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#they saw the reactions from the fandom to the gif where it looks like they were about to kiss and ran with it
simplyavatrice · 10 months
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Really interested to know what your, say top 5, Alba being an incredible actress moments are? As in times when you feel you can truly see her talent and immense range. I mean you always can tbh, but which moments really stand out to you?
alright okay this is a great question and i'm in such a good fucking mood today (thank you toya turner)
so i'm gonna keep this in the warrior nun realm because that's most of what i've seen of her (outside a few episdoes of her portuguese shows and mrs harris goes to paris)
so top 5 alba acting moments
5. JEALOUS AVA - like let's be real, this moment made the entire fandom feral and alba's ability to convey emotion with expression is unparalleled and she went full fanfiction angsty jealous pining here and it was amazing
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4. this whole scene when she asks bea to run away with her. the hopeful and almost terrified expression on her face the whole time she's talking about the life she wants to spend with beatrice away from all of this, and then the DEVASTATING reaction when bea tells her no is just heartbreaking
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3. when mother superion tells ava that she killed herself and ava vehemently denies it because holy shit all she's ever wanted was to LIVE - like look at her, look at all the different emotions on display here. anger, frustration, heartbreak. ugh, so so good
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2. THE LOOK, i have never seen some one physically capture the 'oh' moment like alba does here. where she finally sees beatrice out of her habit and with her hair down - smiling and dancing and being her true self. alba literally displays falling in love with a single look
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this whole scene on the beach. from the way she takes in the ocean and breathes in the air, to where she goes sprinting across the beach because she finally can to finally just collapsing into sand and carrying so much unbridled joy she can't even contain it. alba made all of us fall in love with ava in this moment and us fighting so hard for season 3, wanting to see her get her happy ending, started here when we all saw how much she deserved it
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matan4il · 1 year
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Buddie 614 meta
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What I find to be the loudest about Eddie’s arc here is that the whole ep is meant to show us everything that can go wrong when people try to live up to others’ expectations, and how much better it is when people are looking in and figuring out what’s right for them, which means they’re performing for and as themselves. That’s the context for Eddie’s date and story. He needs to figure out how to want a romantic relationship again without feeling like it’s a task he’s performing just to please others. That’s the place he gets to at the end of the ep, which is a good place for him to be. ~~
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And this is essential to Eddie. Based on how little people talk about it, maybe many in fandom aren’t aware of how 911 implied back in 217 that he only married Shannon because she got pregnant. Eddie said explicitly he didn’t think he was ready to get married at the time, and he brought this up in the context of Shannon and him having Christopher. So I think it’s very meaningful that here, when his aunt wants to set him up, he jumps straight to the (wrong) conclusion that he’s expected to marry Vanessa. He was under this pressure to perform for others before, he knows how disastrous it can turn out, and you know what? Trauma totally triggers this kind of reaction. It tells us where he’s at emotionally, that there are still things he has to deal with. ~~
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Speaking of trauma, another symptom of it can be denial, and we do see a bit of it from Eddie during this ep. Remember how he claimed he doesn’t panic back in 501? Right to a doctor’s face while she’s diagnosing him with panic attacks? He did it again in this ep. The thing is that healing isn’t linear. He was advancing with some things, but in 614, faced with his aunt’s ambush, he feels cornered back into a place he’s been in before, a place that left its scars on him, and Eddie regresses. Which is okay! But that’s one step back in order to take two steps forward. Before the ep ends, he will figure out that it’s better not closing himself off completely to the idea of getting into another relationship, even if Tia Pepa’s surprise blind dates are not the way to go about it. ~~
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As a side note, I loved Bobby basically trying to trick his subordinates into giving him a review, and poor Buck stepping right into that one. I saw it coming and I almost choked laughing. This show is damn brilliant with comedy, too. We don’t give it enough credit for that! But it's also a moment when I was really proud of Buck. If Eddie's panic caused him to take a step back, we got to see his husband, who grew up so unloved that he needs every bit of approval he can get, being mature and able to point it out when Bobby was over-praising him in his evaluation. And you know what's more? Bobby knew it would go like this. He has seen Buck's growth and he knew his surrogate son would do the right thing and correct this. Bobby's set up wouldn't have worked otherwise. Excuse me while I get emotional over this. ~~
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Fitting for an ep where 911 flexed its comical muscles, it was embarrassing how hard I laughed at Buck’s reaction to Eddie’s romantic woes. Remember when Buck heavily implied how hurtful it was to be ghosted by Abby, saying in 502 that he had been in Ana’s position, of being unwanted and led on instead of getting a clean break up? Well, look at how quick Buck was to suggest ghosting as a viable option for Eddie this time! It’s almost like Buck doesn’t even notice that he will offer whatever it takes to keep his husband away from these potential Love Interests, even if it contradicts stuff he has said in the past himself. The way Buck could be so calm making this suggestion, and take the “threat” in stride, because duh, he knows his husband wouldn’t want these LIs intruding on their marriage and family either, and it’s absolutely legit to just ghost this girl if she doesn’t get the memo, was hilarious. And honestly, who can blame Buck? He’s defending his hot man. ;p ~~
Which brings me to my weekly gif set, that I dedicated this time to Buck pointing out on Eddie’s failure to let Ana down easy. I mean, it already IS canon that these two talk about everything, it IS canon that Buck is someone who gets to hear all about Eddie’s romantic woes. But this proves that Eddie doesn’t just fill him in using broad strokes, stuff like just letting Buck know that he indeed broke up with Ana. No, they get down to the finer resolution as well, and Buck gets to hear every detail about how Eddie did it with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop. And clearly, Buck wasn’t about respecting either Ana or Eddie’s pain during that break up, at least not enough to stop Buck from teasing his husband about it. XD It’s so funny how naturally Buck’s staking his claim on his husband even while they’re discussing going on dates. I see you, Buck, and am totally with you! ~~
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One last “made me laugh” point. I’m tempted to snicker about Pepa telling Eddie he should be shopping for antiques. I’m queer, so please excuse my dumb queer humor, but ummm. That’s not a very straight suggestion for your nephew, Tia. Or maybe that’s deliberate, maybe it’s implied she is trying to set up Eddie with anyone, girls or guys? After all, she did use gender neutral language during this ep... So we can’t know for sure, but something tells me Pepa just wants Eddie to officially have someone, and if she learns that Buck actually IS her nephew’s other half? (I can’t call either of these morons ‘better half’, sorry) Then she’d be the first one to throw them a party! And I love that, and I love her. Because after all, she’s not just a sassy queen, she’s not just incredibly loving and caring with her nephew, she was also willing to sacrifice her own image in his eyes, she was willing to be seen as herself, and not as what he expects, in order to help remind him that even if his first marriage failed miserably, he can find the courage, move on and re-commit himself to someone else. And soon maybe Eddie will realize and Pepa will find out who is that someone else that Eddie can have a beautiful committed r/s with...
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~~ (my weekly meta posts) (my Buddie gifs) (all of my content)
~~ My tag list will follow in the reblog, please let me know  if you wanna be added/removed here.
~~ Thank you so much for reading and for any reblog, like, comment or supportive tag! I really couldn't keep doing these without knowing people want to see them. Also, my eternal gratitude as always to @whosoldherout​. I'm always in awe of your giffing!
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zehiiro · 27 days
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My take on the current fandom discourse
As well as a little reminder.
It hurts and is unfortunate to see many people on here and on Twitter who are worried and hurt by things they saw within the new teaser and sneak peek and their interpretation of what it means.
So I've decided to post this as a little reminder of who Daryl and Carol are to each other and how much they truly mean to each other, hoping that it can reassure at least a few of you.
I won't be disputing people's interpretation of the teaser and sneak peek, but I will be using a parallel I saw within the sneak peek and another similar scene. I'll let the gifs below speak for themselves for a moment before I continue, and I think most of you will know exactly where I'm headed with this.
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She gets hurt She dies She catches a fever She gets taken out by a walker... She gets hit by lightning Anything... anything happens to her, I'll kill you.
- Daryl Dixon TWD 07x10
These were Daryl's words when the Kingdom, Alexandria, Hilltop, and everyone he knew were in danger, and even then, not even for a split second was he willing to put Carol's life and safety on the line.
There is not an ounce of doubt in me that Daryl feels any differently now; in fact, his love for her has grown even more because of everything they've been through since and all the time he's been forced to be away from her, never knowing if he'll ever see her again.
If the way he cared for the people of Alexandria, Kingdom, and Hilltop combined couldn't outweigh how much he cared for Carol, there is ZERO chance that Isabelle, Laurent, and the people from Nest ever could.
When Daryl finally lays eyes on Carol in season 2, compared to her, nothing else will matter to him anymore. The second Carol is ever in danger, Daryl will immediately prioritise her safety over all else.
Of course, he'll help the Nest as much as he can, and so will Carol; that's who they are, but if it ever came down to choosing between one or the other, they will always choose each other.
Yes, it's his nature to always fight for people who need him, but his feelings towards Carol led him to overcome that nature once, and he'll do it again without a second thought.
Trust the man who risked his life looking for her daughter
Trust the man who instantly ran into danger to protect her
Trust the man who ran into her arms when they reunited
Trust the man who would risk death to keep her safe
Trust the man who held her when she lost her children
Trust the man who ran to shelter her from seeing her son dead
Trust the man who puts himself between her and danger
Trust the man who stood by her when she lost herself
Trust the man who always made sure she was okay first (this)
Trust the man who has always put Carol first
Trust the man we've known for 13 years!
In 07x10, as a last attempt to convince Daryl to follow the plan and sacrifice Carol to save everyone else, Richard says:
"What we have to do requires sacrifice one way or another... Guys like us... we've already lost so much"
Daryl responds by saying:
"You don't know me"
Because it's true, Richard didn't know him, he didn't know what Carol meant to him, he couldn't imagine, but we do. And just like Richard, the people in France don't know him and don't know how much Carol means to him, hence why they don't understand him no matter how many times he has said that he has his home to get back to and promises he needs to keep.
So why don't they understand? Why doesn't he tell them about her? Why doesn't he explain who he wants to get back to and why? Wouldn't that just make things easier?
The amazingly insightful @haircoveredwriter reminded me of something here: Why didn't Richard expect Daryl's reaction towards Carol being put in harm's way? Why do Isabelle, Laurent, and Losang not hear Daryl when he tries to explain himself?
Daryl has always held the people he cares about the most as close to his chest as possible, like they're his fragile secrets, like he's scared of sharing them in case they get hurt or he loses them. Of course, you might say that that's more something we do as children, but we can't forget that Daryl never got to have a childhood, and he lost the only people he ever loved while growing up, so no, I can't fault him for trying to protect the person he cares about most, even if it's not in the most conventional ways, instead of talking about her and sharing her with anyone he has an acquaintance with.
This is also a way for Daryl to protect himself; I can see how he believes telling others about her is like advertising his weakness, his achilles heel, like holding up a sign to them that says "Here, this is where you can hit me if you want it to hurt the most. This is my weakest spot. This is how you take me down".
Speaking about her out loud is too painful; a reminder of how much he missed saying her name, what he can't have and may never be able to see again.
Listen to the hesitation and the way his voice softens when he says, "There's a lady named Carol" after Laurent asks who he misses from home, and how within a second, we see his guard go right back up again.
Look at how he can't help but smile when he hears her voice saying his name again after however long, or how he can't stand still, and his shoulders move like someone who's overwhelmed by an emotion that they're trying to contain.
The Daryl we see in the new teaser/sneak peek and the Darly we'll be getting in TBOC season 2 is the exact same Daryl he has always been, the one that's always seen as distant and guarded on the outside and a man of few words but incredibly loud actions; almost all of these have been developed as a self-defence mechanism, but none of these means that internally he isn't dying to leave France and get back to her, to hold her again, to see her smile again, to make her laugh again, to wipe her tears when she cries, to be her support and man of honour again.
The list from earlier in this post is just a few examples (of many) of how he has repeatedly shown us, through his actions, that she is the most important thing in the world to him.
~~~~~~
To wrap this up I just wanted to say that I can't wait to see how their bond strengthens even more in season two because I see these two as the definition of soulmates.
I love them, I love how they love each other, and I always will.
Or in @lola-andheruniverse's wise words (her post), which have stuck with me:
"I'm choosing to hope [and trust] and ignore the fear of disappointment... I'll always love them... They changed the way I understand love, and I'll never regret a second spent loving them."
For those who want to watch the scenes mentioned above, the timestamps are as follows:
TWD 07x10 scene between Richard and Daryl is 8:45 - 14:27.
TWD: DD 01x05 scene between Laurent and Daryl 9:20 - 10:50
TWD: DD 01x05 radio call between Carol and Daryl
Thank you to those who read through this; I know it's a little long, and I could have honestly made it 3x longer because I always have so much to say about these two, but I hope it helped ease your minds, even if it was just a little bit.
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ixiot-ghostrebel · 1 year
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Sagau but the reader travels often to other worlds and often brings back with a kids and acolytes are like
Acolytes: your grace who is that kid?
Reader: well the world I visited the kid was treated like the trash by pepole so....I taken the kid and NUCKED the pepole of that world = )
Acolytes:oh........WAIT WHAT!?
something like this and that often happens to point of the reader creates orphanage for "mistreated kids of the multiverse" and like there are characters of other games anime or cartoons who were treated badly becose of bullshit reasons reader didn't like that of the took the one or more kids( sometimes reader takes even 100 kids onec) and nukes the places that were responsible for making those kids live miserable now image the archons reaction the first time that situation happens vs the situation where the archons gose with reader to stop them form radical decision but something happens that passes archons so much that they helps reader
Ooh, interesting...sure, let's give it a try! I'm not gonna mention who the other kids of the other universes and series are in this, so prepared for very vague descriptions of them. Sorry, Anon—I'm having a little bit of writer's block as I'm doing this.
I also hate to inform you but I also deleted your other request :') It's mainly because I don't have any motivation and I'm too lazy to look at my old posts LOL- But still, sorry :')
(Disclaimers: Might be OOC, Mentions of Violence, Kidnapping adopting children from other fandoms, implied other fandoms (though never mentioned) & Mentions of Nukes & Nuking)
You love Teyvat. You really do—but many times, it gets a boring. It feels like there's nothing to do.
But! Luckily, you had a good solution to this. You could travel the other fandoms/universes you like, just to see your favorite characters and enjoy the scenery around you!
So you did. It was pretty okay, all of the trips, honsetly.
Until it wasn't. Just who did these pesky idiots think they were? You were going to show them what they truly are.
Dead Meat! (no pun intended/not copying from Dehya's elemental burst now that I think about it-)
— — —
Your acolytes were surprised that you brought back an unknown child. A child that looks...unlike the Almighty Creator, and certainly not of Teyvat. How strange...
"Your Grace, who is this?" one of the acolytes speak. You look over at them blankly, before beaming with a smile.
"Oh, this little guy here?" You show the child. "I save them from people of another world that kept treating them like trash—so, naturally, I nuked the entire country and left."
Ah, so that's where the child came from....
Hold up a minute, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!
Nahida
While she certainly likes the fact that you were protecting others, she doesn't exactly like or even want to know what kind of arson you committed on behalf of the child...
Nevertheless, she'll help try to make the new friend welcome to Teyvat, so that everyone is happy!
She was certainly not expecting you to bring more children from other worlds here on Teyvat, to the point you even established the "Mistreated Kids of The Multiverse Centre" (MKOTMC for short), where every single child you kidnapped adopted would go to. Nevertheless, she'll still try to befriend all of them!
"Let's go and get some snacks after we play!" Really nice and welcoming to them all—after all, she's a child herself! Yet, despite this, she can't help but feel a little concerned of your methods of taking in children and even going as far as to destroy worlds for their sake...
Where those other worlds that bad?
Venti
Now, as much as this guy can cover his emotions, he cannot mask the shock he felt when he saw the amount of children at the MKOTMC for the very first time.
I'm starting off at this part because this man was not one of the acolytes that were informed of the Almighty Creator's return. And it ticked him off, he wasn't going to lie.
Nevertheless, he decides to take on the job and be the children's entertainer! He is a bard for a reason, you know~
"Haha, the same song again? Well, if you all insist, let this humble bard begin his song!" Other than Nahida, Venti is literally their favorite babysitter. This guy plays them music with a lyre and it's super good!
He wouldn't really care much about your "adopting" phase you're currently going through, but he is telling you to stop killing every world you despise.
Yes, he's getting flashbacks to Khean'riah because of it. That's why.
Ei
She would definitely be there the moment you "adopted" your first child from a different world. She is absolutely a) horrified of what the child has gone through (you put the effort to going into detail to what they've been put through without the child there, ofc) and b) pretty terrified of the fact that you would explode an entire world just because of it.
of course, she does try to justify your actions in her own head—she doesn't like the idea of putting blame on your image, even if it might be true.
She doesn't exactly know how to deal with children, but she does swear that she will protect them with all her power. She's trained heavily in the martial arts for a reason, and Ei is determined to not let it go to waste.
"Worry not, Your Grace—there will be no danger to the children you adopted so long as I shall stand to protect them." Literally makes it an oath, and you have to take it seriously or you will be shocked at the guard shifts the Electro Archon made.
She and the Puppet Shogun make sure that they manage both Inazuma and the grounds of MKOTMC.
Because you know there will be others that would take the job of guarding the children at the Centre, as well as Ei's guard shifts she established, you promoted her to "Head of Security Shifts" and, boy, she if you thought she was taking it seriously before, she is taking it BEYOND serious.
Really, if someone wanted to kidnap a child from the Centre they are facing the Musou no Hitotachi head on.
Zhongli
Old Grandpa was also there when the first child was brought to Teyvat. This guy makes it his mission to a) try to persuade you to not nuke an entire world just for the child and b) try to entertain the child with folktales of all the seven nations of Teyvat.
When MKOTMC was established, all the children basically knew this man as the Storyteller since he loves to indulge them in past times and old stuff.
Not only that, but most of them are pretty addicted to what he's gotta tell them.
"Ah, you wish to hear another story? Hm...very well. I have just the one." Would gladly indulge them ngl.
Joins the MKOTMC Security Squad once you established thanks to Ei's persistence. Though he tries to minimizes the amount of shifts he takes because he still wants to retire from being a War God and all that.
Also is traumatized of the Khean'riah incident and would also try to talk you out of destroying worlds you despise.
AND WE ARE DONE! BOY, I AM SO TIRED 😭 BUT ITS ALR SINCE THIS IS WHERE MOTIVATION COMES FROM—
Alright, see you all around! :D
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Ghost Rebel Side Notes: Not even related to what I wrote but AZHDAHA MY BOY YESSS LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—
Ahem, anyways, back onto topic. I tried to vaguely mention which fandoms the children are from because, let's be honest, there is way too many fandoms out there and I cannot even begin to imagine how much research I'll have to put in just to list a few for this fanfic. I would've died before I even get to write it lol.
I also mainly decided to focus on how the archons would take care of the children after the initial shock. You know—just for more tea and all that lol. I hope you all liked it :)
Check Out The Ghost Rebel's Blog Description To See if Their Mailbox is Open!
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zapreportsblog · 7 months
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Hello. Yandere Miguel O'Hara and female reader. The reader catches Miguel's eye after she joins the spider community. After a while, Miguel realizes that he wants to find the reader waiting for him to come home from work at the house where they will live together. And with at least five children.
❝a new spider in my web❞
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✭ pairing : yandere miguel o’hara x reader
✭ fandom : spiderman into the spiderverse
✭ summary : the moment Miguel laid his eyes on here he knew she was it for him, he didn’t care if they couldn’t be together, he’d make something work. He always did
✭ authors note : none of these are my art just a heads up I found them on Pinterest
✭ spiderman into the spiderverse masterlist
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In the bustling heart of the Spider-Verse community, where spider-folk from countless dimensions converged, a new arrival was about to catch the attention of one particular spider.
Miguel O'Hara, known in his dimension as Spider-Man 2099, stood atop a towering skyscraper, his sharp eyes scanning the sprawling metropolis below. His costume, a sleek blue and white suit, shimmered in the city's neon glow as he maintained his vigilant watch over the Spider-Verse.
It was an ordinary day in this extraordinary place, or so it seemed until Gwen Stacy, the Spider-Woman of her dimension, swung by with effortless grace through a portal and landed beside Miguel. Her white and black suit glistened like moonlight against the darkened skyline. Gwen had been one of the few to join the Spider-Verse community, and she had seen her fair share of newcomers.
"Hey, Miguel," she greeted him with a friendly nod. "Got a moment?"
Miguel raised a brow at her but nodded, curious. Gwen had a way of making even the most routine days interesting or troublesome in his eyes. "What is it, Gwen?"
Gwen smiled, her eyes sparkling with a hint of excitement. "Well I know you’ve been trusting me more and more for the mission we’ve had so far and so I brought someone new to the community today, and I think you'll want to meet her."
Miguel arched an eyebrow, intrigued. "Another spider-person? What makes this one special and why wasn’t I alerted of this beforehand? You know you can’t just bring someone random without going over it with me first.”
Gwen's grin widened just slightly, “She's different, I swear! In her universe, she's their Spider-Woman, obviously but when she got bitten, look just check her out miguel. What’s the harm in it, plus she's... pretty unique."
As Gwen spoke, the night air suddenly crackled with a strange energy. Moments later, a figure swung into view, suspended by clear glistening webbing. Miguel's eyes widened as he saw her for the first time.
Her form bathed in the eerie glow of the main room labs lights, descended gracefully from her webline. She was a striking sight, like something out of a dream and a nightmare all at once. Her lower half was a delicate, iridescent exoskeleton, resembling that of a spider, while her upper body remained unmistakably human. Her costume blended seamlessly with her arachnid lower half, creating an otherworldly fusion.
Miguel couldn't tear his eyes away. This newcomer was unlike any spider-person he had ever encountered. Her presence exuded an air of mystery and power that was impossible to ignore.
Gwen chuckled at Miguel's reaction. "See what I mean? She's going to be a game-changer around here."
Miguel finally found his voice. "You brought her to here to the spiderverse already? Since you didn’t bother telling me of her arrival does Jess at least know.”
Gwen nodded. "Yes, and I think she's going to be a valuable addition to our team. (Y/N) is her name, by the way."
As (Y/N) touched down gracefully on the rooftop, her multifaceted eyes met Miguel's. There was a brief, electric connection between them, an unspoken understanding of the extraordinary circumstances they had both found themselves in.
Miguel extended a hand, a smile playing on his lips. "Welcome to the Spider-Verse, I would say I’ve heard good things about you but I didn’t know of your existence until now.”
That earnt him a laugh from the woman, “It’s all cool, I’ve come to notice that Gwen tends to do her own thing at times. But it’s a pleasure to meet you, I am (y/n).”
“(Y/n) huh…nice name. I’m Miguel, the spiderman of this universe and creator of the spiderverse.”
With that simple gesture, a new chapter in (Y/N)'s journey as an extraordinary spider-being began, and Miguel couldn't help but wonder what incredible adventures lay ahead in this web of endless possibilities.
Miguel couldn't deny his fascination with (Y/N), and as the days passed, he took every opportunity to get to know her abilities, her strengths, and her vulnerabilities. Gwen's intuition had been right; (Y/N) was unique, not just in her appearance but in her spider-powers as well.
Their missions together became a testing ground, and Miguel found himself in the dual role of mentor and admirer. (Y/N) had an uncanny ability to adapt to any situation. Her agility and dexterity were unmatched, her spider-silk threads stronger and more versatile than any he'd seen before.
As they swung through the city, tracking down threats and facing down villains, Miguel couldn't help but watch (Y/N) in action. Her movements were like a mesmerizing dance, fluid and graceful. Her eyes, a mesmerizing blend of human warmth and arachnid determination, held a fierce focus that drew him in.
Yet, his captivation came at a cost. There were moments when his preoccupation with her put him in harm's way. A misplaced web-swing, a delayed reaction, or an enemy's surprise attack—it seemed like Miguel's attention was often divided.
One fateful night, in the midst of a heated battle with a formidable foe, Miguel found himself momentarily caught off guard. Before he could react, an energy blast was hurtling towards him. In that split second, (Y/N) moved with lightning speed, positioning herself between Miguel and the danger. Her spider-silk shield absorbed the brunt of the blast, saving Miguel from serious injury.
As the dust settled, Miguel's heart raced, and he couldn't shake the feeling that (Y/N) had shielded him not just out of duty but out of a deeper connection. It was a thought that haunted him, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to their partnership than met the eye.
In the aftermath of the battle, as they regrouped with Gwen, Miles, and Hobie, Miguel's thoughts were a tumultuous whirlwind. He kept his inner musings to himself, not daring to voice the growing obsession that whispered in the recesses of his mind.
Hobie, ever perceptive, gave Miguel a knowing look “Dontcha think you’ve been watching the new girl a bit too hard there mate?”
Miguel blinked, caught off guard by the question. "What? No, I—"
Gwen chimed in with a playful grin. "It's okay, Miguel. We all see how you look at her. Told you she was something special.”
Miles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean sure there’s a T-Rex that’s a Spiderman? Spider-Rex? But like a whole half humanoid spider? That’s pretty wicked too.”
Miguel couldn't deny it any longer, not that he’d voice it. His feelings for (Y/N) had grown into something more than just admiration. He cared for her deeply, and the thought that she might feel the same way both thrilled and terrified him.
“You three know nothing. I don’t have feelings for (y/n) im simply assessing her skills. Nothing more, now leave me be.” Miguel says turning his back to the three youngsters.
He couldn't risk their partnership by letting his emotions get the best of him. So, like always, he kept his feelings locked away, buried beneath his stoic exterior, all while secretly cherishing every moment he spent with (Y/N), the extraordinary spider-woman who had captured his heart.
Miguel had been waiting for the right moment to talk to (Y/N) about the upcoming mission. He knew it was crucial, and he needed to ensure her full attention and commitment. As he walked down the corridor towards her quarters, his mind was filled with thoughts of the mission's details, but also of his deep affection for (Y/N). He couldn't help but smile as he thought about their future together.
However, as he approached her door, his smile faded. He saw Riley, a fellow agent, standing in front of (Y/N). Riley was flexing his muscles and engaging in conversation with her. A wave of jealousy and possessiveness washed over Miguel. He clenched his fists, feeling a surge of anger. (Y/N) was his; he couldn't stand the thought of her being with someone like Riley.
Miguel hesitated for a moment, debating whether to confront them. Instead, he turned on his heels and walked away. He couldn't bear to see (Y/N) with someone else, not when he loved her so deeply.
Retreating to his office, Miguel locked the door behind him. He needed to clear his mind and focus on something other than his jealousy. He sat down at his desk and began reviewing clips and videos he had taken of (Y/N) in action. Each time he paused a video, it was at the moment her face was on display. He couldn't help himself, his obsession with her consuming his every thought.
Miguel started to mumble to himself, reassuring himself that (Y/N) was his and that she loved him, even if she was too shy to say it. He envisioned a future together, a family they would build. He wondered if their children would inherit his or her looks, or perhaps a perfect blend of both. He imagined their first born would be a girl, their very own daughter, a mommy's girl just like him, adoring (Y/N) as much as he did.
He envisioned her carrying more of their children, would they be eggs or would she carry them like a regular mother did in pregnancy?
In his isolated office, Miguel was lost in his fantasies. He couldn't wait for the day when (Y/N) would truly be his, and he was determined to make that future a reality.
As Miguel continued to grapple with the complexities of his relationship with (Y/N), he couldn't help but think about the obstacles they faced. The idea of two Spider-People together raised concerns of potential conflicts or even the risk of creating a catastrophic event in their world. Society had its expectations, its rules, and its fears, but Miguel knew deep down that he couldn't simply let (Y/N) slip away.
Each time he pictured (Y/N) with someone else, whether it was their own MJ or Gwen, or even a complete stranger, an unsettling feeling gnawed at him. It was as if the universe itself was protesting against any scenario where they weren't together. It was in these moments of doubt and insecurity that Miguel realized their unique connection.
He whispered to himself in the solitude of his office, "No one else would accept our flaws." He understood that they were perfect for each other precisely because they could see past each other's imperfections and still love each other deeply.
Miguel knew the risks, the potential consequences of their love, but as he thought about a world falling apart, it didn't matter to him. In his heart, he knew that having (Y/N) in his arms was worth any sacrifice, even if it meant the world crumbling around them. Their love was a force that defied the ordinary, and he was willing to defy the world if it meant they could be together.
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1800-fight-me · 3 days
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Hiiiiiiii. :)
First I love love love your fics.
You’re awesome.
Secondly you have a fic called duty and honor or something like that, where Aemond goes to war and his little wife is pregnant.
In it Aegon makes comments to her that she doesn’t like. I was wondering if you would write a continuation fic where now Aemond is back he over hears his brother and becomes all protective knowing this has been happening all the time he was away as well.
Just love protective pissed off In love Aemond and the way you write him, makes a girl swoon :) 🌹
Of Retribution & Desire
Aemond Targaryen x Female!Reader
Rating: M (Mature) (as always - MINORS DO NOT INTERACT)
Warnings: Violence, reader is a couple weeks postpartum, Aemond being protective
Word count: About 1.3k
Synopsis: Your husband defends your honor and protects you from the hateful words of his brother.
Author’s note: This ask is from the summer of last year lmao my bad,,, I've been going through it lately but hopefully this fic was worth the wait and still makes you swoon! Thanks for the love and support! Hopefully this is also the start of me being more involved in writing and the fandom again! This is part three of my first ever Aemond fic!!
Part one - Of Duty and Honor
Part two - Of War and Longing
I do not have a taglist! Instead if you would like to be notified when I post new fics follow my side blog @jo-writes-fanfic and turn your post notifications on!
Aemond Masterlist
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“It certainly appears to be true that childbirth takes away a woman’s beauty,” Aegon practically sneered at you as he looked up and down your body. 
It was merely two weeks after you gave birth to Aemond’s daughter and your emotions were all over the place. 
His words filled you with such anger and self consciousness that your body could not hold in the emotions. 
Most embarrassingly, your eyes filled with tears. You were aghast at your reaction. Though Aegon often frustrated you, you certainly did not care enough about his opinion on your appearance for his words to cut so deep. 
Though if you were honest with yourself, you were already uncomfortable with your appearance today and wished you could have avoided today’s gathering. Though Aemond had assured you that you looked lovely, it was obvious to you, despite your lady’s maid’s best efforts, that you were exhausted. You felt uncomfortable in your own skin, your body went through massive changes and had not had the time and chance to adjust back. 
So there, in front of Aegon and the rest of your in-laws, you began to cry. 
Damn these uncontrollable emotions that came on so strongly after giving birth. 
You wanted to run and hide, and turned to do just that when Aemond walked in the room. 
His brow knitted in concern and his footsteps quickened as soon as he saw you. 
He was at your side and pulled you into his larger frame as he looked down at you. 
“What is wrong?” He asked, his voice tight. His gaze was on you before his eye darted around the room scanning it for danger or anything that could have caused your distraught state. 
You pursed your lips, afraid to speak for fear of more embarrassing tears flowing. 
“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice dark with the promise of violence.
You really didn’t want to be the cause of another fight between him and his brother. 
“Aegon was being vile,” Heleana spoke up. 
You looked back at her in surprise that she would speak up, stand up for you. 
Aemond looked over your head at his brother and his eye narrowed. 
“What did you say to my wife,” he practically growled. 
Aegon visibly blanched and as quick as that your mood changed. You held back a smile. You were eager to see Aegon finally receive consequences for all the horrible things he’d said to you throughout your pregnancy when Aemond was off winning his war. 
“N-nothing,” he said and you scoffed and rolled your eyes. 
Aemond glanced down at you. He could’ve asked you but it was clear he wanted to make his brother sweat, make him admit to hurting you. 
He glared at Aegon who chose to glare back. 
Alicent let out a long suffering sigh and explained to Aemond what had been said. 
“That’s not the only thing he’s said too, right?” Heleana asked, her voice sweet and innocent. It amused you that she continued to push the issue, trying to get her husband in trouble. 
A horrible thought clanged through you that every vile comment he’d made to you, at least you had Aemond’s protection. Maybe it was worse for her. And maybe getting Aemond to punish Aegon for how he treated you was a safe way for her to get retribution as well. 
So you met her eyes, took a deep breath, set your jaw, and turned back to your husband. You told him every awful thing you could remember that Aegon said to you those eight months that Aemond was gone. 
You ignored Aegon, looking only at your husband as you spoke. 
As you finished, the tension in the room was thick, and it became so quiet, quiet enough that you could hear Aegon take a step back. 
Aemond took a deep calming breath, gently brushed you aside, then lunged towards his brother. 
“Aemond!” Alicent yelled in protest. 
“Aemond,” you murmured, a weak attempt to dissuade him, your heart not truly in it as you protested along with her. 
You took another step back, your body still weak from giving birth, not having any interest in getting involved in a physical fight, and watched as your husband punched his brother in the face to defend your honor. 
He looked like an avenging angel, you thought, as his white hair flew around, his upper lip curled into a snarl, and the look in his eye promised pain. 
You wondered at it, the smooth grace with which he attacked, it caused your heart to pound, and you knew it was not from fear. 
He really only got two good hits in before the King’s Guards intervened and pulled him away. But it was glorious to behold. 
His assault was so quick and vicious, Aegon didn’t even have a chance to fight back. 
Alicent was distraught, but Heleana sidled up beside you and gave you a small smile which you returned. 
The fact of the matter was, you were incredibly turned on. Uncomfortably turned on as you watched Aemond be violent to defend your honor. 
You were ready to drag him to your rooms and make another baby, but then your aching body reminded you that you were in no shape to do any such thing. 
Aemond yanked himself out of the grip of one of the guards and strode to you. 
He tilted your face up with a finger beneath your chin so your gaze would meet his own that was filled with fire. And smirked at the desire in your eyes. 
He pressed a brief but firm kiss to your wanting lips, you heard Aegon yelling something but ignored him completely. 
You slipped your hand into Aemond’s, his knuckles a little bloody, and tugged on him slightly, leading him out and away from the chaos. 
As you exited the room you gripped his tunic, and he backed you against the wall. 
He placed his hands against the wall on either side of your head, caging you in, and with the heat - the fire - between the two of you, there was nothing you could do but rise up on your tiptoes and press your lips to his. 
And these past weeks with your daughter, the nine months before that as you carried her, had been amazing, one of the most joyful experiences of your life. But, you were not only her mother, you were also Aemond’s wife. 
And he reminded you of that, reminded you that you are his wife and he desires you, as he kissed you back, kissed you hard, kissed you in a way that made your toes curl. 
This was not the sweet, short, gentle way he had kissed you since she was born, no. This was your dragon filling you with his fire again. 
His lips moved against yours, opening you up so his tongue could sweep against your own. 
His hand left the wall to grip your waist, and self consciousness at your changed body flared up, but was soon smothered by his desire as he pushed his body closer to yours, pushed you further against the wall, pressed against him completely. 
He groaned into your mouth and you nipped at his bottom lip in response. Finally, your body sang, like you were shaken awake by the heat. 
You whimpered against his lips, and his tongue danced with yours in response. 
Your body throbbed with desire… and then pain that reminded you that although your spirit felt ready to be joined with your husband in carnal desire again, your body certainly was not. 
You pulled back, your breathing hard, and he smiled softly as he beheld you. His hand grazed up from your waist, slowly and gently, until he cupped your cheek. 
“I can’t-“ you tried to explain, but he shook his head, understanding in his gaze.
“I know,” he murmured. 
He kissed you again, this time gentle and slow, filled with care and affection rather than heat and desire. 
He pulled back and rested his forehead against yours. 
“I love you,” you said sweetly. 
He chuckled and said, “I love you too, little wife. Let’s go hold our daughter before that look in your eyes convinces me to fill you with another.” 
You giggled and took his hand and allowed your prince, your defender, your husband to lead you to your daughter. 
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oonajaeadira · 10 months
Text
Leave Off Your Wandering pt. 2: Summer
Fandom: The Last of Us (TV)/ Joel Miller
Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader
Reader: Adult female. Old enough to have been an adult on Outbreak Day. Wyoming born and bred. Sheep farmer, easy-going but confident and self-sufficient. Likes to sing, not a great cook. Childhood friend of Maria. No other physical descriptors; no use of y/n.
Rating: T for now
Warnings: Hunting and skinning squirrels. Chemical burns to skin. Piercing injury. Joel being a dick in a moment of self-preservation. Ellie's still a swear-mouth. Everybody makes some mistakes.
Summary: You solve a problem for Ellie and Joel really doesn't take it well.
A/N: Set after season 1 and then diverges. Does not acknowledge the existence of further plot/seasons, although I claim the right to steal ideas and bits of cannon from the second game if I want to for plot reasons later.
Listen. I know those warnings up there seem like a bit much, but I promise you all of that is in passing, in service to the plot, and not described in detail. (With the exception Ellie's cussing. That will persist indefinitely.) This is stupid fluffy.
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Your gut reaction is to fetch your gun and point it at Ellie’s head.
But the girl is calm.
And the bites are healed.
“Wanna shoot me, don’t you,” she challenges with a mismatched set of cocky mouth and world weary eyes. “This one happened before I met Joel. And this one the day after. This is why he took me to the Fireflies. He told me not to tell anyone. That’s why I freaked out.”
Earlier in the day you’d gone looking for Ellie, hoping to show her the honeybee hive you’d discovered at the edge of the meadow. She’d been bathing in the stream, stripped down to nothing. She’d shrieked when she saw you coming near and you’d laughed and kept your eyes averted, understanding the self-consciousness of teenagers, about to tell her to come and find you when she was done.
And then she roared.
“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! GO!”
It had been a punch to the heart if not a slap to the face, which you were certain by her tone you would have received had you been close enough.
Saying nothing, and simply obeying her wish, you’d turned and gone back to the Roost. Ellie stayed away so long that her hair was completely dry and her nose was sunburned when she finally joined you.
Every footfall had been an apology on the ladder. And every slow creak along the porch was following an olive branch to the broken down sofa you perched on to keep watch over the north meadow.
Taking a reticent seat beside you, she’d rolled up her sleeve. “I’m sorry I yelled. I didn’t want you to see it. It’s kind of a life and death thing.”
“Obviously,” you answer, shellshocked. “Reaction warranted.” Dropping her arm to her lap and reaching up to pull down her cuff, you stop her, holding out a waiting hand. “Can I?”
Suddenly doe-eyed and struck by your acceptance, she nods and lays her forearm in your palm.
There’s instinctual revulsion at first, but it melts to wonder as you get a closer look at the scars. There’s nothing of skin breakage, no mycelium running underneath, nothing reaching for you through holes as there would be if you were having one of your nightmares.
Immunity. Statistically speaking, it had to exist, but she’s the first you’ve ever seen or heard of.
“I wondered why you’d choose to wear long sleeves in this heat. I see now. Joel was smart to tell you to keep it covered. This’ll get you killed faster than infection, that’s for sure.” The tendons in her arm flex involuntarily when you run your fingers over the marks. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to tickle.” She relaxes as you release her. This time she doesn’t move to cover the skin. “Out in the open with Joel, I can imagine why you were bit the second time. How’d you come by it the first time?”
“Messing around with a friend where I wasn’t supposed to.”
Ah. By the pull at her brow and the same laws of statistics, you’d hazard to guess that friend didn’t make it. Probably another kid like her. Tragic.
“I see. And that’s why you were being smuggled. That’s why they wanted you. Well, what did the Fireflies make of you?”
She clearly catches the way you slather contempt onto the name of the terrorist organization, but answers your question. “They wanted to make a cure from my blood. They had me on the operating table but raiders attacked the hospital and killed everyone while I was under. So I guess we missed our chance.”
A quiet minute passes as you watch her tracing her thumb over the scar, lost in thought, brow twisted, recounting the ordeal of that day. Something doesn’t sit right with her about it.
And neither does it sit right with you.
Doctors don’t put a person on an operating table just to draw blood.
And you’ve heard stories of what Joel’s capable of.
You’ve witnessed just how protective he is over this little girl.
Her reverie dissolves when you lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. “While I’m sorry they never got the chance to find the possibilities, I understand enough about research medicine to know that the likelihood of their finding a cure from just one person is almost impossible. So while they might have been able to study your blood, they most likely wouldn’t be able to get enough of it or keep it stable long enough to find any answers.”
“How do you know that?”
Over the next hour as the sun sinks in the sky and she soaks up your history, you tell her about your sister. How you and her and Maria were a tight-knit team growing up, how in love with Maria she was, how you were certain they were going to get married one day.
Then you tell her how Maria went off to law school and your sister got sick, that the cancer was rare and the treatment was long and expensive, so your parents had opted for research to fray some costs and keep the ranch.
In the end, there were no answers, not without more donors of her ilk.
Your parents took a loan against the ranch, knowing full well they would lose it, but everyone agreed it was worth it for whatever time it would buy her.
And then Jakarta fell. And the world went to hell.
A few of the elderly residents of the Jackson basin came to hole up on the ranch and most of Willa’s family and tribal branch moved over from their land to form a protective new family group. It worked for a few years. It was safe. It was a thriving little commune.
And then the Fireflies came.
“There were Fireflies out here too?”
“Oh yeah, they were in every QZ, spreading their lies and chaos through the telegram towers, recruiting poor young suckers wherever they took root and getting them all killed. You tangled with them and I’d say you’re lucky you’re alive.”
Ellie frowns down at her arm again. “What did they do when they came here?”
Another story then. Now you explain with a little less nostalgia how the Fireflies came to use your ranch as a base. Trucks coming and going at all hours. Gunshots in the night. Catching the attention of roving packs of raiders. People got hurt. People died.
There was one day when two Fireflies went out foraging mushrooms with old Ms. Celia. They brought her body back on a makeshift sled. Just keeled over, they said.
Funny how the same thing happened the week before with old Ms. Margie. What a coincidence that it was happening when the food supplies were running low.
But the last blow came when the ranch was attacked by raiders a third time. There was a plan in place to create a distraction, draw their attention away from the ranch. The Fireflies knew your sister was sick and designated she do the job. They put a gun to your head when you protested.
It’s okay, she’d said, I don’t have much left to lose. If I’m going out, at least the people I love will be safe.
It was a shit plan.
A lot of people died that day. Most of them were raiders, thanks to Willa and her tribe. Some of them were Fireflies thanks to you and your shotgun.
“So did you win?”
“No. The barriers were still broken. And the ranch was burned to the ground.”
The evening sky is a mix of purples and gold now, the flocks of birds swooping over the meadow are starting to vie for their meal of mosquitos and gnats with an increasing number of bats. Ellie watches one in particular as it swoops up and over the roof of the Roost.
“What about your parents?”
“They burned with the ranch.”
She nods solemnly, without horror, the attitude of a child that���s seen too much.
“And your sister died too then?”
"She got away at first. Found her in the woods a week later with a bite like yours, but she was long gone by then. One of Willa’s brothers did the shooting.”
Another quiet nod. “What was your sister’s name?” she asks as an evening bird calls.
It was bound to come up.
“Eleanor. We called her Ell. Ellie, when she was little.” When you can see the unearned guilt building in her face you bump her shoulder playfully. “It was almost twenty years ago. I hold onto the good memories. She was sweet and kind to everyone she met, never backsassed our parents, never disobeyed. So basically nothing like you at all.” You laugh when she shoots you an annoyed look. “Not that she was an angel though! She had her fire; you didn’t want to get on her bad side. And she was whip smart. That’s where the two of you meet I think.”
“Sounds like you lost everything at once.”
“I did,” a fact you aknowledge as you stretch and get up, heading back into the cabin to light the lantern. “But Willa helped me through. And then Jackson got its walls up and Maria found her way home and I had family again.” Once the lantern flickers to life, you grab your bag and start pawing through it. “You keep going for family.”
“That’s what Joel says.”
“Huh. You know what? I believe you. Here,” pulling a tank top out of your pack you toss it at her and it smacks her in the face. “While you’re out here you can wear that and not die of heat stroke in those knit tops. But when you’re out in the sun, put something over your shoulders or use the tsuga paste. Your skin hasn’t seen sun in a while and the last thing I need to do is bring you back cooked like a Christmas goose and have Joel all up in my ass about it.”
“That actually sounds like a good thing for both of you, if you ask me.”
“Watch it.”
“What? I didn’t say anything! Look at the time! We should be spinning wool! How I love spinning wool. Whoopee!”
“Like I said. Nothing like my sister. You little shit.”
________
“Meadowlark to patrol.”
“This is patrol.”
“Starling and I are on the southeast side of the meadow near the chokecherry copse and we’ve found a honeybee hive. I’m going to tie red flags to the surrounding trees. You wanna put the word out that some of these cherries are ready to go and get someone suited out here to scope out this hive?”
“This will make four hives now.”
“I know. We’re getting lucky this year.”
“Will do, Meadowlark. We’ll radio in before we cross borders.”
“Copy. Out.”
On the way back to the Roost you and Ellie stop to greet a group of sheep lazing in the grass, sitting down and sharing cherries with them from a basket between the two of you.
“They can eat these?” she asks.
“Sure. They can pretty much eat whatever we do. Chokecherries are fine. Just don’t give ‘em the leaves or stems. Those are poisonous.”
This means taking the time to pull cherries away from the branches until there’s a handful to feed the sheep. Normally you’d be fending them off during this, they’d be insistent and impatient, but the heat of the day has them lazy and languid.
It’s also working on Ellie as she yawns, stretching her white arms plastered in pine and sunflower paste for protection, her scar marring her otherwise unburned forearm.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” you hand her another branch to start shucking. “Willa does tattoos. She could cover that for you.”
Ellie hesitates. “Maybe.”
“What. You don’t want a tattoo? I thought you might like that. It would be pretty badass. We could cover it with a starling or something….”
“I guess.” You wait for her excuse. It’s a decent one. “I just…It would mean Willa would know too. Joel told me not to tell anyone. I don’t think I should.”
“I understand. That’s kinda why I suggested Willa. The woman’s a vault.” But Ellie’s fingers stop picking berries, as if she doesn’t know what to do or what to say. “Oh. I see. You don’t want Joel to know you told anyone. Even me.”
She nods.
She changes the subject then–something about him wanting to keep her safe, even teaching her to use a shotgun to protect herself–but your mind keeps working on the problem.
It’s only when you make it back to the ladder at the Roost, one foot frozen on the bottom rung, that you find the answer.
“What’s wrong?” she asks from behind you.
Under the posts of the Roost is a load of firewood. And under that wood….
“Ellie…if there was another way to get rid of your scar, would you?”
“What. You gonna give me some kinda bird tattoo yourself? Is it gonna look like a blob or–”
“I mean, do you want it gone at all?”
She pulls herself out of her slouched position to her full height. “I mean…yeah…I think a tattoo is actually a great idea I just…”
“What if Willa didn’t have to know? What if she thought she was covering up something else?” Pulling a few armfulls of wood away from the side of the pile, you uncover a wide plank of wood, once a handsome cedar coffee table top, now a sunken excuse for a forest cellar door. Prying the wood out of its depression, you reveal an earthen pit housing a couple of shovels, a couple pairs of oilskin mittens, and a covered earthen pot.
“This,” you point to the pot, “is lye. We keep it out here in case one of the sheep dies from infection or illness. It’s important to bury the sheep to keep it away from the flock. But even if you bury a carcass, bear and coyotes will come sniffing around and dig it up. We discourage that with this. Lye breaks down organic matter. That’s why we have gloves in here. It burns skin.”
Ellie frowns into the pit, understanding slowly dawning until she asks with a gasp, “Does it hurt?”
“Hells yes it does. It’s a burn, Ellie. It hurts like a son of a bitch, there’s no way I’d lie about that. But it will twist the features of that scar. You’ll never have to dodge suspicion again.”
“Mother. Fucker,” her whisper shakes, but she eyes the pot in steady fascination.
“You know what?” You throw the tabletop back down over the hole, “I saw a whole lot of squirrels around those chokecherries and they’re actually good eating if you get a few of them and throw ‘em in a pot with some potatoes and onion and garlic…. Too bad their skins are too small to be useful. But we can’t just leave ‘em lying around, you know. So if you and I were to go out and get a few and make a stew, and say I was to show you how the lye works with the leavings… well, something might happen.” The girl looks you dead in the eye, her jaw dropping open a little in disbelief. “What do you say? You wanna go out and do some target practice? Get some squirrel for dinner?”
A switch flips in Ellie’s spine and her eyes spark cold and bright, two supernovas in a smiling galaxy.
“Fuck yes. I’ll get the rifle.”
________
“Good shot!” you cheer as a third squirrel drops from a branch and you share a high five. “Wonder who taught you that! Damn, girl! Three for three. Tonight, we feast.”
“So, when are we doing this?” Ellie smiles as you walk back to the Roost, the barrel of the rifle slung over one shoulder, a string of fuzzy dinner swinging from the other.
“Tomorrow morning. Willa will be coming in at noon and that should give us some time to get a good burn in before she arrives. It should be fine, but if anything goes wrong, she can help and that makes me feel better about it. Ellie…. You sure you trust me with this?”
“I can’t die from it, right?”
“No, but you might want to. It’s sure as hell not gonna be pleasant.”
“Lady, I spent half a year walking across the country with Joel. I’m a master at dealing with unpleasant.” By now the sheep are familiar with the sound of Ellie’s laughter and a few perk up on your way past to follow you lazily back to the Roost. “But, like, I don’t understand why we have to go through all this with the squirrels. Don’t get me wrong, I like the target practice and all…”
You take the squirrels from her and set up a makeshift butcher’s block on a stump left waist high specifically for this purpose. “I don’t want to lie to Joel when he freaks out about you getting hurt. We had squirrels. We disposed of the leavings. You got burned with the lye. Truth truth truth.”
“You think he’ll be mad at you?”
“Oh, I’m already counting that into the equation. I know you seem to think he’s fond of me, but not all the evidence leads up to that. You know how to clean a squirrel?”
“Sure do,” she grins as she trades the rifle for your boot knife and, taking the first rodent in hand, she works it skillfully, tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth, skinning the critter in one go. “Thanks, little buddy. You were cute, but you’ll be gooooooood eating.”
“You’re a hell of a kid.”
“Yeah, well, guess who taught me this?” she says as she morbidly slices through another one, making dramatic death noises as she goes. “Why do you think he doesn’t like you? Joel’s stupid about you. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
“Jesus, Ellie.” With a sigh and a shake of the head, you indulge her question and your own immature angst. “Well, for starters, I can tell he doesn’t think much of some of my conversation.”
“What do you mean?” Another skin lands at her feet.
“He just…doesn’t answer questions sometimes. Ignores comments. Doesn’t like to join in on the joke.”
“This is a big one,” she grunts, tugging at the final squirrel. “What side are you standing on when he ignores you?”
“Huh?”
“Where are you standing when you talk to Joel? He’s deaf in his right ear.”
You blink.
And suddenly a hell of a lot of things make a hell of a lot of sense.
That one time you complimented his shirt and he said nothing, you were on his right.
That one time you poked fun at his scowl. On his right.
You cracked that joke, offered a piece of pie, told him everything would be alright.
Right. Right. Right.
“I…didn’t know that,” you stammer stupidly, flinching when Ellie hands your knife back and heads for the ladder.
“Yeah, that was obvious. I’m gonna go get a bowl.” You’re still in shock as she starts climbing. “Don’t expect him to get down on one knee when he asks you to marry him; he’s got shitty knees too. He’s happy to complain about it if you ask him. Make sure it’s in his left ear.”
________
“Okay, look at me, Ellie. Breathe.”
She nods, her eyes burning with determination over the shirt you’ve tied around her nose and mouth to protect her from inhaling the mix.
As you sit in the grass a few meters from the stream with her arm resting in your mittened hands, you lay the lye-laden cloth over the scar and enclose it with pressure.
Her breath comes heavily. Bravely. Then you hear it change as the lye begins to work.
“Shit. It itches,” she hisses. “Shit. Shit shit fuck fuck ow it’s getting worse–”
“You want me to stop?”
“No shit fuck I can do this I got this shiiiiiiiiiit!”
“I won’t let you go too long but you let me know if you need–”
“I’m fine! FUCK!”
It’s when she screams that you know it’s enough and releasing her, you order, drill sergeant style, “Go! Go! Go! Fifteen minutes! Don’t look at it!”
Ellie bolts into the ice cold stream, sneakers and all, gasping as the water washes the cloth away from her. “Shit. I thought it would feel better. It doesn’t!”
“Does it feel worse?”
“No, it just fucking burns!”
A sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good. Just… just let it rinse. Do you feel woozy at all?”
She just shakes her head, looking down through the water. “It’s getting red. And puffy.”
“No broken skin?”
“No.”
“Good. It’ll probably blister up some.”
Ellie might not be feeling woozy, but you sure are. Was it a reckless idea? Probably. Will it actually work? Hopefully. Do you feel bad that she’s gonna be in pain for a while? Fuck yes. But then you remember when she put on your tank top and just … laid in the grass and smiled. Even if she never wore short sleeves again, at least nobody was going to make a fast decision with a gun to her skull.
You really should have checked with Joel though. No matter what Ellie wants, you know full well it wasn’t your call to make.
Another problem for another day.
“Everything okay down there?” Willa’s black braids glint in the sun as she walks down from the Roost.
“Ellie had a run in with the lye,” you call back.
“Yeah, I see you were composting. I filled in the hole.” She hardly even stops when she reaches you, simply pulls off her boots and heads straight into the water. “Let’s see. Oh yeah. That’s a burn alright.”
As Willa inspects Ellie’s submerged arm, the girl looks up and smiles at you, giving you a wet thumbs up. “Hurts like a motherfucker!"
“I’ll bet,” the woman hums dryly. “That’s going to swell up and scar pretty bad. Why don’t you sit and let the water do its work. Meadowlark and I will go pack your things and I’ll grab the gauze in the first aid kit.”
Willa doesn’t ask questions as you pack up, just the regular routine of information trade off. You tell her that you’ve marked a few sheep with blue dye to keep an eye on for injuries or dehydration. And she lets you know what’s going on in town, including the fact that there’s gonna be a wedding with a reception at the food hall over the weekend.
“Really? Who?”
“Bear and Missy Tippet.”
“Your uncle??? Willa, I can stay; don’t you wanna be there?”
She laughs. “Hell no I do not. You know exactly how I feel about Missy Tippet; same as you. I’d rather be out here. Perfect timing. They’ve been keeping each other warm on and off for years now. Maybe this will finally keep her on. As much as I hate to picture that,” she shivers.
Willa’s such an even-keeled soul and it’s not just anyone she’ll shit talk in front of. “Well, your secret’s safe with me. If it is a secret that is.”
“What’s a secret?” Ellie interrupts as she pulls herself up to the balcony from the ladder with one hand.
Willa takes a little time to show her the correct way to bandage the burn–not too tight–while you pack the horses, as well as instructing you where to find her stash of willow bark if Ellie needs it for the pain.
But something tells you that Eliie’s gonna tough it out. Though she holds her arm gingerly as she rides, fisting the reigns in her left hand, the girl grins all the way back to Jackson like she’s just pulled off the heist of the century.
________
Jackson is busy when you ride through the gates midday, folks passing by on their way to visit, deliver, build. Purpose in Jackson is taken seriously, as is leisure, and both are on display as you pass by the rustic main drag, in many different ways frozen in time–log storefronts and Mickey Mouse tshirts, leather-saddled livestock and Japanese fans.
You spot Joel waiting at the stables before he sees you, distracted by none other than Missy Tippet. Getting herself married or not, the stunning woman is a glutton for attention and a class A flirt, and she’s not the only one in town whose head turned the minute Joel took up residence.
Not that you can blame her, with him in that tight grey tshirt, busting a carpenter’s arms out of its sleeves and contouring it with sweat…. By the dust on his face, he’s been working today. Probably took a break to wait for–
“Ellie. Hey! You decided to come home.”
“Yup,” she says, throwing him the reins to distract him while she gingerly dismounts. “I shot three squirrels!”
You avoid Joel’s questioning glance as you slide down from your own mare and lead her into a stall. “Go on, you two, I’ll stable up. Nice to see you, Cinnamon Roll.”
But they’re already on their way, an engaged chattering, laughing questions and energetic answers…and your teasing goes unheard. Ah. Wrong ear, you realize.
Missy smirks; condescends.“Cinnamon roll, huh? Good try, I guess.”
You don’t rise to her bait. “Just giving him sass. He’s obviously not a fan. You gonna help me with these saddles or keep slobbering all over the men that aren’t your fiancee what come on by?”
Okay. Maybe a little rising.
________
It’s your ritual, first thing back from the meadow. The Roost holds a special place in your heart, but the one thing it can’t deliver is a shower. Great gods of earth and sky, let there be thanks that warm water’s still a thing, even in summer.
You’re still dripping, one head tilted to the side as you drain the last of the water out one ear, when there’s a knock at the front door downstairs.
Well, let’s see. There aren’t that many people who know you’re back yet and Ellie’s come home with a bandage on her arm. It’s easy to guess who’s knocking. Okay. Let’s get this over with.
When you answer the door wrapped in nothing but a towel, it obviously wasn’t what Joel was expecting, and if he walked over here with any ire, it instantly freezes and shatters like a bubble on the tundra when he takes in all the skin on display.
“You’ll excuse me if I don’t invite you in for snacks at the moment.”
Deflated, he simply rams his hands in his pockets, squinting. “You wanna tell me about Ellie’s arm?”
“I had planned on it at a time when I wasn’t wet and naked, but sure.” When he throws his hands up in defeat and turns to leave, you stop him, catching at his sleeve and stretching the fabric so it snaps back against his arm. “Hey. Wait. Yes. I was going to tell you.” As you cross your arms over the towel and lean on the door frame, he does much the same on the other side, averting his eyes and trying not to fidget. And failing. “It happened this morning. She shot some squirrels and we dressed ‘em for dinner last night and buried the bones and pelts. Gotta lye ‘em or animals come digging. I thought she could handle it. Looks like we both got burned, so to speak.” His face is stony. Unamused. You continue. “Willa looked at it this morning, we got it a good rinse. I’m gonna go by her place later and grab some willow bark and show Ellie how to compress.” He shakes his head at his boots. “Hey. She’ll be fine, Joel.”
“I don’t want her getting hurt out there.”
“And I do? It’s a chemical burn, not a clicker bite. She’ll learn from it. Kids can’t be put in glass cages.” It’s here that you pretend not to see the flash in his eye at the mention of bites, meanwhile noticing a bad scrape on his forearm. Seeing your opening, you reach out to draw a finger over it. “Jesus, Joel. Look at this. This. See? We all have occupational hazards. Come on.”
With a sigh you turn and pad into the kitchen to your first aid drawer, taking a chance that pays off--you’re surprised to hear him actually following. It takes a minute to dress the wound and you’re not ginger about it–water, apple cider vinegar, gauze. It’s a quiet minute though, one you thought you could power through, and maybe you could have, if you were in anything more than a towel…or couldn’t hear him breathing…or feel it on your skin. Trying to play it cool and get a vibe check on him, you look up only to catch his eye shifting away from your bare shoulder back to your work on his arm.
It’s time to break the silence, but you don’t feel the need to be on the defense anymore.
“We don’t have a lot of antibiotics just sitting around, you know. Don’t let this stuff fester, okay, cinnamon roll? You and that daredevil kid are a matching pair, you know that?”
He only grunts, half rolling his eyes at you, jaw set, voice at a soft compromise. “Yeah, well, I don’t want her going back out there until she’s healed up. Limited use of both arms is a good path to more accidents.”
“Fair. You win. Summer’s pretty slow anyway. I could use the quiet.” Laying it on thick, you tie up the ends of the gauze before releasing him back into the wilds. “Warm sun, buzz of bees. Sweet smell of grass and lupines. Meadow’s a good place for afternoon naps. Easier to do without an apprentice yapping my ear off.”
He nods thoughtfully at this--your words showing their effect--and slowly turns and heads for the door.
And you smile knowingly as you watch him go.
“You know,” you call out just before he closes the door behind him, “door’s open at the Roost. You can always come out there with her if you’re so concerned. That is, if you don’t mind sleeping on a broke-down sofa on the porch.”
Without looking back, he pauses briefly in the patch of summer glare. Then he silently steps out and pulls the door shut, leaving only the click of the latch and the sunlight through the leaded glass.
Well. That certainly could have gone much worse.
________
At least you’re wearing more clothes when it finally does go worse.
“What happened here, squirt?” Tommy taps his fork on Ellie’s bandage at family dinner.
And Ellie answers with a light jab to his arm. “Ow, you dick! That hurts!”
“Ellie–” a scold in stereo from both you and Joel.
As her teacher, the admonishment was instinctual. But in current context, it may have been a breach of place. The table goes silent as Joel’s head snaps in your direction and everyone else’s eyes bounce between you two, utterly amused. There’s a moment when you’re afraid he might just continue to glare, but then he cracks half a smile, shakes his head, and goes back to shoveling a spoonful of potatoes into his mouth.
It’s a reaction that lets you know Joel’s forgiven you, back to allowing you to be a rearing force in Ellie’s life.
“Meadowlark let me do some target practice and I shot some squirrels for dinner. Had to bury the skin and bones with lye and I got burned. Oops.”
“Oh my god,” Maria chews. “Are you okay?”
Ellie gives her a precocious smile and follows it with sarcastic condescension. “Yes, I’m going to live. As long as some people let it heal and stop hitting me with sharp things because they think they’re funny and they’re not.”
Tommy sticks his tongue out at Ellie and Maria laughs at them both before getting up to go fetch another jar of pickles from the pantry, holding her growing belly and waving off her husband's attempts to help.
“Rabbit’s better eating,” Tommy points out, returning to the subject at hand.
Ellie pops a stringbean into her mouth, clearly in a good mood. “But their hides are useful. Don’t have to bury them.”
The moment after she says this is like a lightning flash, and your reaction matches hers as you both freeze, realizing what she’s just accidentally said.
“Squirrels are faster, smaller, better target practice,” you say, clearing your throat, trying to act casual.
Tommy shrugs and nods, agreeing, oblivious, going to town on his ear of corn.
But Joel’s gone still, staring you down across the table, then casts a glance at Ellie…and her arm.
Shit.
Tommy and Maria are blissfully unaware of Joel’s turn for the quiet during the rest of the meal, not that he’d been very talkative to begin with. But the hesitant glances and shy smiles are gone now, replaced with a restrained patience and a few calculating glances.
It’s Maria’s turn to wash and Tommy’s to dry and yours to clear the table. But with every trip into the kitchen, you glance through the window over the sink into the yard where Joel and Ellie are having a spirited conversation under the tree at the far end.
'Spirited conversation' might be too polite a term. More like a one-sided lecture. Soon enough you have the table wiped down and you’re making a bee-line out the back door while Tommy and Maria argue about the best technique for drying a glass.
“That is not okay,” Joel hisses, trying to keep his voice low, giving Ellie’s shoulder a rough shake. “What if something went wrong? Huh? You could have burned down to the bone!”
“Joel, Joel, hey,” you whisper as you come to complete the triad. “Don’t. She confided in me. It was my idea.”
Nostrils flaring, lips pressed together, head wagging, he glares. “Of all the reckless, stupid….”
“I wanted to!” Ellie pleads, and you shut her down.
“That’s true, but Joel’s right and I knew it. I shouldn’t have–”
“If you tell anyone–” he warns, his eyes going full retribution against you--a hot coil ready to spring--and it petrifies you, takes you by the heart and squeezes.
“She won’t! Joel!”
“She’d better not.”
It’s a tense moment, one that surprises you. Scares you. In the months you’ve known him, Joel’s been a quiet and withdrawn creature, opening up in increments as you’ve done your best to build your trust, taming him slowly week after week, hoping for nothing more than having him someday eating out of your palm, pushing his cheek into your hand for gentle reassurance…
But in one fell swoop you’re back at the starting line–beyond the starting line. The papa bear in him is showing, bearing its teeth, and you’ve spent too much time among sheep, forgetting the valuable lesson that wild animals can never truly be tamed.
“I will burn this place to the ground if you ever hurt another hair on her head.” The quiet threat is feral and stinging and steals your breath before it’s over.
The things he’s capable of...those things are here and now and he could do them all to you before you had the chance to run.
The way he looks at you pulls the heat from the earth.
Before you can break from your paralysis, they’re gone, Joel pushing Ellie out of the yard toward home.
The stars are coming out. If there are crickets, you don’t hear them. Every sense seems to have shifted into neutral. Except breathing. That comes back with a hunger.
“Joel and Ellie take off?” Tommy calls from the window.
“Yeahhhh,” you call back without turning. “Tired. The heat. Think I might head home too.”
“Take a jar of these pickles. We have too many and Maria can't stomach them right now. I’ve got pickles coming out my damn ears.”
“Okay. Thanks, T. Pickles. Will do."
________
The following few days are...confusing. You should go out and grab some supplies on the main street, but actually fear running into Joel or Ellie. It’s stupid, and it makes you angry; it’s not that you’re afraid of him, it’s just…
You’re disappointed in yourself. Because everything’s upset now. Sure, you wanted to get close to them, but you overstepped, put Ellie in danger, made Joel feel unsafe. Everyone should feel safe in Jackson. Everyone should feel safe in the meadow. And you took that away from him.
Joel.
Why him? What about him do you need to have so badly? Why do you feel the need to fix him? To give him that safety?
Because Joel and Ellie so badly need a home. And you have an excess of home within you.
And little else.
You’ve never been lonely before. Why now?
Something about them….just fits.
Or so you thought. Or may have thought. Before you ruined it.
It’s better to just sit home and knit. Winter will be here soon enough and people need sweaters, dammit. You have a job to do.
But you can’t stay hidden away forever, especially not when there’s a wedding in the community.
________
“Bear, Missy, you’ve said your vows in front of all of us here tonight. We are all witness to your commitment. All in agreement, say aye!”
“AYE!”
“And those of you who want to spoil this good time, say nay!”
Bear’s brother pipes up from the side of the mess hall. “Nay!”
“Shut up, you asshole,” Bear laughs.
“Perfection is tempting devils!” his brother teases.
“Let ‘em come,” Bear shouts. “I’ll tear ‘em all down for my lady love, the prettiest girl in Jackson!” There’s applause and laughter as he kisses his new bride and the mood shifts as he roars, “Drinking and dancing!!!”
“Ugh. Good thing Willa isn’t here to see this. She’d be so annoyed.” Maria yells in your ear over the din as you huddle around your favorite table at the back of the hall. “I thought Missy would never settle down.”
“Bear must earn his name in the sack,” you crack back at her, and she clinks her glass against yours in agreement.
Tommy and Joel sit across the table from you, facing away toward the front. But when Tommy turns to join in the conversation, Joel remains facing out to the crowd, watching as tables are pushed to the side to make a dance floor, quietly pulling sips from a frothy cider.
He’s still pissed at you.
“Where’s Ellie?” you ask Tommy, not even attempting to address the wall of Joel-shaped ice.
“Over beyond, with the other big kids.”
You don’t turn to look, but Joel does after hearing the comment, before turning back to watch the crowd.
A band strikes up. Friends stop by and chat. Some of Tommy and Joel’s work friends come and take over the table–the boys all getting loud and rowdy–so you and Maria escape to the edge of the dance floor, beverages in hand, dancing–but not really–in place.
“What’s going on?” Maria finally asks over the music and the general glee.
“Hmm?”
“You two keep watching each other, but you’re not talking. What’s going on.”
You can’t keep from glancing over at the table…again. You weren’t aware of him taking any interest in you though.
“We had an argument the other day. I think I fucked things up.”
She pulls a face, comically surprised. “I would have guessed the other way around, but okay. You push him too hard or something?”
“Something like that.”
Glancing back over her shoulder at Joel and then back at you, Maria gives you her lawyer face. “He’ll come around. Tommy says he’s the last person to apologize for anything and if he does, you know it means a big deal. But if you’re willing to extend the olive branch first, that can go a long way.”
“Well, maybe not tonight,” you sigh, stealing a glance, watching as he drains his glass. “He’s had a few.”
But you can’t even convince yourself, handing your drink to Maria as Joel sets down his glass, slaps the table and pushes himself up, leaning forward to wish his buddies a good night. You follow him out of the mess hall like some lovestruck teenager strung out on a last hope.
“Joel. Joel!” Catching up with him halfway down the block, the light and noise from the party still follows as you get out in front of him. “Joel, stop. I have to apologize to you. Please let me.”
Though he’s backlit, you can still make out his tired glare. “Don’t. It’s not necessary.”
“Of course it is. Ellie’s important to you. You're her guardian. It wasn’t my call to make. I’m sorry.”
He waits a moment before throwing you an irritated prompt. “But?”
“But? I don’t know. She was hot in that long sleeve shirt and she showed me her arm–I can’t imagine what she went through. I just felt for her. But I did have a gut reaction when she showed me, Joel. Anyone would, but most wouldn’t hesitate for long. And those bites could get her killed. All I wanted was for her to be free from that. To be a kid. I’d say I wasn’t thinking, but...I was, Joel. Fuck was I thinking. I was thinking about her just being a kid and not getting killed.”
“Is that all?”
“Yeah, I guess. Except… I really don’t want you to punish her for my decision. She loves it out there. She thrives. And if you don’t trust me, my offer stands. Come with us. See for yourself.”
A huffed laugh. “Yeah? Do I get a callsign then?”
Your fatal flaw is jumping to the joke and the playful tease too soon, as you do now, anticipating his forgiveness. “Of course you do, grey fox.”
And that’s when he reaches out, pulls you close with strong hands.
Which would be exhilarating, if it wasn’t too close. And if his breath didn’t smell of cider.
“Why don’t you just take what you want,” he growls, quietly, coldly, jaw set, lips hardly moving.
It’s not fear that pings up your spine–now that you’ve had a taste of his anger and gotten over the initial shock from the other night, you know Joel won’t hurt you, not here, not as part of your found family, he knows better–
It’s bitter disappointment.
“What?”
His grip tightens, digs in. “It’s obvious what you want. Just go ahead. We’re both fucking lonely enough and I’m too old for games.”
He’s right here with you in the dark, his breath on your lips, your fingers twisting into the shoulders of his tshirt…but it’s wrong. It’s so wrong. And it’s hurting.
So you slowly push off his chest.
And the light from the mess hall hits your face again; something there causes his shoulders to drop, causes him to let you go.
A cheer rises up from the celebration that you’ve left behind, that you don’t feel like returning to, but neither can you be alone right now, so it’s likely your only choice.
“I’m not playing games, Joel. I never was. I like you. A lot. Both you and Ellie. I just didn’t want to spook you. But...I also don’t want someone who doesn’t want me. So…maybe I read you wrong. Or maybe we need different things.”
“What do you need?” It almost falls out of him, uncontrolled, unemotional, a gathering of facts.
And your answer comes the same way, surprising you as you’re sure his own question surprised himself.
“A home.”
It’s a quiet night, perfectly warm. You’re sure if you went home right now, the fireflies–the good kind–would be out in the back yard.
Instead, you give him a shellshocked nod–of finality, of punctuation–and follow your feet back toward the light, toward happiness and love that you can’t share at the moment. And you don’t look back.
________
When you don’t show up for family dinner that week, Maria comes knocking the next day.
Knocks, yes, but does not wait for an answer. In sisterly fashion, she makes straight for your wool room and sits calmly on the edge on the daybed there, staring at you as you mend a hole in a sweater.
“Missed you at our table last night.”
“I know.”
It doesn’t matter how hard she stares, you continue to avoid it and concentrate on the work in your hands.
“That was an invitation for you to explain.”
“I’m aware.”
“Girl–”
“I’m not getting along with Joel right now. Ellie has…this thing on her arm that she doesn’t want anyone to know about. You notice how she would wear long sleeves even in the heat? I felt bad for her. So I… suggested…the lye.”
This doesn't faze her. “It was on purpose. And Joel found out. I see.” Leaning back into the pillows with a pregnant grunt, she swings her feet up onto the daybed. “Is hiding helping? You know we all know where you live, right?”
“Are you really putting your muddy shoes on my quilt?”
“So you’re just going to avoid him.”
You squint at the binding. “I’m gonna have to raid the commissary for some better glasses. My eyesight’s getting out of hand.”
“You’re going to avoid us. Me and Tommy and Ellie.”
Letting out a huge sigh, you concede to her tenacity because she won’t stop until she gets what she wants. “For now.” When her tongue clicks, you finally look up. “Listen. I apologized and he’s still mad. I agree with you that he’ll get over it, but he hasn’t yet, and that means I haven’t either. And I’m not as good at turning on my bitch face as that one is.”
“So we shouldn’t expect you next week either.”
“Nope,” you pout, tackling the sweater again with focused frustration. “I traded with Goldie. Going out a week early.”
“You’re running away.”
“I’m stressed out and I need to not be here, yes!” You admit, throwing down the knitting. “What is the big deal? I don’t have to get along with everyone in Jackson! You don’t!”
You understand that flat look from her, known it since you were kids. She’s counting to 10, giving you the chance to calm down so one of you can speak the truth and speak it calmly.
“But you want to get along with Joel.”
Of course she was going to say that. Because it’s what you’re thinking and not wanting to say out loud and she can read you like a book.
“Yeah. I really do. You know I do.”
“Okay,” she says, pushing herself up with effort and crossing the room to kiss her fingers and press–nay, slap–them to your forehead before heading out. “Go on and go to your happy place. Go calm down in your little clubhouse. I was just worried about you is all. Brought you leftovers. They’re on the counter.”
“Thanks. You’re too good to me. As always. Love you.”
“I know. As always. Love you too.”
________
At the end of the week you’re up early, your pack and rations slung over your back, pistol on one hip, making your way to the stables while the town’s still quiet, before anyone can notice you going. Your boots crunch on the dirt road in lieu of the birdsong from those lazy bitches not even up yet, the dawnlight casting Jackson in blues and blacks, like a new-world mid-era Picasso.
The problem is, you know all of these blues and blacks, all these shapes and shadows. There’s a new one this morning, something leaning up against the stable door.
And it’s shaped like a fourteen year old girl with a couple of bags.
As you approach, Ellie tips away from the wall, standing upright, waiting until you come to a stop in front of her.
“Joel said I could go with you.”
“It’s a week early.”
“Yep.”
It’s too early in the morning for exasperated sighs, but here you are. “Maria or Tommy?”
“Tommy.”
“Figures. Big fucking mouth.”
“Yep.”
She waits patiently for it to sink in.
Once it does, you pull the walkie off your belt.
“Meadowlark to Chickadee. ETA 30, towing a Starling in behind me.”
________
“So what did you say to him to get him to change his mind?” Ellie takes your fishing rod so you can pull off your boots and roll up your pants.
“Me? I figured it was you said something.” Wading out into the stream at this little ripple point is harder than it looks. The rocks are sharper here, full of crannys that are equally as good for fish to hide in as they are to turn an ankle. It doesn’t help that the setting sun is throwing shadows that make it harder to determine what’s what. “I haven’t talked to him in weeks. Not since Bear’s wedding. Keep that line taut.”
“According to Maria, you haven’t talked to anyone lately.”
“I had knitting to do,” a dismissal as you follow the line out into the current. “There are hardly any weeds out here; what did this dang hook snag on? A rock?”
“Well, he finally admitted that masking the scar was a good thing. I told him I want to get a tattoo over it. He said no.”
You laugh, tugging at the line, teetering on a flatter stone. “Of course he did. But that’s a good thing. Tattoo’s a permanent mark. Good to have an excuse to think long and hard about what you’d want. Willa’s great with nature stuff. She could probably do you a bird or a tree or something.”
“I was thinking maybe the moon. Or like, a machete.”
“Of course you were. Oh, oh... hang on, I think I’ve found it.” Reaching down under one of the rocks, you follow the fishing line, but it doesn’t seem to have an end. “Well, where the hell?”
“Uhhhhh,” Ellie points to the water at your feet. “I think it found you.”
A fine red ribbon of blood floats away on the current and you follow it upstream to your foot. More specifically, the inner part of your big toe. “Well shit. Did I just catch my own damn self?”
“Catch of the day!” Ellie laughs. “I bet you fry up real tough. Does it hurt?”
“Didn’t even feel it, water’s too cold. Get your knife and cut the line so I don’t get all tangled.”
Once you’re back on shore and take stock, it’s obvious some tools are needed. “Run and get me the wire cutting pliers, the vinegar jug, and the first aid kit, will you?”
Ellie’s off like a shot on youthful legs, making short work of the errand while you keep your foot in the stream and tend to her line. But once she’s back and opens the kit, her face twists into a frown. “Aren’t there supposed to be bandages in here?”
“What?” Snipping the hook in two you slide it out the easy way as Ellie watches in morbid fascination. “There’s not?”
“Nope. Plenty of cleanser and some needle and thread, but no bandages.”
“Shit. I suppose we never restocked it after Willa set you up. Well, I’ll just have to bleed into my sock for the time being and find something up at the Roost.” Ellie moves to help you, but you hold a hand up and go for the walkie. “Hey. Meadowlark to Goldie.”
The walkie comes to life, garbled, full of noise.
“Goldie? Meadowlark to Goldfinch.”
A couple of seconds pass. “Sorry, Goldfinch here. Was in the tavern and there’s an arm wrestling competition in there. Lots of yelling.”
“Really? Who’s winning?”
“Right now it’s Bear. What’s up?”
“Oh, I never restocked the first aid kit after Ellie’s mishap and we’re needing clean bandages. Can you send some along on patrol tomorrow?”
“Sure. Everything alright out there?”
“Yeah, I just stepped on a fishhook.”
“Well, why the hell did you do that?”
“You know, the usual. Shits and giggles.”
“You do you. Don’t ever change. I’ll send some supplies along.”
“Thanks. Put a wager down on Bear for me. Meadowlark out.”
“Will do. Goldfinch gone.”
“Alright, kid,” you groan, hanging onto her shoulder and pulling yourself up, “Bring in your line and let’s take what we got and get a supper going.”
________
The next day, you drop a few old carrots over the balcony railing. “Ellie! Take these with you! You’ll tame that skittish one sooner or later; keep trying!”
The girl scoops up the veggies and trudges out through the pasture, heavy not with the task of doing the rounds by herself but due to the heat. At least she can wear short sleeves now, even if the bandage gets questions. But you suspect she enjoys the clout and attention she gets out of the burn.
Thank goodness she’s here. Your injury gets angry when you walk. So Ellie's tasked with the rounds and taking stock while you elevate the foot and get caught up on some spinning.
Not that there’s any hurry to do so. As you lean on your arms against the balcony railing a little breeze kicks up. Content for the moment, you let it bring you a little coolness, a little movement, the rising and falling music of this year’s batch of cicadas. The meadow's pretty this summer, all purples and reds, festooned with lupine and Indian paintbrush and the air at the Roost smelling like the pines that grow around it.
“Patrol to Meadowlark.”
Damn. You left the walkie on the table inside. Guess the decision’s been made for you to get your ass moving. That’ll be a delivery coming in and you hobble on over to answer.
"Patrol here. You there, Meadowlark?"
“Sorry. Meadowlark here.”
“Sending Joel Miller in with supplies at the north gate.”
That’s…not what you expected. But…wow. Really? Has your heart stopped, or is it just going really fast?
“Put him on the walkie.”
Who cares what you’re heart’s doing, your face is gonna cramp from the smile.
“Hey. It’s me,” he answers, gentle, penitent.
“Me who.”
“Joel.”
So he's olive branching first. Well, he'll have to earn it.
“Yeah, about that, we have procedures around here. Callsign or bust, sir.”
You can almost hear his eyes rolling, but it sounds like he’s up for the challenge.
“Seriously.”
“Sure.”
“Jesus. This is…Grey Fox. Coming in at the north gate. Happy?”
“I will be. Meadowlark out.”
Tottering gingerly back out to the balcony, you land heavily on the old green broke-down sofa. There’s no need to bring the rifle. Even if he was being pursued by a pack of raging clickers, Joel is certain to carry a gun, and certain to use it confidently.
A few slow minutes tick by in the sun and a cicada buzzes in from nowhere to attach itself to one of the balcony supports. The big bug breathes for a minute, its iridescent wings still twitching with the effort of hoisting that bulky little body.
And then, in your eyeline just past the cicada, there’s movement.
Joel coming out of the north woods.
He’s on foot. Green plaid and jeans wading through the flowered fields. With his shirtsleeves rolled up on purpose to let those brown arms and big hands of his swing. With not just the one, but two rifles on his back? Isn’t that a bit overkill?
Wait. One of them’s not a rifle. It’s…a guitar.
Well. Someone’s planned to make himself at home.
Your smile earns more real estate.
Good.
Soon he’s close enough for you to make out his grey curls shifting in the breeze. Then he disappears under the Roost, only to transform into the sound of heavy footfalls on the ladder.
Propping your chin on your forearms crossed over the back of the sofa, you watch through the front windows as he steps into the room and takes it in with a carpenter’s eye. He stops in silent appreciation, gaze scrolling the woodwork, the joints, posts, slope of the peak. The woodstove catches his notice and he taps the tile beneath it with his boot, his interest trailing up the pipe, squinting at the trap around the exhaust. His bottom lip pushes up in approval and he nods, surveying the windows now…and stops when he sees you.
“Hey there, Cinnamon Roll. Welcome to the Roost.”
A half-hidden smile. Without a word, he untangles himself out of his gear, digging through his knapsack and retrieving a box before coming out onto the balcony and making his way over to you. Swiping a hand through the air, he motions for you to move your knee so he can sit beside you, then pulls your foot up into his lap and takes a look over your makeshift bandage–the sleeve of an old blouse–before starting to unwrap it.
It hurts. But you let him.
"Who told you I needed a first aid kit?"
"Was at the tavern when Goldie got the call. Heard it myself. Where’s Ellie?”
“She’s making the rounds. Just left before you came in."
He grunts an acknowledgement, focusing on your toe, moving it so he can assess the wound a little better. A little wince; he can tell it hurts. Grabbing a tiny bottle of cleansing agent and a fresh bandage, he gets to work.
“Just so you know,” he grumbles, “we don’t have a lot of antibiotics just sitting around. You shouldn’t let this stuff fester.”
He must see your smirk from the corner of his eye. He matches it with his own.
“You using my words against me now, Dr. Miller?”
“Not at all. Just passing on some valuable knowledge that was gifted to me.”
He works quietly, carefully wrapping the toe, then your foot, splinting it in a way that should make it easier to walk on. Obviously not the first time he’s cared for a wound. He must have seen a lot out there in his wilder days.
“This one was truly an accident. For real this time,” you attest.
But his smile burns off to the stone underneath.
His sincerity precedes him. “I’m sorry.”
An apology. From Joel Miller. For what? Not trusting you? Keeping Ellie away? Speaking to you the way he did? You assume it’s all of the above. But it isn’t necessary to ask for clarification; you only want to put the missteps behind you and get on with leaning on each other.
“You’re staying, right?”
He nods once to you, then to the sofa. “This where I’m sleeping?”
“I mean, if you want one of our beds, that’s fine, you’ll just have to fight us for it. In which case, you might as well give up now.”
“No, it’s okay. It’ll be like sleeping under the stars.” He stares out at the mountains over the meadow, watching the shadow of a cloud roll over it, your foot warm between his hands, a thumb absently rubbing at the bandage. “This is nice out here. Quiet. I’m not used to it. But it’s good.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit I do better with some wide open spaces. And fewer people to share it with.”
Two lines form above the bridge of his nose. “Ellie told me about your ranch. Your family. I’m sorry to hear it.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t worth being sorry.”
He's got you there. “Everyone’s lost something. Someone. Several someones. The whole world’s a little sorry. But I appreciate it. It means we’re all in it together, those of us left." You make a study of him, his solemn nod, the way the sun glints off his watch. “I’m glad you took me up on my invitation, Joel. It’ll be nice having you here, being out here together.”
And then he turns to you, making his own study of you, as if watching your clouds roll away too.
“I agree.”
________
“Now, the E7 is the same as the E, you just pick up that third finger. Good. Now let’s do a three-four, E7, A, E.”
As the sun starts to set, your eyes have had enough of the spindle for one day and you’re cleaning up while Joel and Ellie muck around with his guitar out on the balcony. She’s a quick study, even if some of the chords are more difficult than others for her small hands, and it’s obvious he’s been working with her on it for a while.
Using a walking stick that Joel made from a pine branch–stripping the bark and wrapping one end with duct tape for a sliverless handle–you put together a little plate of berries and cheese, sling a thermos full of sun tea under your arm, and head out to the balcony.
“That's it. Thumb, wrist, wrist,” Joel coaches Ellie in a waltz strum as you hand off the treats to him and take a spot at the railing for one last survey of the meadow before the twilight goes. “That’s good. Keep that up, just like that. Hey there, songbird,” he drawls at you, “you know any Hank Williams?”
Rather than turn to him with a smile, you give it to the meadow, but let him hear it in your voice. “Do I? My dad grew up in Montana in the 50s and 60s. What do you think I was raised on?”
“Well go on then. You should know this one.”
Now that you’re truly listening and realize the chords he’s been working her through, you certainly do.
Ellie must have told him how you like to sing out here. So you do.
“Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, He sounds too blue to fly. The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry.”
Joel encourages Ellie to keep going, and to add a B7 in at the end. “Go on,” he prompts to you when you turn around, smiling blithely as his two girls make him a pretty song to listen to.
“I've never seen a night so long When time goes crawling by. The moon just went behind the clouds To hide its face and cry.
“Did you ever see a robin weep When leaves begin to die? That means he's lost the will to live; I'm so lonesome I could cry.”
“The next verse is the last one, so play her out on some single rising notes and hit the final chord.”
Ellie bites her bottom lip and nods, taking the cue, but she doesn’t need to look at her hands anymore as she’s getting the hang of it, and instead smiles as you take on her favorite subject.
“The silence of a falling star Lights up a purple sky, And as I wonder where you are… I'm so lonesome I could cry.”
Her outro could use a little work, but it suffices and you give her due applause. “How are those fingers doing?”
She takes stock of her hands. “Look. Calluses.”
“You’ve got some work to do before you can call those welts calluses,” Joel teases.
“Well, I think she’s earned a treat. I didn’t bring those out here for you to hoard ‘em.”
Ellie balances the guitar against the arm rest and Joel hands over the plate, stealing a cherry and popping it into his mouth. Bringing her feet up, Ellie rests the plate on her knees and settles against Joel’s shoulder, smiling, content, proud of her progress, eating her reward and watching the night come on.
It’s such an intimate father-daughter scene that you’re about to go indoors and let them enjoy the view together. But then Joel moves his foot slightly as if to block your path. Catches your eye. Drapes his free arm over the back of the sofa and glances pointedly at his free shoulder, then back at you with a jerk of his head as if to say, You too, get in here, this one’s yours.
You do not have to be told twice.
Settling in with a long sigh, you don’t pay much attention as Ellie starts recounting everything she knows and doesn’t know about the first moon landing. You’re more interested in the way your cheek fits into Joel’s shoulder, and how his arm lays heavy and warm over yours, how his chest rumbles when he answers Ellie’s questions and laughs at her sass. How the shadows spill over the butte and pull through everything until they are everything.
And you notice how the moonlight reflects off the plate in Ellie’s hand, off the tuning keys of the guitar…and yet…it’s missing in one place it should be.
Joel’s wrists are bare.
Joel is laughing. And his wrists are bare.
________
Picking up his watch where it’s been living on the little table all week, you pack it into Joel’s knapsack on the last morning before heading out.
“Goldie’ll be here soon. You see Joel come back from the rounds yet?”
Ellie shakes her head as she’s packing her bag. “Nope. Went out an hour or two ago. You want me to go get him?”
Taking his bag and your own to the balcony, you throw them over the side to the forest floor below. “I’ll go. Been on my ass all week. I could use the walk.” You hand her the walkie on the way out, trusting her to take the incoming hail.
Fastest way to find someone on rounds is to walk the opposite direction, so you head south to the stream.
You don’t have to go far.
A group of sheep have gathered in the grass halfway between the Roost and the water, lazing peacefully as if gathered for a little tea party, and you can guess what they’re all discussing.
There, in the middle of their protective huddle, is the man you’ve been waiting for all this time; shoes off, one arm slung above his head, asleep in the sun and the warm, fragrant grass, as if he grabbed your description of the meadow and ran with it, needing the nap of a lifetime.
At first you keep your distance, not wanting to startle him. But then you realize that it might take more than your approach and a couple soft bleats from a lamb to wake him.
Especially with his good ear turned to the ground like that.
Safe. Warm. Content.
Goldie will be coming soon, but you’ll be able to see her from here. No need to wake him yet.
There’s time enough to just sit and shade his face from the sun, watch the steady rise and fall of his hand on his belly, and whisper a little prayer of thanks to the earth and wind and sky–hell, even to the sheep–that Joel and Ellie found their way to Jackson.
And that you found your way to them.
Good. Everyone's got a good reason to keep going then.
________
Lyrics from "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams
PREVIOUS: SPRING
NEXT: AUTUMN
MASTERLIST
SERIES MASTERLIST
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(artwork by @stealyourblorbos)
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five-bi-five-mind · 11 months
Text
Maybe This Time (Pt. 4)
Fandom: Wonder Woman/DCEU
Pairings: Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) x fem!Reader 
Genre: Angst, Smut, Hurt & Comfort
Words: 5.2k+
Summary: After getting you back, Diana decided to do the only thing she could think of to keep you safe: Take you somewhere they could never find you. Everything feels safer now that you’re away with her, but still you can’t really shake the feeling that things won’t be that simple. Can you just ignore your fears and enjoy your time with Diana or will something else start to get in the way?
Warnings: Mentions of burns, trauma, a little bit of representation of PTSD, smut so clit play (r receiving), fingering (r receiving), nipple play (r receiving). 
A/N: I know I know, this was a long wait. But I hope you all enjoy! There’s still more to come with this series so keep an eye out for updates. 
Series Masterlist || Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 ||
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Part 4: In These Arms of Mine
You woke up to the softest sheets and the most beautiful view out your window. In the distance you could hear the rhythmic lap of the water as waves washed over the beach. Never had you awoken to such serene sights and sounds. Yet, you still felt anxiety rise in your chest as you stared at all of the unfamiliarity around you. 
Your breathing quickened and your heart rate sped up. The early morning stupor of having a full night’s sleep not yet leaving your mind. Your confusion was quickly turning to panic, but then you felt her. 
She shifted next to you and for the first time since waking you realized you weren’t alone in the bed. You turned slowly and cautiously to look at her and she looked back at you with a sleepy smile. “You’re safe, little dove,” her voice was raspy as she spoke but immediately she knew what your reaction was. You nodded hesitantly, having heated her voice helped ground you. It’s been a few days since you came here and still you weren’t used to this new place, but soon, you kept promising her. Soon, you’d stop waking up like this. After all, you felt guilty each time you woke her up.
Of course, each time you promised her that soon you wouldn’t wake up the same way, she would say something caring and considerate. “It takes time to heal,” she’d reassure. “You don’t have to hide your fears from me.” She’d sometimes say. Any time you showed your fears, your vulnerability, you were met with the utmost care and concern from Diana. She always knew just what to say to ease all your insecurities.
It’s been a few months now. After you had healed from the kidnapping, you two had spent some time discussing next moves. You insisted that no matter where you went, they’d find you. It always happened like that. Diana came up with a whole new idea. How could they find you in a place where very few people knew existed? So that’s how you found yourself here. In the most breathtaking place you’ve ever been. Themyscira was like nothing you could even imagine in your wildest dreams. The air was fresher, the water more clear. It was untouched by the world you once knew.
At first, you felt incredibly guilty to pull Diana away from her life that she had established, but she reassured you it was getting close to time for her to move on. She didn’t grow old and she was pushing it with the age she did give to the people around her. She too was trying to hide after all, but not for the same reasons. So when she came up with this idea she tried to make it seem like it was no big deal, but still you wondered if it made her sad. You knew from the time you spent working with her, that she loved what she did. But then you saw her arrive on the island and that guilt started to wash away. The way she smiled and how her eyes twinkled as she took in her home made her look even more beautiful to you. You watched in awe as she shrugged off the persona she made as Diana Prince and became Diana, daughter of Hippolyta. She was more free here and it showed. 
You were still nervous here, however. It wasn’t as bad, surely they can’t find you here. At least that’s what you told yourself. Diana and you had both decided to hide out here for a while. You knew she still loved the outside world, despite how comfortable she was in Themyscira. Plus, you both knew the world outside of this island still needed their hero. So, you compromised. Both of you decided to lay low here, but only temporarily. Both of you needed to regroup and recuperate, not just physically but emotionally too. What shook both of you, even if Diana wouldn’t admit it herself, was that these people who were after you were strong. Maybe not quite physically strong as either of you, but they had strength in number and you had a gut feeling there was a great number of them. 
When you got to Themyscira, to your surprise, you were welcomed onto the island with open arms. You were treated as if you were one of them without question. Something that Diana didn’t honestly even see coming. She had warned you that outsiders weren’t exactly a common thing in the island, not necessarily greeted with the most warmth, but she had also reassured you that with her advocacy, they’d come around. She didn’t even need to do that. They immediately embraced you as one of them. It hadn’t been very long and you were hesitant to admit this, but it was all giving you a welcomed familiar feeling. One of family, something you haven’t felt in so long. Warmth would spread in your chest with every time one of the locals would greet you. The people who surrounded Diana and her mother quickly took you under their wing. If Diana was busy with what you called “Princess Duties” then, one of Hippolyta’s righthand women would be with you, teaching you history, customs, you name it about the island. You knew you could fall in love with a person, as you were head over heels in love with Diana, but never did you know you could fall in love with a place. But Themyscira was quickly becoming a rare thing that you cherished. Of all the openness and positivity of those around you, there was only one person you didn’t know how to interact with. Hippolyta herself was kind, but intimating. You chalked it up to how powerful she was in her position and tried not to dwell on it.
One thing you didn’t quite love about this experience, though, was the “training” Diana put you through. It was to master the powers you found yourself with. If you were being honest, this was a long time coming and maybe you should’ve explored them a little more over the years. But there were two problems with that: The first was that if anyone caught sight your cover would be blown and you’d be in danger. The second was that you hated your abilities with every fiber of your being. All you saw in them was destruction and pain. When your fingers blazed with flames and you felt the familiar burn across your palms all you were reminded of was your trauma. Bitterness bubbled deep within you whenever you saw what you, yourself could do. 
At least that hatred was admittedly getting a little better. Diana would sometimes be the one to work with you, but mainly it would be one of the other warriors on the island. If she was watching and you chanced a look at her, she would be looking back at you with pride and admiration. It helped you accept what you’ve become a little more. And it wasn’t just the way you felt about yourself and your powers that changed with training and with being surrounded by the positivity and beauty that was Themyscira. It was your powers themselves that seemed to change. 
If you focused hard enough, the flame would move, the burn would be a dull heat. The control you had on the spread of your ability grew until it felt less like you were being consumed by what you had become and more like it was just an extension of yourself. You felt a pride rising in yourself as you noticed that your body had to heal less and less. You felt a power building in you with each time you trained. Not only that, but you learned (albeit slowly) how to fight with and without your powers. Granted, you were nowhere near as skilled and powerful as Diana and the other women around you, but you were still progressing and could maybe hold your own a little better in a fight now. This power was new, it was exhilarating even, but deep down, if you were being honest, it was terrifying. There was still that gut feeling that something bad could happen at any minute. It was like a new fear unlocked in you, but you couldn’t quite name the fear yet. Were you afraid that the organization would find you? Yes, but it was more dull now. So what was it? You tried not to dwell.
—————————————————————-
Training was harder this time, but you performed superbly. There was a new trick you were working on. Letting the flames lick up your arm without actually harming you. It was a struggle. It took a lot of focus, but you finally nailed it. For a moment, you forgot you had goals to improve and learn to protect yourself and just let yourself dance with the beauty of the flame spinning around you. Your eyes were glued to the way it illuminated the space around you. Your trainer watched, allowing you this moment. Everyone on the island knew of your struggle in some way or another, so it was moments like these that they all wanted you to have. When you stepped foot on that island, with each moment you felt less like a monster and more like yourself, whatever that may mean to you now. Still, the feeling of self loathing and dread was never zero, but it was better. 
So when training was over, you wanted to rush to find Diana and share this moment with her. Some of the women around Hippolyta’s temple told you where you might find her, so you hurried to the meeting hall to see if perhaps she was out of whatever princessly duty she had today. You walked swiftly through the pristine halls of the Hippolyta’s immaculate palace. When you reached the towering doors of the hall you were pleased to see people filing out of the room. It must mean the meeting is over. Good, you were in a rare playful mood to whisk Diana off to the beach and show her your progress. Except, as you scanned the hall, you had yet to see Diana walk out those doors. After a minute, it seemed like the steady flow of Themyscira’s officials had finally stopped, yet Diana hadn’t been spotted. So, you decided to peak in. If the meeting was over, what would it hurt?
You walked up slowly to the double doors that were still slightly cracked. Your hand reached out to start to pull them open more, but faltered when you heard two voices come from the other side.
“What is she to you, Diana?” Hippolyta’s voice came from within the room. 
“We’ve been over this already, mother.” You heard Diana’s voice reply. 
“Yes, but with the statement you just made, child,” Hippolyta’s voice was commanding, yet still gentle, “I’d like to hear it again.”
“It’s hard to explain what she is, what she means. I thought it’s what I felt with him, but it’s so much more. She’s…”Diana paused for a moment and you couldn’t help but lean into the door to hear better. “Everything.” Diana finally said. “She is everything to me.” 
“I know she is,” Hippolyta’s tone almost sounded apologetic. At that moment, you started to realize that maybe you shouldn’t be listening. But it was blatantly obvious that this conversation was about you and you didn’t want to tear away. “But I have my concerns.” 
“Can you not just trust that I can make sound decisions for myself and my own feelings?” Diana was stern, but her voice held the same calm, commanding tone as her mothers. 
“I do trust you, Diana, but this decision could affect the entirety of the island. We have you back finally, you can take your place as Princess of Themyscira again.” 
“We came here for a reason, mother.” Diana’s voice suddenly sounded tired. Something told you this conversation had been had more than once. “I needed to keep her safe.” 
“But what about keeping the island safe?” Hippolyta’s words hit you like a ton of bricks. Did she think you’d bring danger to her people too? That those men could find her? Surely not. So then, did she think you yourself was the source of danger? Your stomach dropped. Your power was growing, but you were learning to understand it more. Surely, she would know you’d never purposely harm a living soul on the island. But then again, purpose was the key word here. Deep down you knew. All it would take is one moment… a brief loss of control of what you could do and then something catastrophic could happen. No, you didn’t want to think about that. 
“I’m done discussing this.” You heard Diana’s foot steps come closer to the door and you began to back away. As you got some didtance you heard her voice echo “it’s going to happen, mother.” And you wondered what “it” was, but didn’t dwell. Right now you really didn’t want them to know you were eavesdropping. Guilt washed over you at your own actions, but at least you now knew where you stood with Diana’s mother and it wasn’t good. 
Your feet took you to your shared room with Diana. All thoughts of proudly showing her what you could do had left your mind. When Diana returned to you she noticed immediately that you seemed off. The smile you greeted her with seemed forced, pained. She was concerned, but when she asked, you shrugged it off. You were withdrawn for the rest of the evening. 
————————————————————
The smell of smoke hit your senses first. You knew if you opened your eyes you’d see a sight that you really didn’t want to see. You could hear the crackle of trees as they broke down, you could hear the roar of fire coming from all sides, and worse, you could hear the cries of agony echo in the distance. Smoke filled your lungs and you sputtered a cough. 
Finally, you willed yourself to open your eyes and what you saw confirmed your fears. There was no other color in the world around you but the vibrant red as flames consumed everything in sight. Your chest heaved, not from the lack of oxygen but from the gut wrenching sorrow that filled you. This was you. You did this. 
Your eyes fell to your hands and you were startled. Instead of flesh you saw what looked like molten lava and searing hot stone in the shape of your arms. Heat radiated from your palms and you fell to your knees in shock. The grass ignited under your hands and quickly you pushed yourself up. The flames still spread though. 
You scrambled, it wasn’t just where your hands were that caught fire around you. Where your knees hit the ground, there too sprang flames. As you stood you looked further down, only to realize your whole body matched your hands. 
Fire licked at your heels and yet it didn’t hurt you. But it hurt them. Yours eyes turned to the hills, where in the distance you could see more and more homes get swallowed by flames. People fled, but you watched as some burned. Their screams echoed louder, louder, louder…
They drowned out the roar of the fire now. You put your hands to your ears but it didn’t muffle their cries even a little bit. Finally, you screamed too, overwhelmed by everything around you. Yet, it still didn’t rival that of the people. 
And then, under the anguished howling around you, you heard a small groan of pain. Your eyes turned fast to where the sound came from. Off to the side of the burning field you found yourself in came the source of the noise. Your heart dropped when you realized what you were looking at.
There she was, Diana. Your love, your protector, your everything. She was on the ground, crumpled. Burning. 
You ran to her, dropping to your knees without a second thought. Your hands flew to her arm to try to turn her towards you, but the minute you did you saw her skin sear and you pulled away.
“No,” you cried. “No, no…”
“No!” 
“Shhh, it’s okay.” A voice cooed. Suddenly the smell of smoke was gone, the heat surrounding you dissipated. The world was silent. “You’re okay.”
Strong arms wrapped themselves around you and your eyes finally cracked open to see that you were back in the safety of your shared room. Diana pulled you to her chest, a hand running through your hair to calm you.
You turned into her. Your hands clutched at her shirt and you buried your face into the crook of her neck. You took a deep breath, inhaling her familiar scent, taking in everything about her. She was safe, it was just a dream. 
But it felt so real. 
“Was it about that man again?” Diana spoke softly into the otherwise silent room.
“Not this time.” Your voice was hoarse, you tried to clear it, but you were still too shaken from the dream.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked. You just shook your head, still keeping your face pressed into her. Your fists clenched tighter onto her shirt and you were sure, if the room wasn’t so dark, you’d see that they had gone white from how tight you held on.
“Whatever it was about,” Diana murmured, her lips still pressed lightly to the top of your head, “it was nothing but a dream. You’re safe here, my love.” Her hand moved from your hair to cup your cheek and bring your face out from where you were trying to hide. Her lips pressed gently to yours for a brief moment before she pulled back again. “I promise, you’re safe.”
That wasn’t the problem, but you didn’t want to tell her that now. Your head was suddenly filled with a new fear, a fear that the people here and even her weren’t safe from you. The words of Hippolyta replayed in the back of your mind, but you tried to shove them back down. You didn’t want to think about it. Instead, you leaned back in, capturing her lips in a kiss far different from the one she just gave. 
Diana hesitated for a moment, trying to steady you with a firm hold on your shoulder. She pulled back slightly, only so she could meet your eyes. Both of you knew where this was heading and she just wanted to make sure you were sure this was something you wanted tonight. You met her eyes with a look that said it all. You needed to feel her tonight, to be in her arms in a type of intimate way that as of recently was only a privilege for her to have. She just nodded, her hand reaching up from your shoulder to press gently to your cheek. Your hand covered hers and you turned your head to place a kiss on her palm. She really was your safe space, your hero, your all. It was only in her arms that you felt all your fears finally melt away and it was in her arms that you needed to be engulfed in tonight to take away all your painful worrying. 
After a few seconds of comfortably staying like that, Diana dropped her arms. With both strength and tenderness, she wrapped them around your waist and pulled you into a sitting position on her lap as she too sat up. Your hands immediately encircled her neck and you pulled her back in to meet her lips. The kiss was deep, breathtaking even, but still slow and full of utter admiration. The way her arms tightened slightly as your tongue peaked out to trace her lips, the way her chest rose and fell a little faster as you pressed your body fully into her, it was all intoxicating. 
Honestly, just this, the way she was kissing you as if she was trying to pour every ounce of her heart into it, was enough to make you feel better. But still, you wanted to feel more of her and if she were being honest, she did too. Diana’s hands moved from where they had pressed to the small of your back, dipping down under your sleep shirt so she could feel your bare skin against the palms of her hands. Her hands moved up your back slowly, dragging your shirt up with them. You let go of your hold on her so that she could easily take your shirt all the way off. She dropped it haphazardly on the ground and leaned back.
There you were, bare from the waist up before her. Her eyes were dark, pupils blown as she leaned back a tiny bit so she could take you in. You looked so beautiful to her. Every time she saw you like this she swore she’d never felt happier than when she had these moments with you. Her eyes dragged up and down your naked torso and you still weren’t over how shy she could make you. Your arms flew to your chest, crossing over it in an attempt to cover yourself. 
Diana gave you a small smile before resting one of her hands on your arm, gently pressing down so that you’d stop covering yourself. “You look beautiful, (Y/N).” Her voice was filled with gentle reassurance and patience. “Please, let me see you?” You paused for a moment, nodding hesitantly before letting her pull your arms all the way down. Diana gave you a soft smile before leaning down. A small gasp left your lips when she leaned down far enough to brush her lips against one of your bare nipples. She placed a soft kiss to the tip of it before, without warning, taking it into her mouth. Your hands flew to tangle into her hair and your teeth sunk down into your bottom lip to stop yourself from letting out what would’ve surely been an embarrassing whine. 
Her tongue swirled around the peak and your hold on her hair tightened. Diana didn’t mind though, if anything it just spurred on her actions more. She switched to your other nipple, paying just as much attention to it and you began to squirm on top of her. With her strong hands, Diana moved them back down to your hips and started guiding you slowly to grind against her. However, you both quickly decided there was still too much clothes in between you two. With a pop, Diana let go of your nipple and you moved your hands to tug at her shirt, pulling it off her and throwing it behind her. With her hold on you, effortlessly, she lifted you just enough so you could shimmy yourself out of the underwear you were sleeping in. Diana did the same with her sleep bottoms, lifting herself and you with her as she kicked them off. 
When you both were finally without clothes, Diana paused again. Her hand returning to your cheek before slowly dragging it down your neck, then your chest, and then slowly down your stomach. Her eyes followed her hand as she ran it down your body, but yours stayed glued on her face. The way she looked at you made you shiver, and you knew your heart was pounding with anticipation as her hand went lower and lower. 
Finally, her hand made it between your legs. She continued to watch the movements of her fingers and she used two to slowly slide down your folds, gathering the wetness that she had already caused. You were embarrassed to admit how much you already wanted her. But that was how it was with her. When she kissed you, you never wanted it to end, when she held and touched you, you never wanted to leave her arms. You wondered if this profound need to just be near her would ever end, but deep down you knew it never would. 
Diana’s fingers moved back up your folds and then further and you watched in shy awe as she placed the tips of her fingers to her lips and took them slowly into her mouth. Your face flushed at her reaction. Her eyes closed and she let out a low moan as she tasted you. When her fingers left her mouth and her eyes reopened there was a new fire in them. She looked at you with pure hunger and you shivered at the intensity of her gaze. 
Her hand shot back down between your legs and she immediately started circling your clit. Her eyes turned to your face, watching as your expression turned into that of pleasure. Her fingers moved faster for a moment and she was pleased to see that your hips started to move with her. 
Your hands held tight to her, pulling her to press against your chest as she kept going. She, in turn, buried her head in your neck and began placing open mouth kisses against your skin. 
You couldn’t help the way your hips sped up, wanting more from her as she continued to play with your body. Finally, Diana’s fingers paused. She pulled back from your neck and you looked at her with what you were sure was an utterly pitiful pleading face. Your hips kept moving, trying to chase the feeling she was building in you, but a strong hand grabbed your hip and effectively stilled you. 
“Look at me,” she commanded, her voice raspy with need. You did as you were told, only to see her gaze burn into you with its intensity. “You are so breathtaking,” she says and with that you suddenly feel her fingers go lower until two slowly enter you. 
Your whole body shudders at the feeling and you can’t stop the loud gasp that leaves your lips. It echoes through the room as her fingers start moving up into you. Your head falls forward, your forehead pressing to her shoulder. The grip you had on her releases, only for a moment, to drop to her back. You press her closer as she starts a steady rhythm. When the hand that was on your hip started to guide you again to move with her fingers, your nails started to dig into her skin. If it was anyone else, you knew it would’ve hurt. But all you felt from Diana was the tense of her muscles as she gradually picked up the pace. 
At this point, you were letting her take full control. Your mouth hung open as your face remained buried in her shoulder. She was practically lifting you and moving you back down onto her fingers as she pumped them inside you. Moans were being muffled by her bare skin and you could hear sounds of Diana too as she touched you. Her breathing was ragged as she kept going, occasionally she would let out a moan of her own as your hips pressed against hers. 
Your legs began to shake the closer you got to the edge and your thighs tightened around her as you struggled to stay upright on her lap. Diana took notice of this, the hand guiding you, suddenly moving to encircle your waist. Her hips began to buck hard into you, putting more power into the movement of her fingers. It took a few more seconds of this before you felt yourself falling apart on top of her. 
Your body slumped forward after a minute of you coming down from the orgasm she drew out of you. Her fingers slowed to a stop before delicately sliding out of you. She held you in her arms as you caught your breath. 
Both of you stayed like that for a few moments. She placed kisses to the top of your head and you returned them with innocent ones pressed against your shoulder. Her fingers started to run through your hair and suddenly your body felt heavy. Sleepiness hit you once again and Diana could tell. 
She repositioned you so that when she leaned back, you went with her, your body comfortably resting upon hers. Her arms moved to trace along your bare back. Your hands started to move lower, realizing you had maybe been a little selfish in getting all the attention and not reciprocating, but Diana stopped you by gently wrapping her hand around your wrist. “Not tonight, my love.” 
You looked back up to meet her eyes and she looked back at you with a gentle smile. “But you didn’t…”
“Maybe tomorrow you can make it up to me.” Her fingers went to brush a strand of hair from your face. “Just let me hold you for the rest of the night.” 
You nodded, a little relieved because of how tired you suddenly found yourself. You leaned up and briefly kissed her lips. She returned it happily before you laid back down with your ear pressed to her chest. As you listened to the gentle thrum of her heartbeat she took your hand from where it rested on her waist and brought it to her lips to kiss each finger tip. The softness of it all made you smile against her chest.
“You know…” Diana mused as she played with the tips of your fingers. “My people used to believe that a long time ago when the cosmos was created, living things would be made up of two parts. Two heads, two sets of arms, two sets of everything.”
“Sounds kind of scary,” You mumbled into her chest. 
“Yes,” Diana chuckled softly. “I suppose it does. But eventually living beings changed, we separated and became two halves. Now, some still believe that their other half is out there. That we each make up two parts to one whole and that other part is…” Diana paused for a moment trying to find the right words. “I guess you’d call it a soulmate.”
You looked up a Diana for a moment, your arms still resting around her waist. She looked down at you with a gentle sincerity shining in her eyes. “Do you believe in it?” You asked. 
“I didn’t used to,” She whispered. “But my perspective is changing.” Her hands moved to run slowly through your hair again and you laid your head back down. Never in the long years you’ve survived had you felt more safe, more whole, than in this moment. Diana began to hum gently, a melody you weren’t familiar with but soothing all the same. After a short while you fell back into a deep sleep and Diana continued to hold you in her arms until the sun came up. 
Little did you know that Diana didn’t fall back asleep with you that night. Her mind was elsewhere as you slumbered in her arms. Her eyes kept moving to her wardrobe, where buried deep was a certain item that could change everything. Her mother might have her doubts, but she knew, undoubtedly, that it would be for the better. All she needed was the right moment. 
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piglet26 · 5 months
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Reylo Scenes: TFA
The day after the Force Awakens Ren and Rey were christened Reylo. I always laugh when Lucasfilm and JJ Adams tried to keep this pairing neutral and "suggestive" like seriously. The seeds were laid in the first film for FinnRey and Reylo, but really Reylo was always going to reign supreme not only because of the chemistry between Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver but the writing, art direction, acting and even costuming leaned Reylo heavily.
Reylo are introduced as Ying Yang right off the bat. Ren arriving in Jakku by night in black with a black mask. Rey meet on Jakku by day in white with a white mask.
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The first time Ren hears about Rey or "the girl" he reaches out towards the camera and Rey reaches back towards him.
It's stated that Ren and Rey had similar visions of one another without understanding who the other was. In Rey's lightsaber vision she sees Ren very clearly setting up that he, bringing him back to the light, is her future.
On Takodana, it's canon that the production team wanted Ren's arrival to be like a prince arriving at a castle to meet a princess. "In this scene she is drawn to this place almost like Cinderella." FYI Ben Solo is an actual Prince. You know the twisted Star Wars version.
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Then there is their first scene in Takodana. In the novelization this moment is more intense than the already intense movie scene. Kylo Ren recognizes that this is the girl that created a ripple in the force. He's fascinated with her. The standby stormtroopers actually are noted to having a reaction to his odd interaction with her. Despite the fact that he probably could've taken the information from her then, he bridal carries her out.
Having circled her, he moved even close peering into her face, her eyes
"It is you," he murmured.
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The interrogation scene - the moment the Reylo fandom was born. Does it bother me that she's strapped to a BDSM stand? No. It's actually very clear that she's a peer. He doesn't approach her like he did with Poe Dameron. He's kneeling down as he observes her. She's a powerful force user and he does respect her on that level. He also does want her to be comfortable hence taking his mask off and girl....
I know you were not expecting this fine ass man to be behind that mask.
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Believe me, I would've had all kinds of images in my head he would've picked up on.
He also checks her out physically. He's focused on the information he needs but overall he is attracted to her and very interested.
Rey surprised him but not being the simply girl she was in the forest. She is actually powerful in the force "untrained but stronger than she knows."
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"Don't be afraid. I feel it"
Reylos "Feel what exactly. The minds want to know."
It's also canon in this scene that their force bond starts in this moment. She actually learns how to get in his brain from him getting into here's.
Force bonds between masters and apprentices aren't new. It used for defense/offence and it makes it so skills are easy to translate to apprentices.
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Now their fight scene which was filled with sexual tension that everyone noted. It's still complex. Rey's instinct is to defend herself and Finn. She also just saw him murder someone. Ren is fleshing her out and testing her. It's like sparring. Where it's get's interesting is when they spiritually connect.
Daisy Ridley "Finding the force together"
Ren "You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the force"
Many people read the moment as Rey finding the force on her own but it's actually the both of the moving through the force together. Kylo Ren actually finds a powerful ally/kinship with her and reaches out for that connection. Considering he rejects most of his connections this is actually a big deal. Is looking for a girlfriend? No, but he is looking for somebody.
Rey has such a conflicted view of him and an off kilter one.
Rey beating Ren is stupid. Even if he is injured, emotional damaged and surprised. It's stupid. It should've been a draw.
His stunned "Just Marry Me" face is also really great.
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It's a great start and a unique relationship especially in the Star Wars universe. It's ridiculous that adults who grew up on Han/Leia find romance something purely feminine now and so unlike Star Wars hahaha either way Reylos stay winning.
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bronx-bomber87 · 4 months
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Happy Wednesday Fandom :) More of that pining/slow burn in this one. I saw a post that said ‘The greatest things take the longest time.’ That is Chenford in a nutshell. The buildup and reward are so good. This one is fantastic for so many reasons. Also we get rid of the dead weight that is Ashley in this one. The symbolism in this one is very poignant. So let’s get going.
5x05 The Fugitive
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A foot chase starts our ship off in this one. Tim takes down one of the suspects with an impressive takedown. Sexy af until he injures himself. Lucy pulls up and is on it immediately for him. Tim is clearly in pain and Lucy is instantly worried. Asking if he’s ok? Tim being Tim brushes it off. Saying it was just the take down. He tweaked his back is all. Then grimaces some more. Activating worried wifey mode to the max. You no longer have a choice in this now Timothy. She has decided you are going to the hospital and that is that sir. This is not up for debate. At all. Weird place or not you are her person and she will make sure you are taken care of. That’s instinctual.
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This next scene is the epitome of stubborn husband and exasperated wife. Tim comes gimping into the hospital. Lucy is hot on his trail worry pouring out of her. Nolan starts to update Tim on the fugitive loose in the hospital. Lucy cuts John off and says he’s not there as a supervisor. Damn girl you just take the lead for your man.
Idk what’s more telling to those around them. That Lucy is in wifey mode taking over for Tim. Or That Tim starts to fight her then gives in. Either way acting married af right now. Or as I saw in some tags we could call this scene ‘Where wives don’t believe their husbands.’ LOL From the minute he started hurting worried wife was activated.
She is not giving up till you are seen Tim. She is so exasperated with him when he says ‘Ok I’m not fine.’ Like yeah it’s what I’ve been telling you this entire time you stubborn ox of a man haha She's so gentle in helping him sit in that second gif though. Mad he won't listen but soft when he needs her. Mixture of extremely worried and infuriated with him.
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Lucy is doing her search for the fugitive when she runs into Tim’s room. Awkward central. She wasn’t expecting Ashley. haha Tells them she's just looking for bad guys...Tim doesn’t let her leave yet asking how the search is going? Asking If Nolan is leaving a cop on every floor? Lucy’s incredulous look and sass reply are the best. ‘Yes we’ve been cops for more than ten seconds.’ Lucy stays long enough to be present for the doctor. He explains it's an old injury flaring up.
It's from when he was shot few years back. Ashley's reaction to a bullet makes me roll my eyes. He’s a cop those tend to be apart of the deal….The doctor telling him the injury from a few years ago is a problem now. There was a fragment that was too complicated to move at the time. So they left it there. Tim tries to relax Ashley and say he was ‘Just shot’ not a big deal. Trying to downplay it. Lucy bragging she saved his life on day one. It was a big deal heh I mean it really was... His hot shot in action saved his life.
Tim ignores her comment and let's the doctor finish. He says the fragment has traveled and is now closer to his spinal column. It’s pressing on a nerve now. So they need to do surgery to remove it. Tim says 'Ok…when?' Wifey jumps in not Ashley and asks ‘Hold on, what are the risks?’ The doctor must’ve thought Ashley was Tim’s sister and Lucy was the spouse at this point. He has to. The way Lucy is acting is that of a worried wife. Asking questions and not just sitting there as the doctor speaks.
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The doctor answers Lucy’s question by saying ‘They’re talking about the spine so it’s risky..’ The silent communication above oh my word. He doesn’t look to Ashley for comfort when the doc says this. No no. He looks to his person for it. The way he flits his eyes over to her. The writing was on the wall for Ashley in this one in so many ways. Let’s not forget his GF is standing right next to him as he does this.
Literally right there as they have this mini silent convo with his soulmate. How this woman wasn’t consistently threatened by Lucy I’ll never understand. When his panic and worry start to pile up who does he look to? His girl. Such a short moment with so much meaning attached to it. They’ve been each other’s safe place and harbor for a long time.
So naturally he would look to Lucy not his GF in this moment. Ashley is so far past her expiration date at this point she's starting to smell. Gah their chemistry is out of the world good. This moment above a reflection of that. Also Lucy’s reaction to the doctor saying it’s risky. *heart clutch*
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Tim opts to do the surgery even though it’s risky. It’s better than doing nothing. He says it could be laparoscopic and he’ll be home by dinner. Look at Lucy’s panic in that first gif. She was not done with grilling that doctor. Nor was she done talking to Tim about this. But sadly she's not his SO and can't have more input. If she was his wife that doctor would’ve spent little longer in that room. You can tell how antsy and worried she is.
Looking at Tim with that same amount of worry. Lucy touches her tattoo. Her go to when she’s super stressed and overwhelmed. Her heart is hurting she can’t be the one comforting him. Can't be the one grilling the doctor some more and having a say in this. It’s killing her. Since she can’t do anything more she opts to leave. Also Ashley comforting Tim is not something she wants to see anyway. It’s hurting her to watch tbh.
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So Lucy gets awkward and says she’s gonna get back to the search. Being in the room isn't something she can stand at this point. So she takes off back where she came from. Where do Tim’s eyes go? Not to Ashley. To Lucy who just left the room. We all know he’s not with Ashley because he loves her.
It’s just comfortable and safe because he can’t be with Lucy. Breaks my damn heart. All his feelings were showing in this scene. 100% of them towards Lucy in this moment. Look at that man above. His heart just walked out of the room and it shows. He wanted her to stay but there wasn’t a reason for her to. You’re so in love with her Timothy. It's painfully obvious at this point.
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Lucy comes to see Grey after he collapsed in front of her. He got food poisoning from breakfast place they went to. Ashley did him a solid by having him not eat bread I guess...Lucy is so cute when she comes in saying it’s like a sleepover LOL Never change Lucy Chen never change. This makes me laugh so very much. First I wanna say I love Grey trusting her enough to run the station. That’s amazing.
Second it's hilarious because they both need her to get a move on. With Smitty in charge god only knows what’s happening without them. When she arrives he’s already given a friend day off….Lucy asks what he’s doing? Tells her 'When you’re in charge you let your friends go home early.' OMG lol Lucy is panicked and says but we’re short today…Reminding him they’re understaffed due to the units on the hospital. Smh. This is why they sent her back...
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We return to Ashley back in his room. Talking about how Tim could retire if he wanted. Be on disability/pension if this surgery keeps him from working. Move out of LA. It’s insane to me she would even suggest this. But not surprising. The thing I didn’t like about Ashley was her constantly molding Tim into her version. Once again vapid is the perfect description for Ashley.
Not having him strive to be a better person like Lucy does. Because she is blah and doesn’t challenge him. Just wanted her version of him. Where Lucy challenges him and makes him want to be better. Loves him for who he is. Ashley just keeps trying to shove Tim into a box. Her box of who she thinks he should be like. Not loving him for who he is.
Lucy loves every part of this man. Warts and all and vice versa. Trying to take away being a cop to be a beach bum? Outside of LA? She doesn’t know the man lying next to her at all. Why you ask? Oh you know just those glaring communication issues they've had since day one. This goes all the way back to 4x10 with Kojo. It's not gotten any better.
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Because of this lack of communication she’s only gotten surface level Tim. The Tim that doesn’t want to rock the boat. So he is just going with it. Better than making waves. D brought up an excellent point in 4x21 in her comments. About him not fighting her because of his PTSD with Isabel. Her saying he was too rigid. Tim is over correcting now where he’s not even himself at this point. Possibly agreeing to this ‘Life plan’ of hers. Just going through the motions because he has to.
He doesn’t want to be alone and he can’t be with Lucy. It’s insanely heartbreaking when you break it down like this. Tim is losing who he is in this relationship. Just to please a person he doesn’t even love. To quell anxieties his ex-wife thrust upon him. We see him hesitate because it’s a life he doesn’t really want. Makes me mad as I write this. Tim deserves so much better.
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Tim goes to stretch his legs while he still can. He sees the fugitive and tries to stop him. Oh my Timothy why would you do this being so hurt? Because he's a lawman first and foremost that's why. Not that Ashley get’s that....I wanna cry with how much pain he’s in. Gah Eric killing me softly. We see his bravado disappear in an instant. Tim then thinks of the two most important women in his life. His sister and his girl. No no not bloody Ashley. Lucy. Sends Ashley to call his sister.
When Grey makes it over he tells him not to tell Lucy. Knowing she would drop EVERYTHING to be by his side. Tim putting her first even when he's in danger himself. Does he not see what a husband move this is? I’m sure Wade does. Minute Ashley is gone he tells him not to tell Lucy. Fierce protector reporting for duty even when he’s hurting. If Lucy saw him grimacing like he is she would lose her damn mind. He knows this and decides to keep her out of the loop because of it.
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Lucy sees a bunch of cops leaving and is panicking. They say Smitty is letting them leave early. Harper comes up and Lucy asks for her help. Nyla knowing Lucy is a BAMF saying all she has to do is say different. I adore the way Harper builds her up in this moment. Filling in those gaps still when Tim can’t. It’s amazing. Letting her know she has their respect.
With everything she’s been through and done for others. No way these cops wouldn’t have her back if she asked for it. Lucy tells them what’s going on. How spread thin they are and she needs them. Jan nods and says ‘You got it Chen.’ Love this for her. Smitty comes up and ask if she’s in charge? She says yeah I guess. He looks so relieved and hands the reins over HA
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Here comes the scene where I wanna drop kick Ashley into a volcano. I think I’ve been much harsher on Chris than I have her so far. But this is where that changes. Tim is just getting out of surgery. JUST. What does she do? Project her crap onto Tim. Then break up with him for it. Girl, you knew he was a cop from the damn jump. For MONTHS. You knew this. Wasn’t a secret he kept from you. Yet you decide to condemn him for it cause of an injury he had years ago. This has to be one of the most incredibly selfish things I’ve ever seen. That line from 5x08 ‘You deserve someone who’s worth the effort.’ Clearly to Ashley, Tim wasn’t worth the effort.
Breaks my heart for Tim. Leaving him alone post surgery. I hate her for this. I really do. When Lucy would’ve lost her damn mind even knowing about this. The only way she would change her mind is if he retired. Cool so you didn’t get what you wanted so you bail on him? Awesome. Real classy of you. This was just all their crappy communication, incompatibility and just being so wrong for each other coming to a head. At the absolute worst time for Tim. The way he says 'I just got out of surgery...' Breaks my heart. Let me at her Tim. I'm Italian we're scrappy.
I also just wanna hug him so very much. What a shitty thing to do. It’s a rough ride to 5x08. This one just hurts to watch. But good riddance to bad rubbish as they say. Tim was only in that relationship cause it was safe. To fill the hole in his heart Lucy left. And she didn’t even do that good of a job... She did him a favor really. The insane amount of symbolism between Lucy and Ashley in this ep is glaring. When it’s the right person this stuff doesn’t matter. She asks him if she can get him anything? No. Get the hell out. You aren’t fit to breathe the same air as him let alone be in his presence anymore. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. You won’t be missed.
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We return to Lucy at Grey’s desk looking exhausted as hell. He comes in to relieve her. He asks how did it go? She lies and says it was great…. Wade laughs and says ‘It was great?’ He tells her he spoke with the communication supervisor. That she did a masterful job of managing calls with half the normal staff. Lucy thanks him but says she is more than ready to hand it back to him.
She asks about Tim’s laparoscopic? Grey sighs and tells her the news. It’s the way he softly delivers it. Knowing how sick with worry she’s going to be. The man knew. We see the absolute panic on her face. She goes from tired to extremely alert and worried af. That man is the important person in her life. She doesn’t have to blink before she’s at the hospital for him.
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Let’s talk about this panicked absolutely panicked walk to his room. How she’s desperately searching for him once she arrives. The way she rubs her tattoo when she reaches it. Gah it’s so good. I love Melissa doing that small touch with her tattoo anytime she is worried/stressed. It’s like she can’t breathe until her eyes are on him. That she won't relax until she can see that he’s safe and ok.
The shaky way she approaches his bed. Bracing herself for the worst since she knows NOTHING about his surgery. Asking him so softly if he’s ok? Getting angry asking 'Why no one told her in the first place?' Tim is smiling because he’s just so damn happy she cares about him. That’s she’s here. He tells her everything went ok. He'll make a full recovery. That he told everyone to keep her in the dark. She goes from worried wifey to scolding LOL
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Tim’s answer is so damn revealing. Lucy is picking up on the feelings he’s just laying out for her. Telling her he didn’t want her to worry. Lucy putting the pieces together in her reply. Tim couldn’t be more obvious in his affection for her in this moment. Truly think Lucy was catching onto his feelings right here. It’s the soft way she repeats it back with a very affectionate smile on her face. She loves this man so much. It's written all over her face.
They’re both so sweet and loud in their feelings in this moment. This is such married behavior it’s unreal. He could’ve used Lucy in this whole situation. But once again puts her above his own needs. Because Tim Bradford. Literally screaming his feelings at her in this moment. Tim is realizing this as she parrots back what he did. Goes back on the defensive saying to slow her roll LOL
That he misspoke he was really talking about the station. Uh huh. Sure babe that’s what you’re talking about…Continuing on to say he didn’t want to distract her with worrying about him. So she could properly take over from Smitty. Lucy’s BS detector is out and it’s going off like crazy. He knows she would’ve let the station burn to be with him. To have someone by his side. Instead of calling him out on it further she just does a knowing ‘Mmm-hmm.’
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He then goes into proud hubby mode. Look at this man. Like I said in 5x03 he looks at her like she’s hung the moon and stars. Does that by saying he heard she saved the day. Lucy decides to banter back at him. Instead of just taking his praise. Being sassy af in her reply instead of just thanking him. I love this because it shows the comfortability that is still there.
Telling him it wasn't that hard. Pretending she wasn't phased at all by this daunting task. Tacking on she doesn't know why he's always complaining LOL He just complimented her and she knows he means it. So instead of shying away from it she engages in flirty banter with her person. Tim catching onto her game joins in saying 'Really? Just smooth sailing?' They easily fall back into their natural banter here.
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Lucy then cracks with a big smile for him. Saying ‘No…it was awful!’ Haha The comfortable solace of their banter coming to life in this moment. It makes my heart so happy after the last few eps. Lucy feels their flow returning. So she decides to rant about her day. Saying to him 'How can so many things go wrong in one day?' ha
Tim returning fire with a sassy reply of his own. Shooting back it wasn’t even a particularly bad day. The flirty body language from Lucy my god. Be more telling my goodness. Does my heart good them bantering and bickering. It's so nice to see after the heaviness they've been carrying around. They both had horrid days. Lucy with the shift from hell. Tim with almost being paralyzed and having emergency surgery.
You wouldn’t know that from watching them banter in this scene. They haven’t had this kind of back and forth in forever. We haven’t seen them this light in weeks. Haven’t see them be themselves at all since 5x01. Look at these two. They’re practically glowing from this sassy banter exchange. Just the pick me up they both needed.
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Lucy asks where’s Ashley? Tim stutters around and says he sent her home. She was ‘exhausted.’ Ugh my heart. He’s too hurt to tell her what happened. She’s worried enough about him as is. He won’t add to it. His default gear putting her first. Lucy says ‘Ok.’ believing his lie. She goes to sit down because if she isn’t going to be here Lucy sure as hell is. We talked about symbolism for this ep at the very beginning. This is that in a nutshell.
Lucy filling the seat next to his bed that Ashley has vacated. Not that she is aware of that at this point but Tim is. Lucy makes the choice to stay with him. It means more to Tim in this moment than she’ll ever know. Her automatic reaction is to stay so he doesn’t have to be alone post surgery. Knowing he would like the company even if he doesn’t ask for to. She just knows him that well. This moment means so much to Tim.
He is very gun shy from Ashley legit just abandoning him. He questions why she’s sitting down. The shock is all over his face when she originally takes that seat. Lucy’s answer is wonderful and obvious to her. 'I’m keeping you company.' Thinking what else would I be doing after rushing to come see you? I also think she just wants to keep an eye on him. Make sure he’s really ok.
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She is putting him first in this moment. Just like she always has. Always will. Tim tells her she doesn’t have to. Then Lucy does a terrible job of hiding her own feelings. Giving him heart eyes galore replying ‘I know.’ Basically saying ‘I know but I love you.’ No where else she’d rather be. It’s why his smile Is so damn soft for her. She doesn’t have to stay. She WANTS to be with him. Keep him company while he recovers from something so awful.
She is choosing him in this moment and he knows it. It’s written all over his handsome face. He is so grateful to her in this moment. Her presence being a salve to his emotional and physical wounds. Gah I love this episode so very much. Just another ep showing how Lucy is very much his person and Ashley was never close to that. Not in million years. Such a good one after low content drought. Sure it was intentional by the writers to starve us a bit then deliver this gem of ep ❤️
~~~
Side notes- non chenford
Love learning about Angela’s brother’s. Also that final scene with her mom makes me cry every time. It’s my own issues but I’m jealous. Angela deserves that apology. Yeah she’s a bad ass but even a bad ass still needs their mom. The way her mom owns up to it and apologizes. My heart. It makes me sad cause I’ll never get that so it gets me right in the feels. But so glad she got it.
Whew we're 5 eps down already unreal. Thank you to everyone who likes, comments and reblogs. You are the reason I do this :) see you in 5x06
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jokeringcutio · 1 year
Note
Can I request a grabber x f!reader where reader is his new neighbor and maybe Samson gets out to her yard and they meet through that, with some flirting from reader and flustered Al :) ?
Sure you can♡ I love this one. Didn't have much time but managed to wring out a little cute drabble just to upload a little something before I call it a night. Tried to keep it light. If you want some more, have specific needs that need answering, or want some more rated material, please let me know.♡
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♡ Neighbor♡
Fandom: Black Phone 2022 Pairing: The Grabber/ Albert Shaw x Reader Rating: Teen Warnings: None. Note: Someone sent in another neighbor prompt. Hell yeah he has a corruption kink, so that one is definitely gonna come soon. Just like the insomnia prompt. LOVE 'EM ♡
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->♡ Neighbor♡ The dog came bounding at you entirely unexpectedly. A pitch-black flurry of movement that was up against your leg within a flash. Tongue out and panting loudly, paws against your hip and then up to your waist. You saw that it was a rather large dog with a big snout and mesmerizing grey eyes.
“Woah-woah there,” you yelped at the totally unexpected meeting. Your heart was thumping loudly in your chest, but when you saw it was a dog and that he was eager for some attention, you quickly brought your hand to his head, gently petting him.
He didn’t snap at you. Rather, he turned his head, eager for you more. You took the invitation and knelt down alongside him.
“Aren’t you a good boy?” You gently scratched behind his head, then stroked his furry back and watched how the dog closed his eyes in pleasure. He leaned further into your touch. Though he might look like someone’s guard dog, he behaved like an eager puppy. It was sort of cute?
“Samson? Samson!” you heard a rough voice coming from the neighbor’s house. A male, his voice low and husky. “Ah, Samson, there you are.”
The man in question came to stand at the edge of your garden. His eyes darkened when his gaze fell upon the dog. Arms folded in front of his chest. “Samson, you can’t just go attack our new neighbors.”
You looked up at the man, never ceasing petting the dog, Samson. The man’s eyes were as grey as his dog’s. It was the first thing you noticed about your new neighbor. “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” you said, smiling up at him.
Your neighbor just stared at you. Grey-blue eyes piercing into you while he stood unmoving. The way the silence stretched while the man observed you made you feel uncomfortable.
“Er, my name is,” here you introduced yourself awkwardly, not certain why your neighbor remained stoically quiet. Didn’t he like it when you were petting his dog? Perhaps that was it.
“I just moved in three days ago. Still have some unboxing to do,” you raised your hands, earning a displeased bark from Samson who wanted to be scratched a little longer. Then you rose and made your way over to the grumpily staring man, his dog swirling between your legs in an attempt to either trip you or focus your attention back on him. You didn’t let Samson win and managed to reach his owner without tripping.
“Nice to meet you,” you said with a smile, hoping it would force some sort of reaction out of your new neighbor.
Finally, his shell cracked and the thin line of pressed lips curled into a smile similar to your own. Ah, so he was alive after all.
“Albert Shaw,” the man said, offering to shake your hand, “but you can call me Al. Pleasure to meet you.”
You didn’t hesitate to grasp his hand in your own. His palm was hot and dry against your own, fingertips grazing slightly as he let go after. You thought you saw something glint in his eyes, like a thought or a revelation. But he did not share it with you. Instead, he kept his pleasant smile and put his hands on his hips. “Hope Samson didn’t cause you too much trouble. He usually isn’t very keen on people. More a guard dog.”
Ah, so you had been right thinking that. You smiled and looked over your shoulder to find Samson sitting by your side, tongue out of his mouth, watching you eagerly. He didn’t look scary like this at all.
Your gaze returned to your neighbor, Al. “No, not at all.”
“Good,” Al said with a smile. Was he relieved? Had he been worried? “Good.” He seemed to contemplate something, and while he did so, you studied him. He was of average height, with wispy chestnut hair that had started to fade into grey, long legs, and small beady eyes. There was a kind smile curling his lips.
His hands looked strong, with veins showing, calloused palms, and sturdy fingers with well-manicured nails. He wore silver bracelets around both of his arms and rings on both hands, which surprised you. They didn’t look like proper wedding bands, so they must be some kind of fancy jewelry. Not the kind of thing you expected a man of his age to wear. And yeah, he looked like an older gent.
He must be tipping his fifties, you thought. With lines of age defining his handsome features. He wore a vest with an embroidered pattern and flared brown pants with black shoes underneath. It suited him.
“So,” he said, suddenly appearing shy. He brought a hand up to his hair, running his fingers through the tresses as if nervous. Yet his pleasant smile never faded, though the corners of his lips seemed to tremble somewhat. Yep, nervous all right. You thought it was actually kind of cute. Perhaps he wasn’t used to talking to new people?
“Would you like to come over for a drink sometime? Tell me more about where you came from and what you’re doing on the outskirts of a town like this?”
His piercing blue eyes sought yours and you felt a hot lick of pleasure on the inside of your tummy. There was something about this man… Something that made your heart throb deep within your stomach. Something that caused an ache between your legs and deep within your soul.
Of course, there was only one answer to this. “I’d love to.”
You saw Al’s eyes light up. Samson baked happily at your feet and finally made his way over to Al again to go and run circles around the man’s legs, as if to say ‘See, she’s coming over!’ You laughed at the sight of the two, both obviously excited and not very good at hiding it.
“Great,” Al said, his sharp canines showing as he parted his lips to run the tip of his tongue past his upper one. There was a light blush on his cheeks. “I’ll er, I’ll go and prepare some, coffee if you want? Or tea? I mean, I have tea. I also have water. Or soda, if you prefer?” It was cute to hear how much he was stumbling, and you let out another short laugh before you voiced your preference, then shook your head with a smile.
“I’ll be coming in a moment, just need to bring these inside,” you picked up the flowers you’d been collecting from your own garden that had previously been owned and kept by an older lady who’d been into gardening. Your intention had been to put them in a vase on display in your own house. But holding them up and seeing their bright colors in front of Al made you change your mind.
“You know what?” you said, suddenly offering the flowers to your neighbor instead. “You keep them,” you waited for him to take your offer, saw how he hesitated and then felt how his fingers brushed against your own as he took them from you. You flashed him a comforting smile, just happy to have found such a kind neighbor, unaware of the feelings growing inside him and the hidden thoughts building inside his mind.
You would definitely be flirting with this man. Seeing him all flustered gave you such a thrill, it would be hard to resist the itch. And what harm could it do?
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elvisabutler · 2 years
Text
good ole fashioned spanking
summary: you test elvis's patience at a party. he reminds you what should happen to bad kittens when they do things like that. fandom: austin butler | elvis 2022 | elvis presley pairing: austin butler elvis x gender neutral reader rating: m word count: 1393 warnings: spanking. mild daddy kink implication. mild dom and sub implication. copious use of the word kitten to refer to the reader. elvis's anger problems. elvis's possessiveness. unhealthy bdsm in relation to the spanking. use of spanking as a punishment. coming in one's pants. there is a hint of aftercare mentioned. author's note: welcome to day 23 of kinktober, spanking with austin elvis. i see 60s hollywood austin elvis with his or 60s elvis with this. pick whoever you want, i'm easy. been a while since i wrote spanking but i'm fond of this piece to be honest. also if you saw me post this twice, blame tumblr and their tag problem. i know this still isn't in the tags but i'm not redoing this again.
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"I spoil you too goddamn much." Elvis mutters as he pulls you along through the crowd of people. "Only explanation for this nonsense you wanna pull. Draping yourself over every goddamn person in that room. Every single person had you in their lap except me. And you came there with me. Wouldn't be in here if it wasn't for me. spoiled brat thinking you can tease a man like that. Thinkin' you can tease me like that."
You're no stranger to Elvis's mercurial moods and his possessive nature- his possessive streak that can circle the globe. But this, oh this time you might have pushed him too far. There's always a hint of affection in his eyes when he's angry, when he's been like this before but looking at them now you are reminded of a raging storm at sea. Staring at those eyes makes you think of drowning and you're not sure if you can handle it, if you can pull yourself out from that potential whirlpool.
"Elvis." You say, trying to pull him close to you, trying to calm him down. "You were-"
"What?" He hisses, his hand moving to grasp your chin, forcing you to stare him down. "I was what, baby? Busy making sure you're taken care of? Making sure no one's out to get us? Let's hear what excuse you've got for being a brat."
He's right, you are a brat and it always shows in situations like this. In situations where you should be a good kitten you do the exact opposite. This time is no exception.
"You weren't paying attention to me. You took me there and left me alone. Had all those people hanging off of you, hanging onto you like they're taking you home. At least everyone who I touched wanted to touch me. They wanted to take me home." You pause, watching his nostrils flare and his brow furrow. "Maybe I should have let them."
Elvis's grip on your chin tightens momentarily before he lets go, and practically snarls the second you both reach your bedroom. The force he uses to open the door startles you just enough to make you jump. You know he won't hurt you, he never would but this reaction is something entirely foreign to you. He drops your hand as he shuts the door. "The hell you should have. You're mine and you know this. Ya know none of them can do the things I do for ya." He moves to grab your hand again, pulling you to the bed as he sits down on it. "Over my knee."
"No." Your answer is quick, practically spat out as you realize what he's about to do. "You're not about to-"
"Spank you?" He asks, his chest heaving in frustration. "Oh yes I am, you're acting like a brat, you're gonna get treated like one. Ya need to be taught a lesson and I'm 'bout to teach it to ya."
Before you get another word in, Elvis manages to get you into his lap, your ass in the air as he pulls down your pants. "Would've done this with the pants on but ya wanted it like this. Gonna get it like this."
Your body shivers involuntarily at the gust of air and you find a hint of arousal curling in the pit of your stomach. This should not turn you on and yet you find that it is especially after the first smack of his hand. His hand should have more rings on it, you know this but you figure the pause in when he pulled you onto his lap and when he spanked you was filled with him taking them off leaving only one on his middle finger. His hand moves back and falls down on your ass once again earning a choked off sound from your mouth. You think it was supposed to be a breath.
"Count." His voice comes out a low rumble, using a register you didn't know he possessed and his hand feels like a cool balm on your ass that feels as if it's on fire just after two hits. You have to bite your lip to keep a moan from escaping.
His hand comes down again and you grunt, your arousal becoming more intense. "Three."
Another smack. "You gonna throw yourself at people again, kitten?"
"Four." The number comes out as a whimper before you shake your head. "If you ignore me I will."
"Wrong answer." He growls and you swear you can feel the vibration through your soul as he brings his hand down once and twice before giving you a chance to say the number.
"Five. Six." Your hips move against his thighs, trying to gain friction, any kind of friction to alleviate your problem. "I'm yours but you didn't-"
He smacks your ass once more as you moan midway through your sentence. "Got ya ruttin' against me. Ya like this? Want me to spank you more often? You gonna come without me touching you?"
"Seven." You choke the number out, tears forming in your eyes. "I don't know. I-" You feel his hand gently stroking your ass before he raises his hand again and the sound of his skin hitting yours echoes in the room. "Eight, Elvis."
"Two more, kitten. Just two more and I think you'll have learned ya lesson." He murmurs, leaning forward as you continue to rut against him. His hand moves between your legs to discover just how aroused you are and groans before he smacks you yet again. "Oh ya gonna be the death of me. Gonna fuck you after this. Even if ya come, gonna have sex with you after this."
The desire to come is threatening to overwhelm you, threatening to force you into doing just that. You know Elvis won't appreciate it, won't approve of it but it's getting so hard as you get the friction you need and with his hand swatting you. It takes you a minute to say the next number, your head starting to loll down into Elvis's lap fully. "Nine." Your voice is practically a whisper and a whimper all at once.
"Atta kitten. One more and you can come. One more and you'll say you're sorry won't you." His voice sounds like it's in a tunnel but you get the gist of it, hearing the words come and sorry. It makes you shudder in his lap as he finally gives you a final slap. "Come for me."
"Ten!" You shout as you come almost instantaneously after what sounded like an order. It's never happened before but neither has this. Your body shakes as you come down from your high and as you feel Elvis stroking your now throbbing backside as he sees your release on his pant legs.
"Goddamn, kitten. Look at the mess you made. Gonna have to change my pants if we head back out to that party." His hand never leaves your backside, still stroking it as he takes his free hand to get you to look up at him. "You alright?"
A hum leaves your lips as you nod. Your behind stings something fierce but that was an orgasm you didn't think you were capable of having let alone with the promise of more to come. Elvis pulls you up into a sitting position and frowns as he sees you wince as you sit down. "Got some lotion for that in the bathroom." He gets up to go grab the lotion and a new pair of pants for you. He turns in the bathroom doorway, watching you as you watch him go and get the items. "You sorry about tonight?"
"I am." You whisper as you focus on breathing and not crying from the increasing pain.
Elvis's frowns only deepens when he reaches you after grabbing the lotion to help your backside feel less raw. He has you lay on the bed before rubbing it in soft circles, making sure to not miss a spot. His lips move to kiss your neck as he murmurs in your ear. "Such a good kitten. You still want more tonight?"
Your answer takes a while to form in your head as he continues to place light kisses against the back of your neck. When you finally do it's simple and just one word.
"Please?"
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sleeplessdreamer14 · 7 months
Text
the sparrow and the butterfly
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fandom: overwatch
relationship: (familial) genji shimada & sibling! reader
headcanons: years after your family falls apart, you’re given a chance to put it back together
contains: familial fluff, some angst, hurt/comfort, heavy plot
a/n: this is more of a fanfic I came up with like a month ago that I’m telling in the ‘you’ perspective. I might make a part 2 for hanzo if this gets enough notes.
˚˖𖤓˖˚ childhood
as the two younger siblings of the family, you and Genji were quite close
although he wasn’t initially thrilled at the idea of being a middle child, he quickly became enamored with you
you’re kind of his favorite
and you were a pretty good motivator for him to be a bit more respectful, to set a good standard for you
you had caught him sneaking out a few times, and promised not to tell on the condition he bought you lunch the next day
Genji’s not gonna let anyone slander your name btw
some of your dearest memories were made up on the roof of Shimada castle where you guys would watch fireworks together
Genji hoped that despite being born into the yakuza, you could live your life yourself when you grew up
ִ ࣪ ☾⋆ separation
anyway, as you got older, the two of you confided in each other that neither of you wanted any part in the family’s criminal empire
this became a major problem upon the untimely death of your father and responsibilities fell to you and your brothers
you still remember how sick you felt when you could overhear your brothers fighting until everything suddenly went quiet
once torn between your longing for a different life and your duty to your family, you fled that same night and left no trace
as much as you wanted to, you knew that looking back even once would making leaving even harder than it already was
so you’ve lost your family, your home, everything
words cannot describe how scary and lonely those first couple of years were for you
but after you spent enough time mourning, you got back on your feet, took time to make peace with your loss, and built a new life for yourself
after spending a couple years on your own, you embraced your newfound freedom to make your own choices and be entirely and unapologetically yourself
this involved getting a tattoo of a butterfly on your back, a sparrow on your right arm, and an arrow on your left (among other things)
you also collected about half a dozen aliases over the years
overall, you were proud of who you had become, only wishing that your family could see you
‎‧₊˚✧ meanwhile
when Angela brought Genji back, one of his first thoughts was ‘where is (name)?’
he worried that Hanzo might have killed you too which only worsened his mental health
it felt as though the sun had disappeared from the sky
once he was able to eat again, if he ever went somewhere you would have liked, he would get a second order in tribute to you and place it in front of his own
it took a long time, but he actually told Angela and Cassidy about you
whenever he saw fireworks, he took it as a good omen that you were out there somewhere, not only living, but thriving
since he was revived, he dreaded the thought that one day he might see you again and you would no longer recognize him as your brother
˚₊⋅𓅫 reunion 𐀔 ⋅₊˚
not long after the downfall of overwatch and your family’s empire, the stars aligned and lead you to your brother
Genji could not have been ready to see you again
whether he feared never seeing you again or your reaction to his new body more was anyone’s guess
and then you embraced him and sunk in that you didn’t love him any differently than you did before
that was the most vulnerable and safe he had felt in a very long time
finding no trace of disgust or malice in your eyes as you looked at him gave Genji hope
you later explained how you each spent the last several years
Genji was heartbroken to realize you were essentially alone since that tragic night, but at the same time was so proud of how well you did on your own
when you two eventually parted ways, you made sure to stay in contact this time
Zenyatta was pleased to finally meet you and mentioned that Genji spoke of you often
upon seeing your sparrow tattoo, Genji removed his mask to quickly wipe away his tears
‎‧₊˚ 𐀔 butterflies traditionally symbolize hope, faith, and change ‎𐀔 ˚₊‧
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buckets-and-trees · 1 year
Note
Can you do a part 2 to "Tiny Vessels" where Steve regrets leaving Reader and was just confused and went back to her? I hate it when Steve leaves Reader for Peggy.🥺
You know what? Yes. I also hate that he went back. I half didn't even like writing Tiny Vessels, but I still remember feeling so compelled to write it the day that I did - I think I was punishing him and wanting to add even more layers to him having made a big mistake by going back in time, so... yeah.
AND LET ME BE CLEAR - I'M NOT VEXED YOU ASKED FOR THIS, NONNIE! I'm actually pretty touched that it resonated enough for you to ask for a follow up.
Fandom: MCU Title: Don't Forget You Were the One Who Characters/Pairings: Steve Rogers x gn!Reader Word Count: 1.3k
Content Warnings: angst
Additional Notes: This will clock in as the second of the five offerings for my 300 follower request fest. This ask kicked around in my head, but then this morning it clicked, and I wrote it out in just a few hours, so if there are mistakes, it was the rush of writing. The original was a one-day write, and so I guess it's fitting that this one was, too. And as the original was also heavily influenced by a song, I listened to Wild Way by Tori Amos for some of the inspo on this.
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Your breath caught at the sight of him standing next to your door, and you came to an immediate halt.
“Hey,” he said, pushing off from where he’d been leaning against the wall, a forced and uneasy smile on his face.
Good, you thought, he shouldn’t feel comfortable.
As you approached and unlocked the door, he didn’t make any other moves to touch or greet you, and you were glad he had enough sense for that. You were glad for the moment of putting your keys in the lock and turning it open to have your face hidden from him so you could bite your lip in frustration. And fear. You desperately worked to keep your heart from racing, knowing he’d be able to hear your heartbeat if he tried – and you knew he would be hyper focused on every sound, movement, and reaction.
You entered your home and left the door open for him to follow you inside. You dropped your purse and keys on the table next to your entry and kept walking. You heard him slowly close the door behind him.
“So, when did you get back?” You asked, knowing he would be waiting for you to speak before pressing you into any further conversation.
“No small talk,” he murmured. You turned to face him, a frown on your face. “No, of course not. Um, today. Only an hour or two ago.”
You crossed your arms and were quiet for another few moments.
“Why did you come here, Steve?” You finally asked.
“You know why–”
You cut him off with a scoffing noise. “I don’t know why.”
“You know in my letter I said– “
“I didn’t read it,” you interrupted again.
He drew his head back sharply, blinking at you. “You didn’t – didn’t Bucky give you – “
“You left without a word, and thought I would want to read a letter you gave to Bucky to give to me? You didn’t get to do that to me.”
He dropped his gaze and put his hands in his pockets. “Okay, that wasn’t fair.”
“It was cowardly.”
You saw the effect those words had on him. You didn’t care that they cut him to the core. He deserved it after carving your heart out and crushing it without a care.  
“Did you think you could leave, walk around in whatever yesteryear with Peggy Carter for ten months, change your mind, and just come back and think I’d be waiting and ready to welcome you back into my arms?”
“No,” he took a few steps toward you, looking back into your eyes again, “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, and I didn’t walk around in the past for ten months. I wasn’t there a full two days before I was trying to come back. It took time to hunt down the right people and technology, but it wasn’t even a full two months that I saw there before I got out.”
“Wait, so… you were only there for less than two months but you let ten months pass here for your time to reappear here?”
“I know that scientifically I could come right back, but I also knew I left and I didn’t deserve to come back and act like I hadn’t left.”
“No, Steve!” you dropped your head. “This is what was wrong with us before, only I didn’t know it back then because I was too caught up in all the Captain America aura about you. I couldn’t believe someone like you would be with someone like me,” Steve opened his mouth to say something, but you held your hand up, raised your head back up and kept talking, “but you were even worse. You didn’t think you deserved love or happiness at all. I was stunned by every bit of us getting together, it felt like a stupid modern fairytale in the middle of everything else that was awful. After a while I even started to believe it myself, thought maybe I was good for you even, but not good enough for you to stay in the end, and now you’re telling me you thought you had to do even more time to make up for leaving?”
Steve sighed, and you could feel the waves of ache radiating off him, matching the ache in your own chest.
“You were too good for the failure I thought I was,” he started to explain. “I knew it wasn’t just me who failed in defeating Thanos, but it didn’t make me feel like any less of a failure, and every day I was living a life full of reminders of how much we lost. Until you. I started to build something again after you.”
“Then why did you leave?” the question burst from the part of your heart where everything still felt like scorched earth.
Steve sighed. “In the letter – “
“You get to tell me to my face, Steve Rogers.”
He nodded. “We brought back half the universe, but I still felt like a failure because we lost Tony and Nat. I couldn’t face it. But when I got back there, I couldn’t shake how vile and cheap it was to run away, and the only one I wanted to talk to about it – about fixing the snap, about losing Nat and Tony, about leaving this time for the past, about trying to get back to the future – I only wanted to talk to you.”
He took another step toward you, but you took a half a step back.
“That was a good speech,” you said, “but Steve…”
Your shoulders softened, and he stepped forward again. He tentatively reached out, took your hand, and you looked down at them.
“It can’t be just a good speech,” he said. “I need it to be the best speech of my life.”
You couldn’t hold back the overwhelming battle of emotions anymore, and tears started falling down your cheeks. You heart yearned to let him right back in, and yet it also wanted to banish him forever.
His other hand came up to brush some of your quiet tears away with his thumb.
“I hate you so much right now, Steve,” you cried while not being able to resist leaning into the palm of his hand. “I had to.”
“I deserve it, but I want to deserve you at some point. I didn’t expect to come back and be welcomed into your arms, I expected to come back and earn the right to wrap my arms around you again.”
“God damn you, Steve Rogers. I want to tell you yes, but I can’t promise you anything any time soon.”
“I know,” he said, closing the gap between you and pressing his forehead down to yours.
“No,” you whispered, and put a hand on his chest – not to push him away, but to at least hold him from coming any closer. “You might think you know,” you your voice was firm but quiet, “but I don’t think you do. I’m hearing what you’ve said. It means everything that you said you’ve come back for me, but the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with still smashed my heart and left me alone for almost a year.”
Steve didn’t say anything immediately, only continued to stroke his thumb over your cheek, hold your hand, and keep his forehead pressed against yours for a few minutes. Everything still hurt, but it was a balm for the moment.
Finally, he spoke. “Unless you tell me to go, I’m never leaving again. You’re my end game, as long as you need, whatever it takes. I will wait – patiently, but with no pressure and no expectations.”
Then you let the silence fill the space between you.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “And I love you.”
“For now, just kiss me once.”
He did not hesitate, capturing your lips in the kiss he’d been desperate to have for far too long and not knowing when he would get to kiss you again.
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↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest
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zapreportsblog · 7 months
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If you want to add anything else, feel free /(^♡^)/🌻. I don't know if this is where I should ask for one but... Forgive me if it's not, it's the first time I ask 🙂😊, so forgive me. But anyway... Hello, first of all I really like your writing and works very much, because they are completely wonderful 😔🙌🏽. Well, I'm going to request a poly!volturi kings x fem!reader (I absolutely love it 😭🤗), the reader is Bella's adopted sister who went to visit her right after the fight against the volturi, she knew about her sister and the Cullens being vampires and decided to play a prank on them. A few weeks after their arrival, the volturi kings and the guard went to visit them to find out how Reneesme was living, when they arrived the reader was playing in the back of the Cullens' house with the little hybrid, who was laughing for her aunt playing tag with her. As soon as the volturi saw the reader, some Cullens were afraid and were kind of protecting her, but the reader's only reaction was to laugh and go towards the kings, more specifically Caius, and give him a quick kiss on the mouth . While the Cullens' only reaction was to be shocked. The reader is a witch who has a strong connection with nature, and is also a plus size woman. 🙃🌌🍃☀️🦋🌻.
❝the hybrids aunt❞
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✭ pairing : poly volturi kings x reader
✭ fandom : twilight
✭ summary : (y/n) is the newest student at University of Oxford . She’s got the looks and brains to back her up and it doesn’t hurt that her body draws attention too, so as a bet the men of the infamous riot club see who can bed her first
✭ authors note : this was requested by @beatrizdostoddy :3 enjoy
✭ twilight masterlist 2
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The moon hung low in the night sky, casting a silvery glow over the quiet town of Forks. The aftermath of the confrontation with the Volturi had left the Cullen family and their allies in a state of relief and exhaustion. Bella Cullen, now a vampire, had finally found the peace she had longed for, but there was one more surprise waiting for her.
As Bella and Edward stood on the porch of their secluded home, their daughter Renesmee played in the yard with her supernatural grace. They exchanged a loving glance, grateful for the tranquility that had settled over their lives.
Suddenly, a rustling in the trees caught their attention, and they both turned to see a figure emerging from the shadows. Bella's sharp vampire senses immediately recognized the scent, and her eyes widened with astonishment.
"(Y/N)?" Bella whispered, her voice filled with disbelief.
Stepping into the moonlight, (Y/N) smiled mischievously, her eyes twinkling with a secret. She was Bella's adopted sister, and they had shared a bond that transcended the supernatural secrets that surrounded them.
"You're back from the States?" Bella exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace her sister.
(Y/N) chuckled, returning the hug warmly. "Surprise! I couldn't stay away any longer. I had to see how my big sister was doing, especially after all that drama with the Volturi."
Bella's eyes glistened with tears of joy as she held her sister at arm's length, taking in the sight of her. "I've missed you so much, (Y/N)."
(Y/N) grinned, her mischief evident. "I've missed you too, sis. But I couldn't resist coming back and causing a little chaos."
Bella raised an eyebrow, curious. "Chaos?"
Before Bella could react, (Y/N) pulled out a small remote control and pressed a button. Suddenly, the lights in the Cullen home began to flicker wildly, and eerie music filled the air. The front door swung open and closed on its own, and Renesmee stared in amazement at the spectacle.
"What in the world?" Bella exclaimed, both amused and bewildered.
(Y/N) couldn't contain her laughter as she turned off the prank. "Just a little welcome-home surprise for you, Bella."
Edward joined them, his golden eyes gleaming with amusement. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic, (Y/N)."
Bella couldn't help but laugh, feeling lighter and happier than she had in a long time. "(Y/N), this is Edward, my husband."
Edward extended a hand, and (Y/N) shook it warmly. "Nice to finally meet you, Edward. Bella has told me so much about you."
Edward smiled, genuinely pleased. "Likewise."
As the three of them chatted and caught up on each other's lives, Renesmee approached shyly, curiosity sparking in her eyes.
Bella knelt down and gently introduced her daughter, "Renesmee, sweetheart, this is your aunt, (Y/N)."
(Y/N) and Renesmee locked eyes, and there was an instant connection, a recognition of family bonds that transcended words. In that moment, a deep and unspoken understanding passed between them, a silent promise of love and protection.
"(Y/N)," Renesmee said with a shy smile, "I'm so happy to meet you."
Tears welled up in (Y/N)'s eyes as she embraced her niece, feeling the warmth of family and the promise of a new chapter in their lives. The Cullen family had faced countless challenges, but with (Y/N)'s return, they were reminded that love and laughter could always light their way in the darkness.
And so, under the silvery moonlight, the Cullen family welcomed (Y/N) back into their supernatural world, ready to embrace the adventures and joys that awaited them together.
It had been a month since (Y/N) had returned to the Cullen family, and the days had been filled with laughter and bonding. She had settled into the Cullen household comfortably, grateful for the warmth and love that surrounded her. While her new house was being built in town, she cherished this time with Bella, Renesmee, and the rest of the vampire clan.
On a crisp, sunny day, the Cullen family gathered in their spacious backyard. Bella and (Y/N) had organized a game of tag for Renesmee, who darted through the trees with unnatural speed, her laughter ringing through the air. It was a perfect day filled with the joy of family.
Unbeknownst to (Y/N) and Renesmee, Alice suddenly froze, her golden eyes distant as she received a vision. The others noticed her abrupt change in demeanor, and her words came out in a hurried whisper, "The Volturi. They're coming."
Edward's eyes widened in alarm, and he swiftly relayed the message to the rest of the family telepathically. Panic spread like wildfire among the Cullens, their thoughts racing with the implications of the Volturi's arrival.
Except for (Y/N) and Renesmee, who continued their playful game of tag.
Carlisle, always the calm and collected leader of the family, stepped forward, attempting to reassure the others. "Stay calm, everyone. Remember, they may be coming to check on Renesmee's growth. Let's not jump to conclusions."
Esme nodded in agreement, though her eyes betrayed her concern. "You're right, Carlisle. We should be prepared, but not aggressive."
The Cullens tried to carry on with their activities as normally as possible, casting occasional worried glances in the direction of the approaching danger. Their protective instincts were on high alert, ready to shield Renesmee and (Y/N) from any potential harm.
Alice, who had been watching the Volturi's movements carefully, suddenly spoke up. "They seem to be approaching slowly, Carlisle, like they're not in a hurry to confront us."
Carlisle nodded, his brow furrowed. "That's unusual. Let's continue to monitor the situation closely, but we won't escalate things unless necessary."
As the Volturi drew nearer, Alice continued to provide updates, and tension hung in the air like an oppressive cloud. The Cullens' protective instincts were impossible to ignore, and they subtly positioned themselves between Renesmee and the approaching danger.
(Y/N) and Renesmee, unaware of the impending threat, continued their game, giggling as they tagged each other beneath the dappled sunlight. The innocence of their laughter stood in stark contrast to the uncertainty that loomed.
The Cullens watched, ready to defend their family, their gazes never wavering from the approaching Volturi. They couldn't help but feel a sense of unease and the overwhelming need to protect the precious bonds they had formed with (Y/N) and Renesmee.
As the Volturi came into view, the atmosphere grew heavy with anticipation, and the Cullens braced themselves for whatever awaited them, determined to safeguard their loved ones at all costs.
The Cullens stood in their backyard, tension hanging in the air as the Volturi kings and their guards approached. Aro, Caius, and Marcus, the ancient leaders of the vampire world, wore their customary regal attire. The Volturi guards, a formidable force of vampires with unique abilities, fanned out behind them.
Aro's crimson eyes scanned the scene, and his polite smile remained firmly in place. "Isabella, dear, I take it you are in good health?”
Bella's eyes met Aro's, her expression calm. "Certainly, Alice told me you came to check on my daughter. She’s currently playing with my sister. Follow me."
With Aro and the other Volturi kings in tow, Bella led them to the back of the house, where the laughter of her daughter and sister filled the air. (Y/N) and Renesmee were engrossed in their game of tag, their supernatural speed allowing them to dart gracefully among the trees.
"I didn't know you had a sibling, Isabella," Aro commented, his curiosity piqued.
Bella gave Aro a small, mysterious smile as they approached the playing pair. "I've had many surprises, Aro."
As (Y/N) suddenly sensed the multiple eyes upon her, she abruptly halted, her senses tingling. She turned, meeting the gazes of the Volturi, who stood a few feet away. Her sister's protective stance did not go unnoticed.
(Y/N) and Renesmee slowly made their way toward the Cullen family, and Bella stepped in front of them protectively. Aro observed the child with interest, his eyes appraising Renesmee.
"She appears to be in good health," Aro remarked.
Then, Aro's gaze shifted to (Y/N), his eyes narrowing with curiosity. Bella couldn't suppress a low growl, warning the Volturi leader to keep his distance.
However, (Y/N) bypassed Bella's protective stance with a mischievous smile. She reached up and planted a kiss on Caius's lips, surprising everyone, especially Aro.
"When did this come about, brother?" Aro asked Caius, his eyebrow raised in amusement.
Caius had his arms wrapped securely around (Y/N), a rare smile gracing his lips. "It's been going on for a few months now. While I was overseas on a mission, I met (Y/N), and we hit it off. I've been meaning to introduce her to you for a while."
(Y/N) turned to Bella, her eyes expressing gratitude for her protective instincts, but she also exuded a quiet confidence. Her eyes flashed a deep, mesmerizing purple, and Bella gasped in surprise.
"What are you?" Bella asked, her voice barely a whisper.
(Y/N) chuckled softly, her aura radiating power. "I'm a witch."
The revelation sent shockwaves through the Cullen family. Witches, with their own unique supernatural abilities, were an enigmatic addition to their world.
Aro's interest was piqued, and he regarded (Y/N) with renewed fascination. "A witch, you say? How intriguing. It seems our visit has brought forth quite the surprises."
(Y/N) remained at Caius's side, her presence an enigmatic blend of magic and the supernatural. As the Cullens and the Volturi watched with wary eyes, they couldn't help but wonder what other secrets this unexpected alliance might reveal in the days to come.
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swanimagines · 2 years
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Highly requested part 2 for this piece 😊 Morpheus takes reader on a date mentioned at the end of that piece.
Fandom: The Sandman
Pairing: Dream of the Endless/Morpheus x fem!reader
Warnings: mentions of food and eating
Word count: 775
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That little restaurant around the corner of an old bookshop wasn't very popular, and you had never understood why. It looked pretty and homely, the waiters were amazing, the food was way better than most other restaurants in your hometown and on top of that, it was an affordable place. You didn't eat there too often as you usually didn't have anyone to go with, but when you did, you wouldn't have wanted to leave at all.
So when Morpheus had offered to take you out to do something you'd like to do, you knew exactly where you would go. So here you were sitting with him and your regular waiter Lloyd had been assigned to serve you. You chatted for a couple of minutes, asking the usual how are you's as he lit a few candles and said hello to Morpheus too.
"It was about time you found someone, look how you're glowing," Lloyd smirked at you and you sighed as he looked at Morpheus sternly. "And you treat her well, alright?"
"Lloyd, he's not my boyfriend," you huffed, feeling embarrassed because you were sure the thumping of your heart was heart across the whole restaurant. Lloyd laughed heartily as he poured you and Morpheus some water from a pitcher and flipped a notebook open.
"Well, not yet... what can I get you?" He asked, smiling brightly.
"My usual," you told him and looked at Morpheus who also placed his order. Lloyd scribbled your orders down and went into the kitchens. The moment he was gone, you smiled sheepishly at Morpheus. "I'm sorry for that."
"You do not need to apologize. He clearly knows you well."
You swore your heart stopped. "Wha- what do you mean?"
"You do glow," he arched an eyebrow with a smirk. "Is it true?"
"Uh-" you flapped your hands awkwardly and turned your eyes on the table. "I don't know what do you mean."
But you did. You were always remarkably happier when you were with Morpheus, that could be seen from miles away. Your feelings could be seen from miles away, and... Morpheus was the King of Dreams, which meant he also saw daydreams. Your face felt even hotter as you glanced up at him nervously.
"Don't tell me you've been visiting my daydreams," you mumbled, but to your relief, he shook his head.
"That is not my area to go," he said softly and then smiled. "But I must admit that I have been tempted to."
"Oh," you murmured as you took a sip of water. "Why?"
"Because Lucienne, Mervyn and Matthew all say you have feelings for me."
Your heart stopped again, and you stared at the glass of water in your hand. So this is why he wanted to go out with you, to ensure you wouldn't think too much of your friendship... if it even was friendship in the first place for him. He wanted to interrogate you and remind you that a mortal and immortal are unfit together, he had told you about his previous relationships with mortals before and they had never ended well, he wouldn't want to risk breaking his heart again.
"Do you?"
"Well..." You let out a small sigh, knowing he'd see through your lie. "Yes."
He lifted his chin slightly and you laid a nervous glance at him. But instead of him looking disappointed as you had internally been afraid to happen, he smiled softly.
"I am glad," his voice was so quiet and tender that it sent chills down your spine.
You blinked at him and swallowed, shocked about his reaction. "Do you mean you-"
You were interrupted when Lloyd emerged from the kitchen with two large plates filled with food that smelled amazing. The smell made your mouth start salivating and you wondered how they always managed to outdo themselves with such good meals. Lloyd placed your meals in front of you, smirking again as he saw your eyes shine differently, nodded at Morpheus and left again.
You stared at the steaming food for a moment, still trying to register what had just happened.
"Yes," Morpheus suddenly said, and your gaze snapped at him. He smiled slightly. "I do mean I feel the same way."
By now, your heart begged to have a break from picking up pace so often.
"Wh- what?" You croaked out. "You... do?"
"Yes." He gave you his smile once more. You didn't know whether you should be relieved or not because you weren't sure where this led but you knew one thing for certain.
The rest of this date was far, far better than you would have imagined it to be.
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The Sandman taglist: @jesllianaquilesrolon @stygianoir // send in an ask to be added, and specify which of my fandoms you want to be tagged on! Don’t just say “can you add me to your taglist” as I can’t know what taglists do you mean by that!! ALSO IF YOU WON’T INTERACT BEYOND LIKING, I’LL EVENTUALLY TAKE YOU OFF THE LIST!!
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