamped with the shape of a running horse and painted with what looked like berry juice such that a red roan stallion raced across the rolling grasses of the pasty.

“Beautiful.”

Zoy ate it and chewed. “Delicious. Sweet and buttery.”

That got Raavi’s attention, and he came out of his art reverie. Coming over to the table, he started perusing it. “Is it okay for us to eat these?”

“We were told to, and I don’t know how long it’ll take the King to be ready to see us,” Fia said. “Probably not too long, but I wouldn’t bet on it, and for all I know they have to get him out of bed and dressed. Which could take a while. So dig in.”

Raavi and Oksyna didn’t need to be told twice, and the pair of them started in as Fia poured herself a glass of what smelled like wine. She wasn’t worried about poison. If the Gehtun wanted to try to kill them, those swords would have been a lot more effective. Also, she personally could laugh off things like hemlock and nightshade—and had.

“Oooh, Raavi, you have to try this,” Oksyna said around her mouthful.

“What is it?”

“Some kind of flaky dough in layers, filled with chopped nuts and honey,” she said, and popped a piece into his mouth.

Fia hid a smile behind her goblet—which was a work of art itself. Metal, wrought around pieces of glass and what looked like slivers of horn, carved with delicate scenes of daily life. Weavers, herders, bowyers, sculptors…

A swallow of the wine proved that it was an excellent vintage, and she made a note that, if they survived all of this, she was going to have to ask for a bottle or better yet a small cask. While she couldn’t get drunk, she could still appreciate the flavor, and she and Faalk deserved a nice few hours in the summer sun to work their way through it.

Some cheeses—made with sheep’s milk, if she was tasting them correctly—complemented the wine wonderfully, and she made her way over to a chair with her plate and goblet.

Stylio joined her, also laden down.

“Something doesn’t add up.”

“This entire thing has more things that don’t add up than an underworld Kasmenartan accountant’s books,” Fia said.

“Oh no. Their public books add up beautifully, and so do the private books,” Stylio said with a small smile. “Of course, trying to reconcile the two is… interesting.”

Fia gave her a sidelong look. “Speaking from experience?”

“Perhaps. But inaccurate analogies aside, I agree with the spirit of what you’re trying to say. Just… why are the oathwalkers attacking? Why are the Gehtun treating us as they are? Why are they apparently grieving their efforts to attack?”

“Exactly.” She leaned back and took a bite of her cheese. “I am baffled and hope that we get some answers.”

She’d just finished chewing on her cheese when the door opened. A pair of servants came in, carrying several pieces of cloth—no, clothing. Speaking in their tongue, they looked around, and the older one, a woman somewhere between Fia and Stylio in age, motioned for her to rise.

Curious, she did so, and quickly found herself being posed by the women, who had a grip like iron tongs and a measuring string, wrapping around Fia’s arms, chest, legs, and up the length of her body. Then she was released, and the woman turned to her assistant.

As they spoke rapidly, going through the pile of clothes, Stylio said dryly, “I suppose that we need to be properly dressed before we meet with the king.”

Fia sighed. “Please, please let me get out of here without getting blood on whatever outfit they give me.”

As Stylio laughed, the senior tailor came back over, holding a gorgeous piece of what looked like embroidered silk; the base was red, with vivid oranges and yellows in the form of flowers and vines across it. Fia tolerated the fitting, and thankfully the tailor was quick and efficient.

Then it was Stylio’s turn, followed by Zoy. When they started pulling out knives from her clothing, the expressions on the faces of the two tailors was something to behold. Yufemya, Oksyna, and Raavi followed in quick succession, and then the two left.

“Well. That was… interesting,” Zoy said as the door closed. She stretched and started putting her knives back, and then she yawned. “Think we can sack out in here? I’m exhausted.”

Raavi yawned as well. “Damn those are infectious,” he said, stifling a second one.

“We probably have some time before they’re finished altering those clothes to fit us,” Stylio said. “And those couches and chairs look comfortable. Rest up while we can.”

Raavi didn’t need to be told twice, and was laid out on a couch in a matter of moments.

Fia smiled at him and patted his cheek. “You know you can let other people pilot the Lynx…”

He shook his head, but was asleep before he could respond.

#

Raavi ava Laargan

Stylio’s prediction turned out to be accurate… mostly. We got enough sleep to feel a little rested, but the Gehtun returned with our new clothes in just a few hours. I was dressed in a stiff woolen tunic and pants that were lined on the inside; the fabric felt weird and itchy on my skin, for all that it was soft, and I missed my usual tree-wool shirt and pants. But Lady Fia insisted, so I wore them and tried to keep my twitching to a minimum.

We were escorted up into a grand audience chamber; easily thirty feet high, probably forty at the highest point. It had a wood and gold throne at the far end, with an older man seated in it, dressed in fine robes that put mine to shame.

Next to him however, was something… else.

Oksyna gasped and bowed deeply to the six-and-a-half foot tall skeleton—dressed in worn but fine robes of its own, colored a deep blue-black with silver speckles—and it bowed to her in response.

And then it spoke. <Greetings to you, Signatory. But I believe that the King in whose chamber you stand has precedence.>

I blinked. How had I understood that? It hadn’t been in my language.

Oksyna nodded and straightened hastily before bowing to the King in his throne. He raised an eyebrow, and spoke. A man standing next to him started to translate into my language.

“‘Greetings to you, foreign envoys of Westernfellsen. We have been expecting you.’” The King nodded to Lady Fia. “‘You have questions. And I have answers. But first, I must ask you a crucial question.’” He rose from the throne. “‘Will you help us?’”

Lady Fia’s head jerked back a little. “But your people have been attacking us! Did you send them to attack us just to get our help!?”

The King shook his head. “‘No. It is complicated.’” He bowed his head slightly towards the translator, and spoke. The translator swallowed and turned to the skeleton, which, I noticed now, stood inside of a circle made of some kind of metal set into the floor, and dangling lazily around its neck and shoulders was a lynx spirit, its translucent blue body harder to see in the well-lit chamber. “Death Lord, hear and witness my oath. To these people here and now, I swear to tell the truth as I know it, or may my flesh break out in boils and my eyes cloud with blindness, until such time as they release me.”

<I hear your oath, freely made, and bind you to it, Hayri of the Tillkey Tribe of the Gehtun people.>

Oksyna stared at him, her eyes wide, as I asked, “Wait, what just happened?”

The man—Hayri—stepped forward. “What just happened is that my King understood that you would need a show of trust. I am Minister Hayri, his aide and companion, and now I must answer your questions or suffer pain and blindness.” His smile turned sickly. “Please keep your questions to the topic at hand?”

Lady Fia turned to Oksyna. “Explain what’s going on and why you look like someone’s stabbed you someplace painful?”

“I… I… I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Oksyna turned to the skeleton. “Death Lord. You are not the one who holds my binding, but I appeal to you to suspend my oaths of silence for the sake of justice and truth.”

The skeleton stepped up to the edge of the circle, as the lynx hopped off of its shoulders and down onto the ground. <And what would you offer to me, Signatory Oksyna of the Endanchoria? I spoke against you being given the Oath when you were a child. Too young, too rash. It would have been a mercy to let you pass. And now you ask me to loosen the chains you agreed to bind you?>

My eyes widened as implications started to go through my mind.

“What would you ask of me for this service?” she asked.

I saw the King watching and stepped forward next to Oksyna. “I can help you pay.”

She turned to me. “Raavi, you have no idea what you’re offering.”

“But I’m willing to help.” I looked to the Death Lord—whatever that was—and saw now that its cloak was shimmering, like stars in the night sky; it wasn’t just fabric. “I’m willing to pay what it is you want from Oksyna.”

<And what if it is your life I ask for, Raavi ava Laargan of the Hudejjaan tribe of the Kalltii people?>

I swallowed. “You wouldn’t ask for that, because if you wanted that much of a price, you would have just said that to Oksyna.”

<You are wise. Yes. Such a price would be too much for such a service. Well done. But what if my price is your peaceful sleep? Your youth? Your health? Five years of your life? Your skill with your hands? Knowledge of something you hold dear? The memory of a lost loved one? Would you still stand in lieu of this Signatory?>

Oksyna’s hand gripped mine, and I squeezed back. “I would. She needs to be able to speak freely if we’re to help my people.” I shrugged. “At the end of the day… I’m just the driver. And someone else could pilot the Lynx if they needed to.”

The Death Lord leaned down to stare me in the eyes, and, despite desperately wanting to look away, I met its gaze.

Infinity stared back at me through the empty eye sockets. I could see… everything. The death of people, of nations, of worlds, of stars…

Then it moved back. <You are brave in the literal face of death, young Raavi. Or foolish. I name my price. You are a craftsman. There will come a time when you must destroy something which you yourself have created, and you will do so. You will know when.> It looked me over. <Is that price acceptable?>

I swallowed. And nodded. “Yes.”

<Good. Signatory Oksyna of the Endanchoria. Your clause of silence, specifically, is lifted and void for those present here.> There was a bright, blinding flash of purple light between Oksyna and it. Then the Death Lord stepped back and nodded at me. <You may thank your associate for paying the price.>

I turned to her, and she was looking at me, horrified, before she swallowed and gave me a weak smile. “You…” She took a deep breath. “Fia… I can explain now.”

#

Lady Fiaswith of House Rechneesse

“Oh good,” Fia said, putting her hands on her hips. “So, first question: How stupid was Raavi just now? On a scale of one to ten.”

“A solid six.”

“Oh, well, that’s not so bad,” he said, and Fia rolled her eyes.

“Next, explain what Hayri did.”

“He bound himself to an oath. Like what I can do, but worse and more powerful.” She motioned towards the skeleton in the middle of the circle. “Death Lords like that are what make necromancers. We’re their oathbound and empowered representatives. Anything I can do, he can do, and make it look easy.” She motioned again towards the Gehtun man, who was waiting patiently—well, maybe a little anxiously, as Fia caught him bouncing a little on his feet—off to the side. “So if he lies to us, he’s going to hurt.”

“Yes. Exactly,” Hayri said. “And, if I may… while I understand that this drama just now was necessary, I feel that it is important that we return to the matter at hand.”

Fia nodded. “Yes. Please.” She took a deep breath. “I have a lot of questions… but since you have this oath and a motivation, why don’t you start explaining, and if I have any questions at the end, I’ll ask them?”

“That sounds fine to me.” He paused, as if waiting for the boils to break out, and when nothing happened, he continued. “As for what happened… last summer, the sacred Scroll of the Gehtun Ancestors was stolen from the deep vault under this tower.” He nodded towards Oksyna. “I believe the common necromancer term for it is the oath-gem.”

Oksyna blinked and her eyes went wide before she started to swear.

“Yes. About that bad.”

Fia glanced back and forth between them. “Oksyna, explain.”

She clamped her mouth shut like she was chewing for a moment before saying, in precise words, “It’s what makes an oathwalker, Fia. It’s the physical contract.” She motioned towards the Death Lord. “I can’t make them, but he can, as can others like him. If you sign it with your own real name, you become an oathwalker when you die. You’ll live until either you break your oath, your body is destroyed, or the contract is destroyed.”

“Yes. And whoever took it left a ransom. They would return the scroll—it is made of the finest foil of platinum, with two endcaps of peridot on a shaft of ruby and lead—if our oathwalkers attacked and harassed your kingdom this winter.”

“Ah. And if you didn’t…”

“Then they would destroy it. And that would destroy us.” Hayri wrung his hands together. “Our lands are not rich. We survive on trade and cunning use of what we have, and we depend on the unending, undying labor of our ancestors. They are the most skilled of us, the most dedicated and devoted. It is a sign of great honor and skill to be selected to fill an empty space on the scroll, an honor to which many aspire. To see their children’s children’s children’s children grow and thrive with their aid. Without them, we would die of cold and hunger, for they labor unceasingly through the summer and winter to provide for their families.”

“That’s why they’re all so good at crafting?” Raavi asked.

“Yes. Others use their oathwalkers for war and fighting. Our first king,” he motioned to the man on the throne, “Fakarat’s many-time great grandfather, when he came to negotiate with the Death Lord who forged the scroll, knew that if he were to word the contract for war, it would be the death of his people. So instead, they are bound to serve their families, their tribes, and their people using their skills.”

“So how do you even know that they’ll return the scroll?” Fia asked.

“We don’t. We cast many lots of prophecy, looking for guidance. And there was a slim chance that, if we went along with it… the scroll would be returned.” He looked to them. “You are our chance. The chance for the survival of our ancestors, who did not ask for this war, did not ask to be forced to kill, who would only like to return to their art and their crafts, the chance for the stability of our realm, for the loss of the scroll is sending mutterings through the tribes that the king is unfit and unworthy despite leading for thirty-two years, and the chance for the survival of our people, for we face war, famine and the bitter cold of winter.” He bowed. “Will you help us?”

#

Raavi ava Laargan

“So what do we do?”

I watched Lady Fia pace across the fine rug in the chamber we’d been given by the Gehtun King. We’d talked with Hayri until his voice had started to go hoarse, and then come back here.

“First, I suppose, the question is ‘Do we help them at all?’” Stylio asked from her chair. We all looked at her, and she raised her hands. “I am not saying that we should not—I fully plan on doing so myself—but…” she looked around the room and her eyes landed on me. “Raavi. You offered to help Fia, but this is far more than you bargained for. Why should you risk yourself more now?”

I shrugged and replied, “I already said that I was going to help. I’m not going to back out now.”

She nodded and turned, looking at Zoy and Yufemya where they sat together on one of the couches. “And Zoy—”

“Don’t you dare. You’ve been trying to get me to ‘stay behind where it’s safe’ since I was thirteen.” Zoy crossed her arms and looked at me. “And if Raavi is coming, then I’m also coming.” She flung a pillow at me, and I yelped as it impacted my nose. “I still can’t believe you went and offered yourself to that thing!” She glared at me and crossed her arms as she scowled. “You idiot.”

I gave her a weak smile in response. “Uh… it seemed like a good idea at the time?”

Oksyna poked me in the ribs. She hadn’t let me out of arm’s reach since we’d left the King’s audience chamber. “How someone so smart can be so dumb is beyond me!” She shook her head, her hair brushing against my arm, and then leaned against me.

Stylio cleared her throat. “Well. If you are all coming—” she glanced at Yufemya, who nodded, her mouth twisted up into a wry smile, “—then we need to figure out our next step.”

“I think that part is fairly obvious,” Zoy commented. “We know where the thieves came from. Let’s go and steal it back.”

“Do we know that? For sure?” Yufemya asked.

I frowned. “But Hayri said that they came from Sudlichreichweitte.” It was the Kalltii kingdom at the southern extent of our people’s range. I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t felt betrayed when Hayri said that the thieves had come from there. They’d been a group of people posing as merchants who had spent the last few years building a trade relationship with the Siyahayi Gehtun tribe, a relationship strong enough that they’d gotten invited to the Gehtun Midsummer festivals, but had left a week before the summer’s peak.

“Yes, and he also said that their own attempts to probe the future showed them that attempting to invade would end with the scroll lost.” She shifted a little on the couch and leaned forward. “Look. I’m not saying that their conclusion is wrong. But I am saying that we should make sure before we go haring off to another kingdom and accuse them of instigating war and hey, can we have a powerful magical artifact back too?”

Lady Fia frowned. “That’s a good point. Do you have any suggestions on how to refine things?”

“Let’s look for clues and see if anyone was sloppy,” Yufemya suggested, leaning back.

“Hmm. It’s a long shot… but I’ve seen enough people be sloppy even when they were trying to be sneaky that I have to agree,” Lady Fia said.

“I agree as well,” Stylio said. “From what I understand, the Gehtun didn’t make a concerted sweep of the palace after the theft was discovered. We might be able to find something that can point us in the right direction if we are lucky. If we are not, then we have lost nothing but time.”

“Which we only have so much of,” Lady Fia said.

“Yes, but if we find a good lead, then we will have saved time. A kingdom is a very large area to search, after all.”

Lady Fia frowned, her lip twisting. “You are far too good at making sense.”

Stylio smiled. “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t entirely a compliment.”

“I know.”

“All right. Raavi, you’re going to look over this vault and figure out how they broke in,” Lady Fia said. “It’s your wheelhouse and this way you won’t get distracted by all of the art.”

I laughed a little weakly, running my hand through my hair. “Sorry. It’s just… so well executed!”

“I know. But you’re like a squirrel between four piles of nuts. So vault for you. See if you can figure things out.”

Feeling a bit sheepish, I nodded. “Okay.”

“Stylio, I need you to cross-examine Hayri. Follow up on anything you can think of that can give us a clue. I don’t think he was holding anything back, but we need details.”

“Got it.”

“Zoy, Yufemya, the two of you and myself are going to sweep the palace and look for anything on the break-in method, route, whatever.”

“And what about me?” Oksyna asked.

Lady Fia glanced at her, and then at me. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that your skillset is going to be particularly helpful here, so I’m at a loss for what to do with you.”

“I agree. Can I help Raavi down by the vault?” She patted me on the shoulder. “I can make sure he doesn’t get distracted by some piece of sculpture or something.”

“What do you say, Raavi? Want Oksyna to help you?”

I glanced at her, but I didn’t see any mockery or joking in her expression. Just support and concern. I nodded. “Sure.”

“Good. Then let’s get to work.”

#

Raavi ava Laargan

Collecting our escorts, I and Oksyna made our way down into the lower levels of the tower. Down here, the carpets were less rich, although they still muffled our steps. Down we went, past rooms walled in with the same sort of eternal glass that made up the main body of the tower itself, as well as the King’s Tower in my homeland, and other such towers elsewhere. In those rooms, I could see more art, but here they were being made. There were looms the size of small huts, sculptor shops, painting rooms, tailoring shops…

And nearly all of them were empty. The tools and materials were there, but the people who would have crafted the works I could see standing half-finished were missing.

I thought of the pile of burning oathwalker bodies outside of the town where we’d met Oksyna and wondered how many masterpieces would be left unfinished because of this unwanted war.

And then I saw something that made me give a double-take.

A young woman—somewhere between my age and Yufemya’s—was walking down the hallway carrying a large sledgehammer, large enough that she was having difficulty carrying it. She saw our guards and spoke in the Gehtun tongue, handing it off to one of them, who took it, but replied in a protesting tone.

After a moment, she responded, and then looked at the two of us. Then she spoke. “You the Kalltii are, yes? Saw you I did in the chamber earlier with the Death-Lord.”

I blinked in surprise, and nodded. “Yes. Well, technically, just me. Oksyna is Endanchorian.” I cocked my head in thought. “Now that I think about it, I’m the only ethnic Kalltii in the group—”

“Very good. Your guards I must borrow. Problem is? Will brief be.”

I shared a glance with Oksyna; she shrugged, her eyebrows knitted in curiosity. “I suppose it can’t hurt.”

“Good. With me come.” She spoke to the guardsmen, who followed gamely, one of them holding the sledgehammer over his shoulder. We made our way down the hall following her, arriving one level down in front of an emptied glassed-in room; outside, there was a wooden frame as tall as me. It was nothing more than an open box with a bar across the top and weights holding up in place below; the bar, once I took a closer look, had a graduated angle measure attached behind it, and a bracket in the middle, along with a pulley system.

The woman took the sledgehammer back and, with a grunt of effort, held it in the middle of the frame, lining it up with the bracket as best she could, but it was clearly very heavy.

“Me help?” she said to me, looking at how I was watching.

“Me?”

“No, the other man with a belt of tools. Yes, you!”

Oksyna snickered as I stepped forward. “All right—”

“Hold while I tighten, or I hold and you tighten?”

“I’ll hold, I guess.” I reached out and helped socket the sledgehammer into the bracket, and held it there as best I could while she engaged the bracket.

Baffled, I stepped back and watched her put a second bracket on the shaft of the hammer, just below the iron block that was the hammerhead, and then attach the pulley system to it. Then she pulled up on the rope.

I eyed the arc of the hammer. It would smack dead into the eternal glass of the room’s window—but if this place was as old as the King’s Tower, then the glass was unbreakable.

…wasn’t it?

After a few moments of grunting effort from the woman, she tied off the rope to a loop on the side and picked up a sheaf of paper. Examining the angle measurement on the frame, she frowned, but shrugged and made a note.

“What is she doing?” Oksyna asked me.

“I haven’t the foggiest,” I said, and then noticed that there was a basket filled with smaller hammers sitting next to the glass, along with what looked like a ruler marked with inches. “Wait, no—”

She released the rope, and the sledgehammer swung down and impacted the window with a shattering reverberation.

I jumped, and then heard the woman exclaim in excitement. She was standing in front of the window while I was still trying to clear the sound of the impact from my ears, ruler in her hand, measuring the cracks she’d just inflicted in the ancient glass.

“What are—what did—how could—” I started sputtering, aghast at the apparent vandalism.

“You! Good! Help!” She tossed the sheaf of papers at me, and shoved a pencil in my hand. “Note time! Notes take!”

“I, what—”

“Quick, quick! First crack, sixteen and three quarter inches! Mark time!” She shoved a pocketwatch in my hands as well, and I fumbled it open and recorded the time. “Second crack, twenty-three and half inches, three forks, six, eight, and four inches!”

I scribbled as quickly as I could as she read off measurements of the remaining cracks around the hole in the glass. I’d ask questions when she was done.

Finally, she finished. “Broken section, two and one quarter inches by three and one half inches!” She held up a sliver of glass from inside the room, the surface of it looking spalled and cracked like a spiderweb, the whole thing smaller than the size of my palm. “Hole, two and one quarter inches by three and one half inches! Mark time!”

I wrote down the measurements and the time, and even grabbed the piece of glass from her to draw an outline of it on the paper. I didn’t know what was going on, but if she was breaking ancient pieces of this place for whatever reason, it would be a crime not to get as much information—and witnesses, I supposed—down on paper as I could.

“Time! What is time?”

“Uh… the sequence of events as they happen?”

“No—well, yes, but what time is reading?”

“Oh!” I read off the time from the pocketwatch even as Oksyna snickered again. “It’s been about ten minutes.”

“Good, good. First crack, measure. Fifteen and nine-tenth inches! Note time!”

I started writing, and then blinked. “Wait.”

“No wait! Record must!” she said. “Second crack. Twenty-three inches, three forks, five and one half, seven and nine-tenths, and three inches!”

I stared. “They’re healing?”

“Yes! Measure must! Rate of healing important to measure!”

“But, but… how?”

She gave me a look with her mouth a bit open in exasperation, her eyebrows half-lidded, and her hands spread out, the ruler waving in one of them. “If knowing that I did, do this not I need!”

“Oh!” I held up the papers. “Ready!”

“Good! Third crack…”

She read them off again, and in the space of those ten minutes or so, each of the cracks had healed by at least a quarter of an inch if not more, with the hole decreasing in size by a tenth of an inch. The piece that had been knocked free, though…

She held it against the outline I’d drawn on the paper and frowned before cursing under her breath. “No grow.”

I shook my head.

“So part of building must be?”

“For it to grow and heal? Makes sense… but I’d want to test that.”

“Agreed I am.” She abruptly stuck out her hand. “Finished I am for now. Paper, watch, please. I stay and time total heal, and you go to where you go.” She turned to the guards who had been watching the whole thing silently and spoke to them in their own tongue. They nodded and motioned for me and Oksyna to follow them.

“Did I understand that right?” Oksyna asked as we walked along behind the guards. “The glass heals?”

“Sure seems that way! But how? It’s not alive. It doesn’t have Breath, much less a life force…”

“Explains how these buildings have lasted so long, though,” Oksyna mused. “I mean, in my experience, everything can rot and break and die. But these buildings are so old…”

“Yeah, even the earliest histories we have mention them as already standing,” I said as we made our way down some stairs, and then I paused at the sight of a massive set of iron-banded stone doors at the end of the hall, more guards flanking it. “And this would be the vault.”

#

Evdoksia of the Nikelnemnos Dynasty of the Dormelion Empire

Evdoksia crept through the halls of the Gehtun palace. Fortunately, the sheer amount of tapestries and carpets filling the place made it almost ridiculously easy.

A shadow-that-was-not seemed to move across her vision, and she moved behind a tapestry. A moment later, the guardsman who she had Seen with her Sight walked past, his spear in hand.

She waited until he was around the corner and then emerged, going for the stairs.

For the moment, the others were focused on the lower levels of the palace, including the basements and lower levels where the vault that had contained the oath-scroll was. She had other goals.

The team that had taken the scroll had been professional, skilled, effective, trained specifically by her family to execute these sorts of operations. There would be no evidence left behind for Fia and Zoy to discover.

She took the stairs two at a time, knowing that she only had a brief window of opportunity to pull this off… and the Gehtun and many others were depending on her to do it.

Her lungs burning, despite her own fitness, she reached the landing she wanted. Outside of that door was the vast balcony formed by the statue’s thrust arms. The operations team had never been up here, she knew that.

But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t have…

She reached down to her pouch and pulled out a small object, rolling it delicately into a corner, where it could be easily overlooked… unless someone as skilled as Zoy was searching for it.

Opening the door, she went out onto the balcony, and placed another object.

And then, going back down the stairs, her time running out, she left another, where it wouldn’t be found until the first two were.

It was done.

She made her way back down, feeling things shifting around her, hearing her uncle whisper in the back of her mind.

She hated it. She hated what she had to do.

She hated herself for doing it. These people had become her friends. And here she was, lying to them, manipulating them…

But she didn’t have a choice.

Reaching the lower floors, she straightened up and resumed walking around, as if searching for any clues. A shadow heralding Zoy appeared around the corner, giving her a few moments with which to brace herself before the other woman appeared.

“Yufemya! There you are! I’m just about done sweeping this floor.”

“Find anything?”

“No. The maids apparently swept before me,” she said. “I’m going to start on the next floor. Coming?”

Evdoksia smiled, hiding her pain at Zoy’s own eager smile. She hadn’t expected to become such good friends with her. She hadn’t expected to have Zoy’s body leaning against hers in the Lynx to feel so right.

She hadn’t expected to feel her stomach flutter at the sight of that smile.

So she said, “Of course!”

For now, the future would attend to itself.

~~~~~

END OF PART ONE

<<<<>>>>

Prologue | Chapter 14

So I have some good news; in the next week or two, I'm going to be getting a separate website of my own for posting my writing! While I'll continue to post here for the time being, eventually I'll just be posting links to the new chapter rather than the full text.

Beyond that, please continue spreading the story to those who would be interested. Thank you!

#imprudent #original writing #fractured legacies

[vampyrsutton]

SSD Day 2~Vampires~Compulsion/Pain Kink

Summary:

Dabi hasn't been able to hunt in days and goes a little feral when Hawks accidentally cuts his hand open.

Ao3 Tags:

Vampires, Compulsion, Pain Kink, Vampire Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Harpy Takami Keigo | Hawks, Half-Harpy, Blood, Blood Drinking, Biting, Vampire Sex, Vampire Bites, Hunter Takami Keigo | Hawks, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Heroes are Hunters, Panic Attacks, Takami Keigo | Hawks Has PTSD, Dabi | Todoroki Touya Has a Big Dick, Dabi | Todoroki Touya Has Genital Piercings, Dabi | Todoroki Touya Has Issues, Dabi | Todoroki Touya Has PTSD, Minor Violence, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Consensual Blood Drinking, Dabi | Todoroki Touya Has Feelings, Hybrid Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Past Child Abuse, Aftercare

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Hungry.

Fuck he was so hungry.

He hadn't eaten in days and needed to soon before he gave the Hunters a reason to take him out, but fuck was it difficult when the most affluent werewolf and Hunter in the country wanted your head on a preferably not silver platter.  

And now he had to meet up with his birdie which would undoubtfully go on until morning so there would be another day of being unable to hunt.

He was going to go feral at this rate.

Dabi huffs as he leans against the wall of the seedy motel they were meeting at and wrinkles his nose as a rat runs by. "Gods he's the Number 2 Hunter, we could at least meet somewhere that's not going to get my staples infected."

"You're already undead and have the body heat of a werewolf." Hawks laughs as he finally lands next to the grumpy hybrid. "Do you even get infections?"

"It's still gross." Dabi snaps, jerking his head in the direction of the front door and thus the front desk. "Now go get us checked in. I have shit to do after this."

Hawks rolls his eyes at the grumpiness, mumbling something about what crawled up his ass as he disappears through the appointed door.

"Should be the other way around but nOooo," Dabi mutters, crossing his arms as he waits. Despite the amount of heat he gives off, he's still freezing and the lack of blood isn't helping the fact.

"Good news." Hawks laughs as he holds up the key card in a little paper envelope. "Looks like they decided to be bougie just for you."

Dabi just glares, gesturing for Hawks to lead the way so they can get this over with and he can hopefully find at least a homeless man or a drunk. He didn't particularly want to return to base drunk off his ass because of spiked blood, but he was getting desperate at this point and the full moon last week had sapped most of his reserves.

Hawks just sighs, leading the way as he was told. "Seriously, Dabs, what's your problem tonight?" He huffs. And here he was thinking they'd finally made some progress.

Dabi winces slightly, knowing he's being an ass, but iron-clad self-control from years of homelessness was the only thing keeping him from going feral at this point so he thinks he's allowed to be a little bitchy. "I just have things to do."

"What, brooding in the dark that urgent?" Hawks scoffs, keying them into the room as he spins the envelope.

He was doing that a little too fast for Dabi's liking.

"Contrary to what you may have been told, birdie, the world does not revolve around you. People have other things going on that can't just stop so you can get your dick wet." Dabi snarls, trying not to show his surprise when a little bit of werewolf leaks into the sound.

Fuck, he might have less time than he thought.

Hawks draws back as though he'd been physically hit and wraps his wings around himself as though they would protect him from the harsh words, all the while still spinning that damn key envelope. "Right. Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

Dabi flinches now at the hurt in his birdies eyes. "No. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one being an ass. It's just that I haven't-"

"Ow!"

Dabi didn't get to finish explaining as his normally pretty turquoise eyes turn a deep, dangerous red as the scent of chicken, honey, and something wild and gamey fills the small motel room from the paper turned normal cut on the half-harpy's hand where he had tried to catch the envelope but instead cut himself on his talons.

A drop dripped to the floor.

Another.

A growl filled the silence.

Gold eyes shoot up in confusion before widening in panic as he starts scrambling away. "Dabi. What's going o-"

Fleeing was the wrong move.

Before Hawks can even think to sharpen a feather or swing his talons or any other bit of training that had been drilled into him since he was 8, Dabi has him pinned to the wall with a clawed hand in his hair and pulling his head to the side.

"Dabi, wai-AHHH!"

Hawks screams as four sharp fangs puncture the skin of his neck before he starts screaming for an entirely different reason. One second he's screaming from the sudden pain and the next a fog is overtaking his mind before he's screaming from pure terror. He doesn't even know what it is that he's so scared of. Despite the circumstances, he's not scared of Dabi, there's nothing in the room that should terrify him and nothing happened today. He tries to fight and reason against the sudden overwhelming and unexplained terror, and some part of his training is briefly registering the pheromones and compulsions that vampires can use when feeding to inflict either terror or pleasure onto their prey, but the majority of his brain has been thrown back to being eight years old and hiding in the closet as his dad ransacked the house looking for him to beat him for hiding in the first place then take him to help him steal. He would never listen to Keigo that it was wrong.

Then Endeavor had saved him.

But did he really?

Sure he got away from his abusive father and was saving people now, but he got taken from one environment where he was beaten and his autonomy ignored to a probably worse environment working under the guise of working for the greater good.

Was he though?

How many of the creatures that he's killed just needed therapy or a stable home and food or inclusive laws or any number of things that would have made their death completely preventable? That could have saved them before they even got to that point.

Hunters were revered as the heroes of their society, but was he really?

The longer he was stuck in this mental hellscape, the less he believed it.

He was getting lightheaded.

Was it the panic or the blood loss doing it though?

"Da-bi…" Hawks manages to croak.

Dabi didn't hear him.

He couldn't hear him.

All he could hear was his prey's pulse pounding in his ears as the compulsion did its job of making his heart spike with adrenaline and keeping him too terrified to move.

Dabi groans into where his fangs are buried in the half-harpy's throat as he drinks mouthful after mouthful.

He hates drinking for terror, but right now he can understand why others do.

He feels strong.

He feels powerful.

He feels like he could take on his dad right now and win.

He could finally throw the fleabag to the ground and wale on him over and over before the werewolf could even try to get up.

He could finally get back at him for buying his mother for her strong vampire lineage.

Could finally get back at him for creating him. For hyping him up and raising him to be a strong and powerful Hunter capable of dethroning All Might. For abandoning him when he went outside to play with Fuyumi before her traits could show up and he began screaming as his skin started to peel off from the sun. For casting him aside when doctors informed them that while he may have all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of a werewolf just as his father had wanted, he ultimately had the body of a vampire and the weaknesses and needs that came with it.

For molding him into his perfect soldier whose only purpose in life was to become a Hunter, and leaving him with nothing when he no longer fit his father's needs.

For not even trying to help him overcome the weaknesses he cursed him with.

Touya never asked to be born. None of them had asked to be born!

He could creep past the Academy even now and see the dead, soulless eyes of his baby brother as the other recruits tried to interact with him. At least the green-haired demigod had finally gotten a smile to form.

He still looked dead inside though.

They all did.

Even as Dabi, he barely wanted to be alive now.

By all odds and logic, he shouldn't be alive now yet here he was. Here he was alive and kicking as one of Japan's most wanted, drinking from one of their top Hunters.

One way or another, he had aided in the downfall of All Might.

Now he would directly cause the downfall of the new number one.

His screams would be delicious, Dabi could almost hear them.

He could hear him?

Except they were higher? And they were sobbing?

Who was screaming and crying?

Wait, where was he? He was supposed to be meeting with Hawks?

Where was Hawks?

This thought finally makes his eyes snap open in panic and realize just whose blood it was that he was drinking and just who he was inflicting so much fear into.

As much of a tough exterior as he put on, this was the last person he wanted to do that to.

Hawks was the last person he wanted to hurt.

Dabi quickly switches his pheromone output to pleasure to cancel out the terror until he hears a very shakey moan from the half-harpy before he pulls away, licking at the bird's sun-kissed neck to heal the messy punctures before sinking to the floor with him when his legs give out.

"Hawks! Hawks!" Dabi calls, waving his hand in front of the Hunter's face to try and get that far-away look out of his eyes and cursing when the blonde just flinches like he's going to be hit. "Keigo, please!"

The use of a long-buried name is what makes gold eyes snap up to worried red. "Touya?" He whispers.

Dabi winces, realizing just how far back Hawks had been sent but also getting a warm feeling in his chest that that was who brought him back even if that boy was long dead. "Close."

Hawks blinks and a little more light returns to his pinned eyes. "…Dabi?"

"Hi, pretty bird." Dabi smiles shakily, hoping there's not as much blood on his face as he thinks there is. "You back?"

A small nod. "What happened? I was stuck back in Commission training having my head feathers forcefully plucked."

A low growl rumbles in Dabi's chest at the information before he winces when Hawks cowers at the sound. "I'm sorry, pretty bird," Dabi whispers, taking Hawks’ hand to slowly pull him close. "I'm so sorry. Hunting has been a little rough since the crackdowns, and then you cut yourself and I lost it. That's the stuff I had to do after this was to try and find food before I gave you a reason to kill me, but here we are." He frowns, using his much blunter claws to scratch at Hawks' scalp until he relaxes. "Are you okay?"

Hawks nods, nuzzling close to the hybrid's body heat since he now felt a bit cold. "Yeah…yeah, I'm okay." He mumbles. "I take it you switched compulsions then?"

"Yeah, the pleasure one cancels out the terror fairly well." Dabi nods in return.

"Ah." Hawks mumbles distractedly. "That explains why the boner returned."

"Yeah, it usually has that effect- wait." Dabi pushes Hawks away from him some. "What do you mean returned ?"

Hawks blinks, not understanding why he was pulled away from the heat source until his brain catches up with what he said, and his face flames pink. "Oh, um, well you see, I-"

Dabi rolls his eyes when the birdy starts trying to ramble before his still red eyes glow and his voice takes on a dreamy note. "What did you mean, pretty bird?" He asks again while using compulsion to do so.

"I liked you biting me before the fear started" Hawks monotones. "First bit of the fear wasn't horrible either. Was remembering you kicking my ass. Strong mate. Hurt but had the most confused boner after that meeting." 

Dabi blinks, not having expected that before smirking a little. "So you like pain, pretty bird?" 

"When you're causing it for some reason." The harpy answers unblinkingly. "Bird brain really likes you showing off. Can't say I mind either."

"I'm still a little peckish then," Dabi smirks, getting close to the bird. "Want me to make it up to you for scaring you and leaving you all hot and bothered?"

Hawks whimpers, baring his throat for the vampire before him. "Please." 

Dabi grins, not having had the opportunity to drink without having to compel someone to bare their neck for him. Now here he was able to ask if Hawks wanted to and Hawks not only saying yes but even offered his neck. The hybrid was on cloud nine. 

"Forget this next sentence. I hope you know you're stuck with me now, baby bird." Dabi rumbles, pulling Hawks in for a kiss before releasing the compulsion. "Feel better?" Dabi checks. 

"Yeah, less shakey." Hawks sighs, smiling into the affection.

"Still okay with me biting you?" 

Hawks flushes, but nods. "Can't have you out attacking civilians." He half laughs, going for a joke to lighten his mood.

Dabi frowns, looking at Hawks seriously. "Don't do this because some Commission bullshit makes you think you have to. I took enough to be able to find someone else to top off without killing them." He warns. "You don't have to if you don't want to. "

Hawks smiles softly, happy that he actually has a choice on something for once in his life. "I want to." He climbs into the skinny man's lap now to hold them and use his wings to deposit them on the bed, snickering at how Dabi yelps at the sudden flight before wrapping his arms over scarred shoulders. "Please, Dabi?" 

Turquoise eyes that had finally returned to normal glow red once more as Dabi's mouth opens to reveal gleaming fangs. "I'll use a low dose, tap me if I forget to keep track of your pulse or it just gets too much."  He warns before his fangs puncture skin once more and flood the pretty bird's senses with lust pheromones. 

"Right, gotCHA~ Dabi~!" Hawks moans, immediately falling hard as he arches into Dabi's touch as best he can without ripping his own throat open. "Fuuuck~" He whines. 

All at once, it's too much too fast, but he'd probably actually cry if Dabi tried to stop. Already he's painfully hard as he grinds his hips against the hybrid's front and moans when he can feel that Dabi is just as hard as him. His skin feels like it's on fire, and something is screaming at him that the only way to fix it is to let Dabi take as much as he wants and he couldn't agree more.

A low growl starts in Dabi's chest as he drinks his fill. It didn't have nearly as much kick as the adrenaline-laced blood the terror provides, but he had had plenty of that to fuel him for the next week. Now though, now he was much more focused on making it up to Keigo as he dragged his claws between wings like he knows the birdie likes on the way to his hips to pull him close and grind their clothed cocks together. Already he wishes he had his claws from last week so he could just tear their clothes off, but Kurogiri would also probably kill him if he had to summon a portal just because they got a bit too feisty. 

Keigo did not seem to have the same reservations. 

Within minutes, Dabi lets out a groan as both of their pants fall away, reduced to ribbons by Hawks' impatient claws but at least he left the boxers Dabi guesses. 

Oh well, too late now. 

Dabi groans low in his throat as his tongue presses against where his fangs have pierced skin and Hawks almost sobs at the pleasure-pain before grinding their hips against each other. 

'Right coat pocket. ' Dabi projects into Hawks' mind. 'Pass me the lube so I can open you up. '

Hawks whines, reaching down to feel around in the pockets in front of him until he can uncap and pour the lube into Dabi's waiting hand. He feels some movement behind him and, soon enough, his wings are fluttering behind him as a finger breaches his hole and he lets out a chirping moan. 

"Dabi~!" 

'Fuck, birdie. ' Dabi groans, biting harder to get another moan from the half-harpy. 'You're so tight. Gonna drive me insane again, aren't you? '

Hawks whines, squirming in the hybrid's strong hold and shuddering when another finger and soon a third. Soon enough, Dabi has Hawks shaking and sobbing out every one of his carefully tortured out bird sounds, and Dabi is lapping them up like his blood.

'So pretty, songbird. Why would you ever hide these? Can't wait to burn that damn Commission to the ground for you, depriving the world of such beautiful song because of their own prejudice. A damn disgrace. ' Dabi growls, noticing the sounds getting kind of weak so pulls back to heal the wound before delivering one more quick bite to the harpy's shoulder as he slams him down on his cock so he can watch Hawks throw his head back in pleasure. 

"DABIIII~ PLEASE! FUCK!" Hawks sobs as he trembles with how full he is all at once. He doesn't feel any discomfort though. If anything, it only ignites the fire that the pheromones started within him as his brain screams at him to fuck, and he almost starts to bounce himself on the hybrid’s pierced cock if his shoulder didn’t still have fangs in it. “Move! Please! Move! I’m ready! Please! Fuck! Fuck me! Please!”

Dabi’s eyes widen as he removes his fangs and seals to wound so as to not take any more blood as he looks at Hawks in curiosity. 

Was prey always this receptive?

Dabi was so used to dining and dashing that he couldn’t tell you, but he knew he couldn’t get enough of the sight of Japan’s number two Hunter sitting debauched on his cock and trying to fuck himself on it. 

“You good, songbird?” Dabi checks in as he starts thrusting his hips and rumbling as Hawks chirps and cries out. 

“Good. So good. So so good. Please, Dabi. Please. So good. Fuck me. Feels so good.” Hawks almost slurs and neither would be able to tell you really if it was from blood loss or pheromones, but fuck Hawks wanted more. “Use me. Drain me. Kill me. I don’t care. Just fuck me, please~” 

Dabi jolts in bewilderment, wondering if he overdid it and pulling Hawks forward so their foreheads touch to more clearly read his mind. He sighs in both relief and horror when he realizes that it's not his fault, Hawks is just a freak.

“I’ll use you if you want, pretty bird, but I won’t kill you. There’s only one Hunter I want to kill, and it’s not you.” Dabi whispers, knowing Hawks is too drunk on pheromones to remember it later as he grabs narrow hips and changes their positions so Dabi is looming over the half-harpy to fuck into him better and watch how his talons shred the cheap hotel sheets as his prostate is abused. “That better?”

Hawks lets out a chirping moan as he tries to meet Dabi’s thrusts, but the birdie asked to be used so with hybrid speed and strength now added to the mix? Hawks is left drooling and twitching in minutes as he’s used as nothing more than a fleshlight for Dabi to get off with. 

Dabi had planned to spoil the bird for not getting mad at him for going feral for a minute, but, well, he did ask to be used so used he was. 

Between the rough fucking and the bites being littered across his body before being immediately healed, it’s not long before Dabi has to throw a pillow between them so Hawks can’t bite him like this and he feels talons catch on staple and scar tissue a like as Hawks cums hard across his stomach.

Thank gods for a full stomach and vampire healing or Dabi would probably have new scars lining his back as he hisses at the feeling.

Those scars he would at least wear with pride even if the League would give him so much shit for it.

“DABIIII~!” Hawks sobs as Dabi continues fucking him, chasing his own orgasm now. “Hurry~ please~! Want your cum! Please!” He begs, definitely cock dumb at this point as he chirps when a piercing catches his rim a certain way.

“Fuck.” Dabi hisses, speeding up his thrusts and admiring how red Hawks’ cheeks get as their hips meet. Was it possible to bruise your partner’s ass from fucking them too hard? 

Guess they were about to find out. 

Dabi gives one final growl as his fangs bury in Hawks’ shoulder one last time while he cums hard inside the smaller man, drinking in the way he chirps and moans as he’s filled until Dabi finally slows down and pulls out. 

He laps at the bite carefully so it can heal, before looking Hawks over and finding him barely conscious. He panics a bit, but, after holding his hand to his heart, sighs in relief when he realizes the Hunter is just exhausted. 

It’s not surprising, given the whole ordeal he just went through, so Dabi uses some of his speed to make sure the motel’s bathroom isn’t disgusting before using his strength to carry him to a warm bath and watch him coo happily as the water envelopes his undoubtedly sore muscles.

“Thanks, birdie,” Dabi mumbles when gold eyes finally open again to meet his once again turquoise eyes. “Didn’t really want to go hunting for some drunk so thanks for the meal.”

Hawks just smiles, reaching a tired arm over to pull him into a kiss and nip at his scarred lower lip. “Any time, Hot Stuff. Though maybe warn me next time.” He chuckles, yawning. “Think you can raid the vending machine for snacks and juice?”

Dabi winces but ultimately snorts at the bird’s request. “I would, but you shredded our pants. If you let me use that fancy Hunter’s credit card though, I can get us room service. And an offering so maybe Kurogiri will actually pick us up.”

Hawks flushes but nods shyly. “Left inside pocket of the coat.”

“Don’t drown,” Dabi warns as he goes to retrieve them food, the wolf in him happy to be able to feed his mate even if it wasn’t by his own means.

“Yeah, yeah!” Hawks laughs as he sinks into the hot water.

Dabi gets through ordering on the crackly motel phone and is heading back to the half-harpy before he freezes as an earlier thought catches up with him.

Wait.

Mate?! 

#dabihawks #hotwings #hotwingz #bnha dabi #bnha hawks #todoroki touya #takami keigo #bnha #dabi #hawks #mha smut #vampire!dabi #harpy!hawks #tw blood #tw blood drinking #twitter event #spookyscarydabiweek #sexpollenfest

[theretirementstory]

Remember, remember the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot.

Yes tonight is “Bonfire Night” in the UK, where an effigy of poor old Guy Fawkes (a Yorkshire lad) is remembered as he sits atop the burning fire. The bonfire is normally accompanied by a firework display.

We said goodbye to October this week and November arrived and with it more wet and windy weather.

I went to the hospital for a consultation and the haematologist was very pleased with my health. I only need a blood test once a month now reduced from once a week. I am still waiting for my appointments for the radiotherapy but I was told I would receive a phone call so I just have to wait. The appointment was very quick this time (which was good) I got home just as the daylight was going.

I was busy sorting lots of “stuff” for the charity shop and I was being rather ruthless. I drove into deepest darkest Haute Marne to my friends house then she drove me to the Emmaus charity shop. Wow, I was blown away, there were young men waiting with a “supermarket” trolley to collect the items from your car, they asked what was inside the boxes/bags so that they could put them into an appropriate “chest”. The car was quickly emptied and although we didn’t go into the shop it was a lovely ride out. I had a coffee and a chat with Sarah and Jonathan then left their home while we still had daylight. It was a lovely afternoon and we are going to do something another day soon.

My cleaner had been at my home twice this week. I managed to deal with the paperwork for her wages and I was very pleased with myself. She rang me on Friday to say that she had tested positive for Covid! Oh my goodness, me with the low immune system, let’s hope I am ok.

A note appeared in my letterbox saying I had a letter to be signed for. I collected it from the post office and it was a recall notice for my car. I went to the local garage and am booked in to get the car checked, it’s not until December but hopefully everything is fine with the car.

A couple of disappointments this week, firstly I needed one more ball of wool to finish the baby blanket. Drove up to the shop and, you guessed it, not one ball left! I did manage to pick up one ball of the blue colour (only 3 of those left) and I am now “knitting Nora” trying to knit this new blanket and have it finished before 24 November 😳. The second disappointment was the clothes I ordered on-line. The parcel arrived and I tried on said items only to find that they were too big 😩. I packed them up and posted them back and have placed an order for a smaller size 🤞that they fit much better.

“The Daddy” was doing his second job, volunteer photographer for Scarborough Athletic FC, on Saturday. It was a first round FA Cup match and to be honest I think all the family were following the score. Scarborough held the lead from the 27th minute. 3 minutes of added time was given at 90 minutes and at 90 + 2 minutes the opposition scored 😭. It’s a replay on 14 November.

“The Trainee Solicitor” has been looking at ways to reduce his outgoings. He has changed his home insurer and is looking at other ways to cut costs. It’s easy to be “led” when you are first buying a house and I am pleased that as things are due for renewal he is checking out similar options.

“The Ex-Graduate” has had a very busy week, working 45 hours this week. It was busier than usual due to the fact that it was school “half term” holidays, add to that the wet weather and everyone wanting to be inside! That’s a recipe for busy, busy, busy!

Right let’s have a look at this weeks songs. The first is from 1996 😳 it is Un-Break My Heart by Toni Braxton. Lots of reasons for liking this song, great singer, great guitar just lovely to listen to.

Talking of great guitar, here is another example. Parisienne Walkways by Gary Moore feat. Phil Lynott. This dates back to 1978, yes it does, I had to go into the singles box to check my copy of the record!

I haven’t had any visitors this week but have had messages from Maud, Monique, Denise a friend from the old knitting group and Claudine a friend from the new knitting group. Apparently, the new lady to the group has been hospitalised with viral meningitis!

I have been busy looking for a birthday present for a friend in the south of France. I think I have managed to find something and have also a thought for another year.

My week seems to have involved not much “out and about” more clicking of needles, but that is how it goes sometimes.

My neighbour, up the street, has been putting up a six foot high wire fence around first his back garden and now his front garden. I don’t understand, it makes it look like a fortress and even more puzzling is the fact that he doesn’t own his home he just rents it! I had the shrubs removed from my front garden to open up my space and this man seems to want to “shut himself off”. Each to their own I suppose.

Quite a few people have had fences put up around their back gardens this year but I really would hate my shrubs to be removed where would the birds go? I love to see them swooping around the garden.

Well it’s time to go, I can hear the needles calling me 😂.

Bon dimanche.

#barsuraube #trees #nature #photography #70’s music #90’s music #knitting #autumn #bonfire night #fireworks #emmaus #hautemarne #scarboroughafc