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#then he runs after a brother she doesn’t know and probably doesn’t trust and almost dies again
sanjisblackasswife · 1 year
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Little Things You Do That OP Men Love (SFW)
Black Fem Reader in Mind
Ft. Katakuri, Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Ace
Katakuri
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He loves watching you eat with him, whether it’s donuts or just some other snack he likes how your cheeks get almost as big as his when you relax and stuff your face
He enjoys watching you try to fight him. You tend to throw hands with him a lot in a playful way, he’s a big mf so he really doesn’t feel much when you climb, slap, punch or kick him. He views it very cute when you do it when you get jealous or pouty.
To add on to that he loves how you were never afraid of him. Of course it took him sometimes to get used to the affection you gave him, and honestly he thought you’d leave after he showed you his teeth, but you fell more in love with him and he will always cherish you for that
Luffy
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He loves how easy it is to make you laugh. He loves your laugh so much. When he first heard it he did such a wide smile, Robin swears up and down the first time he made you laugh that’s when he fell for you, but Luffy never understood why she said that. He tried everyday to hear you laugh at least once regardless if you hate it or not. You look best when you smile.
The way you always share your food with him. I mean yeah there are many things you do for him and sharing your food is one. He loves eating with you and bonding over food. He secretly likes when you feed the food to him too.
The way you take and wear his hat. He has only allowed very few people to wear/hold his hat but he only gives you the privilege of taking it when you want. You look better in it anyways.
The way you run and hug him when you see him. He is a touchy person naturally so when you first hugged him he literally could have melted in your touch. He thinks you’re so soft and smell SOOOO good. Many times after hugging Luffy he keeps his body wrapped around you.
Ace
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He loves the way you talk. Whether you have an accent or not your voice gives him a peace of mind. You never yell at him or belittle him with your words. If you both aren’t bantering with each other Everything you speak towards him is all love and affirmation and he wouldn’t change it for the world
He loves how you admire small things about him. You always compliment his freckles, his hair, the way he dresses (even if he barely wears clothes) you’re just so positive around him. He does a small crooked smile when you do it.
The way you say “I love you.” To him. You’re one of the first few people next to his brothers and WB to show him what love really was and when Ace first heard you say that to him he cried.
How carefree you are around him. He notices the way you are more reserved with other around, but when you’re alone with him you are the complete opposite. Ace appreciate you have that kind of trust to be that vulnerable around him.
Sanji
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Yes he loves everything about you BUT the one thing he loves the most is how your eyes light up every SINGLE time he walks into the room. Being played by so many women and not desired by many of them the fact that you’re probably the first to have a genuine happiness to have him around makes him feel so honored and loved.
The way you look at him has him on his knees. It’s similar to the first one, but sometimes you have this small low lidded gaze he can’t look away from. You make his cheeks on FIRE with that look! It’s not even intentional and he doesn’t even think you know but when your chin is rested on your hand and you watch him in admiration he gets so shy.
The way you touch him. He’s a touchy guy too, but how you sometimes fix his hair, adjust his tie, or even tie his shoes gets him going—-not ALWAYS in a sexual way but in a way where he will drown you in “I love you’s” for the gesture
He loves watching you talk about things you love to him. There were so many unknown and interesting facts about you he has learned while talking to you, you’re so expressive and fun to speak to. Some days when he isn’t having a love fit he just enjoys having a long and deep conversation.
How patient and gentle you are with him. You never have hit Sanji, pushed him away, cursed at him, or anything. You’ve always welcomed his lover boy antics and him as a whole. You’re so understanding when he screws up somehow that he believes one day you may leave him if he don’t get his act together, but you reassured him nothing could make you love him any less.
Zoro
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How you motivate him, he doesn’t tell you of course but seeing you focused on getting stronger gives him the courage to keep going
The way you snap back at him. We all know this mf loves to make smart remarks but when you first clapped back he was so attracted to you . You don’t back down from talking crap to him and he loves that so much
The way you hold him., whether he admits it or not after a love making session or just when you both are sleeping he loves when you pull him into your chest and hold him tightly. Your touch is one of the few things that helps him have a sound mind and make him smile
When you fight, he does get a liiittllleee turned on seeing you work yourself up because you get so cocky and angry while fighting enemies, but he likes how quick you are on your feet (remember that scene where Zoro asks if Chopper is ganna be okay and he says yes and Zoro says “That’s my man” Akbshssskj he says “That’s my girl” to you when you fight )
How you trust him always made his heart flutter. You’re more than capable of fighting on your own, but it’s those moments where you don’t bat an eye to when an enemy is about to attack and you don’t worry because you know Zoro will come to your rescue. He’s asked you why tf do you act so careless when he is around but you smiled and told him, “Because I know a swordsman that will protect me.”
Ego boost.
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kybercrystals94 · 1 month
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Just a few things in Season 3 Episode 5 that I can’t stop thinking about…
[spoilers below cut]
The way Crosshair treats Omega like a peer.
This is so different from the way Wrecker, Echo, Tech, but specifically Hunter, ever treated Omega. To them, she’s still the little girl they rescued off Kamino. They know they’ve trained her to be capable; however, it is hard to separate their guileless little sister from the little warrior she’s become both with their squad and during her captivity on Tantiss.
Crosshair never knew or cared about little Omega, the child who’d never seen dirt before.
He’s only ever known and cared about this Omega. The Omega that insisted on building a relationship with him in spite of his trying to push her away for her own good. The Omega who refused to leave him behind at risk to herself. The Omega who can hold her own alongside him during a firefight. The Omega who can fly ships, bribe, and swindle. Crosshair has only known this Omega. Why would he treat her as anything but capable? He will absolutely protect her and have her back, but he will not doubt her abilities.
That’s not to say that the others doubt her abilities. I think they absolutely know what Omega is capable of, but that innate desire to protect the little thing she was has not dissolved just because Omega has grown…which is so true of real life. It’s authentic, and it's difficult and messy. And I love that the show is tackling this.
I also love that Crosshair knows this too. “Don’t hold it against him. He’s only worried about you,” he gently advises.
Which leads me into how I viewed Hunter’s behavior in Episode 5…
He doesn’t trust Crosshair. Why would he? The last time they interacted, Crosshair tried to force them to join the Empire of his own volition. He tried to have Omega forcibly removed from their protection. He chose the Empire over them. And then, they find out that Crosshair became a prisoner of the Empire, and their attempt to rescue Crosshair from his own choices resulted in Tech’s death and Omega’s capture. On top of that, what exactly did Crosshair do to get on the Empire’s bad side? Hunter doesn’t know. And Crosshair isn’t volunteering the information.
I also saw a bit of jealousy on Hunter’s part (although he probably doesn’t recognize it). While we as viewers know that Omega is trying to support Crosshair with his emotional and physical trauma, as well as getting him to communicate with Hunter and Wrecker. On the outside, Omega and Crosshair are almost inseparable, Omega seeking out Crosshair’s companionship (the brother that initiated a lot of the Batch’s heartbreak) rather than the brothers who have taken care of her all along. Gotta admit, I’d be pretty hurt by that too. Again, not at all Omega’s intent or fault that he feels this way, but it would be confusing and hurtful nonetheless.
Crosshair also senses this jealousy. (“Oh, don’t pretend like this is all about me…You’re angry because she escaped with my help, not yours.”) What Hunter doesn’t know is that Crosshair has supported Omega and Hunter’s relationship, not undermined it.
I really appreciated how Crosshair - while hurt by Hunter’s mistrust - does his best to prove himself trustworthy again (although hidden behind typical Crosshair snark). He’s broken his brothers’ trust, and he knows it has to be earned back.
Wrecker runs to hug Hunter and Crosshair after they make it back safely.
Wrecker is the only one of the Batch (besides Crosshair, obviously) who has been on both sides of the chip. He understands Hunter’s perspective and trepidation towards Crosshair; however, he also understands the guilt and fear that comes after being under the chip’s influence and nearly killing your family. While he was also confused and hurt by Crosshiar’s actions after the chip, Wrecker trusts Omega’s judgment. If Omega feels that Crosshair has changed, then Wrecker is not going to question it.
But he’s not going to pressure Hunter to the same conclusion, and he’s been Hunter’s support system for so long–and obviously, Crosshair already has a support system in Omega. Wrecker is going to let Hunter take the time he needs to trust Crosshair on his own terms…and I love that!
I felt that when Wrecker saw them coming back, he could tell they had worked out some of their hard feelings toward one another…and he was thrilled! That hug was more than just happy they made it back safe from facing a monster, but that they are on the path to making amends. Their family is healing. Not healed. There’s still hurts and wounds to work through, but healing.
And the way he embraces his two sullen brothers, smooshing them together so that they are also hugging each other by association…made me smile so big!
The way Echo acts as mediator between Hunter and Crosshair. (Also…ECHO FINALLY SHOWS UP!!)
Omega and Wrecker have been struggling trying to support both brothers while they work through their issues, and then there’s Echo saying, “You can kill each other later…focus!” Echo gets it. He knows they need to work things out on their own terms, in their own time. But first…mission!
Also, I loved how civilly he treats Crosshair when they meet again. Crosshair is 100% ready to receive a negative reaction, and when Echo simply snarks back at him like the good ol’ days, Crosshair is visibly surprised. Even Omega looks happy to see the positive interaction.
When Omega expresses how she wishes she could have done more for the other clones on Tantiss, Echo tells her she did the right thing escaping and getting the information she could to him and Rex…he is such a good and encouraging older brother! I love him!
Special mention goes to Crosshair and Batcher being buddies! The way Crosshair pats and pets her when Batcher comes up to him after they rescue Hunter out of the snow. And then Batcher plops down beside him and Crosshair keeps petting her. My little heart!
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f1goat · 5 months
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his teammate + lando norris x part thirteen
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In which you find yourself getting closer to your brothers new teammate who's a dick.
lando norris x fem!verstappen (sister) + cursewords + smut
masterlist - playlist
“I really need to get some air,” you say to Lando and Layla, “I uh, I will see you later.”
Before either of them can react you’re already walking away. You almost run through the crowd from the night club to get outside. You need air. Fresh air. You know that you don’t have all the information, but at this moment it’s enough for you. Lando ignored your messages, made no effort to find you tonight and all because he’s talking with an ex. Maybe not an ex girlfriend, but at least some girl he used to fuck regularly. 
When you’re finally outside you’re quick to find a bench on the street. You take place on it and let out a big sigh. In what sort of mess have you gotten yourself? You pull out your phone and notice that it’s filling up with notifications from Lando. Multiple messages are coming in. You already feel drenched, but still you start to read them. 
Lando: babygirl where did you go to?
Lando: she doesn’t mean anything
Lando: tell me where you are so I can explain
Lando: babygirl?
You don’t reply to his messages. You need time to think about everything that happened. What does Lando mean with his text? She doesn’t mean anything. What is that saying? You feel yourself getting panicked. What if Pierre is right? Could it be that Lando is still sleeping around? You don’t want to think about it, you know you should trust Lando and you really try to do so. But he’s making it so hard for you tonight.
You think back about last weeks. He never gave you a reason to distrust him. Not once. Then why are you this quick to run away from him? Maybe it’s because you haven’t talked about everything that happened between him and Maisie yet. You should talk about everything she has said when you spoke her. Lando needs to tell you what’s true and what isn’t. 
When a girl takes a seat next to you on the bench, you don’t even realize it at first. 
“I told Lando that you’d probably rather hear it from me right now,” the girl says suddenly. When you look at her you realize that it’s Layla. Without the people around her and the colored lights from the club, you notice how beautiful she is. “Since it looked bad,” she continues to speak, “and Lando is drunk and will probably make things even worse right now.”
Make things worse? What can he make worse? Your mind shifts to the worst case scenario’s. 
“What do you mean?” You ask Layla.
“Lando wasn’t flirting with me, he didn’t want to take me back to his hotel or anything like that,” she tells you, “and I can promise you that he’s a total different person then when I saw him last time. A year ago.”
“He wasn’t?” You ask.
Layla simply nods. “He was apologizing.”
“Apologizing?” You ask even more confused.
“I know this sounds weird,” Layla tells you with a soft laugh, “but he has gotten it into his head to apologize to every girl he has hurt. Apparently one of his exes showed up in his drivers room and acted all crazy? He’s trying to protect you from that I guess.”
“Promise?” You ask her, “It was really that?”
She simply nods and takes your pink to intertwine it with hers. “Pinky promise,” she says. 
After that you take your time to talk with her. Layla tells you about her and Lando. She had sex with him a couple times - “He didn’t even take his time with me, I never came” - and was around him for a bit of fame now that she was honest about it. Lando always told her that it would be a just sex thing with no strings, which she agreed onto. Last formula one season was the last time she saw him. He didn’t plan to meet her here tonight, but they walked into each other. 
“I swear I didn’t believe him when he told me he was dating somebody,” Layla tells you laughingly, “but then he started to apologize for how he treated me and everything. I haven’t spoken that long with him, but he actually seems like a whole different person.”
You show her a small smile. 
“You did a good job with him,” Layla tells you, “I always knew there was more to him then this player bad boy type. You brought the real him back.”
“He did it himself,” you tell her shyly, “I didn’t do anything.”
“He did it for you,” Layla interrupts you, “I know you didn’t tell him to change and deserve you, but he decided that he wanted you and that he needed the best version of himself to get you. You’re a lucky girl.”
Before you can respond to Layla the boy you’re busy talking about shows up himself. Lando is quietly standing in front of Layla and you. He looks at you. He looks nervous. 
“This is my sign to go,” Layla speaks up while she stands up from the bench, “It was nice meeting you y/n and Lando thanks for the apologies. Everything is forgiven.” With those words she walks away, leaving Lando and you alone.
“I overreacted,” you confess to Lando, “I’m sorry Lan, I shouldn’t have thought like that without asking you first.”
“And I should have reacted to your texts and found you before her,” Lando tells you, he takes a place next to you on the bench. He wraps his arm around your body and pulls you close to himself. “I was so surprised to see her that I forgot about the rest,” Lando adds, “and maybe I should have introduced you different to her.”
“Can you take me back to the hotel?” You ask Lando.
“I can’t drive, but I can fix us a cab,” Lando jokes before pulling out his phone.
+++
The following two weeks are hard on you. Lando is busy with simulator work and apologizing to every girl he can find. That means your Instagram is full with photos from Lando and those girls. Every time you open Instagram some gossip account has posted a new photo from Lando with another girl. You’re constantly reminded of how beautiful the girls all are. They are always influencers with a lot of followers, models or strangers who still look like they should be a model. You trust Lando, but you’re missing your time with him. 
And you’re having a hard time with the fact that it’s still not official between the two of you.
Y/N: when are you back?
Lando: patience babygirl
Lando: I’ll be back in your arms in no time ;)
Y/N: what’s no time?
Lando: depends how tomorrow will go
Y/N: i miss you
Lando: i miss you too
Messages like that are almost getting too familiar to you. Sometimes you wonder if you can actually do this. You thought it would be easier. Sleepless nights are nothing new for you lately, you can already guess that tonight will be another one. Hours you’re spending awake while doubting everything. Is it supposed to be like this when you’re not even officially in a relationship?
You let out a sigh. For the tenth time you turn yourself around in bed. You miss Lando his presence next to you right now. It would be much better if he was laying here with you. He doesn’t even need to say anything, just him being here - next to you - would solve everything right now. You scroll on your Instagram. Of course the first thing you see is a new picture from Lando with a girl. Why did he decide to apologize to everyone? You can’t stand the idea anymore. Mainly because there are so many girls.
Slowly you feel your cheeks getting wet. You didn’t even realize you were crying. A couple tears roll down on your cheeks. Before you know it, you’re sobbing as well. Fuck what a mess. It’s not like there’s anything wrong between you and Lando. There’s no fight or anything like that. You just miss him and you have the feeling you have so much to talk about with him. And all those girls he’s with aren’t helping. You know he means well by apologizing to them, but you’re done with it.
You hear a soft knock on your door. It’s probably Max. He has been worried about you the last days. Of course he knew before you even realized yourself that you weren’t great at the moment. You wipe away some tears and try to look a bit more positive before answering.
“Come in,” you say.
When the door opens you’re taken aback by surprise. It makes you only cry harder. You have no idea if those tears are from happiness or sadness anymore. 
“Babygirl?”
Lando rushes inside your room when he sees your state. He is fast to close the door and kick off his shoes, before he sits down on the bed next to you. Without saying anything he takes you into his arms. Softly he caresses your back. He presses soft kisses against your face. He can taste the saltiness of your tears. It hurts him to find you like this. He expected the opposite. He thought you would be happy when he entered your room after barely seeing each other lately. But it seemed like he only made you cry (harder?). 
“What’s wrong baby?” Lando asks you softly. 
You don’t react at first. You try to, but you can’t get a normal word out. The only sounds leaving your mouth are sobs at the moment. 
“Take your time,” Lando tells you. He presses another kiss against your head. This time at your forehead. He presses you against his chest. 
“We.. we,” you try to say, but again it’s mostly sobs, “we uh, we really need to t.. talk.”
“Talk?” Lando asks you confused. This is something he really didn’t expect. The words sound bad. Why do you really need to talk with him? Is there something wrong? He knows he wasn’t around as much the last two weeks, but he tried to make amends with multiple exes and was busy with simulator work. “About what?” He asks further.
“Everything,” you cry out.
Lando starts to feel nervous. This sounds bad. You try to calm yourself so you can properly tell Lando what’s on your mind. In the mean time you notice Lando his confused - and nervous, looks. Fuck, this isn’t what you wanted.
“I can’t stand it anymore,” you tell Lando honestly, “I missed you like cray and all I see are pictures from you with exes. I know you’re apologizing, but I don’t want to see all those pictures every time.”
“I’m doing this for you babygirl,” Lando states, “What if there’s one who’s crazier then Maisie? What if they will search you out? And it’s helping me to better myself. Otherwise I never deserve you.”
Those words make you cry again. 
“Stop,” you sob, “stop bettering yourself for me.”
Lando looks confused at you. 
“You’re more then enough,” you tell him, “and I need you to realize that.”
“I’m more then enough but when I try to surprise you I find you crying about me,” Lando mutters, “Then I’m doing something wrong. This can’t be more then enough.”
“It’s,” you try to explain yourself but you can’t find the right words. “Fuck,” you mutter, “I don’t know how to explain.”
“Explain what?”
“How I’m feeling,” you sigh. 
“Fuck this is what I meant,” Lando says, he raises his voice a bit. “Look at what I caused,” he continues, “you’re a crying mess because of me.” After saying those words he stands up. He walks away from your bed. “I know what you’re feeling,” Lando sighs, “and you don’t have to say it or explain it. I understand. I’ll leave you alone from now on.”
After hearing those words you’re quick to stand up as well. Before Lando can take another step, you grab his arm. “Stop,” you tell him, “Stay here. I don’t want any of that. I’ll try to explain myself, but please stop thinking so negative about yourself.”
“What do you want?” Lando asks you confused.
“You Lando, I still want you and that won’t change anytime soon. I want to know why we aren’t official yet. I don’t want to miss you as much as I did last weeks. And I really want you to stop fixing things with all those girls. I really can’t stand all those pictures.”
Together you sit down on your bed again. 
“We aren’t official yet because I didn’t dare to ask you before I fixed everything about myself,” Lando confesses, “There are girls who will hate you for being with me because of what I did to them. Every fan will think that I use you. And I can’t offer you everything you deserve, like a nice family in law.”
“I don’t care about all that,” you tell Lando.
“After Max found out about us I asked him permission to make it official,” Lando confesses, “and now I’m doing some sort of shit tour to fix problems from my past. After that I was going to ask you. I have planned it out already.”
“Stop planning it and start doing it,” you state, “I don’t want any grand gesture, I just want you Lan.”
“You want to be my girlfriend?” Lando asks confused, “Even when everyone will have an opinion about us?”
“I thought you didn’t care about opinions,” you say confused.
“I don’t, but I do care about you getting hate reactions because you’re dating me.”
“I don’t care about that,” you sigh.
“I still won’t ask you,” Lando states. You can’t help it and let out another soft sob. “I have planned something great for tomorrow, then I’ll ask you,” Lando continues. 
“Promise?” You ask Lando hopefully.
“Promise.”
The rest of the night you spend in your bed with Lando. The two of you talk about everything that happened lately. Lando told you about all the conversations he had with exes. The one would forgive him on the spot, others would still hate him. You told him multiple times that he could stop with his apology tour. “I’m glad,” he said eventually, “because some of those used me even more then I used them.” You told him about everything that was upsetting you. Finally you talked about everything that happened with Maisie. Lando could confirm to you that almost everything she told you were lies. You’ve told Lando multiple times that he deserves you. Things finally felt alright again. That night you slept like a baby. You were finally back in Lando his arms.
+++
The following day Lando kept his promise. He took you out on an amazing date - in public. The two of you spend some time walking through the streets of Monaco before he took you with him to a luxurious restaurant. It was located on a small boat. You have never eaten that well somewhere. After that you walked back to Lando his apartment, which he transferred into a romantic place. 
There were candles everywhere and he even sprinkled around some rose petals on the floor. There was a giant bouquet of roses waiting for you as well, together with a small teddy bear who was wearing a mini LN4 shirt. The cutest teddy bear you have ever seen. 
Then Lando finally asked you the question you had been waiting for. Of course you didn’t even let him finish and said yes. It’s finally official. The same night he posted multiple pictures from you two on his socials. Captioned with ‘still don't know how I pulled this off, but so fucking glad i did'. It was his first own Instagram post in years.
You have never been happier.
The following race week Lando made sure that everyone who didn’t knew already that you were his would know by now. After finally getting his deserved first place, you were the first one he searched for. He ignored Christian and ran right up to you. You don’t know how many people watch the race, but every single one of them saw Lando running up to you to kiss you.
that was it everyone! thank y'all so much for all the interactions <3 next story will be out soon!
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stevie-petey · 5 months
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episode two: the weirdo on maple street
Trying to ease the awkwardness, you hold up a poster and offer it to them, but Steve snatches it from your grasp. “Henderson, didn’t know you were also a little know-it-all. Why don’t you share your review sheet with the rest of us?” He says, casting a teasing look your way. It isn’t until he inspects the piece of paper that he finally notices that it’s a missing poster for a child, not a review sheet. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.” You snatch the poster back from him. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”
summary: you use your limited psych knowledge to help a bald girl, you force jonathan to accept $20 and he's later an ass to you, steve doesn't know what a "missing" poster looks like, and it's really hard being a single mother to now four kids.
rating: general, but there's cursing as usual and steve being... well, steve - but hes still season 1 steve so give him some time
warnings: cursing, fem!reader, use of y/n, and there's more angst in this chapter with some fighting between reader and jonathan, so fair warning.
words: 10.1k (the longest thing ive ever written)
before you swing in: i'm almost done with chapter 4, so here's a sweet treat as i cram for exams lmao. some housekeeping: should i do a tag list ? i got a few questions about it, so pls let me know soldiers. also, i feel the need to clarify that i adore nancy but for plot reasons - reader and her don't really get along (but they def will later, trust me). season 1 nancy and steve are just so silly. anyways, i hope y'all enjoy this loooong chapter. the rest definitely aren't as lengthy due to plot, but wow. i amazed myself. carry on !
-
Your jeans drip onto the Wheeler’s carpet, and you’ve definitely left a wet imprint on the couch cushion beneath you. The other boys are dripping as well, but all their attention is on the girl in front of them. 
After finding her in the woods, your motherly instincts kicked in, immediately removing your coat to place on her and gently ushering her to your bike and demanding that the boys go back to Mike’s. Your mom is home, so your house was out of the question, and it’s always been easy sneaking into the Wheeler’s, anyways. 
Once you all had made it back, you guided the girl onto the couch and sat next to her. You refuse to let her go too far from you, having no idea where she came from or why, but regardless you know she’s too young for any of it to have been good. 
Which leads you to now: wearily watching the boys stare at the girl as if she’s some science experiment, asking her a million questions a second.
Bless them and their little prepubescent minds. 
Lucas reaches out to touch her, and before you can nudge him away, Mike slaps at his hand. “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!”
“She’s freaking me out!” Lucas retaliates, which honestly? That’s fair. The girl hasn’t said anything yet, even after your multiple attempts to get her to do so. No matter how much you try, you can’t coax a response out of her. 
“I bet she’s deaf.” Your brother offers, suddenly clapping his hands to scare her, making both you and her flinch. “Not deaf…”
You roll your eyes at him. “Guys, she’s probably just really scared right now. We should give her some space,” you look at both Lucas and Dustin, “and time,” now you look at Mike. The three boys deflate a bit. 
“She’s probably cold,” Mike says after a moment of silence, and you nod at his suggestion. Seeing your agreement, he walks over to a basket of clothes and takes out some pajamas.
While Mike is away, thunder rumbles and the girl jumps, unconsciously getting closer to you. You wrap an arm around her reassuringly, making note that she doesn’t like loud noises. If anything, she’s showing more and more signs of trauma response, which makes you uneasy. You remember Hopper saying something about Will being in danger. What are the odds that this little girl was running from something as well?
“Here, these are clean.” Mike’s return breaks you from your thoughts, and you take the clothes from him and stand up. You thank him, then offer your hand to the girl. She looks at you uncertainly. 
“It’s okay,” you reassure her. “Let’s go get you dressed in some warm clothes. I’m right here, sweetheart.” 
“She’s super nice.” Dustin says, trying to help.
Lucas adds, “Yeah, you can trust her.” 
“She’s alright.” Is all Mike offers.
You give them all an appreciative smile, even if Mike is being a bit of an ass, and then you feel a small, cold hand wrap around yours. The girl stands up, looking around shyly, and you lead her to the bathroom. When you go to close the door, she stops you.
Mike has followed, seeing the interaction. “You don’t want it closed?”
Her voice is quiet, solemn. “No,”
You and Mike look at each other, and he voices what you’re thinking. “So you can speak.”
He looks excited about this new information, and you shove his head out of the doorway. She needs to get dressed. “We’ll leave the door cracked, okay?”
She nods at you, and you stand guard outside the door. It’s not that you don’t trust the boys, but Mike has only known her for ten minutes and he’s already been nicer to her than you’ve ever seen him with anyone else. The only other person he’s this soft spoken to is Will, so you’re protective of her. 
You can hear the boys discussing tonight’s events from the living area while the girl gets dressed. They sound scared, and a part of you can’t blame them. While you’re fairly certain that the girl isn’t dangerous, it’s still a creepy situation. Once again, Hopper’s new theory surrounding Will floats through your mind. This all can’t be some coincidence. 
Sighing, you approach the boys and catch a bit of the conversation. 
“Our houses become Alcatraz.” You hear Lucas saying, and you figure they’ve finally pieced together that there’s no way any of you can tell anyone about the girl. None of you were supposed to be out tonight. As much as you know you should tell an adult, you also need to be able to help Jonathan with finding Will. If your mom locks the house down, you’re doomed. 
“Lucas is right,” the boys turn to you. “We can’t go to anyone about this just yet, but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to hide her. She’s been through something terrible, it’s obvious. Tonight, I say she gets some rest. We can figure out what to do later.” 
Mike nods, for once agreeing wholeheartedly with you. “She’ll sleep here tonight-”
Dustin’s eyes widen in horror, “You’re letting a girl-”
You clamp your hand over his mouth, motioning for Mike to continue.
“Thanks, Y/N. In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She’ll send her back to Pennhurst,”
They think she’s from Pennhurst? You think, but don’t verbalize it.
“Or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear! And tomorrow night, we go back out, and this time we find Will.”
You gotta hand it to Mike Wheeler, he may be a pain in the ass, but he’s a smart pain in the ass. The plan is pretty sound, so long as he follows through with it. However, it’s him following through with it that leaves you a bit unsure. 
He looks at you for approval, and you hesitantly nod. “It’s a pretty good plan, Wheeler. So long as you stick to it.” 
Lucas and Dustin nod along with you, there’s an unspoken sense of doubt that Mike will actually be able to turn the girl over to his mom. Then she walks out, dressed now in some of Nancy’s old clothes. She draws into herself when you all turn to her, shy. You walk over and offer your hand again, which she accepts. 
“Mike, go find her something to sleep on. Dustin, we gotta go soon before mom notices we’re gone.”
Both boys comply, with Mike searching for a sleeping bag and Dustin packing up his stuff. You crouch down next to the girl, so that you’re face to face, and give her a warm smile. “It was lovely meeting you. My name is Y/N, I hope Mike over there doesn’t give you a hard time tonight.” 
Mike flips you off, having heard you. “If he’s annoying,” you lean in close to her now, whispering in her ear. “You have my permission to pinch him.”
The girl giggles, finally relaxing a bit, and you warm with pride. She’ll be okay, she seems like a very resilient girl and you’ll oddly miss her. 
The two other boys are waiting for you upstairs. You all wish Mrs. Wheeler a good night and head out. Thankfully the rain has now stopped, so the bike ride home isn’t bad. You stop at Lucas’ turn to make sure he gets home safely before finally arriving at your place. As Dustin begins pedaling into your driveway, you don’t follow. 
“I’m going to go see Jonathan, he didn’t answer my calls earlier and I just…”
Dustin waves at you, not even bothering to turn around. “Yeah yeah, go see your boyfriend. If mom asks, you’re asleep.” 
“He’s not my boyfriend-”
“Are you seriously going to argue with me after I offered to cover for you?”
Your brother gives you a pointed look, and you know he’s right. “Touche.” 
Dustin goes to leave, but you quickly grab at his jacket. “Before I forget, swear to me that you’ll keep me updated if anything weird happens, okay?”
He nods at you, knowing better than to argue, and gives you a mock salute as he heads inside. 
The living room light is on when you arrive at the Byers home, despite the late hour, but you aren’t surprised. You knock on the door and wait. When no one comes, you knock again, a bit louder this time. After another few moments, the door swings open. 
Jonathan has a finger over his lips in a shushing manner, motioning to Joyce who is passed out on the couch. You nod, letting him know you understand. The two of you go to his room and when he closes the door, you finally get a good look at him. He looks worse than he did earlier, the bags under his eyes have somehow gotten darker. His hair is a mess, his eyes bloodshot. 
“You’re soaked.” Jonathan says. 
“Yeah,” he doesn’t want to talk about it yet, so you play along. “Got caught in the rain. Are some of my spare clothes still in your bottom drawer?”
He nods at you, going over and grabbing a t-shirt and pajama pants for you. You accept them gratefully and excuse yourself to the bathroom to change. Your bones are cold, the rain seemingly having penetrated the layers of your skin. In the mirror you see that your own eyes are bloodshot; you don’t look much better than Jonathan, really.
When you return Jonathan is sitting on his bed, so you join him. It’s silent between you, all you can hear is his breathing. You stare straight ahead, so does he, and you wait. You’ve only seen Jonathan like this a handful of times, where the stress and anxiety becomes too much for him. He shuts down, draws into himself, and all you can do is wait for him to return to you; he always does. 
“Mom got a call tonight.” Jonathan’s voice is hoarse, and he looks frail. You wonder if he ever did end up making the spaghetti you prepared for him.
“Who was it?”
He swallows heavily, taking a moment to respond. “She said it was Will.”
“Will?” You look at him now, searching for any signs on his face, his voice lacks emotion. By the way he stares blankly ahead, as if he’s not really present with you right now, you know that it hadn’t been Will on the other end. 
“She started freaking out, going ballistic,” his voice cracks a bit, so you take a chance and reach for his hand. He lets you take it, giving you a squeeze, before continuing. “She was screaming, begging whoever it was to give Will back.” 
Jonathan pauses again. You don’t say anything, because no words will help. He’s never been the type for comforting words, anyways. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. “It wasn’t him. Lightning struck and our phone got charred. It wasn’t Will.”
Now it’s your turn to squeeze Jonathan’s hand. He doesn’t deserve any of this. None of the Byers do. Out of the entire town, they’re the family who deserves the most that life can give. Will, too good. Jonathan, too selfless. Joyce, too loving. They’re the best damn people you know. 
“I tried calming her down, but she was hysterical. She’s only asleep right now because she worked herself up too much and passed out. I’m worried she-'' Jonathan shakes his head, as if ashamed by his own words. “I’m worried she’s going crazy, Y/N.”
He’s quiet again, but you can tell he’s about to break. His knee is now bouncing up and down and his breathing has become slightly ragged. Everything from today has been building up, it was only a matter of time before he snapped. You’re also worried about Joyce, a part of you skeptical to believe her, but the little girl you found tonight in the rain? Something was definitely weird about Will’s disappearance, but you’re hesitant to tell Jonathan just yet. For all you know, she could’ve simply been a girl who got lost and will be returned to her family tomorrow. 
You don’t want to worry Jonathan any more than you need to.
“I should’ve been there for him. I shouldn’t have taken that shift.” He gasps out, and like a dam the tears begin to fall. You’re quick to pull him into a hug and he crumbles into you. His body shakes with violent sobs and he clutches at you as if afraid you’ll leave.
“You can’t blame yourself.” You whisper, stroking a hand through his hair. He cries even harder, the force of it almost enough to knock you over, so you situate yourself so that you’re fully on the bed, laying against his pillows, with Jonathan crying into your chest beside you. 
“He’s g-gone.”
“We’ll find him, I promise.” Your own tears threaten to come out, but you force them down. You have to be here for him, he needs you. The only other time Jonathan has so openly cried was when Lonnie left years ago. He’s been holding everything in since then, all those years of looking after his family, taking care of his brother, getting harassed by assholes like Tommy Hagan. 
Neither of you say anything else, and you know that Jonathan needs to let it all out. You soothe him as best as you can, running a hand through his hair, stroking his back, reassuring him over and over again that none of this is his fault until your own voice becomes hoarse. You don’t know how long you stay like this, but sometime during the night Jonathan finally falls asleep, and you follow shortly after him. 
— 
Sunlight streams through Jonathan’s spare bed sheet that he’s pinned over his window, serving as a makeshift curtain, waking you up. You stretch, careful not to wake the boy beside you, and crawl out of the bed. You’re antsy, already knowing that today will be another long day. After grabbing some clothes from your designated drawer and getting dressed, you head into the kitchen and start making a quick breakfast. Just as you’re finishing up, Jonathan comes out of his room, dressed and ready for the day.
Neither of you say anything about the night prior, instead silently working around each other in the kitchen with years of practiced ease. He hands you the salt shaker right when you need it, you grab the pieces of toast that he popped into the toaster, the two of you never once get in each other’s way. You get deja vu, remembering all the times you’ve slept over with Dustin, you and Jonathan making the boys breakfast while they slept in. 
The only indication that last night really happened is a forehead kiss from Jonathan, his lips soft against your head. Out of the two of you, you’re definitely the touchy one, so it’s always a nice surprise when he initiates the touch, and his forehead kisses were a welcome rarity. 
When the plates have been made, Joyce gets up from the couch and stumbles over to the table. You quickly help her sit down, and for the first time since Will’s disappearance you’re able to really look at her. She looks like Jonathan, only worse. The bags under her eyes are darker, her hair is more matted, and you believe she’s still wearing the same shirt you saw her in the night that Will went missing. 
“All right, mom. Breakfast is ready.” Jonathan tries to place her plate on the table, but Joyce stops him, worried about the poster of Will. 
Jonathan gives you a look and you run over to the table, grabbing the poster so that he can set the plate down. 
Joyce gives you a tired smile, “Thank you, Y/N, but I can’t eat.”
“I just need you to eat, mom.” 
“Jonathan’s right, Mrs. Byers. You need to eat, we gotta keep your strength up.” You feel like you’re talking to a child, but in a way, you suppose you are. 
The woman lights a cigarette instead, and faintly you wonder how many she’s had within the last 48 hours; you’ll need to wash your clothes when you get home. She begins to ask Jonathan to go to Xerox to make as many copies of Will’s poster as possible. You sit down in front of her, silently eating, knowing there’s no place for you in this conversation. 
It’s not that the Byers are ashamed that they have little money, but you know it’s rude to listen in. They make do with what they have, and Jonathan has never felt embarrassed with you knowing it. 
“I don’t want you to go alone,” Joyce says, causing you to speak up. 
“I’ll go with him and help hang them up, it’s no problem.” 
Jonathan turns to you. “You have that chem test, remember? I’m not letting you miss that.” 
“Shit…” you bury your face into your hands. You completely forgot about that after finding the little girl last night and dealing with Jonathan. You’ve heard about how impossible the chem exams were, and science has never been your best subject. That was Dustin’s thing, your thing was more humanities. 
“You’re the smartest person I know, you’ll ace the exam,” Jonathan reassures you before turning to his mom. “And I’ll handle the posters, it’s okay.” 
Joyce has been lost in thought during your conversation with her son, only beginning to speak again when she’s asked how many copies will be efficient. Once she starts speaking again, it’s almost like she’s physically unable to stop. She begins to ramble, finally exposing the crumbling woman that you’ve only heard about, now understanding Jonathan’s fears for her. 
“Mom-”
“If we… ten cents-”
“Mom!” Jonathan raises his voice a bit, now grabbing at his mother’s hand. “You can’t get like this, okay?”
The look on Joyce’s face kills you. She looks so lost, ashamed of her behavior, and you cast your head down; this is a private matter. Joyce profusely apologizes to him and all Jonathan can do is gently reassure her that it’s okay. All of this is okay. 
Their tender moment is interrupted by knocking on the front door, revealing Hopper on the other side. His presence makes you uneasy, so you stay in the kitchen and begin to clean up with Jonathan while Joyce attacks him with questions. 
“A little bit of trust here, alright? We’ve been searching all night.” You hear the cop say. Your hand clenches the sponge, rubbing a bit harder at the plate you’re cleaning. If they’ve been searching all night, why are they here now?
“Went all the way to Cartersville.” Ever since Will disappeared, you’ve been building a wall of hope within you that he’ll be found safe and sound. However, with every passing day, with every new situation that occurs, you can feel a piece of the wall collapse. You can feel it now; the search party went all the way to Cartersville.
“And?” Joyce asks. 
“Nothing.” The cry that Joyce lets out causes you to drop the plate you’ve been cleaning, shattering on the floor. You curse, immediately bending down to pick up the pieces. Luckily it didn’t shatter into a million bits, but you still feel horrible for breaking one of their dishes. 
Jonathan bends down as well to help, and the commotion catches Hopper’s attention. He sees you scrambling to clean up the mess and sighs with annoyance. “Does she live here or something?” 
You and Jonathan look at each other, a slight smile on your faces, and only respond to Hopper with a synchronized shrug. You basically do live at the Byers’ at this point, you have been for years now. It was the same for Jonathan: if you weren’t at his house, he was at yours. 
Joyce wipes some of her tears away. “Y/N is family, she’s here to help.” 
Hopper ignores this, instead bringing up the phone call from the night before. Joyce leads him over to the phone, and you join them once you’ve collected the remaining pieces of broken glass. When you see the phone, you can’t help but gasp. Jonathan’s words from last night are accurate, the phone is charred. 
“Storm barbecued this pretty good.” Hopper says.
Joyce waves her arms out, disbelieving. “The storm? You’re saying that that’s not… weird?”
“No, it’s weird.” Hopper begins, but you cut him off. 
“It’s really weird.”
He glares at you. You mumble a quick sorry and back away a bit while Jonathan asks if the call can be traced. Hopper focuses back on the situation at hand, informing him that it isn’t possible and then questions if Joyce even heard Will in the first place. The question makes you cringe, knowing it’ll only make Joyce more agitated and hurt.
“Flo said you just heard some breathing.” 
It’s the way he phrases the question, the way he emphasizes the word “just”, that bothers you. This woman has just lost her kid, what kind of mother wouldn’t know her own child’s breathing?
“Even if it was ‘just’ some breathing, I’d know it was my brother. Will is her son, she’d know better than anyone.” You find yourself saying. The words weren’t meant to leave your mouth, but the appreciative look Joyce casts your way outweighs the fear from Hopper’s glare. 
“It was him. It was Will, and he was scared. Then something-”
“It was probably just a prank call,” Hopper tries to reason with her, causing you to roll your eyes at him. You respect the guy, you do, but could he at least attempt to listen to Joyce?
You excuse yourself before you say anything else, heading back into the kitchen to collect the two posters you and Jonathan made. While the others talk, you grab his things and pack his bag for him. You know he’ll probably skip school today to get the copies done in time, maybe keep an eye on his mom, so you make a mental note to inform him later that you’ll help with putting the fliers up the second you’re done with the exam. He needs someone there for him. 
When you’ve grabbed the last of Jonathan’s things, Lonnie’s name is mentioned. You freeze, standing right outside the hall from them, only a wall between you. If Lonnie is somehow involved in this, you’ll kill him yourself. He was always cruel to Will, even when you were around to witness it. You hate him more than anything in this damn world. 
“It’s been long enough, I’m having him checked out.” Hopper declares, storming out of the house. 
You count to three in your head, and the second you get to three, Jonathan is following after Hopper. You knew he would, hating his father the most out of everyone who has had the displeasure of meeting him. You follow behind him, heading outside to talk to the Chief. 
“Hey, Hopper. Let me go.” 
Hopper takes a drag from his cigarette, facing the two of you. “I’m sorry?”
“To Lonnie’s,” Jonathan says, looking at you for backup.
You do your best to try. “If Will’s there, that means he probably ran away. Cops will scare the poor boy, he’ll think he’s in trouble.”
“And he’ll hide. He’s good at hiding.” Jonathan finishes for you. 
Hopper stares at you both, inhaling more smoke from his cigarette and blowing it in your direction with a curious look in his eyes. “You two are sickening to be near, you know that?”
You and Jonathan share an annoyed look. A kid is missing, and you still have to clarify that you aren’t together? “It’s not like that,” Jonathan says.
“Sure, you know cops are good at detecting lies,” Hopper approaches him now, grabbing his shoulders. For a brief second you’re afraid he’ll hurt him. “And we’re also good at finding, okay? Stay here with your mom. She needs you.” 
Hopper punches at Jonathan’s shoulder before facing you. “And you,” you brace for whatever he’s about to say, knowing you probably aren’t his favorite person at the moment. He points at Jonathan, “He needs you.”
His words hang in the air several minutes after he’s gone. You glance at Jonathan, but he doesn’t meet your eye and instead he goes back inside. You sigh, following after him because it’s what you do. Hopper’s right, he needs you. 
Jonathan’s in the living room, speaking softly to his mom when you enter. You don’t disturb them but rather snatch Jonathan’s keys from the counter and wait for him by the door. Like Joyce said, Xerox opens in about thirty minutes and you have a chem exam to take. If you leave now, you’ll be able to make the copies with him and be back in time before school.
The ride to Xerox is tense, you know Jonathan is upset that he’s been sidelined by Hopper. You also know that he’s torn between wanting to help his mom and staying out of his house as much as possible. If it weren’t for your god damn chem test you’d offer to skip and hide out at your place, but you can’t. Jonathan wouldn’t let you risk your future for him (even though you would, in a heartbeat, a million times over). 
The man at Xerox gives Jonathan a look of pity, clearly recognizing Will’s picture on the poster. It’s your favorite photo of him, smiling with all his teeth and happy as can be. From what you’ve heard, the whole town has been conducting search parties for him. Jonathan ignores the look and asks for the 200 copies to be made. 
It’s just you and him in the store as you wait for the prints to be done. The guy said it’d be about a ten minute wait so you wander around the store. Jonathan clearly is in a no talking mood, so you occupy yourself with whatever you find. You wish you’d brought your backpack to Jonathan’s last night so you could at least study a bit while waiting, but you didn’t. It’d be a miracle if you pass this exam. 
Jonathan wanders around as well, so you give a quick look around and find the employee. He’s standing over the printer when you approach. “I’d like to pay for the copies, please.”
“You can pay after they’re done-”
“No, I can’t let him see,” you point over to Jonathan, who is now looking at some stationary. “Please, just let me pay now so he can yell at me later.” 
The guy gives you a shrug, clearly not getting paid enough to care. “Okay, it’ll be $20. Just leave the money on the counter over there, the prints should be done soon.” 
You nod and do as you’re told, leaving the $20 bill on the counter while Jonathan isn’t looking. He can kill you later, right now you want to make up for not being able to help with hanging them up. There’s literally hundreds to get through, he can’t do that all alone. 
When the posters are done and Jonathan collects them, you wish the worker a good day and then wrap your arms around him and use all your strength to drag your friend into the car. He doesn't fight back at first, too confused by your actions, and you’re almost out the door before he sees the man pocket the money and wave at you. The dots connect in his head and Jonathan begins to fight against you. 
“Y/N, let me pay-”
“Nope. Not happening!”
“We both know I’m stronger-”
“Debatable, honestly, seeing as how we’re almost to your car.”
“Let go!” He tugs harshly as his arm, which you’ve got a secure hold on, causing you to stumble a bit. 
You plant your feet more firmly against the ground and use all your weight to pull the boy forward. You’re a few feet away from the car, just one more solid pull should do the trick. “Stop fighting this, Byers. I’ve already paid-”
“Which you shouldn’t have!”
“Keep fighting and drop all the posters, I dare you.”
Jonathan looks down at the posters in his spare hand, realizing that you’re right. If he doesn’t give in soon, they’ll topple over. He lets out an agitated groan, throwing his head back, and then marches over to the car to unlock it and fling himself into the driver’s seat. “Just get in.” 
You do a small victory dance and hop in the car.
“I hate you.” 
“You love me.” 
He hesitates only for a moment. “God, I hate that I do.” 
You smile, buckling your seatbelt. Jonathan pulls out of the parking lot and begins the drive to school. He’s less tense this time, at least. The small little wrestling match between the two of you seemingly did some good, then. 
When you pull up to school, you once again apologize to Jonathan for being unable to help. He waves you off, understanding. 
“It’s okay, I promise. I can’t have you failing out of high school because of me.”
You roll your eyes. “One test won’t make me become a high school dropout, Jonathan.”
He ruffles your hair, which you slap him for. “You can join me after, okay? Good luck, bug.” 
“Fine, but I’m taking some posters with me so I can hang up on my way to my locker.” 
“Deal.”
You run to your locker, flinging it open and letting out a sigh of relief when you spot your chem cards. Honestly, you really should’ve prepared better for your little sleepover at the Byers. You glance at the watch on your wrist, noting that you have roughly fifteen minutes to memorize all the elements in the periodic table as well as some chemistry definitions. 
Just peachy. 
You tie your hair up so you can focus better and grab the note cards. If you review the cards as you walk to class, you can save at least three minutes of studying time. You tuck the few remaining posters of Will under your arm and begin to head to your class, getting absorbed in all the elements and words. As you’re skimming a card about protein being K, you run into Nancy and Barb, who also seem to have the same idea as you.
“Oh, hey Y/N.” Nancy greets you, Barb waving to you as well. 
They’re being nice, so you try to make conversation. “Studying for Kaminsky’s test?”
They nod at you and Nancy sighs, “Yeah, his exams are the worst.”
You laugh a bit, for once on the same page as her. “I know. I spent last night at Jonathan’s, I completely forgot about the test until this morning. I’m screwed.”
Barb raises her eyebrows at you while Nancy suddenly looks sad. “Oh, I’m sorry about Will. I know you and him are close.” 
“Yeah, it must be hard taking care of Jonathan right now.” Barb voices. 
You give them both an awkward smile. “Thanks, I guess? It’s just, there’s still hope, so…” 
The three of you stand there as your voice trails off. It’s painfully awkward. While you’ve known Nancy since you were 12, and at some point you even called her a close friend of yours, the second you entered high school she became distant. You never blamed her for it, people simply grow up and grow apart. Now you only ever interact with her if it concerns the boys. 
Trying to ease the awkwardness, you hold up a poster and offer it to them, but Steve snatches it from your grasp.
“Henderson, didn’t know you were also a little know-it-all. Why don’t you share your cheat sheet with the rest of us?” He says, casting a teasing look your way. It isn’t until he inspects the piece of paper that he finally notices that it’s a missing poster for a child, not a review sheet. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.”
You snatch the poster back from him. “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”
His friends laugh, but Steve has a bit of heart to look guilty, so you count that as something. His shame doesn’t last long though and the goofy and sweet boy who made sure you were okay after almost hitting you with his car is gone. 
Steve plays off the situation as if it were nothing. “Let me make it up to you, Henderson. I know you’re probably stressed out of your mind dealing with boyfriend troubles because of Bill-”
“His name is Will,” you grit out, remembering now why you dislike Steve so much. Everything was about impressing his friends, and while you can sympathize with him, it doesn’t give him an excuse to be an asshole. 
“Right, Will. Anyways, I was just about to inform Nance over here that my dad has left town on a conference and my mom’s gone with him, ‘cause, ya know, she doesn’t trust him.” 
“Good call,” Tommy says, and you glare at him. 
Steve carries on. “So, are you guys in?”
“In for what?” Nancy asks. 
“No parents, a big house?” Carol says, as if Nancy is a giant idiot.
You feel bad for her being treated so poorly by her boyfriend’s friends, so you lean in and whisper, “A party, Nancy.” Then you look at Steve. “And no, I’ll pass.” 
Steve pouts. “Can’t leave loverboy alone for a couple hours?”
You scoff, shoving the poster against his chest, using more force than probably necessary, but the satisfying grunt he lets out pleases you. “If I didn’t know you I’d say you sound jealous. Unfortunately, I do know you, and that’s exactly why I’m not interested.”
“Meow,” says Carol as she and Tommy laugh. 
You ignore her and push past the group to get to class. You’ve wasted enough time, you have to study. Steve lets you, hurt by your words, but tries to play it off, instead focusing his attention on Jonathan up ahead hanging up some posters. You both see him at the same time and as you start to approach him, you hear Steve and his group mock him. 
“God, that’s depressing.” Steve says, and you’ve never wanted to hit a man more than you do right now. 
You glance at Nancy, trying to convey your disappointment in her. She’s a nice girl, she shouldn’t be with an idiot like Harrington. Who the hell makes fun of a guy with a missing brother? Nancy doesn’t meet your eye, which pleases you. She should feel guilty. 
As you near Jonathan, Nancy calls after you to wait up. You listen, mostly because you’re surprised she even followed, and together you walk up to him. “Hey, bee. I thought you’d be long gone by now.” 
Jonathan looks up at your voice, surprised when he sees Nancy next to you. He gives you a look that you conclude is a what is she doing here? look and you can only shrug as if to say I have no clue how I ended up in this situation. 
Nancy doesn’t see this exchange. “Hey,”
“Hey,” Jonathan responds, still confused. 
Nancy looks at you uncertainly, but you refuse to leave. Screw your exam, if she even considers voicing her boyfriend’s opinions to Jonathan then you’ll personally see that she fails alongside you. “I just… I wanted to say, you know… I’m sorry, about everything.” 
Oh, she’s being nice. You’re still unimpressed, but Jonathan motions to you to stop staring her down, so you reluctantly listen. 
“Everyone’s thinking about you.”
You all turn towards Steve and his group, who are clearly listening in, and you snort at her words. “Right, obviously.” 
“Y/N.” Jonathan warns. 
“Sorry.” 
“It sucks.” Nancy continues, and you have to give her some credit. You’re being a blatant bitch, but she’s still trying. You feel a bit bad now, which honestly makes you dislike her a bit more. Damn morals. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’s a smart kid.” 
The bell rings, ending Nancy’s little monologue. “I have to go, chemistry test. Y/N, want to walk together?” 
She really makes it impossible to be a bitch to her. “Sure, just give me a second.”
You lean close to Jonathan and lower your voice. “Good luck with your dad, bee.” 
“How did you know I’d go-”
“Because of course you would. Now go, give him hell for me, will ya?”
Jonathan nods, relieved you aren’t pushing the topic. You know that Lonnie is a sore topic for him, for the entire Byers family, really. You only knew Lonnie for a year or so before Joyce left him, but you’ll never forget his spiteful words and the bruises that Jonathan tried to hide from you. He needs to do this alone, father and son. 
You see Nancy watching, and just to spite her you kiss Jonathan’s cheek, relishing in the fact that she looks away, and you wish him luck once again before following her to class. 
The test isn’t as bad as you’d feared, and the rest of the day goes by with relative ease. You don’t see much of Steve and his group and you’re thankful for that. Nancy also keeps her distance, no longer attempting to be all buddy buddy with you. A part of you feels bad about that, because honestly the thought of someone thinking you hate them makes you feel physically ill, but as long as Nancy is with someone like Steve, there’s not much you can do about that. 
After school you stop by all of Jonathan’s classes and collect the work he’s missed over the last few days; he has enough to worry about, so you figured you could help do some assignments for him. It’s nothing unusual, truth to be told. There was a time you were out for two weeks straight due to the flu one year and Jonathan did every one of your assignments, so it’s about time you returned the favor. 
Once you have what you need, you hang up the remaining flyers in your bag and begin your journey to work. You’ve used up all of your sick days helping the Byers, and while Mrs. Waters has insisted on letting you have more time off, you figured the distraction would be good for you. Jonathan will want some space after confronting his dad, and as much as you hated Lonnie, something told you he had nothing to do with Will. 
Just when your shift is almost done, your coworker, this young kid named Alex who you’re honestly surprised can legally work, informs you that your mom is on the phone and wants to speak with you. You stack the remaining books in your hands and thank him, walking over to pick up the call.
“Hey, mom. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, sweetie! I was just calling to tell ya that Dusty is at the Wheeler’s tonight for dinner, so my plan for ribs won’t work without him. I was wondering if darling Johnny could feed you tonight? I know the two of you have that little sneaky food game.” 
Your posture, once slumped over and uninterested, now straightens out. Why the hell is Dustin having dinner at the Wheeler’s? They never do that. “Uh, sure mom that won’t be an issue.”
Your mom lets out a sigh of relief. “Bless that Jonathan! I’ve always liked him…”
Your mom may be the biggest Jonathan supporter you’ve ever met. “Yeah, he’s your favorite. I know,” you shift a bit to catch Alex’s attention, mouthing to him that you need to leave work early. “Hey, did Dustin by chance say how long he’ll be at the Wheeler’s? I can swing by and pick him up after my shift.” 
“Oh, I think he’s staying the night there. He mentioned something about Mike not finishing his part of their little science project?”
They’re calling the little girl a science project now? Boys are so typical. “Oh, I see. Well, I gotta get back to work, mom. I’ll be home late tonight.”
Your mom wishes you goodbye and warns you not to be out too late. You hum, already trying to figure out the quickest route to the Wheeler’s house. You can’t say you’re surprised that Mike didn’t follow the plan, but you also can’t say you were prepared for this either. 
Alex comes back with your boss and you quickly make up a lie about not feeling well. Mrs. Waters gives you a pitying look and tells you to go. You’re incredibly grateful for her, she’s like a grandmother to you and has always been so kind. 
You quickly bike to Mike’s house, going over a grand speech in your head for the boys. Logistically speaking, you’re not sure if they can even harbor the little girl in his basement. Would it be kidnapping? Could kids even kidnap other kids? You aren’t sure and you definitely aren’t willing to find out. 
You arrive at the house just as Nancy and Barb are pulling out of the driveway, presumably to Steve’s grand house party. They wave at you awkwardly and you don’t have it in you to wave back. You park your bike next to their doorstep and knock on the door. 
“Y/N? What are you doing here?” Mrs. Wheeler asks after opening the door. 
“Oh, I was just wondering if I could hang out with the boys tonight? Jonathan’s busy and I promised Dustin I’d help with their campaign.”
Mrs. Wheeler cocks her head at you. “But I thought there was a special assembly at the school for Will? Nancy and Barb just left for it.” 
You feel your blood boil a bit. There was no assembly for Will at your school, and it was really damn low of Nancy to use his disappearance as a cover story for her stupid party. She’s known Will since he was practically a baby. You have no idea how someone could be so unaffected by a missing child, let alone one who has been at your house every damn weekend for years now. 
“Oh, that!” You force yourself to remain calm; there isn’t time to snitch on Nancy, Mrs. Wheeler would only have more questions for you. “Yeah, I’m, uh, skipping it. Jonathan doesn’t want to go, so after he’s back from his errands I’m heading over to his place to, you know, comfort him?” 
The woman stares at you for a second, trying to determine if there are any lies to your words. You’ve never been the best liar, but being the oldest Henderson child has unfortunately prepared you for being quick on your feet when needed. 
“Well, come on then. They boys just went downstairs, and if you can please remind them to bring the plate of food back up here I’d really appreciate it.”
You thank Mrs. Wheeler and let yourself in. Her words have all but solidified your suspicions: Mike kept the girl. 
When you descend the basement steps, it’s almost comical how the kids scramble to hide the girl like little cockroaches. They run around and Dustin screams something about covering her before the poor girl is being manhandled into a sheet as Mike screams at Lucas and Dustin to calm down. 
“Guys! It’s just me! Jesus!” You shout, shoving past Mike to rush over to the girl and free her from the sheets. She looks more frightened than usual, but at least she’s alive. 
“God, why am I always the one you push?”
You shush Mike, smoothing back the girl’s hair and offering her a reassuring smile. “Remember me, sweetheart?”
The girl nods and softly says, “Y/N.”
“Very good. I’m going to scream at my brother real quick, so why don’t you cover your ears for me so you don’t get too frightened?” 
“Wait, what-”
The minute her ears are covered, you turn to Dustin and begin screaming. “Are you brain dead and not understand the words ‘tell me if anything weird happens’ or do you simply lack the appropriate empathy needed for a concerned sister?”
Dustin ducks his head in shame. “Y/N, look-”
“No! I’m all for helping you guys with your adventures and whatever, but Will went missing and then she appears and Mike,” you turn to him and he hides behind a frightened Lucas. “You said you’d stick to your plan. Now tell me, did you?”
Mike shakes his head, his eyes wide. Dustin looks no better as he cowers behind the others. Lucas simply shrugs, knowing that this would happen. You never, ever, yell at the boys; the few times you have in the past, all hell had broken loose. 
“Y/N-”
“Zip it, Henderson. I’m so pissed off at you right now and if you want to make it to thirteen I suggest you keep quiet.” 
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now, why don’t you guys catch me up on what you’ve so sweetly kept hidden from me.” It’s worded as a question, but the boys know better than to deny you. 
You sit on the ground so that you’re next to the girl and then motion for the three boys in front of you to start speaking. They look at Mike, giving him a nudge, and he hesitantly steps forward to begin speaking. “Her name is El.”
The girl, El, looks up at you and smiles. You return the smile and knock your shoulder against hers in a playful manner. “Nice to meet you, can I ask what El is short for?”
“Eleven,” she says, and you want to question the name further but the look on Mike’s face stops you. Now is not the time, you guess. 
“El, she’s… different.” Mike continues, looking around nervously. He’s acting as if someone could break in any second and snipe you guys, and a part of you doesn’t doubt it can happen. “She has these powers, like, mind control powers.”
You snort, unable to stop yourself. El looks at you, looking unoffended, seemingly expecting this reaction. However, Mike groans at you. “Y/N, this is serious. She-she knows about Will.”
At this, your smile fades and you feel an overwhelming sense of hope take over you. You find your arms wrapping around El before you can control yourself and you give her a tight hug. She stiffens in your arms and you immediately pull away. “I’m sorry, I just… sorry.”
She laughs a bit, softly saying that it’s okay. 
“Do you really know Will? Where he is?” You ask, almost too scared to say the words out loud. If she’s telling the truth… you shake your head in an attempt to dispel any false hope. You don’t know this girl, she could be lying. 
Before El can say anything else, Mike speaks for her. “She does, but there’s bad men out there who want to hurt her. I think they’re after Will, too.” 
You freeze. “Bad men?”
“Yes, this is why we didn’t want to tell you!”
“I wanted to tell her,” Lucas says, which causes Mike to glare at him.
You wave your arms at the two boys, breaking up their fight. “Mike, what do you mean by bad men? Honey,” you look at El, “did someone hurt you? Are you in danger? Should I call the police?”
“No!” All three boys shout at once. 
You look at them, at the genuine fear in their eyes, and sigh, “Okay, if you can give me a good reason not to call the cops, I won’t.”
“Did you not hear the part about El having powers?” Dustin asks. 
“Gee, Dustin. You’re right! It’s like her having powers is totally believable and reassuring to the situation at hand!”
“I can show you,” El speaks up. 
You all face her now. “You can?” 
She nods at you, getting up and grabbing your backpack that you threw on the ground when you walked in. She rustles through it while you and the boys look at one another. After a few seconds, El grabs one of your comic books and places it on the table. She looks at you and tilts her head, indicating for you to sit down next to her; you do as you’re told.
El straightens out your comic and then closes her eyes, going completely still. The air around you shifts and you can practically feel the static electricity encasing you; the hair on your arms stand up. The pages of the comic begin to flick up, fluttering as if someone is thumbing through them in rapid succession. You watch as the Spidey panels flash before your eyes, the pages flying faster and faster until it becomes almost frightening to be near. Then, once it gets to its last page, the comic flies up into the air and hovers for a few seconds, right in front of your face. 
“Holy shit,” you breathe out, your eyes wide. 
Just as quickly as it began, the comic drops back onto the table. You look up at El and see that her nose is now bleeding, which rips you back to reality. The chair scrapes against the ground as you get up to help her, dabbing at the blood with a tissue that had been laying on the table. 
“Do you believe us now?” Mike asks, a smug look on his face. 
You gently wipe away the remaining blood from El’s face, looking her in the eye and directing your words to her. “I’m listening, sweetheart. What can you do to help us find Will?” 
El smiles, pleased to have earned your trust, and you get the feeling that this little girl is the most powerful thing in all of Hawkins, maybe even the world. At her request, Mike places his DnD board on the table and arranges the pieces for El to use. She sits down and closes her eyes once more.
Lucas gives you a doubtful look. “What’s the weirdo doing?”
You flick his head, not enjoying the name calling. Honestly, you thought you raised these boys better than that. 
El seems to accomplish whatever she was doing and picks up the wizard piece, murmuring, “Will.” 
You feel your heart stop. Will always insisted on being the wizard whenever they played the game. He was Will the Wise, forever and always. El couldn’t have simply guessed that, and you know it’s her-
“Superpowers,” Dustin finishes your thought for you. The two of you exchange a glance and you notice the slight glee in his eyes. Under different circumstances, you’d also find this all pretty cool. 
Mike sits next to El and begins to ask some questions about where she last saw Will. She gives him a look that you can’t quite decipher before swiping her arm across the table and spilling the pieces onto the floor. She then flips the board over, having it now face upside down, and places Will’s piece back down. 
You knit your brows together, trying to follow along. El’s movements are methodical and carefully planned, being unable to find the right words due to her poor speech, and you try to piece together the information you’ve been given. 
“I don’t understand,” Mike says, being extra gentle with El. You’ve never seen him so soft spoken before and you’re grateful at least one of the boys doesn’t view her as some monster. Which reminds you that you need to have a conversation with Dustin about respecting women, but for now you’ll hold off.
“Hiding.” says El. 
He’s good at hiding, Jonathan’s words echo in your head. 
“Will is hiding?” 
El nods, now looking more nervous. You can tell that Mike is getting closer to information that she doesn’t want him near, which finally causes you to ask the question that’s been heavily on your mind. “From the bad men?”
Now El gives a slight shake of the head, and Mike presses on. “Then from who?”
Without saying anything, El places a second piece onto the board right in front of Will’s. It’s a piece you’re unfamiliar with, with two snake-like heads that loom over the small wizard piece. Whatever it is, you know it isn’t good judging the way Mike, Dustin, and Lucas look at each other in fear.
You turn to Dustin and whisper, “What’s that piece?”
Your brother puts his hands behind his head and sighs deeply, a new resigned look on his face. He looks as if he’s just aged thirty years, which you find a bit dramatic. “It’s the Demogorgon.”
“The Demo-what?” The name sounds familiar, but you can’t remember anything about it.
Mike looks at you and for once his voice holds no annoyance when he says, “There’s a lot we still have to catch you up on.”
– 
Your head is spinning as you bike to Jonathan’s with all the new information you’ve just received. Demogorgons, magical vortexes, kids with damn superpowers. It’s all a lot for you to take in, and while you fully believe that El is something entirely different from a normal little girl, how can you be sure that it’s connected to Will? While his disappearance still confuses you, it’s illogical to jump to supernatural conclusions. 
Dustin had begged you to let him spend the night at Mikes in order to keep talking to El, and you only agreed because you figured you’d be at Jonathan’s again tonight anyways. He’s been MIA all day and you’re worried as usual, but you made him and Mike swear to you that they’d stay put in the house. At least this way they’re in one place, so if they screw around they’ll be easier to find. 
When you arrive at the Byers home you notice that Jonathan’s car isn’t in the driveway, which only confuses you further. Where the hell is he? You gave him all day to deal with Lonnie and cool off, trusting that he wouldn’t do anything stupid for twelve hours, and yet… 
You fear he’s done something stupid. 
You don’t have time to think too much about Jonathan’s absence because a frantic Joyce runs out the door screaming. She runs straight past you and into her car, and the house begins to light up like a christmas tree. You can hear The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, a song that Will once had on repeat for three weeks straight, and you can feel the same static electricity in the air that you felt when El used her powers in front of you. 
Joyce suddenly gets out of the car and spots you, pointing towards her house. “You see that too?”
You swallow. “Yeah,”
She nods, as if your confirmation is all she needs to determine her sanity, and then marches inside. You stand in the yard, motionless. You’re terrified, and after learning about El tonight, you don’t have it in you to discover any other supernatural beings in Hawkins at the moment. Sighing, you follow after the woman because Jonathan isn’t home and someone needs to talk her down from whatever panic attack the flashing lights have inevitably caused. 
“Mrs. Byers-” 
“Y/N, you can’t tell me there isn’t something,” Joyce waves her hands in front of her face, almost grasping at the air, “weird about all of this. That was Will’s song, the lights were flashing in Will’s room, something came out of Will’s wall-”
“Something came out of his wall?”
“Yes! I’m not… I promise I’m not crazy, okay? You saw it, please tell me you saw it.”
You bite your lip, now thinking about El. You swore to Mike you wouldn’t tell anyone about her, and honestly you’re not sure that you should tell Joyce about her right now. You’re still unsure if El is being honest with you, and you can’t just give the woman false hope for her son. It’d kill you if you were wrong about El. But seeing the lights, hearing the music, the thing in the wall… There’s something that she’s not telling you. 
“Mrs. Byers… I’m not quite sure what I saw, but we just had a bad storm and it could be faulty wiring.” 
Joyce slumps her shoulders, frustrated that you aren’t conspiring with her. You just… you can’t. Not yet. Not before you figure out what the hell El is doing in Hawkins. You refuse to worsen Joyce’s already chronic anxiety and paranoia; Jonathan would never forgive you if you fed into her delusions, but it kills you to lie to her. 
“Look, I do think that something is weird about this entire situation, “ Joyce’s face lights up, but you’re quick to add, “however, there’s no proof. You, I mean-Mrs. Byers, you’ve seen things in the past. You’re stressed, and anxious, and all the other synonyms.” 
The woman lets a few tears drop from her eyes, now embarrassed. “Maybe you’re right. I-I’m sorry, honey. I just-”
You grab her hand. “I know,”
Her smile is brittle, a ghost of the once beautiful smile she’d give you, and your heart breaks for her. 
After your conversation, Joyce excuses herself to her room. She looks even more exhausted than before, so you leave her alone and hole yourself up in Jonthan’s room. 
You glance at your watch and note the late hour; you’re starting to worry now. Jonathan didn’t mention anything besides Lonnie and the posters, so you don’t know what else he could be doing so late. He wouldn’t go searching for Will without you. 
You wake up to Jonathan returning an hour or so later, apparently having fallen asleep while waiting for him. 
“Y/N?” His voice is gruff and surprised. 
You groan and rub your eyes. “Turn the light off, bee.”
He doesn’t. “What are you doing here?”
The tone of his voice wakes you up a bit, making you sit up and look at him more clearly. His shoulders are tense, his eyes are hiding something, and his overall demeanor is hard to read. “I had something to tell you, but is everything okay?”
“You couldn't have waited until tomorrow? Y/N, this is my house, just… just get out.”
“I’m sorry?” You’re confused by his behavior, now starting to become a bit defensive and hurt by his dismissal. 
“You can’t just let yourself in whenever you please.” Jonathan puts his camera on his desk, still refusing to meet your eyes.
“Jonathan, we literally have always let ourselves into each other’s houses whenever we please.” 
He rolls his eyes at you and rips off his jacket, throwing it at you. “Get out!”
You catch the jacket before it hits you in the face. “What the hell, Jonathan!” 
“Listen, I get that you think you’re a part of the family, but you’re not. You’ve been here for days now, it’s getting old.” 
His words cut through you and leave vicious wounds against your skin. He doesn’t mean that, he can’t mean that. You and him were family. He’s never, ever insinuated anything less. He wouldn’t dare. Your Jonathan would never act like this to you, and the only time he’s ever been this cruel to you was when he accidentally dropped Lonnie’s last beer in the fridge and was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for help; he’d shown up with bruises later that night.
Then it hits you. He did something, something that makes him feel guilty; he keeps glancing at his camera. You soften your voice, “Bee, what did you do?”
He whips around, now yelling. “Nothing! Just get the hell out of my house! It’s getting pathetic!” 
You swallow back the angry tears that build in your throat. Fine. Whatever. Let him be a raging bitch after everything you’ve done for him these last few days. 
“Fine, I will.” Grabbing your backpack you snatch the assignments you were supposed to give Jonathan and slam them against his chest. “Here’s all your fucking assignments, by the way.” 
He seems to come back to himself, blinking away the anger and shame. “Bug…”
“You don’t get to call me that.” And with that, you don’t spare Jonathan another glance. 
– 
When you get home, the house is eerily quiet. Dustin is at Mike’s and your mom leaves you a note saying that she’s spending the night at your aunt’s. Great. Looks like it’s just you and Mews tonight then. 
After everything that’s happened tonight, you never found time to eat dinner, and your stomach is loudly growling. You drop your stuff in your room and then reheat some leftovers, feeling like a pathetic child. You know that Jonathan didn’t mean what he said, but the words had come too easily to him to have just been a way to dodge his guilt. There had been some truth to them. Maybe you were pathetic for always fretting over him.
Dinner is quiet tonight. 
You wait for the phone to ring, for Jonathan to call you and apologize, but the call never comes. 
You’ve never felt so alone before.
-
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naughtyneganjdm · 11 months
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On the Run - Chapter 3
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Summary: Getting comfortable at the safe house doesn't last long when the group realizes that the wrong people know where they are located.
Characters: Joel Miller (The Last of Us), Negan (The Walking Dead), the reader (OC, third person), etc.
AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47007172/chapters/118715638
Warnings: Swearing, angst, graphic deaths, brutality, mentions of blood and gore, canon-typical violence, etc.
Notes: There is a lot of brutality and death in this chapter. So I'm pre-warning that ahead of time for people that may be uncomfortable with that kind of thing. Thanks to anyone that reads. I appreciate you! I edited this at 4AM last night so I apologize if there are some errors in here.
Stretching out on the leather couch that was beneath him, Joel groaned out and looked over his shoulder to see that Negan was still sitting by the fire he started. After both Poppy and Y/N left it made things uncomfortably weird for them. Considering their positions in Y/N’s life Joel didn’t really think him and Negan had much to talk about. When Y/N took off, Joel considered going off after her and he knew that Negan did too. It was obvious in the way his body tensed up and he kept looking at the door, but it was Poppy that made the first move. Which was probably the best option. The thing that Y/N needed the most right now was her best friend. It was a rough night for her and Joel knew that the last person who should go to her right now was him.
It shouldn’t have been him after the way he went off on her after he got worried about Sarah and Tommy. There was a lot of anger Joel had stored away for her family for so long and Philip had just brought it all back up. When it was followed by the chance that his family could be involved in all of this? Joel just erupted and didn’t think about the things that he said. As more time went on and the more he thought about things, the worse he actually felt about all of it.
Originally, he started this thing they had going between them because he was doing it to fuck with her father. And it really had been a while since he had slept with someone so casually and on a regular basis after his ex-wife abandoned him and Sarah. So, he just let himself go with this thing. No, he didn’t take into consideration her feelings or how things would go, but after she did what she did for his birthday he did start seeing her in a different light. Hell, when he started sleeping with her, he only thought it would last a couple of months. Tops. But it was almost at the two-year mark and he did feel things for her, he just knew it was complicated. It was something they should have talked about alone together which was what he was planning to do tonight when he asked her to go away with him. Guilt was starting to build inside of him and he wanted to tell her about things, but Philip beat him to it which just made things explode for them.
While he worried about Y/N and the things he said, his mind was really focused on his family. Even with Negan insisting that he trusted this Grimes guy to take care of his family, Joel was panicked. Sarah was his world and Tommy was someone he had taken care of his whole life. Tommy had a lot of issues growing up so in a lot of ways Joel was like a father to his little brother. Not being with his family in a moment like this had him worried and he just hoped that everything would be okay. He felt hopeless and at a loss which made everything he was feeling all the worse. While he cared about Y/N, Sarah was his daughter and she was the most important thing in his life. So she took priority over everything else that was going on for him. Y/N was someone that he didn’t expect to have feelings for to begin with, so the fact he did was a shock even in itself.
There was a deafening silence in the house and while most nights that would have been a comforting thing for Joel, today it wasn’t. All those thoughts he had were spiraling in his head making it hard for him to sleep or get any relaxation at all. Which was something he really needed. He may have gotten a few minutes of sleep here or there, but he just kept waking up.
Tipping his head back, Joel looked at Negan again who seemed deep in his own mind himself. Going to say something, Joel stopped himself and adjusted on the couch again. His eyes fell to the gun that Negan had given him that he placed on the coffee table before laying down. Joel hated guns. Especially after having his little brother go off to the war. They made Tommy uncomfortable and Joel wasn’t much of a fan himself.
“Are you going to try to sleep, or…?” Joel finally broke the silence knowing that once Negan sat down in his seat by the fire, he never moved. If Joel was tired, he knew that Negan would be extremely tired. Arching his head back again, Joel lifted up enough on his elbows to see that Negan still was holding onto his handgun and it was resting on his lap making Joel swallow down hard. “I think you should get some sleep in now while you can.”
“Someone should stay up and make sure everything is okay,” Negan’s answer was quiet making it almost too hard for Joel to hear. Pulling himself up on the couch, Joel could see that Negan’s thumb was caressing over the gun that was in Negan’s lap. It made Joel’s throat go dry and he knew that it was a moment where Negan likely needed to talk things out with someone, but Joel questioned if he was really that person. “You should just get some rest. I will make sure that we’re safe. I’m used to not sleeping.”
“Because of your job?” Joel grumbled under his breath making Negan gaze back over his shoulder at him.
“That and my personal life,” Negan stretched out his long legs, getting more comfortable in the chair when he thought about his past. “About six months ago my wife passed away from pancreatic cancer. Nights were the hardest for her. With her chemo treatments, that’s when she’d feel the worst. Plus, toward the end I got scared that if I fell asleep, she would pass while I was sleeping. So I’m used to this.”
“Damn,” Joel felt his chest ache at the confession that Negan just dropped on him. Sitting forward toward the edge of the couch, Joel rest his elbows on his knees and lowered his head to caress over the back of his own pained neck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I mean, Y/N may have said something in passing, but…”
“I was just some stranger to you?” Negan filled in the blanks making Joel frown when Negan shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t have to have empathy for me. You don’t even like me.”
“I don’t know you. You’re just always around,” Joel reminded Negan with a grumble, his jaw flexing when he tried to think of a good way to respond to Negan. “And I do have empathy for you. I couldn’t imagine having to sit there and watch someone you love have that happen to them. I know how it feels when Sarah has a cold. I feel helpless. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” Negan’s raspy voice was still quiet when he looked back to the fire. “So that’s why it’s okay for you to sleep. I’m used to this shit.”
Attempting to say something again, Joel leaned back on the couch and threw his hands up in the air, “What was her name?”
“Are we bonding?” Negan sneered making Joel huff out and roll his eyes. Joel seemed defeated when Negan shook his head. “Lucille. Her name was Lucille.”
“Do you have a picture?” Joel may have been annoying, but he knew that Negan was focusing on the people that he killed tonight. And Joel was just trying to get him to talk about something else for a while. Something that he cared about. When Negan looked back with his right eyebrow arched, Joel reached for his pocket to pull out his wallet. Taking out a photo, Joel reached out to extend his arm out so Negan could see the picture he was handing him. “That’s Sarah and I together at one of her soccer games. That’s my girl.”
“She’s beautiful,” Negan complimented staring out at the photo using the light from the fire to gaze upon the photo. “You must be very proud.”
“I am,” Joel muttered accepting the photo back when Negan stepped up enough to hand him back the photo. Joel took a moment to gaze down at the photo finding himself panicking. Worrying if he would actually get to be with Sarah again after everything. Pushing aside those fears, Joel put the photo back in his wallet and looked up to see that Negan had been watching him. “She’s a good kid. And she’s doing much better at her age than I ever did.”
With a growl, Negan set the handgun on the arm of the chair and lifted his hips to reach for his wallet. Pulling out a photo, Negan handed it over to Joel seeing Joel’s eyes get big when he stared out at the photo, “What?”
“No, she’s just…really gorgeous,” Joel explained looking at the photo of Lucille hearing Negan chuckle in response. “And she loved you?”
That response got a glare from Negan and Joel wheezed waving his hand about, “I’m fucking with you. You two looked happy together.”
“You’re a dick,” Negan scoffed hearing Joel sigh when he handed Negan back over the photo for him to put back into his wallet.
“We both know that,” Joel retorted hating to admit that, but he wasn’t exactly proud of the things he had been doing for a while now.
“So am I,” Negan sighed in acknowledgement after he pushed his wallet back into his pocket. “She was my childhood sweetheart and she stuck it out with me no matter what. Through the good and the bad. She saw the best in me even when I didn’t.”
“How do you do it?” Joel questioned surprising Negan. “Six months after my ex-wife abandoned us, I was devastated. I could barely make it through. I had this baby to take care of and I was overwhelmed. She was just a shitty person. I couldn’t imagine losing someone I loved like that.”
“She asked me to live life for her,” Negan informed Joel, his hazel eyes seemingly sad when he looked back toward the fire after grabbing the gun again from the arm of the chair. “I wasn’t okay. Not for a long time. I even considered killing myself, but I made her a promise. And I intend to keep it.”
“Fuck,” Joel mumbled under his breath knowing that this got a whole lot more serious than he expected it to go. There were a lot of things that he wanted to say right now, but he didn’t know if they were right. Maybe he should have just gone back to sleeping, but with the nervous energy and what he had just learned, Joel was feeling bad. At first, Negan was someone that Joel never wanted to interact with. He thought he was someone that was one of Philip’s goons and he thought Negan was infuriating when he was first starting his relationship with Y/N. “That’s real love man. You’re lucky to have experienced that in your life.”
Negan just nodded. It made Joel think back to how things were with Y/N. When he knew that she had a bodyguard in the past he thought it had been a good thing. That way Philip would find out that Y/N was sleeping with someone that Philip had screwed over, but after a while he realized that Negan was completely dedicated to Y/N. Today he saw that. Philip wasn’t Negan’s worry when hell broke loose. It was Y/N. And him.
“You know, I don’t think I thanked you for saving my life,” Joel acknowledged with a long sigh thinking back to when the bullets started being shot. “As soon as you saw that someone was shooting, you didn’t just protect Y/N, you protected me too. Both of us. You covered the both of us with your body. You didn’t have to do that. Your job is to protect Y/N, but you protected me too.”
“I did what was right,” Negan noted making Joel’s throat tighten. “Just because you did something shitty doesn’t mean you should die.”
“Still,” Joel thought about things and he bit at his bottom lip. “I think I’m still alive because of you because I was standing in front of Y/N. They would have shot through me to get to her if you didn’t do what you did.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Negan refused to take any kind of credit for something like that and it surprised Joel. Negan seemed like an arrogant man in the past that would make a lot of smart ass remarks, but right now he was very humble and down to Earth.
“You know you had to do what you did today, right?” Joel stammered hearing Negan let out a long exhale that made Joel realize he was exactly right about what Negan was upset over. “If we didn’t kill those people that were coming after us, they would have never stopped. Y/N would have been dead if you didn’t do what you did.”
“I know that,” Negan mouthed under his breath hearing Joel moving around. Joel grabbed a chair and sat it at the opposite side of the fire to sit so he could talk to Negan while actually seeing him instead of the back of his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve hurt people before. I’ve hurt them bad…”
“But you’ve never killed someone before,” Joel confirmed making Negan sigh loudly. “In my mind I know some of the shit that I did got people killed today too, but I didn’t see it. I blame the car accident or themselves.”
“It’s different when you shoot a man point blank, Joel. I saw him and I shot him. Multiple times,” Negan remembered what it was like to take someone’s life earlier today. “I can’t go back from that. I’ve officially killed a man.”
“To save someone you care about,” Joel emphasized his words seeing Negan’s hazel eyes lifting from where he was staring out at the fire to look at Joel. “If Sarah was in harm’s way, I would do the same exact thing. Your job is and was to protect her. You did your job.”
“Could you have done that?” Negan’s eyebrow arched making Joel take in a sharp breath. “Killed someone that was trying to kill Y/N with a gun?”
“I was the driver,” Joel reasoned with Negan looking to the gun that he had placed on the coffee table. “I can’t say for certain because I wasn’t in that position. I’d love to say I would do it to save anyone, but I don’t know.”
“I would do it again given the choice, but this…” Negan spun his finger around in the air letting out a tense exhale when he thought about what happened in the last few hours. “I didn’t sign up for this. I thought I was just watching an unruly teenage girl. Then when she became an adult I just thought I was watching her because her father wanted to keep her chained down. It’s why I gave her so much leeway with you. I didn’t think that was fair to her. I just didn’t think I’d end up killing people to keep her safe.”
“You’d be surprised the things you’re capable of when it comes to those you love,” Joel declared making Negan’s lips part and he shook his head. “I think you did what any person would do for someone they cared deeply for. Especially someone you love.”
Negan stared out at Joel, his eyes narrowing before an annoyed smirk pressed in over Negan’s features, “You’re the man she loves.”
“Which only makes this so much harder for you,” Joel quipped noticing the anger that grew in Negan’s eyes and Joel held his hands up leaning further back in the chair. “I don’t mean anything negative from it.”
“Again, she loves you,” Negan reiterated what he had said making Joel nod his head. “And she’s with you.”
“Did the two of you ever get together?” Joel wondered hearing the frustrated grunt that followed from Negan. “I’m just curious. There is something between the two of you. Did the two of you have some kind of relationship before this all went down?”
“No,” Negan shook his head, his jaw flexing in irritation. “I was married.”
“People cheat,” Joel countered catching that same glare that Negan had given him before. “And sometimes people have open relationships. Who am I to assume how your relationship was with your late wife.”
“Not that I have to answer you, but no. I didn’t sleep with Y/N. Ever. Lucille has only been dead six months and that’s really fast,” Negan declared with a firm shake of his head hating that he was talking about Lucille in the past tense.
“Not really in moments like these. Life is short Negan and Lucille asked you to live life for her. She didn’t ask you to never find love again,” Joel claimed watching Negan shift in his chair uneasily. “And you love Y/N, so why didn’t you do something?”
“Even if I wanted to, she’s in love with you,” Negan repeated what he had said multiple times at this point. “And you know that. Which is why what you did makes you such a fucking dick. You realize that, right?”
“I had my reasons,” Joel defended himself, placing his hand in over the center of his chest. “I acknowledge I should have thought things out better, but with what her father did to me…”
“You did nothing to fuck with her father though. You fucked with her,” Negan snapped making Joel’s eyebrows furrow while he lectured Joel about his choices that he made with Y/N. “It wouldn’t have taken much to see that her father didn’t give a shit about her. And even at that, making someone fall in love with you? You knew that you were hurting her and not him. She had no idea what her father did.”
“I know it was fucked up. Which is why I asked her to go away with me tonight because I wanted to talk to her,” Joel explained to Negan, his jaw clenching while he spoke. Raising his hands up, Joel tried to gather his words and found himself just feeling bad. “I was going to take her somewhere and be honest with her. By the water maybe. I do like her. I do. A lot.”
“Then why say all the shit that you did?” Negan shook his head, his face twisting with confusion. “If you care about someone, you don’t say that shit.”
“Because I was worried about my family and I was angry before that. You know I can’t love her, Negan,” Joel stood his ground, shaking his head as he spoke. “Not with who her father is. I can only think of him when I’m around her. How much he fucked up my family. How Sarah and I almost starved for years. It took everything I had to start my business again.”
“By the time that Y/N found you, you were a professor at a pretty nice college and your business wasn’t doing as well as it is now after she gave you those loans, but you were doing pretty good for what you had,” Negan challenged Joel, his eyebrow arching and his head tipping to the side. “So even though her father did what he did, you were able to persevere and prove him wrong that you were successful Joel. I think maybe you need to think about that.”
“But I can’t forget those years where I wasn’t,” Joel admitted, shrugging his shoulders and taking in a long shallow breath. After Philip took everything from him, he had to take any job possible and they were just scratching by. He almost lost everything and it put his daughter in a bad position back then too. Which is why he hated Philip so much. Sarah deserved more than she got in those years. Joel had to work a lot to make ends meet which meant he lost out on time with Sarah. “I like Y/N. I like spending time with her. I care about her. But the anger and the hate for her father far outweighs the feelings I have for her.”
“See, I don’t fucking believe that shit. That’s just the angry you talking right now. Because I’m fairly certain the guy that showed up at her party tonight is not the one that is fucking talking right now. I think you showed up because you actually do care about her more than you’re saying and you felt guilty about things,” Negan huffed with a roll of his eyes looking back toward the fire finding himself getting more annoyed with Joel the further he talked. “She’s not her father and she wants nothing to do with her father. We can’t help who makes us Joel. We can only try to be who we want to fucking be and go from there. You’re just talking out your ass right now because her father said all that shit to fire you up. And you’re doing exactly what he wanted and taking it out on her.”
“What?” Joel hissed seething at the idea that Negan thought Philip was controlling him.
“Do you honestly think he gave a shit about how he was making you feel? He got you fired up so you would take it out on her. It’s why he left when he did. He got you to your boiling point so you had no other option than to rip into her. He played you and you walked right into it,” Negan informed Joel seeing the way his dark eyes shifted and he moved uncomfortably in the chair that he was in. “The guy is an asshole, but he knows exactly how to control others. He wanted to punish and hurt her. Which he succeeded.”
“I…” Joel stuttered thinking about the things that Negan was saying and he could actually see where Negan was coming from. “I just…”
“Yeah, I know it sucks when people puppet you into doing what they want, huh?” Negan glared out at Joel making Joel realize that the comment was also directed at him for the way he was about Y/N. “If anyone was like her father in your relationship, it sure wasn’t her. It was you.”
“Listen here,” Joel pointed his finger out at Negan visibly getting fired up with the claim that Negan slung at him. “I am nothing like that man.”
“Oh?” Negan feigned being surprised, his eyebrows bouncing up dramatically. “So you didn’t take advantage of one of your students because they were related to someone who hurt you? See, from where I’m standing you were in a position of power. You made someone think they were important. You used your power to get them to fuck you. Dragged Y/N along so you could control her and you did control her. Because you knew that she just wanted to feel like someone cared about her. I know she told you about her mother and her father. She gave you everything you asked for and then some. Do you know who else I know that uses their power over others to control people? To hurt people? To pretend to be a good person when really…?”
“Fuck you,” Joel stood up from the seat that he was in to move over to the couch and drop back down so that he could rest back. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m just repeating what you said Joel,” Negan countered not bothering to even look back at the man that he knew had broken Y/N’s heart tonight. In other situations he would have beaten Joel to a bloody pulp tonight if given a chance. “It’s something you are going to have to deal with yourself when you actually get off your high horse and realize what you’ve done. You broke someone that’s a good person. Regardless of her father, you know she’s a good person and she loves you.”
“You’re right. She loves me,” Joel snarled from where he was laying down, tipping his head back to look at Negan noticing that Negan still wasn’t focusing on him. “Not you. Me.”
“Am I supposed to be enraged by that?” Negan finally looked over his shoulder to stare back at Joel with a confused expression. “If I had a problem with it, I would have found a reason to break up your relationship long ago. Instead you just waited to fuck it up yourself. You’re probably never going to find another person willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy. So the loss is on you, not me.”
With a huff, Joel reached for the pillow that was under his head and turned to face the other side of the couch. Covering his head with the pillow he heard Negan snort and Joel tried to force himself to sleep. Even if Negan was right, he didn’t want to get into this with Y/N’s bodyguard. It was awkward enough as it was.
Just the crackling of the fire was heard making it easy for Joel to try to make himself comfortable again. And for a bit he was certain that he had fallen back asleep until the sound of something knocking over in the upper level was heard making Joel pull himself up into a seated position on the couch. Negan was looking up alerting him to the fact that Negan heard it too.
“Do you think that was the girls?” Joel questioned pulling himself up from the couch to go over toward the window. Carefully pushing at the blinds, Joel stole a glance feeling his heart starting to hammer in his chest when he saw that there were a pair of headlights pulling up the long driveway. “Negan? Did you call someone here?”
“No one should be coming here,” Negan stood up from the chair that he was in to move in beside Joel to stare out the blinds too seeing one more truck following that one up the long driveway. “Fucking shit.”
“What does that mean?” Joel heard the sound of Negan preparing his gun and immediately Negan took off toward the stairs making Joel freeze in place. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
Instead of answering, Negan clung tightly to the gun that was in his hand and ran up the stairs. Being careful with the way he moved, Negan tiptoed through the hallway and moved quiet enough to not draw attention to himself if someone had snuck into the house. Pushing open one door at a time, Negan came to a stop when he saw that Poppy and Y/N were laying at the center of the bed in one of the rooms.
Tip toeing into the room, Negan closed the door behind him and locked it. Checking the room, he made sure that everything was okay before kneeling down beside the bed next to Y/N. Reaching out, he placed his hand in over her shoulder and shook it carefully making her gradually wake up. When she saw Negan before her he could tell that he shocked her awake, but he placed his index finger over his lips to get her to be quiet.
“People are here. We need to get out of here,” Negan whispered, his head nodding toward Poppy. Y/N reached back to tap Poppy. The way in which Poppy woke up was much more animated and Negan glared out at her. “We need to get out of here. You’re going to have to follow me and be quiet.”
“Where is Joel?” Y/N asked pulling herself up from the bed noticing the way that Negan moved for the window. When he opened it, she looked back to check if Joel was in the room with them. It was clear that Negan wanted them to crawl out onto the roof. “Negan, where is Joel?”
“He has a gun. After I get you and Poppy to safety I will come back for him, I promise,” Negan hushed her seeing the fear in her eyes when she looked back toward the door wanting to visibly go back for Joel, but he knew that it was her life that was in jeopardy. Not Joel’s. Hooking his fingers with Y/N’s on his free hand, Negan was able to pull her attention to him and she nodded. Allowing Poppy out first, they watched as she crawled out onto the roof. Y/N looked down to see how high up they were and Negan placed his hand over the small of her back. “I’ve got you. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
Cautiously moving out the window, she braced her footing on the roof and climbed up in the direction that Negan motioned them. Taking a look back she could see the large guns that the men had as they got out of the car and it made her heart rate quicken. It was dark and there was barely enough light for them to see where they were going, but she could feel Negan close behind her and there was some comfort in that for her. Although she was worried about Joel who was alone and about all of these people that had clearly come to kill her, Y/N hoped they would be able to hide up here.
“I don’t understand what they want with me,” she hesitated clinging for dear life onto the roof and Negan motioned her to be silent. All she could think about was her father. What he had done to get this kind of attention focused on her? Hell, she tried to stay out of the media as much as possible. There was no story that drew attention to the two of them like they were close. With him prepared to write her off, he wasn’t going to include her at all in his run for governor. So this didn’t make sense to her. Waiting it out, she heard them go into the house and they all listened closely.
“No one is here,” someone announced making Y/N pray that meant Joel got away safely. “There is a fire lit, but no one is here.”
“Then someone has to be here. The fire didn’t start itself,” one of the men disputed and they could hear them entering the house. There was only one that was outside keeping cover and Negan was visibly thinking something out in his head.
“I counted six,” Negan breathed out, his eyebrows furrowing while he was deep in contemplation. “Okay, so we’re going to head over toward the downspout of the gutter. You and Poppy are going to climb down it after I get down first. Then the two of you are going to run for the woods. You stay in there until I call you out. I’m going to handle all six.”
“Negan, no,” Y/N shook her head immediately hating that idea. “Let’s just make a run for the Mustang. You only have to take out the one. One against six is not good odds for you.”
“We can’t go to the Mustang because they parked behind it. We couldn’t get out if we tried,” Negan pointed out making her look out toward the long driveway to show that two of their trucks were blocking the car in. “Making a run for it wouldn’t be good because we don’t know where a form of transportation would be. Hiding would leave us open until they came looking. These people are determined and they won’t stop.”
“But one against six isn��t good Negan,” she repeated what she had said originally and Negan shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t like those odds.”
“You’d be surprised what I’m capable of,” Negan gave her a wink before motioning them toward the downspout with the gutter.
Making sure it was sturdy, Negan made his way down it before waving them down. Y/N let Poppy go first before following her down. Once they hit the ground, Negan pointed toward the woods for them to go. Listening to his instructions, they were quick to go into the trees and Negan was cautious in the way he approached the man that was outside. Each movement he made was calculated and planned, taking his time not to make noise. When he finally came up behind the man holding the assault rifle, Negan put the man in a chokehold using all the power he had on the stranger’s throat to keep the man silent to not draw attention. Having a man squirm in his arms knowing that he was killing him fucked with Negan’s mind, but he knew that it had to be done. With one final squeeze, a snap filled the air and Negan let the stranger slowly slide down toward the ground. Grabbing the assault rifle, Negan kept his handgun at his side and swallowed down hard.
Searching the pockets of the man he had just killed, Negan found the keys they had and hit a certain button to draw the alarm of one of the trucks they came in. Stepping beside the house, Negan kept his back up against the brick wall hearing two of them rushing out to see what was happening. From where he was standing, Negan held his handgun up aiming to the best of his ability shooting the two men that came out to check things out. That was three. Only three more left. Negan didn’t want to waste the bullets of the assault rifle yet as he swiftly made his way toward the cars where the alarm was still going off. Smashing one of the windows, he rolled underneath the truck and waited.
It took a while before someone else was drawn outside. During that time, Negan could feel the pounding of his pulse in his temples. This was a situation he never pictured himself in. Fuck, he started off his life as a baseball player. Not a fucking killer. Footsteps were heard and Negan dropped his head back to look to see his sounds had drawn another stranger from the house. When they saw the three bodies, they hollered out for the rest of the crew to come out as the man made their way toward the truck to see the broken window. Just when they passed the trucked Negan shot at their ankle. A splattering sound filled the air when the stranger fell to their back and without taking a second thought, Negan shot the man point blank in the head. With a shuddering breath, Negan closed his eyes and felt his skin crawling. Watching things like this in the movies didn’t compare at all to what it was really like. He just had to keep telling himself that this was to protect Y/N. These people wanted her dead and he had to keep her safe.
Rolling under the next truck that was beside that one, Negan waited and could see that another man was making his way out of the home. Four down. Two left. Waiting it out, Negan stayed where he was allowing the man to make his way around the trucks to scope things out. When the man bent down to look underneath the trucks, Negan immediately shot that one between the eyes making the body drop to the ground in a thud. It made Negan’s stomach turn, but he rolled out from underneath the truck. Taking a minute, he braced himself on his hands knowing that he was fighting the urge to throw up, but he had to finish this.
Grabbing the assault rifle, Negan hooked the strap around his body to carry it. Snatching the handgun from the ground he headed for the front door of the home. Negan knew it was just him and one more at this point. Right as he approached the door, Negan saw the final stranger sent to kill Y/N spot him and fumble for his gun. Shooting three times, Negan watched as the stranger dropped. There was nothing but silence that followed.
“Six,” Negan stammered, shakily lowering the gun down at his side. Turning on his heel, Negan looked out toward the woods and headed that way. It was unbelievable how he managed to pull this off, but somehow, he did. “You can come out now. I got all…”
A loud bang filled the air followed by an incredible amount of pressure and pain causing Negan to fall forward onto the gravel dropping both guns. Pain radiated throughout his shoulder making him hiss out. There was no question that he had just been shot in the shoulder. Rolling onto his back, he lifted his hand shakily up to feel blood over his fingertips and his mind immediately began to panic. Scrambling for the guns that he dropped Negan felt someone kick him in the ribs making him roll out across the ground with a pained groan.
“Seven,” one of the strangers corrected Negan, his head shaking as he held his gun out at Negan. “There were seven of us.”
“I know you,” Negan’s eyes squinted seeing the man that was standing over him realizing that it was someone who worked for Y/N’s father. With the long hair and the big bushy beard, there was no hiding the familiarity of the man’s features that he had seen on many occasions working for Philip. It wasn’t someone that he had really talked to, just seen in passing but he knew that he worked on Philip’s security detail. “You’re Perry.”
“You were always a pain in the ass,” Perry held the gun up making Negan lift his hands to try to block himself. “Now goodbye.”
“Wait,” Y/N’s voice filled the air making Negan look back with fear in his eyes seeing that she was coming out of the woods alone. She held her hands in the air and Perry gave a big toothy smile.
“Y/N, no…” Negan went to get up only to have Perry shoot the ground beside him making Negan fall back again knowing that it was a warning shot. “What are you doing? Run while you can.”
“Making things easier for me,” Perry wiggled his fingers attempting to get Y/N to move closer to him.
“Not letting you die,” Y/N responded, her eyes connecting with Negan’s seeing that he was genuinely panicked which scared her. Negan was always cool and collected, but she knew that she had to do this. “Don’t hurt him. I will go with you if you don’t hurt him.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not how this works. It has to be all of you,” Perry pointed his gun directly at Negan’s head making Y/N scream out for him to stop as she approached the two of them.
“I will give you whatever you want,” Y/N begged of Perry doing whatever she could to keep Negan safe knowing that when she saw Negan get shot down originally it made her think in that moment that he died. Knowing that he was alive she was going to do whatever it took to keep him that way. “There has to be something that you want. You know who my father is right? I’m sure I can get you as much money as you possibly want.”
“There is nothing that you can give me you stupid little girl,” Perry spat aiming at Negan again shooting at the ground beside Negan watching him scramble and let out a shuddering breath. “It’s nice seeing you terrified for your life Negan.  You were always Simon’s favorite and I couldn’t quite understand it.”
“Why are you doing this?” Negan questioned, his heart hammering inside of his chest seeing the way Perry shrugged and smile maniacally. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s what I was hired to do,” Perry answered, shrugging his shoulders when he lifted his head to stare out at Y/N who had just gotten close enough to the two of them. “If you would have just let us get the girl in the first place the rest of you would be fine. But you’ve all seen things.”
“They haven’t though,” Y/N interrupted Perry, stepping forward trying to put herself between Negan and Perry holding the gun knowing that she was doing what she was in order to keep Negan safe. “We have no idea what is going on. Leave the other three out of this. If you’re going to kill me, just take me so they don’t have to see it. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what I did or what my father did, but the others are innocent. So just take me.”
“Stop it,” Negan growled from behind Y/N reaching out to try to grab Y/N’s wrist, but Perry shoved her away from Negan.
“Shut up! Shut up, both of you,” Perry demanded of the two of them seeing the way that Y/N looked at the guns that Negan had dropped. “You even think about it and I will put a bullet right between his eyes.”
“You’re going to put a bullet in him regardless,” Y/N bickered with Perry seeing the way that Perry lifted the gun from pointing at Negan toward her and she felt more comfortable in knowing that Negan would be safe at the moment. “You can’t threaten me with something you’re ultimately going to do.”
“You’re not very bright, are you?” Perry tipped his head to the side, his dark eyes surveying her over. “You’d really give up your life…for him?”
“Without question,” she didn’t even take time to think that one out looking down at Negan seeing his dark eyes staring out at her with worry. “I can’t imagine a life without Negan in it. And if he isn’t in it, I don’t want to be here anyways. So if you’re going to kill him anyways, you might as well start with me first.”
“Aw, how sweet,” Perry mocked her waving his gun in her direction to point at her. “Sounds like she has a crush on you. Were you fucking the boss’s daughter Negan? You naughty little fucker. It’s surprising someone hasn’t put a bullet between your eyes yet. I’m sure if the other guys knew that she was such a little skank, they would have enjoyed taking a hit before she had to be killed.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Negan snarled, lifting up enough to let out a pained sound seeing the amused expression over Perry’s face. “If you’re going to kill us just get it over with because you’re starting to fucking bore me.”
“Bore you? You sure do have a lot of nerve boy,” Perry brought the gun back to point it at Negan showing that Negan’s attitude visibly pissed him off. “I wouldn’t want to bore you Negan. So I’ll just go ahead and give you what you want. Goodbye Negan.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Y/N tried to reason further with Perry hearing three shots follow making her scream out feeling a rush of fear flooding her veins.
Behind closed eyes, Negan hissed out when he thought the shots were those that were coming from Perry standing over him. After hearing the sound of a body dropping, he forced his eyes open to see that Perry was shot down.
Lifting his head from the ground, Negan saw that Joel was standing by the house holding the gun up that Negan had given him. Joel’s face was twisted with anger, his breathing loud enough for them to hear as he kept his arm raised and Y/N felt an incredible sense of relief, “Joel?”
Finally lowering the gun, Joel heard Negan let out a pained noise which led Y/N to rush down to him. Y/N hooked her arms around Negan to get him into a seated position when Joel was quick to come help them after setting the gun he used down on the ground. They both were inspecting the wound to see how bad it really was. The bullet wasn’t inside of him and Negan knew that was a good thing, but at the same time he knew he was bleeding a significant amount.
“The good thing is that it’s not as bad as you would think it was,” Joel informed Negan taking over in the moment going straight into tending for Negan after he had been shot in the shoulder. “I think we should be thankful Perry had a shit shot because if he would have gone lower it could have hit something vital and you’d be dead.”
“You just…” Negan hissed out when Y/N touched over his shoulder to get a look at how bad things were. Poppy came out of the woods after all of the shooting stopped to come check on Negan too. “You…”
“Killed someone for you,” Joel finished for Negan seeing the way that Negan’s confused hazel eyes stared out at him. “I guess you can even surprise yourself when you know what’s right and wrong,” Joel commented knowing that they had talked about the subject previously. Looking to Poppy, Joel nodded back toward the home. “Poppy, you need to go get the medical kit that Negan used on Y/N earlier. Bring it out here. We need to get Negan cleaned up and we need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Where were you?” Y/N looked to Joel seeing his chocolate brown eyes shifting their gaze from Negan to her. “They said no one was in the house.”
“I was in the crawl space. I didn’t know what to do when Negan took off, so I hid and just watched from under the house instead of helping,” Joel answered her, his forehead creasing showing that he felt guilty for not being there to help sooner. “I’m sorry I took so long to come out. I should have been helping you from the start.”
“No, I’m happy you came out when you did,” Negan panted seeing Poppy almost tripping over her own feet when she was rushing back to them with the medical kit they had found earlier. Joel helped get Negan out of the black button-down shirt that he had on over his t-shirt. The t-shirt underneath was blood stained. The veins in Negan’s neck were bulging showing the incredible amount of pain that Negan was in. Ripping into the t-shirt that Negan was wearing, Joel got the material from Negan’s body to access the bullet wound faster. “Thank you, Joel.”
“It’s nothing,” Joel blew it off seeing the way that Y/N looked back at him and he knew that it was a big deal, he just didn’t want to think too much about it because if he did he was sure that his thoughts would have ate him alive. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but I reckon you’re lucky he shot you where he did. Nothing major was hit. The bullet went through the back and out the front. It just probably hurts like hell.”
“Yeah, lucky isn’t exactly the word I would use right now,” Negan howled out in agony when Joel poured the alcohol that he had from the kit onto the wound. It made Negan drop his head back and bite down on his bottom lip so he didn’t scream out from the agony that it caused. “Fuck, fucking…fuck.”
“It’s okay,” Y/N tried to comfort Negan seeing the way he got pale and his breathing got heavier. “You’re okay.”
“Come on,” Joel knew that Negan looked like he was close to passing out and he was doing his best to find a way to irritate Negan enough into staying alert. “You were a ball player in the past. I’m sure you’ve been hit by a whole lot of fastballs that hurt more than this.”
“I was getting hit with balls and not bullets though,” Negan rumbled under his breath while Joel continued to work on him and his wound. “You know that I was a baseball player?”
“I do know my sports you know,” Joel responded with a shake of his head, his brown eyes connecting with Negan’s when he offered a cheeky smirk. “Plus, it might be your job to know me, but it’s my job to know the person who is following me around too.”
“We need to get him to the hospital,” Y/N spoke up trying to get Negan to move, but he immediately shook his head. “You could have hit an artery or something. You have to go to the hospital. There are no other options.”
“You heard Joel, I’m okay. I can’t go to a hospital. Have you seen how many people are coming after you?” Negan lifted his head to look at his shoulder and he shook his head. “Joel can just apply something to it and then dress it. It will just have to have a strong dressing on it. It didn’t hit anything. I’m not bleeding that much.”
“Joel is not a doctor,” Y/N commented her face twisting with an uneasiness. Looking to her hands, she knew that Negan saying he wasn’t bleeding much was bullshit. Her hands were covered in his blood and it made her panic. “I think we need to get you to a real doctor.”
“You have a hole in your shoulder, I think she’s right Negan,” Poppy tried to offer her input on things knowing that ultimately Y/N was right.  
“Listen, my mother was a nurse. I know it’s a shitty excuse, but I still remember some things from back when I was little. Tommy was an idiot and went off to war and I decided to relearn some of the things from when I was younger in case something happened to Tommy, “Joel reasoned motioning Y/N to move away from Negan so he could do what he had to in order to get Negan moving up and about. “He’s right. We can’t go to a hospital. Hospitals ask questions. As long as we get the bleeding to stop and make sure to clean it, I will take care of it when we are far enough away from here.”
“I don’t think this is smart,” Y/N shook her head hating the idea of this whole thing.
“Smart or not, we can’t trust anyone right now,” Negan claimed pointing his finger at the man that Joel had killed in order to save him. “This guy worked for your father. The only ones that knew about this location were people who worked for your father. Which tells me this has to be someone on the inside that is doing this Y/N. We can’t trust anyone but the people we have right here right now. Going to a hospital puts us all at risk. And you heard him, he said he was after all of us.”
“I don’t understand,” Poppy threw her hands up in the air watching Negan grimace when Joel put a dressing around Negan’s shoulder using his strength to make sure that it was tight, but it visibly hurt Negan. “Why are they doing this?”
“I don’t fucking know,” Negan panted his eyes staring up into the night sky, his breathing shallow and uneven. “Simon said something about it potentially having something to do with Philip’s political opponent. Apparently there is bad blood between the two of them.”
“Really?” Poppy seemed surprised to hear that. “His opponent is Ezekiel Sutton and he really doesn’t seem like the type. Ezekiel is currently losing in the polls. It’s not by a significant amount, but everyone is calling that they think your father is going to win. Ezekiel is a very charitable man that is very people oriented. He’s the person that progressive folks want to win because he’s eager for change wanting to help people. Your father is the one that has archaic beliefs that wants to keep the old ways of thinking.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but you really don’t look like the type that knows politics,” Joel licked at his lips making Poppy huff out. Clearly Negan and Y/N agreed with the way they were staring out at Poppy after her educating them about Ezekiel.
“Just because I’m blonde and ditzy doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention to things. Not all of us are stereotypes,” Poppy scoffed making Joel’s brown eyes get wide before getting up from the ground trying to help Negan get to his feet. Y/N did the same and Negan reached for his black button down that Joel had tossed but Y/N did it so he didn’t hurt himself.
“Thank you,” Negan winced feeling Y/N’s hand pressing in over the center of his bare abdomen as he let out pained sounds when he pulled the shirt up and over his arms. Negan’s hands shook when he tried to button the shirt together, but Y/N was quick to help him. The sound of an alert from a phone was heard and he looked down at the body that was down at their feet. “Can someone grab that?”
“Got it,” Joel lowered down to search the body for the phone and pulled it out of the man’s pocket when he did. Handing it over to Negan, he saw Negan’s eyes gazing over the screen. “What does it say?”
“Is it done,” Negan read off the text, his expressive eyes lifting to stare out at the three that were waiting on some kind of information. “It’s an anonymous number.”
“What are you doing?” Y/N questioned seeing Negan typing something back in the text. “Is that smart to do?”
“I’m telling them the job is done. That way they stop sending people for now. If they think we are all dead then we have a few hours to get a head start on whoever is coming after us,” Negan stated with an uneven breath sending the text and finding himself dizzy while in excruciating pain. “We need to grab whatever we can. We’re going to drive and we’re going to drive as far as we can.”
“Why?” Poppy blurt out hearing the phone go off again with an alert. “Shouldn’t we hide?”
“The further away we are from here, the safer we are going to be,” Negan declared with a grunt looking to the phone, something changing in his eyes when he read over the text. “Clean up. Bring the bodies to the normal location and be there in an hour.”
“Jesus Christ,” Joel paced reaching up to brush his fingers through his dark hair. “What the fuck are we going to do?”
“Grab what we need and get the fuck out of here. We’ll take my Mustang and drive, taking only the back roads. We don’t pick a place, we just go. Then we find a car that is inconspicuous. Something that won’t draw attention. And we just find a place to lay low,” Negan answered seeing the stress that flooded in over everyone’s features. “It’s the best idea I can think of.”
“We should be going to the police,” Poppy brought up the topic from earlier. “They are people that could help us.”
“I offered him endless amounts of money and he wasn’t interested,” Y/N pointed toward the man that was killed. “It makes me believe whoever hired this guy has more power than my father does. People like that have control over the police. And let’s be honest when have the police ever been helpful in the past?”
“His plan makes sense,” Joel added his input surprising Negan that Joel was agreeing with him in any sense.
“I’ll call Rick somewhere in the middle to see what he thinks we should do. I trust him,” Negan winced when he felt a pain radiating from his shoulder that made everything spin for him. “Right now, we just need to grab what we can and go.”
Joel helped Negan collect some of the guns from the men that had fallen making sure that they were protected. Throwing them in a black bag that they found inside the home was the best they could really do. Inside Poppy was collecting food and snacks while Negan had Joel lead him toward the office. Y/N was inside and had taken a portrait off the wall that was resting against the desk. At first they didn’t understand, but when Joel moved far enough he saw that she was working on a safe that was obviously behind the painted portrait.
“How did you know that was there?” Joel unhooked Negan’s arm from around his shoulders allowing Negan to brace his weight against the desk that was there. Moving around the desk, Joel saw that Y/N was doing the number combination and Joel was shocked when the safe opened. “You know his combination?”
“I figured it out when I was a teenager. I wanted a necklace that my mother had when I was younger. My father would always keep it locked away in this safe at our home. I thought maybe my birthday, his wedding anniversary…but nope. It’s the date he made his first million. He had the newspaper articles up everywhere,” she pointed over toward a newspaper that was framed and hanging up on the wall. “I knew the safe would be behind his portrait because he’s always arrogant. I stole the necklace as a kid and I don’t think he ever ended up finding out. Every combination is always the same thing. My father is very unoriginal. You know, he gave me a necklace when I turned eighteen and it was probably the only gift he ever gave me. Told me he gave it to me to make up for never giving me my mother’s necklace. So I guess he never changed the combination because he never realized I took the other one.”
“I see,” Joel grunted watching the way that Y/N reached for the necklace that she wore that her father had given her. Joel had spotted in the past, but never really thought much of it as it didn’t look like something expensive and extensive that her father would have given her. “I’m surprised that came from him.”
“Me too, but it was the only gift I ever got from him and even though it was kind of gawdy, I still wear it,” Y/N looked down at the infinity symbol on the necklace that had a red stone at the center of it. “I figure we’re going to need money on hand and I knew my father would have plenty of it here.”
“Jesus,” Joel scoffed when he saw the piles of money that were inside of the safe. Y/N had grabbed a backpack and started to fill it up. Reaching inside the safe, Joel noticed that there was pill bottles inside and he grumbled to himself. “We actually might need these.”
Tossing the pills back to a groggy Negan, Joel watched Negan barely catch the bottle before looking at it, “They are pain pills. Lots of them. You’re going to need them.”
“Dad had a bit of an addiction,” Y/N admitted knowing that it was something her father tried hiding in the past from people. His addiction to pain pills wouldn’t have looked good on his campaign running for governor.
“It’s not just pain pills though. There are sedatives, antibiotics…” Joel looked through all the medication that was there reaching for the bag that he had to fill it with all the pills that her father had in there. “You guys are going to need the antibiotics with your wounds. I can’t believe he had all of this.”
“Rich socialite with safe houses and a paranoid personality?” Negan breathed out, moving carefully from the desk over toward the chair to sit down. “I’m not surprised by anything. Especially with this man.”
“I’ve got a shitload of food, but one of you boys is probably going to have to carry it to the car,” Poppy dropped a large bag at her feet making Joel smirk before nodding. Joel grabbed the bag that had the guns and medicine in it before picking up the food bag to take them outside. “Are we just about set?”
“Yeah,” Negan went to pull himself out of the seat before lowering back down. The color had drained completely from his face and he lowered his head down. Finishing up with the money, Y/N closed up the backpack and handed it off to Poppy. Lowering down, she palmed in over the side of Negan’s face and saw his hazel eyes lift to hers. A weak smile tugged at his lips with his fatigued expression. “I’m okay.”
“Sure you are,” Y/N grunted when she helped Negan stand up. Heading toward the front door, she saw that Joel was moving one of the trucks their attackers had parked behind Negan’s Mustang. Poppy crawled into the backseat of the Mustang while Y/N helped prop Negan against the car to wait for Joel. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Negan slurred out feeling her fingers stroking through his hair and he was doing his best to stay alert. “I’m sorry. I just think the adrenaline from everything kicked my ass. I’m really okay.”
“We both are going to have scars,” she teased Negan feeling him leaning down to press his forehead to hers. Closing her eyes, she felt the warmth of his breath over hers and caressed her hand in over the center of his chest. “Thank you, Negan. I know it’s your job to protect me, but…”
“I would do anything to protect you. Job or not,” Negan whispered with his good arm lifting so he could shakily caress over the side of her face. “I couldn’t let something happen to you. I’m just fucking pissed you tried to risk your life for mine.”
“So you’re allowed to risk your life for me, but I can’t do that for you?” she responded with an arch of her eyebrow seeing Negan smirk. Shrugging, Negan felt her wrapping him up in her arms to give him a hug. As she pressed a kiss over his cheek, Negan leaned into it and sighed when Joel approached. It made Y/N step back and she grabbed him with Joel leading Negan toward the car. “I’m going to get in the back, but Joel is going to help you in.”
Nodding, Negan accepted the help from Joel to get him into the passenger’s seat of the car after Y/N got in the back. Joel made sure Negan was in safely before closing the door and making his way to the driver’s side of the Mustang. Getting in the car, Joel looked to see that Negan was resting his head against the window.
“I know I’m going to pass out, but I’m okay…” Negan weakly stammered, waving his hand in the air because everyone seemed nervous about his response to things. “Pick a direction and just go. Just keep taking the back roads. Drive until the gas is almost gone. Do you understand?”
Agreeing to Negan’s terms with a nod, Joel started driving and Negan wasn’t wrong. He ended up passing out which meant they were constantly checking on him to make sure that he was still breathing or if his heartbeat was still felt in his neck. It was Negan’s body’s way of calming down from the shock that it suffered from being shot and that was very evident.
All they could do now was hope that Negan was okay and hope that the decision they were making was the right one.
----
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ghosts-and-entropy · 8 months
Text
Things Don't Stay Forever
Chapter 2: “I guess what scares me the most now is the thought that I won't be able to protect you.”
Jazz frowned down at her phone. She attempted to call her house phone multiple times since Danny hung up on her—rather abruptly—but all she received in return was a continuous ringing tone and then her family’s answering machine.
“Hello, this is Dr. Madeline Fenton—”
“—And Jack Fenton!”
“And you’ve reached Fenton Works. We can’t come to the ph—”
Jazz presses the call-end button and sighs. She takes a deep breath in and, determined, presses the back button, clicks the back and forth buttons on her Razr, and locates her address book, pressing the down arrow until she finds her brother’s cell phone number and clicks call.
Bringing it to her ear, she silently begs him to answer but immediately after the first ring, she hears the “call waiting” tone.
“Ugh!” She scoffs, and hangs up again, slumping down in her seat. Jazz rubs her hand against the side of her face, closes her eyes, and cups her frown. This is so frustrating.
She scared him. She scared him because she was scared. She cried. Why did she cry? And now Danny’s not picking up his phone or the house phone. Probably because he’s rushing to find her. Because she scared him and why? Why did she bring up dying? She knows how he feels about—
Jazz lets out a quick huff through her nose. She isn’t—she isn’t dying. She knows that. Danny said so himself too. Said he would feel if something was wrong. How? She doesn’t know. Danny’s connection to death is something she could never completely understand but she believed him, so incredibly strongly, when he was insistent he would know.
She trusts her brother with her life and beyond. It’s this infection spreading through the world she’s afraid of.
Besides, she also didn’t feel like she was dying. She didn’t even feel sick. But being near so many people these last two days has left her with the feeling she’s covered in bacteria and germs, not the good ones. Like the virus is in every pore of her body. Like she’s patient zero waiting for her body to be burned. She feels gross, but not sick. Not even close. She feels normal. Well, almost normal. This trip hasn’t been an easy one.
There would be signs though, right? Something showing on her skin? She would feel ill or look it at least. She catches a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror. Actually, she does look ill. Her face is pale and drawn but isn’t that to be expected when one is hurrying home, driving cross country during a pandemic?
Maybe she should be feeling nauseous or something. She doesn’t know. There hasn’t been much reporting on the actual virus and while there is video of the infected and the effects of the areas they’re in such as burning villages and abandoned homes, they look like anyone else would if they had caught the flu. So. Not helpful.
The media has been hush-hush about the virus itself, though they’ve been very excited to show scene after scene of the Justice League running around all over the globe. And the CDC’s only knowledge is it takes up to twenty to thirty minutes for an infected person to show symptoms.
But what were those symptoms?
Opening her eyes, she pats herself down randomly, searching for any physical recognition of infection on her body. She pulls her visor down and stares at herself in the little mirror. She checks her eyes, and her cheeks, and opens her mouth wide to look inside but sees nothing different about her features.
Jazz notes her canines are larger than she remembers but it’s most likely from the ambient ectoplasm back in Cheyenne she took in when she parked to rest in the Walmart parking lot that was, conveniently, across from a cemetery. One of the few good things that happened to her on this trip so far.
She notices a small, light strand of blue near her bangs and brushes it aside a few times to conceal it. She turns her head right, then left but nothing else has changed besides the heavy and dark bags under her eyes, and her hooded lids lowered and tired.
She looks exhausted and weary. This whole situation has been emotionally and physically draining. Ever since Danny called her, three weeks ago, frantic and paranoid something was coming. He couldn’t tell her what it was, what he could sense, but something was coming and she needed to head home right that moment.
Dazing past her visor out her windshield, she should have followed his advice instead of being worried about her classes, her homework, and what her professors would have thought, Jazz thinks.
She trusts her brother, she does. If his instincts were screaming something was wrong, then something was wrong. She should have listened. She should have ran as fast as she could to her car and taken off. Gone home. Rushed back to be at her brother’s side to prepare for whatever was coming. But she didn’t.
And she’s here now. Sitting in her car, in a state that is not her own, possibly infected with a virus no one knows anything about, her phone battery at thirty-three percent, and waiting for her brother to find her after she’d nearly given him a heart attack with worry.
Jazz huffs and rests her head against her window. She hadn’t meant to scare him so badly. She had wanted to warn him instead. Well, no. That hadn’t been completely it. She also called to hear his voice. Feel some comfort and normalcy from talking to her brother. Maybe pretend for a moment she was simply driving home to spend the rest of summer with her family instead of running from something she couldn’t see or fight.
Her intention, though, was to tell Danny she was okay. That there were some minor complications along the way but she had a plan in place in case—in case—
Closing her eyes, Jazz takes another deep breath in and five seconds later, lets out a shaky one.
She just wanted to plan in advance in case anything happened. That’s all. Plans are good, better than good, they’re great to have! And Jazz has always been a planner. A fantastic one, if she does say so herself. So if she was exposed and is infected then she needs an organized list of instructions to follow so no one else is exposed too.
Better to be safe than sorry, right? She always says this and believes in it so strongly. One can never be too cautious. She’s told Danny this a million times. ‘Danny, make sure to grab your coat. It’s cold out there. Better to be safe than sorry.’ or ‘Mom and dad are going to be busy again tonight so make sure you come home right after school! I mean it. I don’t want you outside so late at night. Better to be safe than sorry, Danny.’
‘I don’t want you coming out here to save me. I want you to stay home, locked tightly in your room and away from all this. Better to be safe than sorry, right Danny?’
Jazz leans her head back against the headrest. She stares up at the dark grey roof of her car and breathes.
‘In one …two…three…four…five. Out one…two…three…’
She wants to be precautious. If she is infected—not dying, just sick—Danny said she wasn’t dying. Jazz doesn’t want to take the chance of making the trip home only to infect thousands of living people in Amity Park. She could never forgive herself. And if she exposes Danny…
She needs a plan of action.
But with Danny coming to get her what is she going to do now?
Abruptly, she sits up and opens her phone again, hits speed dial, and calls her house phone. Up to her ear, she listens to the ringing on the other side. The tone rings, over and over, making her anxious. She’s not expecting Danny to answer or even her parents but she wishes one of them would anyway.
“Come on, come on! Pick up, Danny. Please.”
“Hello, this is Dr. Madeline Fenton—”
“—And Jack Fenton!”
“And you’ve reached Fent—”
Jazz hangs up, and calls again.
“Hello, this is Dr. Madeline—”
Hangs up. Calls again.
“Hello, this is Dr. Mad—”
Hangs up.
“Hello, this is—”
Again.
“Hello—”
“Argh!” Jazz shouts and grips her phone tightly in both hands, shaking and bringing it to her forehead. She doesn’t cry because there is no point to it and what good would it do her anyway? It won’t make Danny answer his stupid phone, will it?
Jazz tries again. She finds her brother’s number and calls it. Although at this point, she doesn’t expect him to pick up this time either. And just like she expected, his phone goes straight to voicemail.
“Hey, this is Danny Fenton. If you’re trying to reach Drs. Fenton, you’ve got the wrong number.”
Jazz huffs at his bored tone, typical Danny, and listens to his recorded message waiting for it to end.
“If you’re the school, I didn’t do it! And if you’re calling for me, good luck, buddy! Maybe try me again in the next life. Thanks.”
Jazz goes to say something thinking the message is over before she’s cut off.
“Oh, leave a message for me, I guess. I’ll, uh, try and call back?”
The tone beeps. Jazz rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath in and—
“Danny Fenton! If you don’t pick up this phone right now I swear—” She grips the phone tightly and looks out her passenger-side window. There’s a residential neighborhood just across the road. She watches a family head out of their house, hurried and with suitcases in hand.
“Listen to me. I can’t stop you from coming for me. I know that. But you still need to be cautious when you do get here. We don’t know what this virus can do still. And I don’t know if I’m infected or not. So…wear a mask and make sure to bring gloves for you and me! If you’re bringing the Speeder, then pack mom’s extra hazmat. And an extra one for you too, mister! Also, Clorox wipes to wipe my stuff.”
She’s still watching the family across her way, absentmindedly. They pack the suitcases in the trunk of the car and close it shut. The parents usher their children to their seats and fasten them in. She watches them run to either side of the red car, and get in quickly, doors slamming loud, engine roaring louder.
“I don’t want us to risk anything. Do you hear me? You better hear this message before you get here, you jerk. Maybe if you hadn’t hung up on me I would have been able to explain all this to you.” Jazz rubs her forehead, agitated.
The car backs up fast from the driveway. Her eyes follow it as the family of four zooms forward down the street towards the intersection where she’s parked across on the side of the road.
“Maybe bring extra ecto-shots with you. Just in case something happens. You never know when we may need them.”
Jazz watches the car get closer to the intersection, stops at the stop sign like all good drivers do, and moves to turn left.
“Better to be safe than sor—”
—A loud screeching sound. Metal crashing into metal and glass resoundingly shattering from the pressure of a body shooting through the window. The sound of tires bursting. A body hits the ground and rolls until it comes to a full stop, mere feet away from Jazz’s car.
There are shards of glass and metal scattered all over the road. A large, rolling sound. A scream that belonged to someone in her car. Did she scream? Was that her?
Then silence.
Jazz is breathing heavy. She holds her head in her hand where she grips strands of her hair firmly. Her other is gripping her phone tightly in a fist. She hears a creaking sound but can’t tell if it’s coming from the crash site or her own hand.
“What just—was that—?”
A car that had just been turning a millisecond ago—that had a family of four sitting inside not moments ago— was now twisted and broken, lying upside down on the road behind her.
Jazz slowly lifts the phone back to her ear and stares in horror at the body on the ground—that was the father— her body twisted to look at the crash, smoke rising up from the pickup that had slammed into the body of the smaller car.
“I got to go. I’ll—I’ll see you soon, Danny.”
She hangs up.
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bohemian-nights · 8 months
Note
What are your predictions for HOTD season 2?
Erm disappointment 🙃 🤣🤣🤣
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Okay um, I’m hoping that after Blood & Cheese plays out(which should happen by episode 2) we see more of the Alicent from episodes 6 and 7 I’ll do whatever to protect my children and myself Alicent rather than I don’t know what the hell is going on Alicent from episode 8 and 9. I need to see politically competent Alicent.
House Hightower will be great(I just really want to see the inside of Hightower. That’s all I ask for).
The Lannisters get to show off again that they are rich b*tches💰(Jason will show how much of a lovable idiotic flop he is).
Daeron will be the new it boy(still won’t overtake Aemond or Daemon, but he’ll give them a run for their money).
Dumbnyra will be away from each other for most of the season from what I’ve heard(and as their #1 hater outside of Ryan Condal that is music to my ears🎼).
Daemon will be trying to prove himself because finding out his brother dearest didn’t trust him/never saw him as his heir is a crushing blow for him, but he’ll be better than ever once he meets his Netty 😏 He’ll acknowledge that Rhaena exists and they’ll have a heart to heart 🙏🏽(Ryan have him talk to his only daughters 🙃).
Rhaena will get a dragon egg and realize that she was a cool girl all along😎
(Or she’ll pull a Mulan, dye her hair, and become a nurse for the Green camp. At the end of season 2, she meets Gwayne/Garmund/Daeron in disguise who is injured the two fall in love. She nurses him back to health as the world around them falls apart. Eventually, they marry in secret, comfort each other as their family members die by one, and survive the war together. They are each other's glue, they have lots of babies, and recently hatched Morning approves🐉. This isn’t fanfiction guys. Ryan Condal leaked this to me himself😎).
Aegon will become a sad hoe(literally).
Helaena will just speak in prophecies(I mean she already does this, but she'll really amp up predicting stuff, including everyone's death).
Criston finds out about the situation(🤢) and beats and/or threatens Larys creepy a** for Alicent(that nasty foot hoe deserves it 🤷🏽‍♀️).
Aemond feels the burden of his responsibilities when Aegon is injured and he becomes regent(setting the stage for him finding comfort in Alys for season 3).
Rhaenyra will be a more active participant since they want to make her into a #girl-boss feminist(Seeing Nettles claiming Sheepstealer will shake her up a bit).
Mysaria will say her involvement with Blood & Cheese was revenge for the children in the fighting pits(still doesn’t make sense but they made her into a “child activist”).
Baela will want to go with Rhaenys to Rooks Rest, but she’s held back because of the danger. She breaks down when Granny dies 😔
Corlys will continue to be an idiot until wifey dies then he finally gets it.
Addam and Alyn are Ser Vaemond’s sons 🤞🏽(Let him get the last laugh).
Lots of Dragonseed deaths during episodes 5-6(I’ll probably laugh at half of them especially when Alyn is almost ended by my baby’s baby).
From the looks of things, Addam Velaryon claiming Seasmoke will be a pretty big deal. There’s a leak that Laenor is dead and Rhaenyra finds this out by Addam claiming Seasmoke.
A little flirtation between Alyn and Baela (Again Ryan Condal personally told me Alyn will be good, kind, and loving to Baela. He’ll sweep her off her feet. Jace who? Jace what? He’s like the perfect future husband guys trust me. He's not a hoe. That's just Green propaganda 🥲).
Sara Snow will be there. Come on it’s too messy to scrape and Jace is less interesting than watching paint dry. He needs this and Baela needs an real man🤐
Something something pack of ice and fire convo between Cregan and Jace something.
I know some people have reservations about Gayle now, but I wholeheartedly believe that people are going to fall in love with her portrayal of Alys(and Alysmond will rightfully overtake Pukemond as Aemond’s #1 ship). Hopefully, Alys roasts Daemon like how she did in that leaked audition tape 🤐
Judging by how much they are keeping Nettles under wraps, her claiming Sheepstealer will be absolutely epic. This is my most anticipated moment for season two. I want all the stops pulled out. I want Nettles to make the connection that dragons will accept food for rides on her own or hear something in passing on how the first Valyrians claimed/tamed their dragons and then figure it out from there.
(Daemon will be upset to hear about Nettles at first/view her as a threat because she shouldn’t exist in his Valyrian supremacist mind, but then he sees her and is like 😍).
There was a “leak” that allegedly stated Netty and Daemon meet sometime during the latter half of the season. They take a liking to each other and at some point, they go off together but come back to help in the Battle of the Gullet(BOTG). I’m not too crazy about this leak since I want Netty to be very wary of him at first instead of just jumping to be with him. He needs to really work for her affection.
The season will probably end on news that the Triarchy is attacking the Gullet(ending the season with them preparing for the BOTG). However, one of the “leaks” did say that allegedly the Blacks will take Kings Landing before the BOTG so they may plan their attack from there(hence Daemon and Nettles coming back to help them).
Not really a prediction, but I hope we see Johanna Lannister(seriously if HBO cuts her I’m considering it a crime). She’s like my favorite minor character during the Dance(and what happens to the Westerland women shows once again how Queenie doesn’t care about women except for herself). Now she’s what I’d call a bada** woman 🙌🏽
Anyway, I hope these fairytales are sufficient ☺️
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dyns33 · 1 year
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Flufftober 10 - Jake Lockley
Jake Lockley x Reader
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Y/N had been dating Jake Lockley for several months.
Well, he didn't like that word. Too childish. He didn't like anything that came a little too close to feelings. It had taken him a while to open up to her, at first with grunts and very short sentences, whispered very quickly, mostly in Spanish.
On the other hand, he had never hidden anything from her, being completely honest with her. About his family, his "mother". Or rather Marc's mother, and a bit Steven's. He had very quickly spoken to her about DID, explaining to her that he was an alter. He had mentioned Khonshu.
           "If you must think I'm crazy, I might as well say everything." he said with his small smile. "What could be the worse ? That you're going to call the doctors ? I'm running fast, cariño. I'll be leaving, heartbroken, and so be it."
           "I don't think you're crazy. I mean, I've seen Thor on TV, so I know gods do exist but... Maybe it's another alter ?"
           "He doesn't like you to think that, mi amor."
           "If he really is a god, he shouldn't care that a mere human... AH ! What was that ?! A ghost ?"
           "No, it's Khonshu. Don't be afraid, except making wind, he can't do anything. Well, he is shouting, but you can't hear him, and I'm not going to repeat what he's saying. No insistas, paloma, no repetiré."
This made Y/N laugh, who kissed Jake on the cheek. He'd fled almost immediately, but that had also been the time he'd been completely certain he could trust her.
In addition to some of his problems, he sometimes consulted her for his missions. He had shown her the apartment they shared with his alters. He had introduced her to allies, including Layla, Marc's ex-wife.
On the other hand, after all this time, Y/N had never had the opportunity to speak to Marc, or to Steven.
Never.
As soon as she broached this subject with Jake, he became tense and cold, finding strange excuses.
The few times she had felt like it wasn't him in front of her, Jake had always regained control before his alters could open their mouths.
Once, Y/N noticed small messages left in the apartment, with her name on them, signed Steven. He was saying hello to her, indicating that he was looking forward to meeting her !
Seeing this, Jake threw the papers away. Then he had been very attentive, looking for other words that his 'estúpido hermanito' could have hidden.
This at least allowed Y/N to know one thing, Marc and Steven knew of her existence, her relationship with their alter, and they had no problem with that.
Which meant it was Jake and Jake only who didn't want her to meet them.
And she didn't understand why.
Maybe he was ashamed ? She probably wasn't as good as Layla. Their relationship was not the same as the one Marc had had with his wife. He was afraid that there would be comparisons and judgments.
But they already knew, and Jake didn't hide when they were going outside together. It didn't make sense.
It was also possible that he didn't trust her as much as Y/N had hoped.
After all, Jake was originally the Protector of the System. He was there to protect the others, to make sure nothing bad happened to them. As evidenced by the stories he had told her, he could be very protective.
Sometimes too much.
Even though he loved her and didn't hide anything from her, he could consider his alters to be off limits. That she might hurt them one way or another.
While trying not to be outraged by this, and to prove to him that she had no intention of being a threat at all, Y/N decided to just tell him about it, to avoid a misunderstanding, or worse.
           "... Qué ?" was the only thing Jake said, staring at her, as he finished his bowl of cereal.
           "I understand that you want to protect your 'brothers', but you can totally trust me. I have no intention of scaring them, or anything, even if I don't know what. They seem lovely from what you told me and I just wish I met them, at least once. Once ! And if I mess up, then I'll be sorry and I'll never approach them again !"
           "... You think I don't want you meeting the others because I think you're going to do something to them ?"
           "Well... Why else ?"
           " Querida. I know very well that you won't do anything to them. They will even be happy to finally be able to talk to you, they've been insisting for months. Especially Steven."
           "So why ?"
Jake continued to stare at her with a strange expression. As if he was ashamed of what he was going to say, that he was afraid. Which was impossible, because Jake Lockley wasn't afraid of anything.
           "... Vas a preferirlos."
           "Can you repeat that ?"
           "You will prefer them over me." he said louder, turning his head as if he wanted to hide. "They're better than me. Smarter, braver, funnier, nicer. You're going to meet them and you're going to wonder what you're doing with me. It's... It's the first time I've I have something that's only mine. Someone important outside the System. Even though I know you're going to have to meet them one day, and then you're going to leave, I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible. "
           "Oh... Jake..."
Not to scare him away as usual when she tried to show him her affection with tender gestures, Y/N gently approached to sit on his lap, preventing him from getting up, putting her arms around his neck and cuddling him, almost as if she was rocking him.
He growled, but let her.
           "You are so adorable. I love you. I love you, Jake Lockey, you and no one else. Even if I meet the others and like them, it will be as friends, and nothing else. Would it be so terrible if I was friends  with your brothers ?"
           "... That would be nice. Marc needs friends. Steven too. You'll love him, everyone loves him, when people aren't too stupid and pay attention to him."
           "Great. And I'll still love you more afterwards."
           "It's okay if he becomes your favourite."
           "Hush. Shut up, idiot. My lovely idiot." she whispered, stroking his hair, kissing his forehead. "You are reassured ?"
He didn't answer, and Y/N looked at him then. For a few seconds, he looked really weird. Absent.So without hurting him, she patted his cheek to make him come back to her.
           "I'm discussing with the others." he said as if everything was perfectly normal. "To find out who's going to talk to you first. Steven is overexcited. He's been asking for the longest time, but he's talkative, while Marc..."
           "Wait. I don't want to meet them now."
           "... No ?" Jake asked with suddenly sparkling eyes, like a child surprised to receive attention.
           "No. I want to be with you. I will always be with you. I'll meet your brothers later when the time is right. I just wanted to check that everything was okay, there's no rush."
This seemed to reassure him, his shoulders relaxing as he nodded.
Then a small smile appeared on his face, as his arms went around her waist and his lips approached her neck, and Y/N knew perfectly well what was going to happen to her, hoping that Steven and Marc had had the time to go back to their inner world to give them some privacy.
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melancholysway · 1 year
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Serendipity (2007!Raphael x Fem!Reader 6
CHAPTER VI: Trust
——— = a flashback is happening or ending ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ or ====
= perspective change
~ = small time skip
Raphael’s panicked form loomed over his youngest brother, and Donnie couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance. 
“Raph, I can’t work with you breathing down my shell, it's making me nervous. We’ll get Leo back, you know.” Feeling slightly guilty, he backs away from his brother and looks for something else to do. Master Splinter is meditating, April is with Donnie figuring out how to end the curse of Yaotl, Mikey is skating on their indoor halfpipe, and Casey is...well...Casey. Leo is somewhere in Winters Corp locked up. Apparently, the stone generals want to trick Winters into thinking all the monsters are caught, when really, Leonardo isn’t the final monster. Thus, the curse won't be broken, and the stone generals will overthrow Winters and rule the world.
Or so they think.
Donnie and April's plan to take back Leo and break the curse will be a tough one, but they carefully have calculated every move they’re about to make tonight. As they are finishing discussing how they’ll go about saving Leo, Casey glances at Raph, who seems lost in his own thoughts.
‘Right’ Casey thought to himself, he still had to talk to Raphael. Although this probably wasn’t the most appropriate time, he had nothing else better to do at the moment. 
Walking over to Raph, Casey stands beside him, “Hey, man.” 
The amber-eyed turtle looks at his friend and sighs, before replying with a quiet “Hey.” Two things are running through Raph's mind right now: Leo, and Y/n. Donnie keeps reassuring him that they’ll get their older brother back, but he can never be certain. Hell, even Master Splinter is joining them to get him back. Next, you. He damn sure didn't have any time to see you after the encounter at the diner. Leonardo was the one who shot the dagger toward Raph and followed him until he was cornered. 
This also was when Leonardo had been captured. 
—-
“You are so smug, ya know dat?! Ya think tha world revolves around ya, dontcha?! That we couldn’t survive without the mighty and powerful Leonardo huh?! Well, we got along just fine without cha!” 
Enraged, Raphael circles around Leonardo on the rooftop as his pent-up anger is finally being let out. After two years, Leonardo is finally receiving the reign of Raphael. He didn’t know Raph felt this way about his absence, but it didn’t make it okay for him to defy Splinter’s orders and become a vigilante. 
 “Oh, and this qualifies as just fine?! Going out and playing a vigilante role? Risking being caught?! Risking the safety of our family?! You already got close with some stranger, God knows who else has seen you!” Leonardo shoots back, the harsh rain bouncing off his snout. He seemed to hit a nerve at the last part, bringing up Y/n like that. She wasn’t just some stranger. Raphael's anger increased immensely.
“Ya don’t even know ha, Leo!” 
“You’re right, I don’t. But you don’t know who she’s told about you, Raph.” Leonardo's patience was running thin, but his composure was still calm. This was a common theme when he and his younger hot-headed brother argued. He always was the more reasonable one, while Raphael enjoyed pushing every button he could. 
“I'm sure the entirety of New York City knows who tha hell I am.” He gestured to himself and his armor, almost smug about the fact that he’s a well-known vigilante. 
“You’re telling me after all this time, she still doesn’t know what you look like? Give me a break, brother.”
Leonardo and Raphael continue to bicker back and forth until Raphael decides he’s ready to settle it with a spar after Leonardo says he’s better than him.
Leonardo WASN'T better than Raphael, and Raphael WASN'T better than Leonardo. They were equally imperfect in their own ways, both oblivious to this fact during the heated moment. Leonardo constantly beat himself up over trying to be perfect, and Raphael constantly beat himself up over carrying the world's problems on his shoulders that were almost always completely out of his hands. 
In the next few moments, Raphael completely regrets what he did after, pinning his brother down after beating him in their little sparring match. He realized what he’s just done and…leaves Leo there. Slightly weakened and taken off guard, Leonardo is hit with a poisonous dart, and from that point on, it's all a blur. 
He wakes up in a cramped little cell in Winters Corp with the other 12 monsters around him, remembering that the last thing he saw was the stone generals April and Donnie had been so wary about.
—-
It wasn’t Raphs fault this happened, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. 
Master Splinter comes out of his room after meditating, and touches base with his son, Donatello, and his friend, April. He’s aware of the situation after Raphael burst into the dojo and exclaimed Leonardo had been taken.
“Y/n called me earlier, she told me what happened...and what she saw,” Casey says, Raph looks at his friend in guilt. She probably told Casey how he left her hanging, without a word to give her some type of closure or explanation. 
“Yeah, she saw me,” The amber-eyed turtle remembers the look on her face. She smiled at him, despite being the freak he was. “She probably doesn't wanna see my mutant ass again.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong, dear friend.” Lightening up the mood with his response, Casey begins to explain what happened. 
How she went to their home and spoke of Raphael, and how she had missed him.
Did he seriously forget that part? Or maybe he didn't hear? Y/n told Raph straight to his face that she missed him. He had been so panicked and scared of what was running through that pretty little head of hers, that he didn't realize she accepted him for who and what he was.
But, she had already accepted him; long before she even saw his face. 
“Y/n ain’t a secret anymore, Raph. I mean, Master Splinter sure knows something more is going on with you, especially after tonight.” Casey was right, Master Splinter was trying to figure out what to say to his son before his meditation, and thought of the perfect words. 
“I think you should tell him, who knows, you might be surprised by what he says.”
So, he did. 
Raphael had looked in his father’s direction and made eye contact. Upon this, he made his way over to an isolated area in the living room and Splinter followed suit. 
Taking a deep breath, Raphael looked down at his sensei. “Hey, Mastah Splintah, I gotta tell ya sumthin’ else.” The rat's ears perked up, and he motioned for his son to continue. 
“While bein’ tha Nightwatcha a couple months back, Casey and I saved someone...a girl.”
Master Splinter continued to listen, not interrupting once, as he was patient with all of his sons.
“It happened to be his neighba, she was about to get assaulted by tha Purple Dragons, and we came just in time. After that, I just kept seein’ her, spendin’ time with her. I saw her every chance I got. With my suit on every time I did, she didn't know what I looked like...for months, until tonight…”
There’s a moment of silence between the duo. Raphael is anxious about what his father might respond with, but Splinter was excited to throw the biggest curveball he’s seen. 
“I know.”
“Ya know?
“About someone other than your brothers or April and Casey in your life, my son.”
Of course, Master Splinter knew. He knew all 4 of his sons like the back of his paw. He raised them and taught them everything he knew with all of his power. He knew when there was a change in each and every one of Raphael's brothers, including Raphael himself. 
“I may be old, but I am not dumb, Raphael.” Now, it was Master Splinter's turn to speak. 
“I knew something had changed when you had a smile on your face. I haven’t seen you with such glee since Sabrina. Although I had no idea about your vigilante persona, I knew there was something else that turned your whole mood around.” 
Master Splinter was always observant, the moment he saw the glint of happiness in Raphael's eyes was when he knew there was a woman in his life that was not his family friend, April. Master Splinter also remembered Sabrina very well. She was always formal with him, even when he mentioned the first time they met that she need not be. 
Because of this, it was amusing to him whenever he walked through the living room in the lair and saw them together.
—-
“Ah! Master Splinter!” Sabrina quickly jumps from beside Raphael, whose arm was around her shoulder as they were cuddled together on the couch watching a horror film. It may be that Sabrina was already on edge from the movie, but Splinter's sudden presence enhanced her nervousness. 
“Hello, Sabrina. My apologies, I did not mean to startle you.” Splinter chuckles and glances at his amber-eyed son, who smiles at him. The rat makes his way to the kitchen and fixes himself a mug of Earl Gray tea before his meditation session. 
Pausing the movie, Sabrina decides to speak to Splinter before he goes back to his room. 
“Don’t you dare watch the rest of it without me,” Kissing Raphael’s cheek, the brunette heads over and takes a seat across from Master Splinter leaving Raphael a blushing mess. 
“I feel as though I haven’t seen you in a while, Sabrina.” 
“Ah, I’m getting ready for my move, college begins in a month.” Master Splinter takes a sip of his tea, taking in all the natural herbs within it. 
“Whatever path you decide to choose in your studies, Sabrina, I know you will be successful,” he gains a soft smile from the teen, “We will all miss you when you go, Raphael especially.” She turns and looks at Raph, who’s now discussing with Michelangelo the movie the three of them are watching. Master Splinter noticed how Raphael seemed to shift whenever Sabrina was around. It wasn’t like he tormented his brothers, some snarky comments here and there, much like Donnie. Raphae is just slightly more aggressive sometimes. But now, he’s more…gentle. He smiled more, laughed more, you name it. Raphael was already pretty laid-back, sometimes butting heads with Leonardo. He had only really been temperamental when it came to fighting crime as a team, his anger would oftentimes get the best of him. Now that Sabrina was in his life, this anger and hotheadedness had been very low. He still had his sarcastic attitude, that was something that wouldn’t go away. 
“I know, I’m gonna miss him a lot, and you guys as well. You’ve done a lot for me, Master Splinter.” Sabrina thinks back to the first time she came down to the lair, Master Splinter was extremely sweet and kind to her, despite being a total stranger. He only asked that she keep them a secret, to which she swore she would take it to the grave. 
Master Splinter offered her advice, a shoulder to lean on, and a shoulder to cry on as well when things weren’t going so well in her life. He also appreciated her, because she was able to show his sons that it is possible to be loved in a different way than family. He appreciated that Sabrina accepted Raphael enough to actually fall for him. He never thought he would see the day one of his sons would be able to fall in love. 
So why did she have to completely fall off the face of the earth and leave the Hamato family wondering if she’ll ever come back?
—-
“You are also not very stealthy at night, we must work on this, Raphael. Light feet, always.” Looking sheepishly at his father, Raph chuckled. 
Splinter smiles at his son and sighs deeply, then continues, “I cannot give you a lecture about being The Nightwatcher, you learned your lesson tonight with Leonardo. But I can give you a lecture about women.” 
While Master Splinter was disappointed in Raph because he risked the safety of their family, he knew he couldn’t be upset that Raphael experienced human emotions, and was rebellious. 
He never thought the day would come when he might meet a new human, either. 
“Does she accept you, my son?” Raphael didn't take a second thought about his response. She did accept him. After all this time of feeling anxious about what she might’ve thought about him, the simple talks they both shared about comfort between each other, and the talk with Casey moments ago, he was sure. 
You were accepting of him, of Raphael Hamato.
“Yeah, she does. She’s told me even before she saw what I looked like, that no matta’ what was unda’ my suit she would be understanding.”
“Raphael, it is not every day a human accepts us for what we are. Have you told her anything about us?” Master Splinter asks gently. Raphael nods.
“Nuthin’ about you, or where we live, or anythin’ like that. When I told her about the others, I mentioned their names. She knows of them.”
“Well now, she must have put the pieces together, and knows that your brothers are mutants just like you.”
Raphael realized where his sensei was getting at, it was the same with April, then Casey, and then Sabrina.
She was due to meet the family. 
Master Splinter especially, although based on how Raphael is describing her, she wouldn’t tell a soul, but he still had to meet her and speak to her. To truly know if she’s going to keep their secret.
“And how convenient, she even knows April and Casey.” Master Splinter added. 
He smiles softly, “Neighbors, how funny life can be Raphael. Now, let us go and save your brother. We will deal with Miss Y/n after the fact.” With that, Raphael and Splinter regroup in the center of the living area, as April calls everyone over to discuss the final plan of action.
=========
You hoped Casey said the right thing to Raphael. 
Casey could be a complete bonehead sometimes, but other times, he was great.
He would probably make a great wingman, too. 
The air was odd tonight, it had been earlier, but it seemed to get worse. 
It already struck past midnight, and you lay on your bed, unsure of what to do at the moment with yourself. You had already cried in front of your neighbors, and you damn sure weren’t about to cry over Raphael a second time.
You imagined what you would say to him if you saw him again. Would you be mad? Upset? You weren’t sure. 
=======
The turtles, Master Splinter, April, and Casey are here. Winters Corporation. There’s an obvious beam coming from the sky directed inside the building, showing that the ritual of the 13 monsters has already commenced. If the gang wanted to get Leo back, they better do it fast. 
Raphael seemed to fight better than he usually does tonight. He was determined to undo his wrong when it came to his older brother, Leonardo. But, he was also determined to fix the bridge he had unknowingly burned with you.
He fought gracefully amongst the foot soldiers and Karai guarding Winters Corp, and as a team, they made it inside the building in no time. They searched around the cells for their brother, son, and friend. It’s a large interior, with a protruding portal front and center in Winters Corp. The stone generals aren’t around, but Winters is, and he isn’t happy with his so-called “brothers.” 
Leo is found, he’s okay. 
Raphael helps his brother up from the cell, slowly getting him back on his feet. The look in Leonardo's eyes is determination. He’s ready to fight alongside his brothers, sensei, and friends. To save them, to save Winters, to save the world.
“The curse can never be broken if we don’t get back the real 13th monster. They plan to be immortal just like me, but to be immortal is a curse.” Winters says to the turtles. He’s unfazed by the mutants, excusing it as he must’ve hit his head too hard. Amid all the chaos and realization that Yaotl’s brothers turned on him, Karai orders her foot soldiers to help the turtles by getting the REAL 13th monster. She works for Winters, not the stone generals. 
So, April, Casey, Karai, and a foot ninja all gather in the Cowabunga Carl party van that the group used as a mode of transportation to Winters Corp to find the 13th monster.
~
After the long, drawn-out fight, the Cowabunga Carl van is speeding back into the building with the final monster on its tail. He’s pushed into the portal, and now, the curse is broken. Casey realizes that April is a terrible driver under pressure, and next time, he should drive.
The portal is closed. Yaotl’s brothers are gone. Winters is moral, and now dead, only particles of dust now. 
Karai disappears, not before saying the foot and the Hamato family may have further business together. The foot soldiers disappear. The turtles, April, and Casey are alone in the now slightly destroyed building.
“You have fought well, my sons. We must do this more often.” After sharing a laugh, the group looks toward the rising sun. They’ve fought all night, literally. 
After fixing the van back on its wheels, everyone piles in the vehicle (with Donnie driving this time) and drops Casey and April off at home. After a long goodbye and thank you, the couple head inside their apartment for a well-deserved sleep.
That’s what everyone needs right now: sleep.
However, Raphael realizes he needs you.
Laying on his warm bed, he’s rethinking everything he’s done regarding you. He sighs in annoyance as he realizes he did the same to you as Sabrina did to him and his family. 
Closing his eyes, he imagines you; sitting across from him like you used to before he stopped contacting you. Your beautiful face and smile cloud his mind, and he realizes that he does like you. You often left him speechless when he would visit you, even if you were just in your loungewear and your hair might’ve been a mess during those visits.
After all, he knows the feeling of butterflies. He had the same with Sabrina. So, coming to the realization, he is in like with you. 
Not love yet, he knows not to go too fast; but in like.
He’s in like with you. 
He knows what he has to do, and now that he knew from Casey how you felt, he is determined to make this right.
=======
You wake up to the sunlight beaming in your face from the window. You groan, turning your back toward it, only to be greeted by the little feline Stella that nuzzles beside you and meows loudly. 
“Good morning to you too, Stella.”
Checking your phone, the time is 9:30 AM, and you have the whole Saturday ahead of you. 
Looking through the news articles on your phone, you see that last night, Winters Corporation—the place April was employed, had been broken into and vandalized according to The New York Times. Winters is now claimed to disappear, as there is no trace of him. 
You had a funny feeling April and Casey had something to do with this. 
But, you decide not to ask about it in the future. 
You thought about what you should do this morning, sleep in? Start your morning routine? 
You’re unsure. 
But, you start by feeding Stella. Peeling the covers off you, you make your way to your lovely kitchen. Your excited kitten follows you and waits in anticipation for her breakfast. She happily accepts your offering of a can of soft cat food, and a bowl of not too cold, not too warm water; just how she liked it. 
After, you check your phone for any new messages. You went down the short list of message history that started with Jade. She asked if you wanted to get lunch with her today at around noon, and you accepted. So, there was something to look forward to today! Lunch!
Err, brunch for you, actually. 
Your mom hadn’t answered your message regarding your studies yet, but with good reason, you messaged her at 11 PM last night. 
You saw Raphael’s name, and then a new message. To not get your hopes up when it came to notifications being from him, you muted his contact.
This seemed to wake you up better than coffee, as you sat up in your bed looking at the preview message. 
“I need to see you…”
Opening up the full message (and also seeing the old messages you both exchanged a while back,) You realize Casey Jones worked his magic. 
7:00 AM
“I need to see ya, Y/n. I can’t tell ya what I wanna say through here, it’s too much. I owe ya a big explanation.”
This is what you wanted, after a long time of not hearing or seeing Raphael, you got it. 
9:50 AM
“My windows always open for you, Big Red.”
Raphael has made you feel several emotions the past couple of months since he went mute: anger, sadness, irritation, you name it. But, you had to give him another chance at this. 
You sure are going to tell him how he made you feel when he stopped contacting you and seeing you, but for now, you wanted your closure. 
You decide to hop in the shower after sending the message, and pick out what to wear from your closet after the fact. The weather was finicky around this time, so you keep it simple yet comfortable. A light pair of gray sweats, a Roosevelt University crimson crewneck, and a pair of red and white Air Forces to finish off the look. 
Jade and you decided to get some food in a cafe deep in Times Square, so you met up with her to take the train together. Every time you saw Jade, she seemed to have a smile bigger than the one she had when you previously saw her. She was just a bundle of good vibes. 
“Hey, girlie!” Pushing past the large crowd walking in every direction with loud “excuse me’s,” Jade runs up to you for a tight hug. Today, she smells like warm vanilla with a touch of coconut, and her hair smelled like the Aloe Vera leave-in conditioner she always used. Her jet black hair is curled nicely, and she wears a similar outfit that you are today: black leggings, a red Roosevelt University sweatshirt, and red checkered Vans. She didn’t wear any makeup, which was how she always was. She didn’t need it, though. She knew it.
“Hey! Ready to fuck up some cafe food?” You ask, breaking away from her embrace. Jade smiles, her dimples complimenting her face as usual, “You bet I am! I love me a good iced coffee.”
After walking together to the station and getting on the train for 20 or so minutes, you and Jade finally reach the middle of Times Square, and the atmosphere around you both is beautifully engaging. It always was, from the bright lights coming from large screens for advertisements on every building, to the crowds of people walking around you both. Times Square was truly an unforgettable experience every time you went. Walking with a hunger to the small family-owned cafe, the scent of freshly brewed coffee snuggles around your nostrils and finds its way up them. The warm atmosphere and soft indie music playing throughout the establishment were very welcoming to both of you. Walking up to the cashier, Jade orders an iced coffee with skim milk and caramel and a bacon egg and cheese with lettuce and tomato on a kaiser roll, a New York City staple. You look at a variety of different items to drink on the menu and finally decide on a hot chai tea, and for food order french toast. 
Taking a small table for two in the corner of the cafe, you take a minute to look around the restaurant. The coral walls are covered in old pictures of the family that owns the business, along with vintage vinyl records. The worn-out wooden floors add a nice touch to the environment as well.
You talk of mundane topics with Jade, enjoying every second of her company. She tells you that she’s finally getting some decent sleep since the semester ended, and she wished it could last forever. You talk about the latest celebrity gossip, and soon it lands on the well-known vigilante in NYC. 
“They finally got a good shot of my man,” Jade cheers as she shows you the news article of The Nightwatcher. It was the same day as you saw Raphael on your shift. Jade was a fan of the vigilante and boasted about how he stopped crimes way better than the city’s own police. 
Speaking of The Nightwatcher, you wonder what Raphael will say to you tonight. 
But, for the time being, you take your mind off of him. After all, you were with Jade, and when you were with Jade, all problems seemed to go away in the moments with her. She truly was a great friend to have. 
~
After getting your food and drinks, you chow down on the fluffy brioche french toast, smothered in an array of different vibrantly colored fruits and maple syrup the owners make themselves. It’s sweet, a great compliment to a piping hot mug of chai. 
Jade enjoys her food, and despite it being chilly outside, the girl never seems to order anything hot whenever the two of you go out together.
“It could be negative 50 degrees and I’ll still get me a yummy iced coffee,” She says as you laugh.
~
After brunch, you both decide to do some shopping around Times Square. A humungous strip of clothing stores were just calling both you and Jade's names.
Before you knew it, you had spent the whole day together with her. Checking your phone, it was already 5:30 PM. From walking around everywhere to the cold weather, you were both exhausted. Making your way down to the subway station to take the train back home, you and Jade sit together, and she rests her head on your shoulder to take a nap. After 45 minutes, (rush hour, the train was packed!) You both make it home. You walk on the street near your apartment building, and you prepare to part ways with Jade. 
You embrace each other in another bear hug, “I’ll see you soon! Let me know when you wanna hang again!” Jade says. Smiling at each other, she throws up a peace sign before walking in the opposite direction. Looking at the sky, the sun was setting, and nighttime was almost here. It was around 7 PM, and the thought of seeing Raphael clouded your mind again. 
You weren’t sure when Raphael would show up at your window, but after getting inside your apartment, you take a long, hot shower to prepare yourself and ease your mind. 
=======
A wave of anxiety loomed over Raphael’s mind as soon as he opened his eyes from his rest.
He woke up after sleeping in for the whole day along with the rest of his family. They had an eventful night and needed to rest up. So, he woke up at 4 PM. Donatello- who is widely known in the household to never sleep, even got a few Z’s in. Leonardo was still asleep after Raphael woke up, but he deserved it. Leo had been through a lot the night before, plus he needed his beauty sleep. Michelangelo was the second one to be awake (Donnie being the first and Raph the third,) and was surfing the web to see who to pass Cowabunga Carl on to. It is unknown when Master Splinter woke up, but he was meditating and will be for a while. 
Raphael makes his way to the living room and is greeted by Mikey and Donnie. 
“Best sleep evah, ain’t that right lil’ bro?” Mikey nods at Raph in agreement, who tells him about how he’s looking for someone to take over for Cowabunga Carl.
Donatello clears his throat and gets the attention of both his siblings, “I quit my job, too. The people on the other line were making me lose brain cells. This one guy thought it was a phone sex line and tried to get with me, I’m forever traumatized.” 
Raphael and Michelangelo burst into laughter from Donatello’s I.T Tech story as the purple-banded ninja deadpans. 
“Good ta hear. I’m…done, too. With tha Nightwatcha.” 
“I can’t believe it was you, dude! I was like, your biggest fan!” Mikey exclaims. The same night they came back, Raphael came clean to Donnie and Mikey about being the famous vigilante. Donnie had a feeling, and Mikey was completely shocked. 
Raphael didn’t need The Nightwatcher anymore, the team was back. Splinter permitted them to continue fighting for the safety of the city, and the four brothers couldn’t have been any happier. 
He put the Nightwatcher away for good, asking Splinter if he could put it on the shelf in the dojo that held their family history the night they came home from the battle at Winters Corp. The Shredder’s helmet and the TCRI Mutagen canister were both there for now. Mikey also put his Cowabunga Carl head on there, too. To signify moving forward. 
“And…if all goes well with talkin’ ta Y/n, I’ll bring her down hear ta for everyone ta meet ha.” Splinter gave everybody the 411 on the mystery girl. Michelangelo was excited to meet another human. Donatello was anxious but ready to introduce himself properly. Leonardo was still wary of it- he made this known when Splinter had told them- but deep down was happy he would be able to converse with someone new. 
“Does she like science as much as I do? Only the best people love science,” Donnie asked.
“Does she like video games? I would love to race her in Mario Kart or play some Sims!” Mikey exclaimed.
“Ya can ask ha that if and when I bring ha here.” Raphael smiles at how his two younger brothers are excited to meet Y/n. They needed something new in their lives, and this was it. 
Raph makes his way toward the lair entrance and says a quick “I’ll be back,” to his two brothers. The door shuts behind him automatically, and he takes a deep breath. 
He would be going to see you with no suit. Not just no helmet, but no suit. You would be seeing the full Raphael. The real Raphael. 
Anxious yet hopeful, he starts walking through the sewer system up to the surface. 
Uncovering the manhole cover, he climbs up, greeted with the familiar air of Manhattan. 
It’s now dark (much darker in the alley he’s in,) and he does several flips and spins up to the rooftops. 
Seeing your apartment building in the distance, he takes another deep breath
He was coming to see you again. 
=====
You were somewhat prepared to see Raphael. 
Physically, yes. After your shower, you brush your hair and put on your night clothes. An oversized plain t-shirt and a pair of loose soft shorts. 
Mentally, not so much. 
Several different scenarios went through your head. You were unsure of how you would react, or what he would say. 
But, you could do nothing but sit and wait for the knock on your window.
You were scrolling through your phone with one hand, and petting Stella with the other on your bed. You were trying to take your mind off of the sinking feeling in your stomach from your anxiety and decided to watch a random YouTube video for the time being. 
It seemed to go by quick because before you knew it, three loud knocks from your window were heard. The familiar knock always made you bubble with excitement, but tonight, it was nervousness. 
You get up from your bed and walk over to the window. You expect to see Raphael in his full suit, despite already seeing his face. Although it's hard to see from the darkness outside, you can see through your window that Raph isn’t in his Nightwatcher suit. 
You stare at him through the window before opening it, and can only really make out a shadowy figure in a red bandana resembling him.
As you unlock your window and push it open, you come face to face once again with Raphael. Only this time, he’s completely 100% himself. 
Raphael’s Nightwatcher suit did not do him justice. For starters, it made him look much bulkier than anything, but he was quite lean. Despite this, he had defining muscles all around his body. He looked like he took time to perfect his physique. He wore the same red bandana you saw the last time you encountered him, and it blew in the wind from the outside. He had beautiful emerald green skin that, despite being a turtle, looked smooth. (do not lie to me if yall saw the 2007 movie you know they made each turtle have the clearest and smoothest skin DON'T LIE!) His plastron had several scars and scratches, and he wore ace bandages on his limbs. Not only this, but he had a pair of twin sai on each side of his hip, which looked extremely sharp (you definitely didn’t wanna be on the other end of those.) 
You took him all in, going from toe to head, admiring every feature of Raphael. Despite being a mutant humanoid turtle, he had a beautiful face. You thought you should tell him that after your conversation regardless of how it goes. 
Looking up, you finally get a good look at his eyes. He looks slightly uncomfortable, probably because it looks like you’re staring into his soul right now. He had gorgeous bright amber-colored eyes. His red mask complimented them. You knew that his eyes would be something you were ready to get lost in every time he spoke. 
“Um…hey, Y/n,” Raphael says, unlike how he usually did when he came over when he invited himself in, he stayed outside. It was almost like he was asking for your permission to come inside. 
You crumbled inside at the sight of him, and the wall that you’ve been building up since he left you hanging completely came falling. 
“Raph,” You started, “You can come inside, you know.” 
“Right.”
Closing the window after he comes in, Raph stands in front of you. You look up at him, and he looks down at you. His golden eyes stare into your e/c ones. It’s like he's mustering up the courage of what he’s going to say, but you enjoy this eye contact. It’s the first time you’re able to truly see Raphael for what he is. You could see so many emotions in his eyes, but the main one was…regret.
 You stay like this for a moment, but it feels like forever. 
“I…”
“I forgive you, Raph. I was mad, yes. But, I understand why you did it.” You interrupt. You didn’t want to start the conversation with Raphael thinking there was no getting through to you and rekindling what you both shared. 
“I’m…sorry I did that. It wasn’t right of me to leave ya hangin’ like that. I can’t think of how ya felt. Ya did nuthin’ wrong, I promise. I just…didn’t want to have my brotha ruinin’ anythin’. That and Winta’s Corp…we were so focused on helpin’ April and the city and…it was just…a lot.” Raphael struggled with getting out the words he wanted to say, and it seemed like he was just rambling. But, this is the first time in a while that Raphael has spoken to you period. 
You smile, and throw yourself into his arms for an overdue embrace, “Tell me everything, I'm still here to listen. I missed you, Big Red.” 
He laughs, confused, “Ya ain’t revolted by me? I’m a big ass mutant turtle, Damsel.” You bury your face in his neck, and you familiarize yourself with his clean scent. He smells faintly of aloe and teakwood. 
“I told you that I wouldn’t judge you no matter what was under your suit, remember? I meant that.” 
“I remembah…I just…ya took it really well,” he gestures to himself. 
“April passed out when she saw me and my brothas, then another when she saw my fatha,” This lightens the mood a little, causing you to laugh at the thought of April fainting. 
“At the end of it all, you’re my friend, Raph. You’re not ugly, revolting, or anything to me. It’s shocking, yes, but I still care for you like how I did when I didn’t know what you were.” Hearing that made Raphael’s heart soar. He was happy, happy that you accepted him for who he was. Not only that, but if he heard you correctly, you didn’t think he was ugly. 
What did you think he was, then? He thought. 
There’s an obvious tension in the air, and it comes down when Raphael hugs you. It was so sudden, that you almost lost balance when he did. It made you blush. Sure, you’ve hugged him before, but this time was different. You were able to experience touching Raphael, with skin-to-skin contact, and you enjoyed the feeling of his arms wrapped around your small frame. His arms are strong, but his embrace is gentle. 
After this, you both sit on your couch like old times, and he tells you. 
He tells you about Leonardo coming back, how he fought his own brother that night he saw you. How Leonardo and he have repaired their relationship, and it’s only going to get stronger. 
He tells you how Winters- the man that April worked for was actually a part of the 3,000-year curse of Yaotl. How Winter's stone brothers turned against him and wanted immortality, but it didn’t happen. How his family along with April and Casey saved the world that night. You were starstruck and wondered what other stories he had, what other times they might have saved the world. 
That he honestly wasn’t sure how to approach you after all of that. He knew he had done wrong with you. He couldn’t just show up out of nowhere after all those months. As good of a person you were, he truly did you wrong.
You tell him how you felt, too.
How that when he cut off contact with you, you were angry, upset, and confused. You weren’t sure what you had done, or if he just got so caught up in his life that he forgot all about you.
“Ya didn’t deserve that. Ya were always good ta me. I did tha same thing…” Raphael trails off as if a memory is coming to his mind.
“The same thing what?” You ask. He sighs to himself, he never told you about Sabrina, or how she just up and left. 
So, he tells you. 
“She was the first one…I liked. I knew it was a stronga feelin’ than how I like April. April’s a good friend,” 
Raphael and April (although they don’t seem like it,) are actually a great duo. April is already used to dealing with a hothead boyfriend, so Raph really doesn’t faze her. When Sabrina was first introduced to April, she seemed to like her. April noticed Raph did, too.
---
“Is that a smile I see?” April giggles. Raphael looks to see if Sabrina left for the dojo after she said hello to Raphael, and then chucks a pillow at April from his spot on the couch.
“I don’t know whatcha talkin’ about,” He crosses his arms. April sits beside Raph and puts the pillow back in its spot. 
“Raph, come on. I see it. That’s the look Casey gives me, the in-love look.” Faint laughter is heard from down the hall, belonging to Sabrina. Raph sighs and turns to look at April. 
“I don’t think it’s love,” He sighs, “Ain’t no way.”
“Uh, yes way,” She smiles, causing Raph to roll his eyes, “Or you like her. Oh my god, do you have a crush on her?” April starts to rile herself up, and Raphael blushes in response to her insinuation. 
“Does Raphael Hamato have…feelings?” Almost bursting with excitement from the thought of one of her good friends having feelings, April is positive. 
“How could she like me, April? She’s beautiful, and I’m a mutant.” 
“Good looks are a plus, and it all comes from within Raph, you know that. Looks aren’t everything.” 
“They are for some.” 
Well, he’s not wrong. 
“Look, what’s the worst that can happen? She says no, and then what? This is your shot at something potentially good, Raphael!” April wiggles her eyebrows at her red-banded friend, who sighs and gives in. 
Sabrina leaves the dojo and spots Raphael and April, she then smiles at the both of them before taking a seat next to Raph. Looking back at the ginger again, he smirks.
Maybe April’s right. 
Besides, he isn’t one to back down from anything, now is he?
---
“Once she left, I neva saw or heard from ha again,” 
“People drift away,” You start,  “and sometimes for good reason, I mean, you were able to move on, right?” 
Raphael looks at you for a moment, you both standing on the fire escape steps. 
You were right. Sabrina leaving was just a way for you to come into his life and maybe be something more. 
“Ya’re right.”
“I for one am not going anywhere,” You say, “So you’re stuck with me, like it or not.” Raphael jokingly scoffs and sighs. 
“I like it. I…appreciate ya, Y/n.” Words don’t seem to come easy to the turtle, but he steps out of his comfort zone to let you know you’re a good person to him.
“I appreciate that you came back. To fix it all. To fix our friendship. I think the beat down you got from that tiny monster is more than enough for me,” 
“Ya witnessed dat?!” He whines as you stifle a laugh, both recalling the night at the diner.
“Man, he really beat your ass, huh?” You get lost in a fit of giggles, trying to contain yourself as Raphael sits there looking dumbfounded. That beat down was worth it then if he got to see you like this. 
He missed your laugh. 
“Listen, ma family…they wanna meet cha. My fatha tha most. Wants to see what kinda person ya are, that you can keep our secret.” He gets more serious, and you go from playful to serious as well. 
“I’d love to meet them, Raph. I’ve kept you a secret this long, and I have no intention of telling anyone.”
He’s glad to hear that, and he knows Master Splinter would be happy as well. 
You stand up and Raph follows. As you go into your room, you peer into the mirror, your reflection, and Raphael. Your hair is slightly frizzy, and you dig into your drawer for a pair of sweats. Putting them over your shorts (you were comfortable enough around Raph to do that much at least, probably not undress though,) and putting a pair of sneakers on, you turn to Raphael.
“Eh, I look decent, let's meet 'em!” Earning a smirk from the amber-eyed turtle, he’s as ready as you are.
“We’re goin’ out dis way,” He says as he opens the window to the stairs that lead down to an alley. 
“Ooh! Trip down the fire escape, I like it.” Climbing down the fire escape with Raph is alright, a lot of stairs to go down, but you make it. Raphael is more fit than you are, and going down these stairs nonstop is a walk in the park for him. You, on the other hand, are breathing slightly harder than you usually do just to keep up with him. You painted the image of you and Raph racing in your mind, he’s definitely winning that, huh?
Finally making it down to the alleyway, you look at him confused. 
“Where is it?” You ask.
“You’re standin’ on it,” He points to the manhole cover you were standing on, and you realize that Raphael and his family live in the sewers of New York. 
“If ya don’t wanna, let me know.” Raphael knew that people above the surface probably weren’t okay with a casual stroll in the sewer. 
You look at Raph, then the manhole cover, then back at Raph, “Ladies first,” You say. 
Taken aback by your calm reaction to going down under the city, he pulls open the cover and laughs, like old times.
“Missed ya, Y/n.” Climbing down the ladder first, Raphael waits at the bottom and helps you climb down, you feel his hands on both sides of your torso as he puts you down gently, careful not to have you step in the sewer water. 
For starters, it’s very musky. The air is damp, but oddly enough it doesn’t smell as bad as you thought it would. 
“Ya look so unbothered wit this all,” Raphael says as you walk around the area you’re in. 
“Well, you smell very good in comparison so I knew it can’t be THAT bad where you actually live. And, it IS your home…somewhere…”
Raphael’s signature smile is plastered on his face at your compliment, the usual fluttering feeling around his midsection. 
That was another thing. 
Was he going to tell you how he was starting to feel about you?
It’s one thing to be friends with a mutant, but to actually date one?
He wasn’t sure how you would feel about that. I mean, you had another life outside of just him, and if you both did date, he would have to be a secret. Nobody could know, not even Jade or your parents. He already went through it with Sabrina for some time. Donatello had gone through it with April, only she never knew he had feelings for her (though it was painfully obvious.)
Raphael looks over at you to make sure you’re okay and ready to go, but you’re staring at the many different tunnels you can take. 
You wondered how they remembered where to go to get back home. You flash him a smile, “I never thought the sewers would be a fun maze, seriously,” 
“Not fun in tha summah I’ll tell ya that much, I wish I didn’t have a sense of smell,” You shuddered at the thought of how much thicker the air would be down here during the heat. 
You followed Raphael’s lead, and you both walked through the sewage system of New York. You wondered what his home would be until you bumped into him not realizing he stopped walking. You winded up in an abandoned subway station, and there were 4 pipes in the corner of the dead end (or so you thought it was,) you both were at. Raphael yanks the third one, and it makes a sound that causes the supposed dead end to open up. 
Once the wall is lifted, it reveals a very open and wide makeshift living space. There’s furniture, a big kitchen, and even a second floor with stairs. It’s a very large space, that's made for living in. The air here is much clearer and cleaner than in the tunnels you were in, and you were able to breathe in and out comfortably. You hear chatter coming from a TV perched up on a large wooden coffee table in the living room, and you see the back of another turtle's head. However, he turns once he hears the door close behind you and Raphael. 
“Oh. My. Mutagen. Dudette!” Jumping up from the couch at the sight of a new person that he was expecting for the longest since Raphael left earlier, he runs up right in front of you and gives you a great big hug. It reminded you of Jade’s hugs, and you knew right away you’d be great friends with what was assumed to be Raph’s youngest brother. 
“Hi! You’re Michelangelo, right?” You ask the orange-banded turtle. He nods at your question, and smiles wide. 
“Yes, I am! The most handsome turtle out of us four!” He earns an eye roll from Raphael, and you giggle in response. Mikey was so cute to you, and his personality was something that you thought any girl would fall for. Although he’s 19, he still has a baby face.
You catch a glimpse of another turtle but in blue, who walks into the kitchen and pours himself some tea from a kettle on the stove. He doesn’t notice you at first, but when he turns around and makes eye contact with you, it takes him aback. 
This turtle is a lighter green than Raphael, and although he’s slightly far away, you can see striking brown eyes staring into yours. It’s like he’s trying to read you before he introduces himself. His royal blue bandana really fits his demeanor- cool, calm, and collected. He comes over to you, and stands face to face with you. 
“It’s nice to finally meet you. I take it Raph’s told me which brother I am?” The one in blue asks. You still haven’t met Donatello yet, and Mikey was already seen. This turtle didn’t seem like the overly nerdy type, so it had to be Leonardo. 
“By process of elimination, I’m gonna say Leonardo.” He smiles slightly, indicating you were correct. He holds out his hand to shake, and you gladly intertwine yours in his. 
“Right on the money, hello, Y/n.” Leo’s voice was smooth and calming, words seemed to come easy to him. Leonardo’s aura was clear and overall great energy. 
“Hey, Leo.” His grip is firm. After pulling away, you see that Leonardo is much leaner than Raphael. Although he still has muscle, it doesn’t compare to Raph’s. Leo’s face looks mature, structured, and all around, he’s great to look at. 
Suddenly, a loud booming noise is heard, followed by an audible ‘Ow!’ coming from a room down the hall. Smoke is coming from the opening, you’re a little nervous as to what it was. A big fire? An explosion? However, all three brothers seem unfazed, like it’s a normal thing. A turtle with goggles and ash on his plastron emerges from the smoke and sighs. 
Taking off his magnifying goggles, he scowls, “I need coffee. Now.” He says to himself. After noticing the small group formed in the living room, he walks over and stops in his tracks when he sees you. 
Donatello.
He looks so full of knowledge. 
He also fits the look of a nerdy guy, and he’s adorable-looking like Mikey. 
Although knowing they were unnaccepted by society, you couldn’t understand why Raphael thought you would find him or his family revolting, he and his brothers seemed to be blessed with good looks despite being mutants, and their different personalities enhanced this. If mutants were accepted by society, they could all function properly. They’re all well-rounded and could offer so much to the world. When mutants come to your mind, you think of large, deformed, and even scary-looking creatures. But, they’re just big turtles. And hey, everyone likes turtles, right?
Walking over to you, he smiles. 
“So, you’re Y/n. It’s very nice to meet you. I look trashy right now, but my hands are okay to shake.” Putting out his three-fingered hand, you shake it. Donatello seemed to have some spunk to him. You could tell he was really intelligent, and probably sometimes his humor was maybe a little too advanced for the rest of the family.
“What’d ya blow up now, Don?” Raphael asks sighing. 
“I was fixing the blender, but I forgot I put my screwdriver in it, so when I went to turn it on to see if it worked, it went poof,” Donnie says as he mimics the explosion with his hands.
“Were you the one who fixed my camera?” It had to be, right?
“Yes! It was a fun project for me, so thank you for that.”
You smile, “No, thank you, Donatello, really.”
“No prob. But, Donatello is my full government; you can call me Donnie or Don.” He’s a sassy one, huh? But, you liked it. His voice was slightly higher than Leo’s and more sarcastic sounding. You knew that you and Donnie would enjoy each other’s company. 
A shadow is reflected by the candlelight emerging from a room down the hall. It clearly isn’t a human figure, so when you see from your peripheral that someone is approaching, you’re expecting another mutant. 
And it is, but it isn’t a turtle. 
“Sensei, hello,” Leonardo says and smiles. ‘Sensei’ appears to be a giant rat who’s short and uses a small walking stick. He’s very furry, his light brown and chestnut fur with hints of white specks. He has big honey brown eyes, full of wisdom and knowledge of the world. He’s obviously much older than the brothers, probably 40 or 50. Nonetheless, you were excited to meet their father. 
“Hello, my sons. I couldn’t help but overhear you introduce yourself, Donatello, so I came to see what it was.” His small frame stands next to Leonardo, and all four brothers are both taller and larger than their Sensei. Looking at you, he smiles. 
“It is very nice to meet you, Miss Y/n. Thank you for keeping our secret safe, I appreciate it extremely.” He bows to you, and you couldn’t help but blush at his level of respect for you being a total stranger to him. 
You didn’t know what his name was, but the boys called him Sensei, you wondered what his actual name was. 
“I am sure Raphael has mentioned me, I am their father and Sensei, you may call me Master Splinter, or just Splinter, whatever you are most comfortable with.” He puts out his tiny paw, and you shake it. He feels much like when you pet Stella, fluffy to the touch. His old and wise irises look into yours, and he smiles softly. 
“You have a trustworthy one, Raphael.” He tells his son. Raphael doesn’t know what to do but smiles at his father's words. You really were trusting. 
Once you got comfortable being in a brand new environment, it was quite nice. Splinter let you know that you were welcome anytime, and you loved it. You had four new personalities to get used to, as you were already accustomed to being around Raphael. 
You let the four brothers and rat know they were always welcome in your tiny apartment, and they can come knocking on your window as they did with April and Casey anytime. Speaking of the couple, everyone basically knew OF you because of April and Casey, so you weren’t a complete and total stranger in the end. It would in a sense strengthen the bond you already have with April and Casey. Not only that, but hanging out as a big group down in the lair or on the rooftops during the night seemed like a fun idea. 
How funny fate can be, right? It was the start of something special. You finally had new friends, that just so happened to be ninjas protecting the city you lived in. You speak to Master Splinter privately in the dojo, surrounded by candles and a wide variety of ninja weapons. He tells you everything. 
“I had no choice but to bring them down here, and I taught them everything I knew,” He says, a hint of pride in his voice. Splinter knew he had successfully raised four mutant turtles, and it was a great accomplishment. 
He tells you about TCRI. How the mutagen splattered over the four brothers when he was looking for food as a regular rat. He picks up one of the turtles (who he believes was Donatello at the time,) and steps into the mutagen not thinking anything of it. Until he starts growing. The turtles start growing. When there was no halt in any of their growths and the turtles started speaking like humans, he retreated to the sewers. He provided them with everything and anything he could find to make their lives easier. As they grew, they were able to find their way around the sewers, until Splinter discovered their new home that was before an old subway station. That was their home. They grew, laughed, cried, and created endless memories in it.
He brings you over to the shelf of all their memories. You see the cracked TCRI Mutagen canister on the top, the helmet of something you aren’t sure of yet, Mikey’s Cowabunga Carl head, and Raphael’s Nightwatcher helmet. 
“He has put it away for good,” Splinter says after he notices your eyes landing on The Nightwatcher's signature headgear. 
“He did great things for the city, Master Splinter. He saved me.” You recall that fateful night on the way to Jade’s house. 
Master Splinter sighs softly and takes a sip of his tea, “While I do not agree with what he did behind my back, I am glad he saved the citizens of this city. Raphael tends to make the world's problems his burden. I have told him he, unfortunately, cannot change it to be a better place, as there will always be evil.” Splinter was right, and you’ve seen the passion Raphael has for the city. Despite the many things his brothers may complain about when it comes to him, Raphael is truly a selfless turtle, who will stop at nothing to keep others safe. This is true when it comes to you as well, as you’ve noticed how protective he could be at times. 
---
“I’m just…makin sure ya okay, is all.” You stare at Raphael, who’s outside your window, at 4 in the morning. 
“I’m okay, Raph, really.” You yawn. He didn’t mean to wake you up out of your slumber. But, as soon as he heard about the group of burglars looking for a place to rob in your area through his radio, he came to you to make sure you were safe. When he tells you this, you scoff.
“I don’t have anything valuable anyway, they’d be stupid to rob my broke college ass.” You say as you’re struggling to stay awake. Raphael comes in and sits beside your bed as you lay back down in it. Rolling over to face his form, you see him staring. 
“You care about me, huh?” You joke. Although it’s been a couple of weeks that you’ve got to know him and he’s been in your apartment, you could sense this much. 
“Ya’re my friend, so yes, I do care miss broke-college-student. Besides, Stella ain’t much of a bodyguard now is she?” Although she’s seen Raphael, suit and all (which is a very intimidating look for a kitty,) Stella sits beside Raphael on the bed and snuggles up next to him. 
“I guess you’re right,” Suddenly, Raphael’s radio goes off again. The police are saying the group of robbers have been caught trying to break into a nearby apartment, and are in custody. It feels like a weight is lifted off Raphael’s shoulders, knowing that everyone around is safe, you especially. 
“Go crash on my couch Raph,” You mumble. 
“Huh?” He raises an eyebrow (not that you could see it anyway,) and looks at your half-asleep form. 
“Grab this pillow and an extra blankie and go to sleep. I know you’re tired. Plus, if anything does happen, like another group of burglars, let's say, I’ll have the Nightwatcher ready to fight right in my living room. There’s leftovers in the fridge, please eat some if you’re hungry, which I know you are.” Maybe this was just your way of telling Raphael he’s welcome any time to crash (which yes, this was your subtle way of doing it,) either way, he appreciated it. 
When you woke up the next morning, you saw the blue blanket you offered him folded nicely on your couch with the pillow on top, along with the washed Tupperware that contained last night’s leftovers and fork in the dish holder. You knew Raphael appreciated the offer more than anything. If that wasn’t enough, he shot you a text a few moments later saying thank you. 
Smiling to yourself, you head to the shower to get ready for your morning class.
---
After meeting the three brothers and their rat sensei, you find yourself getting sleepy. Looking at your phone, it was already 10:30 PM, and you had to work the next morning. 
You made a pact in your head to visit the turtles often, to get to know each one of them better. It seemed they liked having company, it gives them another person to speak to that they don’t live with.
“Anytime you like, you are welcome,” Master Splinter says after you announce that you’re gonna have to get going. He gives you a warm embrace, and he smells deeply of green tea and spices. 
“You should come over tomorrow, April and Casey are joining us for our weekly movie night! Very funny!” Mikey calls out to you. You think for a moment, before quickly agreeing to his proposal to hang out. 
“You should take my number down! If you ever wanna skateboard through the sewers, play some video games, or just have a good time with the Mikster,” You gingerly give Mikey your phone to put his Shell-Cell number in. Soon, the other two turtles line up behind their youngest for your number. 
“If you ever wanna geek out over science, or Too Hot to Handle, either way, get ready to geek,” Donny says.
Leo smiles slightly, “Just in case. If you’re ever in danger or wanna learn some self-defense from the pro.” He jokes.
“Alright Splintah Juniah,” Raph says as he puts an arm around your shoulder to lead you out of the lair.
As you and Raphael head out, the door shuts behind you, and Raph leads you out of the sewers. You’re definitely going to need one of the brothers to show you how to get to their lair tomorrow night, as it’s still very new to you. 
~
“Thanks, Raph…for letting me into your personal life.” After hitching a ride from Raph on his shell up the rooftop (which was very fun might you add,) you both stop at your window for a few words before you go. His red bandana tails glide through the wind behind him, and he smiles sincerely. 
“Ya were overdue fa it. Thank you…for takin’ it all in so well. I know it’s new, and my brothas are crazy once ya get ta know them, ‘specially Mikey.” You laugh in response.
“I like it. You have a great family, Raph. I can tell.” You grab the key that unlocks your window and put it in the keyhole. Sliding your window open, you turn to Raph before you go. 
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Big Red. Heh, my nickname was accurate.” You grab the end of one of his tails from his mask and twirl it in your right index finger. 
“Night, Y/n.” Releasing the end of his mask from your finger, you look at him one last time. You were pretty proud, you got this far as to meet Raphael’s entire family, and it was worth it. Looking at his form and then into his eyes again, you feel heat rising from your cheeks. It seems as though you were staring a little too long because Raph tilts his head. 
“Ya okay? Ya look a little red,” He says. Snapping out of whatever daze his eyes caused, you stumble over your last words to him before you go into your room.
“Yeah! Night! Text me, or something, Yeah.” You quickly wave to Raphael as you shut the window and lock it from the inside. Raphael looks at you clumsily tripping over various items in your room and he laughs to himself before disappearing into the night to go back home. 
“She’s different from Sabrina.” He tells himself as he opens the manhole cover to go back to the lair. He concludes once again that he does in fact like you more than a friend, and this time, it’s gonna be right.
Because the same redness on your cheeks is the same redness he got when he was around you way before you saw him without his helmet, it was just covered.
PREVIOUS CHAPTER: HERE
NEXT CHAPTER: HERE
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georgiapeach30513 · 2 years
Text
A Losing Hand, Part 18
Summary: what happened to you and Curtis?
Pairings: Curtis X Snowdrop!Reader
Rating: mild
Warnings:  mentions of death by a pistol, conspiracy, 18+ ONLY
Word Count: 2K
Previous
Series Masterlist
*divider created by @firefly-graphics​
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Laying on the bed of your new room, your eyes glance around; plain, cold, and not at all what you were used to in the Heart compound. Had Curtis been with you, this would be easier to stomach.
Living here, you had hoped that you would get more time with Curtis, but you were unaware of how many duties he actually had. Learning the business, his territory, his players, and even the political aspects of things. Even though your father despised the Diamonds most, the King seemed kind and just. Not at all the reputation you had believed to be true.
Life could get a bit boring until you befriended Mace. The two of you would train and wander around the compound, still trying to keep yourself a secret.
Curtis’ little brother was nothing like him. He didn’t have the responsibility of becoming the King of Diamonds. There was a lightness to Mace that Curtis had when it was just you and him. Around the suits, he was hard, cold, and distant. But you’d been around suits long enough to realize that was normal. Except for Jefferson.
Jefferson had big ideas, and you hoped one day, he was able to fulfill those dreams. Waiting on Curtis seemed to take forever, and you couldn’t help but to get in your head. Getting in your head lead you to wander, quietly of course. People weren’t to know about you, until it was official.
Curtis’ words of running away together, refused to leave your mind, but you did not want him to leave all that he knew behind. Regardless of him agreeing to it, you just didn’t know if you could make him run away from his family or duty. But this…this was stifling. Even talks of you having lessons with his mother on how to be the Queen of Diamonds made you nervous. This was a life you never imagined possible.
You told yourself you would give it a few more weeks. But the longer you waited, the more you wanted to leave. Run away with Curtis, and leave the life of a suit behind.
“Snow?” the two of you could do it. You could get normal jobs. Live normals lives. “Snow?” possibly a family one day. You wouldn’t have to worry about your father’s constant hatred, or the Diamonds thinking you were never good enough for their future king.
“Snowdrop?” you finally notice Curtis was now with you. Turning to look at him, you give him a weak smile. “It’s time. You’re not happy.”
“No, the month isn’t up.”
“You really going to change your mind?” he doesn’t even give you chance to answer before he’s walking up to you. Your hands in his while he looks over your face. “You are what is important. Not this. This life affords us some luxury and comfortability. But it also comes at a cost. I don’t care. I want you, and your happiness. We’re having a meeting with the players, and I’ll let them know then. I want you at the cabin waiting. I’ll join you, and we’ll spend some time regrouping there.”
“Curtis, I can’t…”
He presses his hands against your face, “You’re not asking me to. This is what I want to do. You remember how to get to our cabin?” you nod with a smile, still worried about if he realizes what he’s giving up. “In time, dad will forgive me. He’ll understand why I left, because he almost did with mom. Mace will probably be a better king anyways. Mom will always forgive me. She likes you, Snowdrop.”
“Curtis, you’re sure?” he nods leaning in to give you a soft and gentle kiss.
“Pack tonight. You’ll leave in the morning, and I’ll join you the following night, after the vote,” you start to interject, but he stops you. “It’s a vote for a new main player, some Lloyd Hansen guy. His mother was daughter of a pawn, father, who knows, but he’s good. A bit creepy, but good. He might make a good Ace. Just trust me. This is what I want to do, because I want you. This life means nothing to me without you. But in time, they’d grow to love you.”
“Doubtful, but okay. We’re doing this?” he smiles, sealing the decision with a much more passionate kiss. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“What did you do when you lived at the Heart compound?”
“Miss you.”
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Looking back down at your watch you start to get nervous. Start getting in your head. Pacing around the Dealer’s cabin, and randomly looking at the white opal ring on your finger. Curtis wouldn’t leave you, you try and remind yourself.
Thinking about everything he said about the vote. About what that could entail. Maybe he had misjudged the timeframe, or maybe it was because he changed his mind. Left you out here in the woods, alone. And the more you think the more you realize exactly how alone you are.
Can’t go back to the Heart compound, because you made your decision. And now, he’s gone. No, he will show up. But every hour that passes, you that hope dwindles even further. Your hand starting to scratch your neck as another day passes.
Holding onto your dignity as much as possible, you look around the cabin one more time. Remembering the week you had here with just Curtis. Remembering nothing but a lie. Starting to build up a wall about true love, because it was all a fairy tale.
With a look in your hands, you realize that you’re not prepared for a life on your own. Nothing to protect you, should you choose a life in the confines of the territories. Knowing the Heart compound isn’t too far away, you go to get some supplies.
Rummaging through the armory quickly. Grabbing up the only thing that still remained from your mother, the pistol with a rose on the handle, when you turn to see Bunny.
“I wasn’t here,” you answer nervously. While you’ve always liked her, you know her loyalty remains with Jefferson.
Bunny looks out into the hallway, before coming in with you. Helping you pack some ammunition. “I’m sorry about what happened,” she whispers, and it never registers in your mind m, that she shouldn’t even know what happened between you and Curtis.
She stands face to face with you, a strained smile, before her thumb traces over your stupid mark. Glad that you chose to get it in white. “Your brother loves you. Remember, he’s not your father.”
“I know,” you respond. Twitching anxiously, because you should really be going.
“Things will change. Jefferson is smart. He and I both promise you, it will change,” with a quick nod, and a lingering hug, you head out of the Heart compound. The only place you’ve ever called home, and it didn’t feel like home. He did. You push back those feelings. Thoughts of a stupid girl who thought a man loved her.
Wiping a rogue tear, you want to make it a point to throw that stupid ring at Curtis. Make a scene in his suit, just so he knows how much he hurt you. Letting him know, that he proved your father wrong, you were nothing but a Diamond whore. Made you choose him or your life, and you clearly made the wrong choice.
Diamond territory, isn’t where you should have been, especially at night. You try to stay in the shadows. Try to be unnoticed, but they see you anyways. Wrapping an arm around your throat, but when you bite their arm, they sling you to a wall.
With foggy vision, you try to focus on them, but quickly they cut your arm, and it only takes a few seconds to unholster that pistol, and you shoot at them. Scared of the consequences you run. Ignoring the bit of chaos in the streets, and just needing to get out.
Getting right at the edge when someone grabs your wrist, “Let me go!”
“Hey, you’re fine. I’ve been trying to get to you. I saw what you did,” he answers calmly, pulling your trembling body to his hard chest. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
“I didn’t mean to,” you whine up at him. “H-h-he…”
“I saw. Let’s get you out of the streets, and fed. This isn’t the place for young ladies,” you look up at his face, confused and hurt, you ignore the signs of how he’s just too sweet. “I’ve got a friend that can help you out. I’m Steve Kemp by the way.”
“Steve Kemp?” you ask getting worried. Curtis had warned you. But Curtis is also a liar.
“Don’t believe the rumors, sweetheart. Who’s here helping you right now?” you give him a nod, still unsure, because you can’t make your heart think differently. “I could always tell the King what you did. He wouldn’t be too kind to you killing the former Ace. You did us a favor. It’s a new day for the Diamonds.”
You want to run. His words odd as you try and repeat them. There was something not quite right, but you don’t even care anymore. Agreeing to whatever Steve Kemp says, because a part of you died at the cabin. “I’m gonna take such good care of you.”
Curtis runs into the cabin, his body marred and bloody, and he hopes that you’re okay. Running through the small cabin, screaming your name, but you don’t answer.
Coming into the bedroom to find the Dealer sitting there with an odd smile, “She’s not here.”
“What did you do with her?” Curtis demands, a raw fury laced in every word.
“She wasn’t here when I arrived. I came hoping to find both of you. When you told me you were leaving, imagine my surprise when I found no one.”
“The Diamonds…my father…it…it happened so fast. I…”
“Are you ready to take your rightful place on the court?” Curtis stands stoic, but not answering. “She’s gone. I guess a few days in isolation, it’ll do that to a person. Get in their head, before realizing you abandoned her.”
“I didn’t. I…didn’t do it. I didn’t kill my father. And…god, Lloyd…Harlan, I didn’t.”
“Either you set things right with the Diamonds. Or I propose an offer to you. You go out and search for your pretty little Snowdrop, but become my Ghost. You’re a dead on shot, and I could use a personal assassin. It keeps the suits in line. You’re free to roam through any territory. But when I call, you answer.”
“But…”
“You’re free to go to any of the suits. Live in their compounds, and look for her. You go out on your own, you’re looked at as the boy who killed his father, but still couldn’t take up the throne. A coward, a traitor, a lovesick puppy who made a Heart a Diamond whore.”
“They don’t…they don’t know. No one knows.”
Harlan let’s a creepy laugh, shaking his head at how very little Curtis understands. “You don’t think a bitter king is going to talk about his own daughter who he blames for killing his first wife? You’ve ruined her reputation. Take my offer, or flee the confines of the suits. It’s your choice. I’m offering you a chance to explain to her just where you were. She was vulnerable.”
“She was safer here,” Harlan only shrugs, beginning to stand up, he doesn’t offer anymore explanation to Curtis. “You knew this whole time didn’t you? Knew the plays that were being put into place?”
“I’m the Dealer,” Harlan throws his hands out, turning around for Curtis to get a good look at him. “I have people who are my eyes. I have the Joker and Thor on a short leash. I want change in the suits, and this is the beginning. Join me, or become my enemy. It’s your decision.”
Harlan gets right at the door, beginning to exit when Curtis finally speaks, “Fine. I’ll do. Just know that my priority is finding her.”
“If she’s not already dead.”
Next
Masterlist
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Taglist: @tis-thedamn-season @marveloustaylortot @pono-pura-vida @missacidburn928 @sstan-hoe @whimsyplaty92 @connie326 @peaches1958 @agirlneedsgoals @thedarknessilove
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datawyrms · 2 years
Text
Reframing
On Ao3
The federal government has had enough of Amity Park. Placing rules and sanctions on the city, they demand that the 'ghost problem' is taken care of– or else. Tensions are high, the politics are worse, and the hero of Amity Park, a ghost, finds himself caught in the middle of it. Jack and Maddie vow to solve the problem. Prompts by @dp-marvel94 and @things-i-cannot-do-in-amitypark  For Phic Phight!
Danny would never, ever admit it where anyone could hear, but the GIW were starting to get good enough at their job to be seriously annoying. There was mumbling about ‘cracking down’ on ghosts, but he never thought they’d ever get to the point that every ghost fight ended with him running for his life.
 It was exhausting. Sure, he was good enough at getting out of nets at this point that you could call him Houdini, but that just meant it had been another close call. He had the bruises to show it, and the nightmares were just a fun bonus. Did they have to brag about the sick sort of tests they wanted to do on him? Was that really necessary?
 Knowing them, it totally was a rule or something. At least he slipped away yet again, only able to let out a sigh of relief once back in human form. The one disappearing trick that always worked, because who would think a ghost could just stop being one?.
 Now he had another challenge. Jazz. Danny frowned at his new collection of bruises, briefly wondering if he should start wearing longer sleeves. At least his ghost form didn’t show much, considering the jumpsuit. He hesitated at the door, slowly easing it open.
 “Danny! I thought we told you to let us deal with things!”
 Great. She’d been lying in wait. Danny rolled his eyes and tried to nudge past. “I know! I’m fine, okay?”
 “No you aren’t! Haven’t you been paying attention to the news?” Jazz didn’t let him past, grabbing him by the shoulders with more force than he expected.
 “No?”
 “The ‘deal with the ghost problem or else’ thing? The part about how you’re a problem that has to be eliminated?”
 “Not exactly a new thought.”
 Jazz practically growled at his flippant response. “It is when people outside of Amity Park are demanding we get the ghost problem under control!”
 “I do have it under control!” Danny flinched at the glare. “Okay, we mostly have it under control.”
 “They think Phantom is part of the problem, you know that. They want you captured or worse.”
 “Still sounds like every regular day. You worry too much.” He tried to pull away again, but her grip only tightened.
 “Danny, please. I know all that extra funding is helping! You keep almost getting caught and- it scares me.”
 “Jazz, I’m fine. Trust me, I don’t want to get caught either!”
 “Then lie low! Let us deal with the ghosts for now, at least until the deadline.”
 “They’re still going to be around after it anyway.”
 “Danny, listen to me. Capturing you is their highest priority. To catch the ghost ‘behind’ all of the problems so the federal government doesn’t rip away the funding, or decide to do something nuts like try to have the army fight ghosts! Just lie low and let them think you’ve been scared away until the rest of the world forgets we exist.”
 Well now he felt kinda bad about how much she was freaking out about it. Just a bit. “I have to help with the bigger ones. You guys are good but not that good.”
 “I know. Just ignore the little guys. Please. I don’t want to see my little brother shown off as some trophy that proves we have the ‘ghost problem’ in hand.”
 “Yeah. I’ll be careful.” He squirmed a little in the hug, dashing up the stairs the moment he was released. He was always careful. Part of him wanted to check the tv and see if the news was really that bad, but he decided against it. Even if it was that bad, he wasn’t going to ignore a dangerous ghost just because he might get attacked. Too bad he’d probably get the same ‘helpful advice’ from Sam and Tucker now. So much for a relaxing game of Doomed.
  Dinner was worse. He sort of thought his parents were coming around on the whole ‘Danny Phantom isn’t evil’ thing. They’d stopped bringing his alter ego up lately. Not even to just say what a menace he was, and usually just said ‘ghosts’ when happily explaining their new weapons. It had been kind of nice to not have to hear how much his parents wanted to tear him apart molecule by molecule.
 Of course it was only temporary. How silly of him to think anything would actually change.
 “See? Once we get that ghost kid we’ll all be perfectly safe!” 
 How touching, a custom cage just to stick him in. Danny frowned at the blueprint, hoping that it might not get built. Seeing that in the basement would just unnerve him. Though it did look pretty simple compared to some of their gadgets. With a distinct lack of electrocuted walls or chains, it was actually not the most horrifying thing he had to look at over dinner. That dubious honour went to the ‘improved’ Fenton Peeler and how they increased the pain and decreased the flaying time! (Yes, he destroyed it every time it got built and he was NOT SORRY.)
 “The sooner all those goons stop snooping around the better. They’ll see we don’t need any ghost hunters that aren’t Fentons around here!”
 Jazz winced and gave Danny a sympathetic look, which only made him shrug. At least they weren’t bragging about what they would do to him after catching him. It sucked that they still wanted to capture him but no torture was an improvement? Oh man that was a depressing thought. Danny focused back on his dinner and tried not to think about it too much.
  Danny hadn’t accounted for people deciding to turn on him. Even if he was seen as more of a hero now- everyone seemed scared about the threats of ‘action being taken’. Someone actually asked him why he didn’t just turn himself in! Gee, maybe because he didn’t want to ‘enjoy’ all of the painful experiments they promised him?
 It still hurt to save someone from a ghost attack, just to hear them on a phone to call the GIW. Maybe the bounty for assisting in his capture was too much to resist. He still got to be angry about it though. Who the heck sees a guy throw a flaming wolf away from you and goes ‘oh better call the guys who want to rip the ghost that saved me to bits!’
Next time he should just let the stupid ghost hit them. Or at least eat their phone. 
 Okay, maybe he was intentionally throwing ghosts into more pay phones lately. Just maybe. Misplaced ghostly aggression?
 Tucker was smirking as his friend stormed into the room, tossing the newspaper aside. “You going for a high score or something?”
 “Well if people didn’t keep calling the GIW on me, I wouldn’t keep doing it!” Danny said, tempted to crush the newsprint with its headline. ‘GHOSTLY MENACE IS A TELEPHONE TERROR’. He was the one being terrorized!
 “That’s why you leave it to me, dude. You think I can’t rig those phones to make any call to the GIW not go through?”
 “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”
 “Because ‘accidentally’ throwing things into them isn’t ?”
 “Yeah, because what are they gonna do? Arrest a ghost?”
 Tucker’s smile faded, sitting up a little straighter to look at his friend. “That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? Only they’re gonna do more than just arrest you.”
 Danny flinched, crossing his arms and muttering about his friend totally not helping.
 “Just let us help, alright? No one wants to see those slimeballs drag you away over like, The Box Ghost.”
 “But it’s totally okay if they grab me because of Walker?”
 “Real funny, Danny. Seriously though, just let the GIW fight the ghosts if they’re going to keep pretending they’re actually helping.”
 Which felt like an easy thing to do. Most of the ghosts were jerks, or at least enjoyed making his life difficult. So what if they got roughed up a bit by the goons with guns for a change?
It was just some of the experiments they went on about…well most of them didn’t deserve that. Like he sure wouldn’t worry about Spectra, but Youngblood or Kitty? Absolutely had done stuff he didn’t like them for, just not ‘boil you until you stop moving’ dislike. So maybe he got into fights to make sure he caught them first. It was easier than doing something stupid like trying to rescue them afterwards.
 Sam, Tucker and Jazz all knew that, and did their best to be there. To be quicker. They just couldn’t possibly outpace him! He flew when they could only run. He flew when the GIW had cars and planes and gadgets making them find ghosts more and more quickly.
 Danny put his head in his hands and groaned, wishing he could take the joke properly. “Helping themselves to people they’re allowed to torture more like.”
 “Hey, you already warned them it’s getting bad. If they keep coming and we can’t get there in time, that’s on them.”
 “I know!”
 “Careful, that hero complex is showing.” Tucker elbowed him as he grabbed the thermos.
 “I so don’t have a hero complex.”
 “Sure! That’s why you caught the guy who keeps talking about skinning you alive instead of letting Sam go after him.”
 “That was one time!”
 “One time that had me trying to figure out how to get a harpoon out of your gut.”
 “Okay! Fine! Sheesh!” Danny let his head rest on the table, briefly tempted to half phase through it.
 “That’s more like it. Now get over here so we can pretend we totally did our homework.”
 Looking up all the latest game releases and reviews to know what was worth saving up for was totally like homework! Just not for anything they’d actually get graded on.
  He’d been too slow. Three GIW agents were already complimenting themselves for capturing a ‘loathsome pest’. He wanted to try and break the trap, but he spotted two other agents waiting with weapons drawn.
 If he went ghost, if he showed himself, they’d be on him in seconds. It burned, but what else could he do?
 Well, he did send a message off to his friends to keep an eye out for unattended traps so they might have a chance to free the captured spectre, but it didn’t feel like enough. He couldn’t risk doing more. Even if he wanted to.
 Something that really didn’t help his mood was the completed ‘containment device’ set up in the lab. So his parents were going to get added to the giant list of people trying to lock him up forever. Fun! They must have been working full time on the project to have finished it that quickly. A project that literally only had one purpose. It was way too easy to lie back in bed and imagine seeing the walls of it all around him. The only upside was if he was caught by his parents, he wasn’t caught by the GIW.
 Sure, he told Vlad his parents would accept him. Yes, part of him really believed it. He was just comfortable in their new ‘normal’. It was super annoying at times, and made his stomach turn when they got really into the details, but he was safely ‘their normal son’. Maybe he didn’t want to be their freak of a kid, even if they still loved him. They hadn’t even really seriously hunted him for a month, and never in his top tier of threats. It was just this stupid butting in from the rest of the world reminding them that they wanted to hunt the ghost boy down again. ‘Control the ghost problem’, he was really tempted to let those stuffy officials know what a REAL ghost problem was.
 That’d probably count as ‘being evil’ though. Better not.
  Danny’s ghost sense practically punched him in the throat, the chilled air that escaped him much colder than normal. What was that? A powerful ghost?  One that made his chest tingle as ice tried to settle in his bones.
 He couldn’t ignore this one. If it was as dangerous as it felt, Tucker and Sam needed all the help they could get. It was still early in the afternoon, people would be milling around and more likely to get hurt if he tried to shrug it off! Danny took a deep breath, ignoring the future lectures he was going to catch for this as he slid into an alleyway to transform.
 Staying invisible while he searched for what caused his ghost sense to go wild would help keep him safe. He’d heard too many warnings lately, it put him on edge. There was just one little problem with invisibility. It didn’t actually stop trackers from picking him up. It didn’t hide that he was a cold spot in the air.
 No ghost. He kept looking, doing a quick circle in case he overlooked something. He shouldn’t have, anything pulling on him that strongly had to be pretty fierce, and most ghosts who wanted to pretend they were the baddest thing around happened to be the biggest too. So really, he probably should have expected the searing ectoplasmic shot to the shoulder. 
 Not from a ghost though. From his beloved goon squad that needed to take a goddamned vacation already! Danny flickered into visibility as he rubbed his shoulder, scowling at the shooter. “Watch it! Some of us have an actual job to do.”
 “Subject has taken the bait, take it down!”
 “Bait? Oh you gotta be kidding me,” he said, quickly dodging the next wave of shots. Did they just figure out how to make it feel like a ghost was around? Just to lure him out? AND he fell for it? Jazz was going to be saying ‘I told you so’ all week. Gag. Focus, Fenton. Escape now, pained ego later.
 He barely dodged into a fired net, cursing under his breath. All this ‘working together’ to cut off where he can reasonably fly to was incredibly annoying. It’s harder than it looks to keep your eyes on seven people at once! Intentionally having to pick between ‘oh that’s going to try and crush me’ and ‘that’s going to sting like hell’ wasn’t exactly fun either.
 He twisted to the left, and was correct, that beam DID sting like hell. Good thing he had ‘being electrocuted’ down to a science. Literally. Still, it was better than the massive claw that ripped into a building to his right. “You better not try to blame that on me too, baldy!” Oh who was he kidding, they totally would.
 “It’s fleeing to sector six!”
 “Y’know, calling me an it just makes you sound like scumbags. Which yeah, you are, but figured you might want that tip!” Danny threw a thin sheet of ice at the scattered agents as he tried to back off again. “No need to thank me!”
 The fact they had places ‘named’ in their weird code wasn’t good. He couldn’t just go the other way if he didn’t know where they meant. He forced himself to go invisible again as he darted through a wall to try and lose his white clad fan club. Hopefully the office workers didn’t mind the sudden chill as he bolted by, eyes already busy trying to find somewhere to hide.
 No dice. The GIW were like cockroaches, lurking in all the dark corners Danny wanted to hide in. They really, really wanted to get him today, huh. Lucky him. There couldn’t be too many though? If he got far enough away from this trap they set up, he’d be fine. Something snapped at the end of his wispy tail, an unpleasant jolt making him visible again. Did everyone have heat vision around here? Could he get ONE break today? Please? Danny flung a weak ectoblast back, mostly to make whoever shot him move before pouring on the speed.
 The seven shots fired at him in return just made him thankful that his body just split in half sometimes when it felt like it. This had to be more than twenty six agents. So clearly they were lying with that naming scheme of theirs, or these guys were doubling up. Maybe one of them was Agent Double A.
 He couldn’t help thinking about that sort of thing. It was just easier to kinda joke about being hunted down and let himself react when fights got this bad. There was just one little problem with that. He could see the shots were intentionally leaving gaps in places for him to escape to. Which he wanted to! Getting hit hurt! But letting them herd him like some kind of sheep was not a good idea. Danny grit his teeth and did his best to make a decent shield, ignoring the gap and slamming through the burning blasts of ectoplasm. His arms shook painfully- but he didn’t get shocked.
 Okay, good. Now just-
 Take a purple shot right to the chest, knocking the wind out of him as his back cracked the bricks behind him. Crud.
 “Direct hit! Great job spotting the monster was going to break from formation!”
 Oh sure, gloat over noticing a panicking teenager trying to do something. Real impressive, jerks. Danny groaned as he slid to the ground, clenching his fists. No time to feel the pain, he could do that later. Hopefully. He kicked off of the ground, ignoring how weak his knees had felt. Just keep flying, low to the ground and flying through cars and dumpsters that his pursuers could not ignore.
 The crackling blasts made his ears hurt, too close to his head. Don’t think just move, move, move. No time to block or speak anymore, not with how every turn just has more gunfire. He can’t wail at humans. That’s too dangerous.
 He desperately wishes he could. They totally count as a too powerful foe he needs to stop right now. A net sends him head over heels as he bites back a scream, electrified cords forcing him to go limp.
 So he plays dead. Cus he’s a ghost, and that’s funny. That, and he needs the sprawled tangled up second to breathe. The second he hears an approach, the moment he knows they’re going to shock him again he flash freezes the clinging painful web and punches through. “I’m having an  ice day.” A lie, it’s the opposite of nice! The angered shouts do make him feel a tiny bit better though. Not enough to make his chest stop aching, but it’s something.
 He’s gone, he’s moving, he’s so, so tired. He’s still making progress, the shouts are mostly behind him instead of all around. Except for one new issue. He knows what the GAV sounds like. So he’s fleeing from GIW agents to run into his parents. He sort of likes his odds better with his parents, but no ghost hunters would be better.
 “Ha! We’ll show you government dogs how a real ghost hunter does it!”
 Hopefully ‘also missing’ was what his dad had in mind. The ghost shield he rams into at full speed disproves that idea fairly quickly. Since when did they have invisible shields?! 
  Danny can’t help but groan as he clutches his head, trying to make the world stop spinning. If he’d had time to brace himself or something he wouldn’t feel so out of it.
 “That’s enough running for now.” His mother said, a low whine making Danny shudder as he tried to shake off the dizziness.
 It was absolutely not enough running, so he leapt. Or at least tried to, it was more of a sideways flop than a real jump. To dodge the blast he could hear coming, the whining sound. It was a blind leap. A bad one.
 “Don’t worry, I gottem!”
 Something slammed over him, painting the world a deep green. It wasn’t a weapon he recognized- kind of like the Fenton Ghost Catcher if you took all the lines out? Kinda looked like a fancy bubble wand, trailing green gunk like that. Whatever. Maybe it didn’t work? Danny flung himself at the wavy green wall, and bounced off of it. Not good. Okay, he’d just go another way-
 The green was everywhere. A perfect sphere. Okay, that’s fine! He just needs a way to break it, and it’s all good. Stupid ghost bubble wand thing. He charged up an ectoblast and fired. The charge sunk into the green, leaving the bubble unmarked. That’s out. Ice?
 “Phantom, you can’t break out of that. You should stop trying.” Maddie tapped the outside of his weird new prison, making Danny somehow feel colder than the ice he was drawing up around his hands.
 Obviously, he ignored that advice and tried anyway. The ice clung to the sphere, but was slowly absorbed by the walls of his prison. That was really bad. “No thanks, I don’t like going with strangers.”
 Jack laughed at his quip, walking over and grabbing the floating green orb with the ghost prize inside. “We'll just get you back to the lab, so get comfy in there!”
 Yeah no. With how the gunk absorbed everything he threw at it, he wasn’t going to rest. What if it decided to absorb him too? What should he do? He couldn’t think of anything. Okay. Just wait for his shot to escape. Before they took him to the lab. Oh he really, really didn’t want to find out what that new cage could do to keep him locked up. His dad’s easy humming absolutely wasn’t helping his nerves. He wasn’t worried about him possibly getting out at all.
 “Fentons. We were the ones to weaken the ghost, so hand it over.”
 Oh, because being like a dead Pokémon wasn’t bad enough already. No, sure, add the GIW fighting with his parents over who got to ‘keep’ him! Just fill the whole trauma bingo card why don’t you.
 “So what? You chased Phantom for this long and were unable to actually capture him. My husband and I have secured him without causing any additional property damage.” Maddie glared at the other ghost hunters, arms crossed. “With all the damage you caused it’s a miracle there’s enough of him left to experiment on!”
 “Oh, I know! Since it was so close, how about you just let me go and you can try again.” Danny said quickly, stomach twisting as his mom mentioned experiments. How nice that she cared he wasn’t just a smear, haha.
 “Not a chance kiddo! The Fenton Ghost Bubbler is going to keep you safe and right here!”
 Safe. Yeah, he felt real safe in his dad’s loving clutches. Like the most awkward hug in the world, considering Jack sort of had to hug his green prison to carry it. 
 “That is still our prize. The laboratory team already has tests prepared for it and a disposal method. Just hand the ghost over.” Agent K insisted , refusing to holster his weapon.
 “Disposal? Dude I am right here! The heck is wrong with you people?” It came out squeakier than he meant it to, but a lot of his bravado was leaving him. Why did serious about catching him have to include nasty laboratory tests too?
 “And we have plans for Phantom as well. Just because you have more people working doesn’t mean he belongs to you.” Maddie moved as if to block the gathering agents from her husband, disapproval clear in her downturned lips. “If you invested more time in hindering Phantom instead of causing pain, perhaps you would have captured him. Don’t complain that our efforts were more efficient.”
 “Yeah, this baby was hard to perfect, but it sure works a treat!” Jack grinned widely, slapping the side of the bubble. “Don’t even need to shock you to keep you nice and stuck, eh ghost boy?”
 “Whoopie.” Danny muttered, as deadpan as a dead kid could be. Even if the lack of shocking was a nice change, the fact he was only being spared so there was more of him to play lab rat with was decidedly uncomforting.
 “We need that ghost secured and eliminated so the sanctions can be lifted.” The agent moved forward a few steps, attempting to peer at the trapped ghost. “I can’t allow the possibility that you lose the specimen. Hand it over.”
 Maddie was not intimidated, keeping still in the face of his advance. “We already have measures in place to contain him, and plenty of plans of our own. Your concern is noted.”
 “Yeah! Once we have him secured in our lab, he won’t be going anywhere unless we let him.”
 Danny tried escaping again, only succeeding in tiring himself out as he bounced uselessly back to the center. He really didn’t want to know what being secured at the lab was like. It was getting harder to bite back the fear festering under his skin when they kept talking about him like a thing instead of a thinking being.
 “Prove it. Show us where you’re going to keep the little ectoplasmic pest.”
 “So you can try to copy our proprietary tech after mocking our place in the field? I don’t think so.”
 “That wasn’t a request. Either you show us, or we’re taking that creature by force.”
 Jack scowled. “You think you can threaten my wife? She could clobber all of you before breakfast! While MAKING the breakfast!”
 “Thanks sweetie!”
 “Yeah you know what, that ‘just let me go’ plan totally fixes this little argument you’re having, so let’s do that.” Danny tried again, but was soundly ignored by the gaggle of ghost hunters.
 “We’ll let you see that we have the matter in hand, but I will be recording! If you try anything, we’ll know.”
 “Awwww. I wanted to get right to work!”
 “What sort of work? Letting Agent O and I see won’t get in the way of your experiments.” They finally holstered their weapon, the other agents muttering into mouthpieces and backing away.
 “Oh that’s easy! Phantom here likes fighting ghosts, so we’ll just train him a bit. Keep him out of trouble and making our lives easier.”
 Uh, what? He already did that! Seriously? Danny scowled at his dad, wanting to say so many things- but not wanting to have his parents decide ‘actually let’s strap him to a table and see how he works’ instead.
 “You think you can train that mouthy little slimeball?” Agent K lowered his sunglasses to peer at the captive ghost. “Wouldn’t you get more data with more direct experiments?”
 “Oh possibly, but Phantom’s always been a strange sort of ghost. Cutting him up won’t do us much good if other ghosts don’t react in similar ways.” Maddie brushed off the suggestion as they made their way to the waiting tank of a vehicle. “Even if it would be interesting.”
 He really wanted to just tell his parents to let him go, but he couldn’t say why with the stupid agents hovering around! Instead he could only curl up a little as he was loaded into the GAV, bubble carefully secured before the doors slammed shut. Okay maybe he was a little scared. He really didn’t want to figure out what his parents meant to do to ‘train’ a ghost. Like fry his brain or something? All he knew for sure was mom was driving, there wasn’t nearly enough tire shrieking for it to be dad. It’s fine. He’s not scared. The GIW will go away, and he can explain before they like take his brain out or put a muzzle on him or whatever.
  “Well you see the Fenton Bubbler wasn’t actually going to be a containing substance at first! It’s so resistant because it’s meant to survive in the ghost’s ectoplasm!” Jack was happily chattering away as he came to grab the ghost, the thick metal doing distressingly little to muffle his exuberance. “I thought since ghosts are only ectoplasm you could kind of force them into more shapes, so you’d get a little sphere of it in em and have it expand so they’re more like blobs and easier to hit! Couldn’t really get it to get much bigger though, but it makes a great cage!”
 Thaaaaanks dad. Totally needed to know the Fenton Bubbler wasn’t named because it made bubble traps, but because you wanted to make ghosts  into  bubbles. Just add that to the awful nightmares he was going to have, thank you so very much. Hopefully he didn’t try testing it again. Not that he’d be able to! He was totally going to escape.
 Even if it felt really helpless as he was taken down to the lab, completely unable to do anything to even make his dad drop his prison. “Oh a special room just for me! You shouldn’t have! Really. That’s creepy.”
 “Hey, there’s more room in there than this bubble, kiddo! Bet you want to stretch your legs a little bit.”
 “I don’t see how you’re going to safely move it in there.”
 Maddie frowned, watching the two agents ‘rudely imposing’ in their lab more than the captive ghost and her husband. “Well if you worked on more tools, it would be obvious. Sedating Phantom is incredibly simple when he can’t move.”
 “You’re gonna what now?” Danny’s mind immediately jumped to needles or some sort of gas, tensing up. Maybe he could dodge and get out of any gap they made?
 “Sweetie, you don’t need my help getting him to nod off, do you?”
 “Nope. I’ve got it!” Jack said, placing Danny in a weird box.
 He had no idea what this thing was, beyond the fact he immediately felt cold as soon as his prison was placed in it. Danny tried to see what his dad was doing with the panel, but the green tint killed any chance of him actually being able to read anything. There was an ominous click as a glass door slid into place and a low rumble started. He braced for pain.
 Nothing came. Instead it just got colder, with a low hum sort of scratching at his ears. It was weird, but not uncomfortable? The cold was kind of nice, actually. After all the shocks and burns, the brisk cold seeping into him seemed to help?
 “Hmm, not quite the right sort of sound for you, huh? Let’s try this one.”
 Oh. That sound was on purpose? He thought it was just whatever was making it cold just being noisy. The pitch shifted, higher but also less irritating. It sort of sank into his tense and battered shoulders and got them to relax, even as he stared questioningly out at his captors. So what? They were gonna just knock him out by freezing him? When he made ice. That was…a really dumb plan.
 Even if it did feel good. Like he could wrap himself up in the cold air and just rest off all the pain the GIW had given him.
 Wait. No! He couldn’t just curl up and sleep! Even if his legs had already melted away into his ghostly tail and he was starting to settle near the bottom of the sphere. Was it the sound? Whatever fear and worry he was feeling was getting buried in the chill, the sound feeling more like words than just a vibration. That he was safe, he could rest, he’d be taken care of. His eyelids drooped. Today had been a lot. He could just rest his eyes a little.
 When he blinked again, there was something warm holding him. Something snapped a band around his wrist, gentle mutterings he didn’t quite catch going on around him. Whoever was holding him was ruffling his hair, rather gently.
 Should he be worried about that? No, he was really comfortable right now.
 “Thata boy, that wasn’t so bad, right?”
 Danny mumbled a sort of yes, cuddling into the big warm arms.
 “How do you know it’ll stay obedient? It just looks sleepy or drugged to me.”
 “You saw how he kept demanding to be freed before. Now Phantom is placid enough to be moved without any extra tools.” Maddie said, moving closer to the specially prepared cage. “With the positive reinforcement Phantom will not only want to obey, but practically be hurting himself not to.”
 “So that’s what that thing on its wrist is for?”
 “That’s classified. However, yes, it does help with the taming process.”
 Danny let out a grumpy murmur when the warm hug put him down, but the reassuring pat on the head smothered the worst of his annoyance. The ground was soft enough for now. Not as nice as being carried. Another click should have bothered him, reminded him of locks and traps and terror, but it was easier to get his tail under his head to get more comfortable.
 “I don’t trust it. The second you try and work with that monster it’ll go back to how it always is.”
 “Be reasonable, agent. You already saw how we easily collected ectoplasm samples without a fuss, even when you insisted on securing him to a table.”
 He’d been what? A table? Wait. How long had he been out? What did they do to him? Danny forced his tired eyelids to open, unable to see too much in his curled up position. He didn’t hurt anywhere, so at least the ‘sample’ wasn’t like his entire arm. Maybe he was hearing things. No, he did have something on his wrist. Just a metal wristband?
 Jack saw a chance to excitedly blather about ghosts and took it before the GIW could change their mind. “It’s really clever! Ghosts don’t all communicate visually, but sound and vibration is something they can all do. All we had to do was get Phantom to think he’s safe and at home and there you go. Placid ghost kid!”
 …He wasn’t safe and at home? Right! Cage. In the lab. Bad news, not good, guh. Stupid ghost brain. He didn’t like what his dad was saying at all. Was he just being manipulated into being an obedient little ghost? How could he explain to his parents that they had to let him go if they just made him into a cold purring mush when they were done with him for the day? He had to focus, had to think of something. It was just so hard to keep a grip on those thoughts when he felt so at ease.
 “If it’s easy for you to control, I don’t see why you wouldn’t do more experiments on it.”
 Danny glared at the agent pointing at him from beyond the glass, half wondering if it was to keep those two out more than keep him in.
 “Phantom is more valuable if he’s able to combat other ghosts. Like I already told you, more damaging experimentation would be a waste of both time and resources.”
 Yay, he’s more valuable when he’s not chopped up. Totally the sort of thing you want to hear your mom say about you. He should feel more about that, say something but he’s tired. Later maybe.
 “What about augmenting it then? You need more security if it goes wild, a way to disable it quickly. They aren’t going to accept it just obeys one hundred percent of the time.”
 “Hey, we got all of that dealt with! We planned ahead for today!” Jack almost sounded a bit offended that the GIW was implying they couldn’t keep the ghost under control.
 A chill found its way through his comfortable fog, twisting his stomach. Had they done more to him than just put that bracelet on him? Shouldn’t he know if they did? Feel it or something?
 “I would like to see those plans then.”
 “No need! Phantom hasn’t even tried to escape this whole time.”
 “He’s in a cage, of course he hasn’t.”
 “No, I didn’t even lock it. If he was going to try and run, he would have already. See?”
 The door swung open, leaving Danny to blink dumbly at it. Wait, it wasn’t? He wasn’t stuck at all and he was still just sitting here like a lump?! Instead he actually backed away as the white clad agent entered the cage to glare down at him. Since well, this guy kept talking about how he should be hurt or stabbed and Danny wasn’t really in the mood for any of that happening.
 “Don’t you touch him. If the place we’re providing isn’t actually safe, he isn’t going to stay.”
 He ignored Maddie, attempting to reach for the ghost. Danny didn’t actually have to move, as Jack was quite fast when he wanted to be, grabbing the man by the back of his suit and hauling him away.
 “You guys need to turn those communicators down if you can’t hear when you’re told no.”
 Agent O chose to instead squawk indignantly at being removed so easily. “Don’t manhandle me you oaf!”
 “Then keep your mitts off my ghost!”
 “I think you’ve seen more than enough. I’m sure your superiors will agree that we’ve done ample work to keep Phantom under control, and you’ll see as much in the future.” Maddie was the one who managed to look the most furious, even with her massive husband carrying a grown man single handed. “Jack and I would like to get back to work without needing to babysit people without proper lab etiquette. Leave.”
 “Unless you need me to show you the door?” Jack asked, grinning as he looked at the staircase.
 Huh. It  would be pretty funny to watch his dad just fling the agents out of the house. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t going to get to see it this time. Sure, the agents were muttering and their sunglasses did nothing to hide the dirty looks being thrown his way, but they were making their way out of the lab, Fenton parents hot on their heels so they didn’t stray. So that was progress! Now all he had to do was try not to fall back asleep and maybe try asking mom and dad to pretty please let him go, because he’s their kid. Oh boy. Was he really ready to do that?
 Well, he had to be. Being a ‘fun project’ in ghost training wasn’t exactly his idea of a healthy lifestyle. Especially if it kept making him feel so sleepy. Maybe it would be easier to just change back? If it made him feel less tired, it might be easier to explain the whole ‘well yes I’m a ghost but I’m also not’ thing. Wait no! The door was open, he could just walk out! Duh. Just gotta get up. Once the floor stopped feeling like his bed after a long patrol. Okay, he really had to get out of his ghost form to shake off whatever dad did to him. It was weird to keep his eyes open when trying to change back, but he didn’t really trust himself to stay awake if he shut them again.
 Nothing. He just thought about being human and that would do it. So why wasn’t he human yet? Danny squinted at his gloved hands. Come on! No rings. No warmth that came when he stopped being a ghost. Just try again!
 Again?
 What, did his ability to turn human get turned off with his ability to GET UP and LEAVE? At least the panic was helping shake some of his drowsiness off. He could hear the footsteps, he had to move or be human or something now! It just wouldn’t work! Why?
 Had he frozen to death? Did whatever his parents did just kill him? No. Absolutely not. He’d notice. It gave him enough strength to stand, but his wide green eyes told him what he already knew.
 His parents were back. Out of time.
 They weren’t going to believe him if he couldn’t turn back! So he just froze, feeling like the stupidest person to ever exist. Who couldn’t escape an open cage? What would he even say? Hi mom and dad, can you not use me as an experiment please, I promise I’m your son? Yeah. That’d go over great.
 “Oh sweetheart, we’re so sorry! They just wouldn’t go away, are your injuries feeling any better?”
 What? Huh? Was he dreaming? Danny made a sort of strangled sound, too confused to say anything.
 “You probably shouldn’t be forcing yourself to move around kiddo, healing like that takes a lot out of ya!” Jack scooped the frozen boy up and walked out of the cage, ignoring the confused sputtering.
 “You? What? Huh?”
 “It’s okay Danny, we don’t let those GIW goons hurt you. I think they fell for my acting, don’t you?”
 Danny felt a whole lot like the brick computers at school that blue screened whenever you looked at them funny. Acting? Calling him Danny? What!? “But you were- and you said-”
 “Oh! I hope it didn’t hurt your feelings too much, but if we want them to buy the whole ‘ghost kid works for us’ bit we did have to catch you at least once.” Jack was still grinning widely, ruffling his son's white hair like it was the most normal thing in the world.
 “You know?!”
 “Oh of course we do! Well, we only figured it out recently…but thank goodness we did so we had time to plan a way to keep you safe.”
 “Safe? How was that-” Danny sputtered, at a loss. This wasn’t how any of this was meant to go. They knew who he was? They caught him and made him into a freezie and they KNEW it was him? “Then why…I”
 “Shhh. We can explain everything when you’re feeling a bit better.”
 Danny ducked back from her hand, even if it meant hiding a bit more in his father’s arms. “N-No! Why-why did you? You knew it was me???” He just didn’t know how to feel. Glad that he wasn’t going to be tortured? Upset that they kept talking about him like some animal to be trained? Both? Neither?
 “Well when those nosy no-nothings started saying you were part of the ghost problem, we knew we had to find a way to keep you safe without having to have you stop ghost hunting.” Jack spoke a little more slowly than usual, noting how the boy seemed to be cowering instead of relaxing. “If we couldn’t convince them you’re a good ghost…we’d just make an easy excuse to why you’re a good ghost now. Even if you always were.” He paused before taking Danny’s wrist. “Oh, let me get that off for ya. No need to hide your human half with them gone now!”
 Hide- wait they even made sure he didn’t turn human in this weird plan of theirs? He didn’t fight having the bracelet removed before trying to change back. Which he did, with no issues. Back to being a black haired human boy in his dad’s arms. A very tired human boy. So much for that going away if he was human.
 “We didn’t really want to use the new inventions without explaining them first, but when they insisted on following us back we sort of had to keep playing along. I promise we can go over everything after you finish your nap.”
 It was weird. He didn’t really like knowing all this had been hidden from him. That they knew and didn’t say anything. But they were trying to help. “Um. Why didn’t you tell me when you figured out I was Phantom?”
 “Well you seemed so worried about us knowing! So we didn’t want to tell you if you were waiting to feel ready. We did stop hunting you though!”
 Oh. So that’s why they’d stopped. He couldn’t really argue that they should have told him if he wasn’t telling them the secret in the first place, but it still felt weird. “Y-You’re not really planning to train me or whatever, right?”
 “Not in the way the GIW would think we mean it, of course not! You do really need more practice in some of your form when you throw punches though sweetie. But that’s practice!”
 “I’m just gonna sleep.” Maybe when he woke back up this would all just be a really weird dream.
 “That’s a good idea. Some sleep and a meal when you wake up and the worst of those monsters hunting you should be all patched up.”
 Danny mumbled a sort of affirmative, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He didn’t want to know how they figured out that sort of thing, did he? How much more about him did they know? What were they using those ectoplasm samples for? He felt warm, secure and safe. Loved even.
 So why couldn’t he shake the discomfort? They caught him without hurting him to protect him. He believed them. Or did they make him feel that way with the machine? The cold? Even when placed gently in his bed Danny felt the need to curl up under the covers, to hide his face in case he teared up. If they knew, they had time to hide how they actually felt about him. Time to figure out how he worked, to understand his ghost half better than he did. If they were going to do a plan like this, why didn’t they ask him first? Why just do it? What if he didn’t want to be seen as some sort of trained ghost by the rest of the world? Did it matter what he wanted? Like, they just did it. They knew it was him.
 It hurt. That they knew. That he didn’t know for sure what they thought of him when they knew how to just make him too sleepy to even run out of an open door. Maybe he wasn’t being fair. Being weird and paranoid.
 Well, if they knew, he could tell them anything, right? He’d just talk about it with them. Say how he felt. The fear was still there, that they wouldn’t be happy to hear his worries, that he’d upset them, but trying to hide it wouldn’t go well. Like, hiding he was a half ghost sure didn’t go great in the end. Danny let sleep come, heart a little more at ease. He might be a bit upset now, but at least he felt he could address his fears this time. Maybe ask them to fill him in before ‘protecting’ him like that again.
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lifeseriessci-fi-au · 9 months
Text
Hey there. It’s time to show off the main cast of this au. And to share a bit about them.
- Scott -
26
Human.
He/him
Scott never really could call his upbringing normal. He was raised by one of the people who runs the residence. And it’s how he got his line of work in the first place. Scott is still recovering from an attack that happened last year. An attack which had cost him his last ship. And team. Him and his co-pilot and close friend Cleo were the only survivors when the empires men found and blew them to bits. And then. They only survived because of the strange creatures that found them when they’re escape shuttle crashed
He’s a very cautious person, Finding it hard to get really close to someone immediately. But he does have a strong empathy still. Trying to be kind to those he’s not sure if he can trust yet. While he’s a very loyal person. He wouldn’t just let someone stab him in the back.
 
- Cleo -
28
unknown
She/they
She’s been working for the resistance since she lost her old home and family. She was only 22 when the empire really took things too far. And she knew she couldn’t just sit by. Everything was going alright until the attack that killed her and Scott’s last team. And lost her an arm and a leg. She only lived because they’re escape shuttle was found by these strange bird like creatures who were able to help Scott patch her up and keep her alive until backup could come get them.
She’s a very compassionate person. And a very smart one as well. Being well versed in flying spacecrafts. She’s also got a noticeable strange. More then any human would have. To which. She’s not human. But she refuses to speak of what she is. Really. Only Scott probably knows.
Another strange feature of Cleo is that any dead skin that regrows is a strange greenish color.
- Jimmy -
25
Watcher
He/they
Jimmy can only remember small parts of what it was like before the empire came and almost completely eradicated they’re species. There are only a few watchers left in the entire galaxy. Him and his younger brother being the last two that were living on they’re home planet for almost 14 years. After the first big attack. A lot of people had been taken. He had managed to run away from the main cities with his little brother. But they weren’t able to find any other survivors before they either died from sickness. Or were taken by the smaller ships that came to collect anyone hiding. Once. They were almost captured. They escaped. But not without blood on his hands.
It’s safe to say he’s a bit paranoid. He’s been the only thing keeping his younger brother alive for most of they’re lives. So he was very scared of the idea of approaching when they saw a ship much smaller then any other ones they’d seen before crash land near them. It was grian really who had gone to explore. Leaving Jimmy to go after him.
He was glad he did however. And for him and his brother helping the two injured strangers. Cleo. And Scott. They ended up getting an offer to leave the abandoned planet they had called they’re own. And go see the rest of the galaxy.
- Grian -
20
Watcher
He/him
Grian only knew his parents. Then he only knew his older brother. He’d grown up learning things about his culture and past only by scavenging the forgotten cities and his own instincts.
He remembered the night him and his brother had snuck out to go watch the meteor shower that was going to happen. Only. That night out in the fields. They had seen something other then just meteors shooting through the sky.
The best way to describe grian is a beaky bird. He’s mischievous. And doesn’t easily pick up on social cues. Can be pouty and grumpy. But underneath the silly side of him is a very sweet person who’s slowly coming into his own. And is very excited to see more of the galaxy
- Scar - 
21
Human
He/him
Not much is known about the strange human. He seems to act utterly upon his own chaotic nature. They resistance had found him trying to break into they’re facilities. And. After a lot of talking. He eventually convinced one of the generals. Etho. That he could be useful. So was allowed to stay.
He’s chaotic. Stilly. And a bit oblivious. But really kind and incredibly friendly. Most of the other resistance members have a hunch if you gave him long enough he could make friends with anyone at all.
- Pearl -
26
Unknown
She/they
Pearl is self sufficient. She’s been working to take care of herself since she was 13. And in her own opinion she’s very good at her “work” which. While usually means scamming people to pay higher for things that realistically don’t cost as much. It’s not that bad. And hey. It does pay well.
She started working for the resistance about a week a ago. They needed intel on a planet she sold on a lot. They would pay her good. And. They would also make sure that her “business” didn’t catch any empire eyes. So. She agreed
She’s a tactical person. Friendly but not exactly the person you want to trust with your life immediately. Though. If you do get close to her. She could be a very loyal friend. That would definitely shoot someone for you
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noxexistant · 11 months
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RAAAH ROMEOOO HEADCANONS 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️💨💨💨💥💥💥💥🦅🦅🦅🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
romeo oh romeo mi ángel
thank u so much for asking for him <3 here are some baseline characterisation hcs to get us started
send me newsies writing/headcanon/art requests!!
first and foremost: a sweet kid. we see that he’s social - and, importantly, social in a consistently positive way. he’s always smiling and is always good-natured in the interactions he initiates. even his famous flirting seems to be entirely without the motivation of interest, and he’s totally unperturbed by rejection, and i like to think it’s just an excuse to initiate conversation. it gives him an in, rushing up and telling girls how pretty they are or whatever else - plus he gets to compliment them, which often gets them smiling, and sometimes it gets him a sale. nothing but wins. (except for every time it earns him scoffs and glares and sometimes even a shove as they move past him, but he brushes all that right off.)
he is, also, at least fairly naive. he goes running to the cops during the fight with the strikebreakers, desperate for their help. like he has no idea that the cops aren’t on their side. he’s loud and scared and totally open with his emotion, and he goes down hard when the cop hits him. which begs the question - why doesn’t romeo know, like the rest of the newsies do, that the cops aren’t to be trusted? in my opinion, it implies that romeo has a family, hasn’t been raised on the streets or anything like that, to have to have learned the hard way that cops can’t be trusted. maybe he’s a bit sheltered, at least in comparison to the rest of the newsies. i definitely headcanon him as being close with his mother, who he calls “mama”, and also having some siblings. probably younger, seeing as it sure seems like he hasn’t had the influence of older siblings teaching him certain harsh truths. he considers himself the coolest older brother, helping provide for his family.
relating to both his social habits and perhaps his naïveté (or just blind kindness) - he waves and smiles at morris, unprompted, during sales. it’s one of my favourite background details from the proshot, and we unfortunately don’t get to see morris’ reaction, but we see romeo look up at him on the balcony, smile and wave, and then kind of pout/shrug and give it up, so we can only assume morris probably just glared back or something. romeo doesn’t seem particularly scared or put off though, almost similar to how he reacts when katherine rejects him, and i like to think it’s just sheer determination. particularly with morris, at least that early - before everything that happens during the strike - romeo firmly believes that he could worm his way into even people like the delanceys, just by being persistent and kind, and believes that that’s what’s needed. people are mean because they’re sad, so by being nice, maybe he can make them less sad and make them be nice!
also: romeo isn’t his real name - it’d be a little too perfect if it was, i think - but he absolutely does not understand the joke of the nickname. when katherine mockingly calls him “romeo” to brush him off in jacobi’s, he rushes to jack and asks, “how’d she know my name?” implying he didn’t get katherine’s joke, so he doesn’t get the joke in general either. he’d be so excited if someone explained it to him, though - the other boys gave him his name after this cool, handsome flirt from a play? awesome! so, he and the juliet girl get together in the end, right? …right?
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magdaclaire · 1 year
Text
ch 1 of my katemary fic
When Mary was twenty-eight years old, she almost died.
In a way, that makes it sound both more and less dramatic than it actually was; she got out of the nursery relatively unscathed and uninjured in the fire. It was also a fire caused by the demon Azazel. There are some things she doesn't think John will ever forgive her for, and high on the list is never telling him about her past. About her deal. After Azazel, John had demanded everything out of her, begged her to regurgitate the sordid details of her life, and she had. She'd even given him her old hunting journal. She hadn't known then that he'd wanna start hunting himself, and from that that she would begin hunting again too. At first, it was to protect John. That didn't really last very long.
They hunt separately a lot these days, trading the kids back and forth between them. It would probably be safer to drop the kids off with Ellen, or to ask Bobby to take care of them, but after what happened to Bill, and it being on John's head, Mary has been reluctant to ask for help. She used to leave Dean and Sam at the Roadhouse with Ellen and Jo, even took up hunting with Bill for a few trips. It's her fault Bill and Ellen even trusted John enough to partner up with him.
She's not really sure that John can be trusted for much anymore. She's left Dean and Sam with Bobby and Rufus for a time, just so long as she's following up on this lead. She didn't want them to be staying with John when she found out if she was right about all of this.
It's 1991, and she's in Windom, Minnesota. According to some hunters that Mary met at the Roadhouse on her most recent stop through, January of last year had had her husband out here in the cold, and some are saying he met a girl out here. Some are even saying that girl's had a son by now, and rumor more that the boy is John's by blood. She isn't sure how much time John spends running his mouth if there's enough to know all of that about him, but he must do that more than parent their children, or even see her. He's still mad. That's fine. It's not like she much wants to see him anyway, just wishes he was around more for the boys. Especially now that there might be three of them.
She's not out here to confront Kate Milligan. She's out here to check her out. If Dean and Sam have a little brother, they might should see him from time to time, even if their Daddy doesn't. So she needs to know what Kate's about. If she'd even be okay with meeting the wife of the man who fathered her child. Wife. Even thinking that word about herself feels a bit too far left of center. She's someone's wife. It's been near enough to fifteen years that it shouldn't bother her anymore. It's not like they're gonna be celebrating any anniversaries together, so it's not like she has to be worried about the milestone.
"Are you Kate Milligan?" she asks this of a nurse that's prettier than Mary has sense, because she knows the answer. Kate Milligan, attending nurse at Windom Area Health, and she looks just like the picture on her driver's license, if a few years older. God above, she's beautiful. Kate narrows her eyes, but she's got a little smile on her face like she's more curious than suspicious.
"That's me. Who's asking?" she says, a chart knocked against her hip and held against her like a high schooler might carry their books. Everything in Mary's head runs right out her ears.
"I think we might have something in common," she says, biting down on the inside of her cheek. All of this trying to find Kate, she never thought of how she would actually have this conversation.
"Oh?" Kate asks, eyebrow raised.
"The father of our children," Mary blurts out, and she closes her eyes hard. That is not how she meant to come out with this, if she had thought about it at all. She'd thought about asking Kate to lunch, maybe, unveiling her real reason for being in Windom slowly. Instead, Kate looks at her in alarm.
"Excuse me?" she says, the smile completely vacating her expression.
"John Winchester. He's. Well. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mary Campbell Winchester," Mary says, and she watches the realization roll over Kate's face.
"He told me that his wife was dead," Kate says, sitting down in one of the waiting chairs in the hall of the hospital. Mary sits down next to her.
"He would. We're still married, though. And..." she pauses, reluctant, but Kate keeps that steady look on her, "We have two kids. Boys. Dean and Sam." In an effort not to confuse, she doesn't mention that they used to have a son and a daughter; they're her boys, now. If anyone tries to say anything different (even John, especially John), she'll rip their head off. Kate's fingers are digging into her chart.
"I named him Adam. Mine. In case you didn't know," Kate says, and it's lovely, because Mary hadn't known. Adam's name had been left out of the rumors she heard, and his birth certificate wasn't available at the resources she had assessed. Adam. First man. First son of Kate Milligan.
"It's a beautiful name," she says. It reminds her a little of her brother; he had taken notes of baby names he had wanted to use one day, written them all out on recipe cards when he had started doing kitchen work, and he would like the name Adam, she thinks. Brian Joseph has been dead for almost six years. She still misses him like an ache in her chest. Kate looks at her sideways.
"I think so too," she says reluctantly about the name, and then, "If you aren't... if you're not pissed to high hell, why are you here? I mean, I'd be pissed. I'd come knocking on my door, barging into my work, because I'd be madder than hell, but you- why are you here, Mary?"
For a moment, Mary doesn't know either. The question makes her thing about something of herself that she doesn't know she's ever looked at before. She had never even thought of being angry at Kate, mad all over at John, but not really at the mother of her sons' brother. Kate didn't do anything wrong.
"He told you I was dead, Kate," she says, trying out the taste of the other woman's name in her mouth, and she tries not to let the pull of it go to her head.
"I fucked your husband," Kate says, and then she covers her mouth with both of her hands. Mary bursts into laughter unbidden, probably one of the most raucous laughs she's been able to give in a while, actually. It's a bit too loud for the hospital fair, but it's nice to feel something nice for once. And it not be about her boys, though this kinda is, it's just nice to feel good with an adult. If that makes any sense.
"I don't mind at all, really. It's not like I own him, and even if I was the possessive type, I'd still be more mad at him than you. You didn't do anything wrong, Kate. I'm here because your boy and my boys are brothers. Seems like it might be a good idea for them to meet, you think?" she asks, and she doesn't know how to make Kate aware of how much she wants this without spoiling all of it. Adam deserves to know his brothers. Her boys deserve to know him. Now that they know about each other, it'd be kinda shitty to keep them apart, so far as it seems in her head. Kate gives her a narrow eyed look.
"Oh are you sure? I don't know how old your boys are, but Adam is just a baby-" she starts, but Mary cuts her off.
"Dean'll love a new baby. I don't know that Sam's ever been around one except Joanna Beth, the daughter of a friend of mine, but he's a nosy kid. He'll be all about anything or anyone new. Dean is twelve, Sam is eight. If you want to take this slow, or if you don't want the boys together at all, it's best you tell me now. I didn't mean to take up all your time on shift today; I was planning on introducing myself, asking you to coffee and heading off. I'm sorry to have dumped all of this on you while you're at work," she says, looking down at her lap for a moment. She didn't mean to waste Kate's time, honest. She just got caught up in it.
"Well, it does suck for this to happen on the clock, but I met John while I was on the clock too. I might as well meet his wife just the same way," Kate says, and Mary can't help but wrinkle up her nose. Wife. God above.
"And as for the boys... I think it'd be okay for them to meet. For you to meet Adam, too. I'm just not sure about how fast to go about it- Adam's barely met anybody since he came home from the hospital. I've never had anyone to socialize him with, and siblings, especially older siblings, are proven to help the development of infants and toddlers. It's-" Mary can't help it. She interrupts. Again. She doesn't know that she's ever been so interrupting in her life.
"Proven to help the development? You did research about siblings, didn't you?" she asks, and this feels far too close to a way in, way too close to Kate wanting this too. Even if it's in that terribly nurse way, it's still something. It's still a start. It's not even a bad thing to think of it that way, to approach things with that precise logic. Mary finds herself more and more fascinated by the prospect of spending more time with Kate.
"I did research on only children, not really on siblings- I grew up with a brother, and I wanted to make sure Adam would be... that he'd be okay alone. Just me." Kate's voice is quiet toward the end there, her expression pulled together as she looks off somewhere into the middle distance. Mary can see the same pain in Kate that she feels in her chest every single day.
"You grew up with a brother?" Mary asks, just to get the straight of it, just to make sure. Kate's eyes snap back to Mary's, holding her gaze for a moment before she speaks.
"He passed away when I was sixteen. Seizure in his sleep. He was my best friend," she explains simply, still in that too-quiet and far away tone, even when she's looking right at Mary. Mary reaches out for Kate's hand.
"I'm so sorry. I grew up with a brother too. He's been gone now for six years," she says, and Kate holds her hand a little tighter.
"I'm sorry," she says, and Mary squeezes back.
"So, let's let our boys have their brothers, what do you say?" she offers one solid time, and Kate smiles.
"I say that sounds pretty nice.”
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giurochedadomani · 1 year
Text
So I dub thee unforgiven
Billy's going to find a creepy ring who grants him every single one of his wishes… for a price. Eventual mungrove.
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This reads like the most one sided hellcheer ever, and also I really needed a Chrissy wake up spooky death scene for plot related reasons. What I mean to say is @ sorry Chrissy, sorry Eddie, I promise I love you both, I'll write some hellcheer at some point to compensate 😂
I'm doing a very liberal mix between s3 & s4 with a creepy possessed ring instead of the Mindflayer and Vecna. The timeline of when which characters gets to know which other character is altered to fit the plot. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. I really wanted to hype myself up to do a longish fic instead of my usual word vomiting.
Enjoy
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Chrissy dies from cardiac arrest on a cold spring night in 1984.
Or at least that's the official version.
--
“I’m going to miss you”
Chrissy’s pale as a ghost, shining like moonlight in the glade of the woods near the school. Eddie puts his cigarette out on the grass, under his boot, and tries not to feel disgustingly pathetic when she accommodates her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulders. “You’ll write”.
With her flowery cursive and her thousand markers collection, probably, during the first couple of weeks of her trip. Up until she meets someone cool during the summer holidays and consequently forgets about him, if Jason doesn’t sour her taste for rebelion first.
“I’ve told him about you”, oh, no, they don't need to have this conversation. He’d rather break his guitars into bite sized chunks than have this conversation— “He comes to me at night, you know”.
—which, gives him pause. He can’t quite picture Mrs. Cunningham being very welcoming of midnight visitors sneaking into the room of her precious Chrissy, even if said visitors turn out to be her perfect, beloved son-in-law. And anyway it’s hard to imagine Carver doing it, it’s not as if he has the imagination.
“Jason?”, and tenses when Chrissy’s hand. Sparks? He rubs it gently after a moment. Her ring feels almost scalding to the touch in contrast with Chrissy's freezing hand.
“He wanted to make me his, but I lied to him. Told him to wait. That we could trust you”, wait, what? He feels as if he lost the plot of the conversation five minutes ago. Cold sinks into his stomach like tap water, drops falling little by little until Chrissy grasps his hand, looks up at him with dull, black eyes and clarifies– “I came to say goodbye”– and he panics.
“Fucking hell—?!”
She stares at him with a beatific smile and a cold, dead grip crushing his knuckles.
“He wanted you, you see—”.
“Chrissy”, he shakes her. Then again, rougher, his heart at his throat. “You’ve got to stop, listen to me—”.
“He tried with my father, first, and my brother, and Jason. He won’t leave me alone until I give him someone, you understand”, Chrissy’s head lols when he shakes her, black eyes unseeing Eddie’s fingers when he snaps them in front of her. “But I couldn’t”, she giggles. “And I won’t”.
Every single fiber of his being is telling him to do— something. Run and get help— somehow. He tries to grab her under her arms, push her up to go— they need help, she needs help and she needs it now. Maybe he could drive her? She has to go to the hospital, she has to— see a fucking priest, or something, taking into account how her giggles have transformed into a screeching laugh that wrecks her body into convulsions until— “Chrissy, I swear to fucking God!”— she drops like an abandoned mannequin in his arms.
“Chrissy. Chrissy, wake up. Chrissy—”.
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bouqetofmemes · 1 year
Text
unfortunate guest
Warning:Theres gore Here I think but like it’s gonna be in like every chapter I think 🧍‍♂️
“Mistress, it is time to wake up." "Oh, it's morning already?"
"Today, you will accompany Ciel for what he does today." "Don't I always do that?" *chuckle* "Why yes you do mistress."
"Good morning Ciel." Said Y/n as she walked into the dining area "Good morning Y/n."
"OW, OW, OW, OW, OW, OW, OW!" "WHAT WAS THAT FOR MASTER?!" "What did I do?" "Nothing, I don't need to justify my actions."
You heard Sebastian talking to the others about something
"SO GET TO WORK!" Sebastian yells at the others
"Well, Ciel, how do you think our guest will act?" Y/n says worriedly while caressing Ciel's hand and sitting next to him on his chair in the study "I don't know." Ciel says looking bored
"He's here." Y/n said looking out the window spotting the carriage
You we're watching Ciel play a board game with your guest by the window
"Perfect... expanding the company... force..." 'I wonder, what happened to Ciel before we met.' 'I was stuck living with this family that kept me but insulted and abused me everyday.' 'What if... what if Ciel thinks that I'm a bother to his work, what if he thinks that I'm imperfect in every way, shape, and form!?' As Y/n thought this she subconsciously bit her thumb hard "Sister, is something the matter?" Ciel says "Oh-, no brother I'm fine, I just need some fresh air." Y/n says assuringly while walking out the door 'Bloody hell, what if he doesn't even love me, am I a mistake of a sister to him?' Y/n thought this while tearing up and then deciding to run to her room.
                   As she gets in she slams the door and starts bawling her eyes out 'GOD DAMN IT, WHY DOES HE EVEN WANT ME?!'
Nearing the end of Y/n's crying Sebastian knocks on Y/n's doors *sniff* *clears throat* "Come in!" Y/n says cheerfully "Mistress, dinner is ready." "Oh, already? Well that was quick!" Y/n said walking(running) out the door
While Sebastian was going all out about dinner to the guest Ciel nudged Y/n "Hey, what were you thinking about earlier?" Ciel whispered "Oh, uh- I was thinking about a complicated problem to solve, I managed to solve it after I looked for guidance in a book."
"Sebastians watching me I can't do it!" Mey-Rin said *gasp* 'Oh dear, she's spilling the wine, THE FUCKING WINE!' Y/n was having a panic attack in her head *whoosh* 'And there goes the table cloth.'
"That man, he's weird." Said Y/n "We didn't finish the game yet." Ciel pouted as he rested his head on Y/n’s "He's probably wanting the money." Y/n said 'He's probably going to get seriously injured...'
"MAMA MIA!" *chuckle* *giggle* "What an unattractive scream, he sounds almost like a pig, taken off the slaughter." "What presumption" "First, he sells the East Indian factory without telling us, and then he dares to ask for more money." "Did he think to retain our trust?" "I'm afraid once something is truly lost..." Ciel started "One can never get it back again..." Y/n ended sitting next to Ciel and hugging his side staring off into the distance
Bro everything looks random I feel like I got dyslexia just reviewing this 
https://at.tumblr.com/bouqetofmemes/so-are-we-gonna-get-cake-still/h8d329fx7mwl
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