#this is maggie smith all over again

[zepskies]

Take Me Home - Part 1

Pairing: Beau Arlen x F. Reader 

Summary: You are another lost soul at Sunny Day Excursions. You’re aiming to settle in Helena, Montana, where Beau Arlen is the new sheriff in town. But you’ve both got a past you’re running from. 

AN: Welcome to my first ever Big Sky series! I’ve been wanting to get to this for a while now. I’m so glad I finally get to start sharing this with you! I truly hope you enjoy the ride. (Note: This is set towards the beginning of season 3.)

Song Inspo: “Fly Away” by John Denver. And remember, you can listen to the full Take Me Home Playlist ⬅️ here.

Word Count: 4,400

Tags/Warnings: A bit of angst, a bit of setup, “Glamper Girl,” and a side helping of cops enjoying baked goods…

❤️ Series Masterlist

Part 1: All of Her Days

“This really feels like cheating,” you mused.

Yet again, you surveyed the sheer size and luxury of this tent you were supposed to be “camping” in.

Between the giant king-sized bed with crème and burgundy comforters, a two-seater dining table, a dresser (with a vanity), and even a small bookshelf, it looked like the Taj Mahal of glamping.

“Can’t you just enjoy it?” your best friend replied, poking a teasing finger into your side. She smirked when you flinched and gave her some playful side-eye. “My parents are the ones footing the bill, anyway.”

“Of which, I intend to pay them back for my half,” you said. Mary just rolled her eyes and waved you off. Her parents’ money was something she’d never had a problem spending.

“Come on, they’re getting ready to go on the hike without us,” she said, tossing her little purse over her shoulder. You were a bit more practical with your backpack, filled with a bottle of water, a couple snacks, bug spray, and your sketch pad.

Mary bumped your shoulder with hers as you two walked out of the tent, and you gave her a smile. You were glad she insisted on this little week-long excursion. It gave you exactly five more days to enjoy the fresh air of no responsibilities, before you returned to reality.

“So where are you guys from?” you asked a couple of walking companions on the early-morning hike.

The woods of Helena, Montana were vast and deep, and you found them a bit intimidating. You were a city girl, through and through, but you were learning to appreciate the mountains and the steep trails flanked by dense trees. You were also grateful that you weren’t alone. 

Emily seemed to be a nice girl around sixteen, while her stepfather Avery was a lightly graying man in his 40s. You pegged his accent as English, the “casual posh” kind. On a scale from Dame Maggie Smith to Dick Van Dyke's attempt at cockney, you’d put Avery on a Benedict Cumberbatch level.

“Well, I met her mother in Houston,” Avery replied, nodding at the girl beside you. “She and Emily joined me here in Helena after we were married this past spring.”

Emily confirmed with a nod. “Yep, starting school here in a few months.”

At that, you could smile. “Me too, actually.”

Emily gave you a confused look while she fiddled with an app on her phone.

“What? You’re still in school?” she asked.

“No,” you laughed. “I’m—”

“She’s a college professor,” Mary tacked on. “AKA: a giant nerd.”

Emily tried not to smile at your expense. You just shook your head at your friend.

“Thanks,” you said wryly, despite your amusement. “We can’t all be personal trainers. One can only take so much Spandex.”

Mary rolled her eyes and prepared to fire back a retort, but your attention shifted back to Emily, who seemed to be debating whether to press a red button on her phone. You thought it looked like a voice recording app.

You followed her line of vision and saw Paige and Luke up ahead—a young “happy couple” here at Sunny Day Excursions. They were whisper-yelling at each other, sniping something about Luke’s birthday. Apparently, he had a problem with getting another year older.

Don’t we all, you thought, with no small amount of sarcasm. The guy had been a sour apple since the start of this trip, and to be honest, he was starting to get on your damn nerves.

“This is like, prime time stuff for my podcast,” Emily whispered.

You looked over at her. “Oh yeah? What’s your podcast about?”

“Relationships, lies, that sort of thing,” she replied.

You almost grimaced. Good luck finding willing subjects for that one.

Mary snickered on your other side. She leaned close to your ear so only you would hear.

“God, Paige’s voice is so effing annoying. Like a chipmunk on helium,” she said. “I feel sorry for him.”

You shot her a dry look. “He’s the one asking for it, if you ask me. But they’ve been going at it the whole time. Makes me feel sorry for both of them.”

You shook your head and kept walking on the trail. Mary sobered as she stared back at you. She was reminded of why you two were really here, and what you’d been through this past year…

What you all had been through.

You and Mary fell behind Avery and Emily on the trail, giving Mary the opportunity to touch your arm and stop you in the middle of the trail.

“Do you really plan to stay here?” she asked. “In dusty-ass Montana? With the snakes and the bears and the old hicks?”

“Well, I got the key to my apartment before we got here,” you said. And she knew that. “My aunt is letting me crash with her until the rest of my things ship over in a couple of weeks, and I start a new job in the fall. So yeah, I’m staying.”

Mary’s lips pursed. She gave you a long look, but you held your ground. You even popped your Airpods in for good measure. You were done with this conversation.

She huffed and kept walking.

You watched your friend go in annoyance. You knew she would try to talk you out of your decision at some point on this trip, but you hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

Heaving a sigh, you looked up at the clear sky above you, filtered through the tall trees. You took a moment to collect yourself in this great big no man’s land, where you could finally let yourself slow down for a minute, and breathe.

You raised the volume in your Airpods when a particular song came through.

“All of her days have gone soft and cloudy. All of her dreams have gone dry,” crooned the soft melody. You nodded to the rhythm of the mellow notes, but all the while, you tried to blink through the sting of tears.

“All of her nights have gone sad and shady. She's getting ready to fly…”

You rubbed your left hand, where you still had the tan line of the ring you used to wear.

“It’s really okay, sweetie,” Mary tried to console you, rubbing her hand between your shoulders.

After the hike, you all had returned to camp and sat down to brunch. It was an amazing spread, with waffles and muffins and Danishes, eggs done three different ways, toast with jam, assorted sandwiches, coffee and orange juice (and sparkling wine for the adults).

But even with a huge plate of appetizing food in front of you, you were sulking a bit. You had your face covered by your hands as you rested your elbows on the table.

“One of my only goals on this trip was to ride a damn horse, and I couldn’t even do that,” you said.

Sunny Barnes and her husband Buck were the heads and hosts of this whole trip. And after the hike, their son, Cormack, had tried to help you onto the nice chestnut mare the handler had brought out of the stable for you. But your entire body had locked up in fear at the prospect of being vaulted onto the horse.

In fairness, she was huge. And you were both afraid of heights, and animals that could buck you off its back and trample you.

You hadn’t been able to speak. You just shook your head vigorously every time Cormack asked you if you were okay.

So he’d graciously patted your back and gave the mare to Emily instead.

“I’ve never been able to ride a horse either,” Avery offered in commiseration. You lowered your hands and gave him a wan smile.

Emily was carving an apple with an impressive (and somewhat scary) looking pocketknife. She shrugged.

“It’s not so hard,” she said. But, perhaps realizing how she sounded, she looked up and gave you an apologetic look. “Sorry. I mean, I’m sure you’ll get it! It’s hard in the beginning, but once you get used to it, it’s like riding a bike.”

Right. A bike with hooves, you thought, ripping a piece of bread from your egg and cheese sandwich.

Mary bumped your shoulder with a teasing smile. “You just got showed up by a high schooler. Again.”

You pursed your lips in amusement. You tossed the piece of bread. It hit her dead between the eyes. You giggled at the way she jumped with a start.

“Real mature,” she shot back.

“Yeah,” you replied, taking a giant bite of your sandwich for good measure. “I learned from you.”

Even Emily snickered, making Mary roll her eyes in amusement.

Shortly after, Avery and his stepdaughter were finished with brunch and got up to get back to their tents.

You glanced over and noticed that Emily had left her knife on the table, now closed in its sheath.

Sheriff Beau Arlen may have still been relatively new in town, but he considered himself a consummate professional.

He’d agreed to accompany Cassie, the local private investigator (and his friend), up to this mountain pass to look for a missing backpacker. Questioning Buck and Sunny Barnes and their crew was just good old-fashioned, thorough police work.

But if it also gave Beau a chance to check on his daughter up here “glamping” with her half-baked stepfather, then he couldn’t pass up on that opportunity, now could he?

After talking to Buck and Sunny, who hadn’t seen hide or hair of the backpacker, Beau let Cassie take care of questioning Cormack Barnes while Beau found his daughter outside her tent. After giving her a big hug and inspecting her “tent” (Really? he thought. Looks more like a hotel room than a tent.), he asked her how her trip was going so far.

“Good, Dad. But you really didn’t have to come all the way out here just to check up on me,” Emily said. She was amused, but no longer surprised to see him.

“No, no, no. I didn’t, okay?” Beau refuted. Though at the look on her face, he knew he wasn’t fooling her. She was a sharp kid. “All right, maybe not the only reason. We had to talk to Sunny about a missing backpacker. It’s something Cassie’s investigating.”

Emily’s amusement faded into surprise, and then concern.

“Wait, what?” she said.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. Just, you know…parents probably didn’t get the memo that ‘off-the-grid’ was part of the deal,” he said, giving her a meaningful raise of his brows. Maybe his daughter didn’t have to screen so many of his calls while she was on this trip.

“Overprotective parents, huh?” Emily dryly remarked.

“The worst,” Beau agreed, shaking his head.

But he smiled. Just seeing her made his whole week better…and it alleviated some of the hurt in his heart. Not getting to be with her on a trip like this stung. And knowing Avery was the one who got to be there for her grated on him.

Beau was already missing too much of his daughter’s life, and he still wasn’t too sure on how to deal with that.

Speak of the devil, he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Avery approaching. Beau forced himself to look as close to pleasant as he could get around his ex-wife’s husband.

While Mary went back to the tent to freshen up, you grabbed Emily’s pocketknife and went to look for her so you could return it. It had a wood-carved hilt and had her initials, E. A., engraved on the side. The knife looked special, not the kind of thing you wanted to lose.

You found her outside her tent with her stepfather, and a man you didn’t know. He had broad shoulders and short brown hair that swept above his brow. When he turned to look at you, the first thing you noticed was the cut of his bearded chin, and then the green of his eyes.

You didn’t realize it, but your insides stilled, just for a moment. Then you remembered to smile.

Avery looked a bit tense, as did the newcomer. You sensed you were interrupting a tete-a-tete. 

“Uh, hi. I’m sorry,” you said, and extended the sheathed knife toward Emily. “Just wanted to get this back to you. You left it at the table.”

“Oh! Thanks,” Emily said gratefully.

“Well, hi there,” said the new guy. He was tall, you noted, wearing a beige jacket over a buttoned-down shirt, some jeans, and boots. It was a casual look, but all worked very well for him…in a rugged cowboy sense.

“This is my dad,” Emily supplied.

“Sheriff Beau Arlen, ma’am,” he said, giving you a more friendly smile that you matched in kind when you shook his hand. You also gave him your name to go along with it.

“You here for a little belated vacation, Sheriff?” you added.

“No. Matter of fact, I’m here on police business,” he replied. That concerned you, but he was quick to wave a dismissive hand. “Everything’s okay here. Just checking on a missing backpacker. But it looks like we’ll have to continue our search for him elsewhere.”

You hummed at that in concern. “Well, I hope you find him.”

“I do too,” he agreed with a nod.

Then, Emily took the slight pause in the conversation as her chance to escape.

“Okay, Dad, well, we’re gonna go hike down to the lake,” she said, gesturing at Avery. “But as you can see, I’m fine. We’re fine.”

Beau’s smile became a bit tight, but he nodded in understanding. He gave her a big hug, and you could see he was reluctant to let her go. Avery stood behind them. He held tension in his shoulders. You felt a bit awkward yourself, being in the midst of what was clearly an uneasy family dynamic.

Beau released his daughter. After she took off with Avery following close behind, Beau turned to you next. You tried not to blush at the sight of his handsome face.

“Sorry, again,” you said, raising a placating hand. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

His lips twitched upward, and he shook his head. “You’re fine. Though you don’t look like a local. You from outta town?”

I could say the same thing about you, cowboy, you thought. There was a slight southern drawl in his voice that sounded like Alabama. Maybe Texas?

“You got me,” you nodded. “I’m from Chicago originally, but…I’ve actually just moved here to Helena.”

“Ahh, a city girl,” he remarked. “Small world. I just got here a few months ago myself. Houston, Texas.”

Your smile brightened. Right on the money.

“Yeah, I figured,” you couldn’t help teasing him a little. His grin kicked up in the corner.

“How’re the mountains and fresh air treating you then?” he asked. “Better than that blanket a’ smog in Chicago.”

“We do not have smog…or, well, not that much,” you laughed, “but yes, I’m actually really liking it here so far. I mean, I just got here about a week ago. I’m still learning. Though Emily actually tried to help me ride a horse today.”

“Yeah?” His brows raised. “How’d that go?”

You had to laugh. A kind of self-deprecating laugh that had you half-covering your face to stem off your blush.

“Not well,” you admitted.

Beau ducked his head with a smile. He met your eyes in amusement, but not without kindness.

“Well, here’s a tip for ya,” he said. He planted his feet, held his hands up into lightly clenched fists. “The trick is in the legs. Grip tight, but not too tight. He’ll think you’re rarin’ to go.”

You blinked a bit wider. Was that just honest advice…or was he sort of flirting with you?

It made you blush in earnest.

“Ah. Good to know,” you said with a laugh. He treated you with a tip of his imaginary hat.

“Hey,” someone called out.

Both of your heads turned to a tall black woman with long curly hair. She gave you a polite smile before she nodded up at Beau.

“You ready to go?” she asked.

“Ah, yep,” Beau nodded. He gave you an apologetic look. “Sorry, gotta get back to the station.”

“Oh, of course,” you said. But you held up a finger. “Wait, just a sec.”

You hastened back over to the table of confections from brunch and offered them a chocolate chip muffin each for the road. Cassie politely declined, but Beau gladly took his.

“Although, are you trying to stereotype me or somethin’?” he teased.

Your brows furrowed in confusion, but after a moment, it hit you. You’d just given a cop a baked good.  

“At least it wasn’t a donut,” you quipped, despite your embarrassment. Beau still looked bemused, but he let you off the hook.

“That’s okay. I’ve never been known to turn down free food,” he assured.

“He really doesn’t,” Cassie confirmed. You noticed how she was waiting, arms crossed.

“Well, there you go! Sorry for keeping you,” you said.

“Not at all, darlin’,” said Beau. His smile had a charming gleam. “Nice to meet you.”

You quirked a smile back. “Wow, you are from Texas.”

You didn’t think you’d ever been called darlin’ in your life.

Beau’s good humor shifted into slight embarrassment himself.

“Sorry. I’ve been told to stop doing that,” he said. When he chuckled, you did along with him. You weren’t offended by it, just surprised by the old-fashioned endearment.

“It’s okay,” you said. “Nice to meet you too, Sheriff.”

You raised a hand in goodbye, and Beau returned it, watching you go. Meanwhile, Cassie watched him with a small smirk. He stepped down from the short platform in front of Emily’s tent to meet her.

“Were you just checking out Glamper Girl? In front of your daughter, no less,” Cassie remarked.

Beau shot her a look of denial. “I did no such thing. I’m a professional. And a gentleman, mind you.”

Cassie rose a brow at him. It stirred up a bit of his defensiveness. 

“But, I’ll have you know that Em had already moved on when I had a friendly conversation with the glamper,” he said.

Cassie rolled her eyes. Right.

That afternoon, you decided to bring your sketchpad and your modest collection of paints to the lake. You sat on the bank and tried to paint, while Mary joined the others in swimming.

“That looks nice,” Emily’s voice startled you from behind.

You twisted to look at her, and she gave you an apologetic look. She was dressed to go for a swim in a one-piece bathing suit and some shorts. She seemed more of a conservative dresser than typical high school girls her age. Maybe that had something to do with a policeman being her father, or maybe that was just her personality.

“Sorry,” she said, raising her hands.

“It’s okay.” You waved it off and gestured for her to sit beside you if she wanted. She did so, admiring your work over your shoulder. You felt a little embarrassed by it, but you didn’t mind her watching you try to paint ripples of light on the water.

“Are you an artist?” she asked.

You shot her a smile. “You’re very sweet, but no. I just started this year.”

You’d just Googled some therapeutic techniques instead of, you know, going to therapy. You just knew that if you did, your aunt would probably tell your parents, who would never let you hear the end of it. Specifically, why it was a waste of time. Your father especially would have something to say.

But one of the sources you found suggested trying out some creative outlets to calm the mind and think productively, but not create more stress for yourself. You’d tried a few different things, but landed on painting. It was working for you so far, even if you didn’t think you were that good.

“How do you like Montana so far?” you asked your companion. “Your dad told me you guys just moved here too, a few months ago.”

“Yeah, when my mom got remarried, my dad moved to stay close to me,” Emily explained.

Your brows raised. Your painting hand paused with the brush near the page.

“Well, that’s a good father,” you said. You smiled at the thought of Beau Arlen. The way he hugged his daughter before, like she was his entire world, and the fact that he’d moved entire states just to stay with her, told you a great deal about the town’s new sheriff.

Emily nodded, but her lips were pressed. “He’s a bit overprotective.”

“Well, he is a cop,” You said, smiling. “I assume that’s just part of the package.”

“I get that,” she said. “It’s just…a bit much sometimes.”

You gave her a sympathetic look. “I understand. My dad can be like that too. He’s got his soft moments, but he can be a real tough nut too… He’s a retired fireman.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” Emily said. She looked impressed. “Did you ever want to be a firefighter?”

You chuckled. “No, and he never wanted me to. It just wasn’t my beat, anyway.”

In the many years before your father had risen in the ranks to firehouse chief, your mother had often worried about him when he was on shift. Being a firefighter in inner-city Chicago had brought some hard and dangerous calls.

But you had always been more bookish, and both your parents were grateful for that.

You sighed. Your paintbrush made a stroke of deep green on the page, creating darker shades in the bottom of the lake.

“I did end up dating one though. Almost married him too,” you muttered, before you could stop yourself. You forgot you were talking to an insatiably curious girl.

“Really? What happened?” she asked. You looked over at her, and she was staring at you with her full attention. You remembered then that her podcast was supposed to be about relationships, but you had no desire to be a subject.

“It didn’t work out,” you said at last, and with difficulty.

“Why?” Emily asked.

Your internal struggle kept you quiet. It gave time for Emily to really see the withdrawn, almost pained look on your face, the slight hunch of your shoulders. She deflated guiltily.

“Uh, sorry,” she said.

You offered a small smile. “It’s okay, honey.”

“I’ll uh, just let you get back to painting,” she said. You waved her goodbye after she got up and left, giving you one last look before she joined her stepfather in the lake.

You let out a deep breath. The teen was tenacious, and naturally curious. That in itself wasn’t such a bad thing. But as you watched her splash at Avery, laughing that weightless laugh that kids got to have, you realized how much you missed being that young and free in your heart.

Again, out of habit, you set down your brush and rubbed at your empty left ring finger.

Mary finally joined you back in your shared tent after a long night of socializing by the fire. You had kept to the tent, reading Much Ado About Nothing for one of your classes that would start in the fall. It wasn’t your first time reading the Shakespeare play, by any means, but you did want to brush up on it.

“You know, you’re actually supposed to be vacationing on this vacation,” Mary pointed out. She started changing into her pajamas for bed. You were already cozy in one of your old college hoodies and some shorts, not to mention snuggled under the warm blankets.

“I am,” you said defensively. “I hiked, I painted, I ate no less than one burger, a basket of fries, and three smores, and now I’m reading.”

“Yeah, for school,” she pointed out. “I may not be as smart as you, but I know homework when I see it.”

You shot her a smile. “You’re plenty smart, M.”

She snorted and slipped into bed beside you. It felt like the sleepovers you two used to have in college, years ago, when she’d come to crash in your dorm, or you in hers. She’d been a philosophy major (despite not giving two shits about Socrates), forced to attend college by her parents. You were an English major, working three part-time jobs just to get you through until graduation.

“Hey,” she said, laying a hand on your shoulder. You turned to her in question. She seemed more serious than usual.

“I’m worried about you,” she said. “And I’m not the only one.”

You sighed. Lowering your book, you leaned back against your pillows and stared up at the tent’s fairy lights.

“I know,” you replied. “But you don’t need to be.”

“Yeah you keep saying that, but you know the real reason I’m here, right?” Mary asked. Her insistent hand on your arm made you meet her eyes.

“You don’t have to do this," she said. "You don’t have to move out here and leave everything behind. You should just come home with me. Your parents, our friends—everyone wants to be there for you, like we have all year.”

Your lips pursed, and you shook your head.

“I’m not going to change my mind. So if that’s really why you’re here, and not to just spend some time with me, as my friend, then you should just go home,” you said. “I’ll leave here and go to my aunt’s house. I’m sure your parents can negotiate some kind of refund.”

Mary got angry and huffy, just like you thought she would. You weren’t playing around though. This was your life, and your decision.

If your friends and your family couldn’t be happy for you, or at least understanding, then they could at least respect you. You just weren’t sure when they’d get the hint that this was real.

You were moving to Montana, permanently.

On the drive back into town from the camping site, Beau ate his chocolate chip muffin and tried his best to listen to Cassie—to her theories on where the backpacker might’ve gone, and how best to tell the parents to keep her on this investigation.

A good part of him was still thinking about his daughter, wishing he could be there with her right now. 

And maybe, his mind occasionally wandered…thinking about the pretty shade of your eyes when you smiled at him.

AN: And there we have it, Part 1 of a new series! If you liked it, please let me know! 🥰

And a special Happy Birthday to @jackles010378! 💖 I was going to say we're both Aries (mine is next month) but forgot Pisces comes first lol. ♓

Next Time:

The trees were tall and dark now. The moon was filtering through them like the sun had during other day hikes, but it was much more ominous at night.

“Shit,” you muttered. You gripped your flashlight in worry as panic started to well up in your chest.

Now you were lost.

You jumped with a start when the hoot of a bird passed by overhead.

Shiiiit. This was very bad.

You kept moving forward on what you thought was the trail. That was all you could do, keep moving forward. You made a few turns around some trees, occasionally calling out for Sunny, or Mary, or anyone to hear you.

▶️ Keep Reading: Part 2

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[itsgrimeytime]

I Told You Now (Part Two) || Rick Grimes (TWD) × gn!reader

rick grimes taglist: @golden-hoax @mgparker

Part 1

AVAILABLE ON AO3

Inspiration: I've Told You Now by Sam Smith or "But what the hell, why do you think I come 'round here on my free will? Wasting all my precious time... Oh, the truth spills out and oh I...I've told you now."

Summary: You were in love with Rick, not that he knew. You weren't sure you were ever going to tell him. What could you say, you loved the kids and didn't want to lose them too. It was too risky. But finding out he was chasing after some married woman was just the last straw.

TWs: avoidance, a little bit of crying, not really unrequited love, and a teeny-tiny bit of angst (with a happy ending).

[[A/N: The song hits, totally worth this little two-parter. A happy ending!!! Finally. Enjoy :)) ]]

You were avoiding him, as long as you physically could.

Which was apparently a long time. A month, maybe. You weren't keeping count.

You aren't sure how it spread, but suddenly, everyone was a buffer. Maggie had started it, offering to take Judith to you from Rick, and it had just spiraled. He couldn't get a foot in front of your house, someone was always in the way -even Daryl had leaned up against your porch once, shaking his head. Rick had been particularly disheartened that time.

You saw him throughout Alexandria, sometimes watching him out of your window -even as he tried to come talk to you.

Since then, he seemed to be rougher around the edges. Blue eyes heavy with hair messy and hardly wearing his uniform anymore. Sometimes, if you paid enough attention, you could see the bags under his eyes get heavier. You wondered if he had been sleeping, and had asked Maggie. She didn't know, but the two of you could gather the truth.

Never with Jessie. You'd never seen him with Jessie. Not since that day, you weren't sure exactly why.

Was he afraid that it'd hurt your feelings? He'd already done that, why be afraid to now?

You weren't even sure what he wanted to say to you. Sorry? That was too much work just to apologize. He'd been trying since about a week after your confession, every day since then. Had he truly just wanted to apologize?

If not that, then what?

You really had no idea.

"Are you ready?" Maggie asked, poking her head through your front door.

You pursed your lips, straightening your shirt in the mirror ever-so-slightly, "Why is she doing this again?"

She being Deanna. She'd been trying to throw dinners where the whole community came for... togetherness, or something. This had been the first time everyone agreed to it. The divide was exhausting, and everyone wanted to try something new.

You weren't exactly pumped, to say the least.

Rick was going to be there, and while you had been adjusting to his absence, you weren't handling it well. You still loved him as much as you did a month ago, it hadn't stopped. You thought it would've stopped by now-

Then again, something lasting years wasn't just going to vanish in a month, was it?

"You know why," Maggie replied, watching you shift a few things about your appearance, "-she's been drillin' it into our heads for months."

That she had.

"Yeah, yeah," you agreed, making your way to her side, "-let's just get this over with."

That led you to here, as you sipped on a drink and leaned against a wall. It was a little like you were in college and had come to a party without any of your friends. Except you were surrounded by friends.

Carol had even come up to you a few minutes ago, holding your shoulders and looking at you the way she always did now (something a little like pity), "You alright?"

You had shooed her away, telling her to enjoy the dinner, that you were fine-

And you were. Kinda.

You kept feeling his eyes on you, just watching you -maybe waiting for you to make a move. Or maybe he was just looking to look. Maybe, your mind treacherously thought, he missed you.

You swallowed the rest of your drink at that thought. Silencing your mind, that's enough.

Placing your glass on the table just to your left, you peered along the crowd. Everyone was mingling, groups pinched off and chattering. You weren't sure what about, maybe just their experiences within the apocalypse? It was surely depressing though, so-

Maggie had initially told you to stick by her side, but she and Glenn were too much; cute, really, but not helpful to your situation. You had the spare thought to join Daryl, he was in his own little corner, but you thought it best to leave him be. Everybody needed their alone time, especially him.

So, with that thought, you left your glass on the table and decided to head home. You debated telling Maggie that you were, but the crowd that separated the two of you was not worth it. You thought you saw Deanna in the mix somewhere, and you really did not want to deal with her right now.

You slipped out of the door in silence.

You hadn't really thought that he would see you duck out, that he might be inclined to follow you. You should have.

The night was chilly, sunsetting, eerily quiet, and you suddenly had the thought you were the first to leave. You wouldn't be surprised, to be fair; you were there for about an hour after the actual dinner. Socializing was the main point of it all, why would anyone leave early?

Whatever, there was always the next one.

You slowly made your way down the stairs, feet padding along the wood and then down onto the road; you weren't in a rush. In fact, the street was kind of peaceful when silent, and the sunset really was beautiful. Made you feel a little like you weren't in the apocalypse, despite the low groans you could hear outside the fence. You stopped for a second to see it, the pinks and oranges dusting along the sky.

Then, there was a creak like the wood of a porch step under someone's feet.

You let out a heavy breath, of course.

You weren't scared then, somehow. It made your chest hurt, yeah, but you'd expected it eventually. You couldn't avoid him forever.

"Hey, Rick," you spoke into the chilly air, not moving or turning to face him.

It seemed to startle him -you heard the footsteps stop in their place for a moment. You crossed your legs then, sitting on the street -watching the sunset with a renewed focus.

You knew your clothes were getting dirty, but somehow, you had laundry. And you were kind of used to dirty clothes, it made you feel a little less alien here. It had been a while since you got here, but you still felt... odd. Out of place.

Now, though, as you sat and watched the sky, you felt at home. Human.

You heard his footsteps start up again -his slow gait ringing familiar in your head, all the way up until he was right beside you. Wordlessly, he sat down.

His woodsy smell was the first thing you noted, seeping into your nose -there was something in you that felt like you could never forget it. And then you just felt his presence, he sat close enough that you could feel his body heat -your elbows would bump if your hands weren't sat in your lap. Finally, you felt his eyes bore into your side -flicking back and forth from you to the sky.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

Rick seemed to think about it for a second, and you felt like his eyes were still on you, "Yeah, it is."

"Makes me feel human again," you responded, honestly, "-I used to wait to watch the sunrise some nights. Makes me feel like I'm there again."

His eyes moved to the sky then, and out of the corner of your eye, you looked at him. He was wearing a white button-up, the first few undone and his hair wasn't as messy. You mindlessly wondered if he'd made an effort for the dinner, or maybe he'd just... gotten over it all.

A string of your heart snapped at the thought, stinging your chest.

"When I was a kid," he suddenly started, words low and mumbly (but maybe it was just the accent), "-used to go out on my roof when I couldn't sleep, watch the sunrise. Momma 'ated me for it."

You laughed a little, and almost immediately his eyes were back on you -scattering along the side of your face. It felt like your heart was in your throat, and if you hadn't confessed already, you felt like you might've done it then.

"What do you want to say?" you asked, heavy, and curious. It felt right to say it.

"What?" he questioned, "-To you?"

"Yeah," you inhaled a breath, turning to him -you'd forgotten what it had felt like to hold his eye contact, "-you keep coming back. That... That can't be as simple as an apology."

Rick hummed, seemingly taking you in a moment.

"Unless," you recanted -a little overwhelmed at the attention, "-it was. I guess I don't know."

He took your words in stride, eyes glazing back over onto the sky. Yours followed them, tracing over the wispy clouds -the colors were fading to darkness, and it wouldn't be long until it was over.

"'S been a shitty month," he finally said.

You laughed a little, and you could see his lips quirked up out of the corner of your eye. You had missed him, a lot. Why couldn't you be friends again?

"God, Rick, I'm in fucking love with you!"

Right. Your heart twisted in your chest -you mindlessly put a hand over it like you were protecting it somehow. You felt Rick's eyes follow the motion.

"Ya mind if we talk inside? 'Think we got some company."

Your eyes trailed back to the house, Deanna's, and sure enough, Daryl sat outside -leaning against the wall. Maggie was looking out the window, unabashedly; you had the thought that she had sent Daryl to check it out.

Daryl looked at you then, offering.

You shook your head, mouthing silently, 'I'm okay'.

He didn't wait a moment, turning back into the house -nursing a drink close to his chest. Rick watched the movement just as you did, Maggie's green eyes still blinking at you -intently, a little like she was trying to read you.

You turned back to the sky, Daryl would tell her.

"Yeah," you answered, finally -taking a long, deep breath, "-we can do that."

You'd decided your house, it was closer than his and he seemed to want you to be comfortable. You weren't sure you could be around him, not now, but the thought was nice. As soon as you slipped into the door, you pulled your shoes off -placing them by the door.

"Shoes off," you insisted.

Rick mindlessly followed the instruction, laughing a little as he slipped off his boots, "'S a little bossy, ain't it?"

You rolled your eyes, a smile biting at your lips, "You mop my floor and then we'll talk, Grimes."

Leisurely walking through your house, you made your way to the living room -a bit routinely. You'd liked having a house, but it was kind of empty. Lonely. All the houses had two floors, extra bedrooms, and it was just... you. The Grimes's household felt much nicer, rooms filled and smiling faces.

You liked being there. You missed it.

Without hesitating, you threw yourself onto the couch -landing in your typical spot. None of the other seats were really used, it made something in your chest twist.

Rick followed, sitting beside you, but leaving enough room for you to turn sideways -leaning against the arm. The pillow was even in the right spot, you guessed he could tell it was your favorite spot. Anyone could really.

Even still, he was smiling at you (practically lying down) in a way you'd never seen before. Something new. Your curiosity bit your tongue, but you refused to ask; he had enough to say, you figured a look, a smile, didn't matter.

"Ya comfortable?" He chuckled -a little teasingly.

"This is my own home," you replied -playfully, "-I'll sit however I want, Grimes."

He threw his hands up into a mock surrender, pushing himself to lay the same way -he sat up enough to still look at you.

It kinda warmed your heart to see someone else, Rick especially, on the other side of the couch. He mirrored your own stance, and something in you believed that to be special, very special.

He was still smiling at you in that same way, it made you almost furrow your eyebrows. You couldn't read it, and that was something you really weren't used to. You could usually tell by the twitch of his nose if he was upset, you'd just... known him. But this, you'd never seen this before.

You opened your mouth to ask, but Rick beat you to it.

"'S really comfortable," he mumbled, "-I'll give it to ya."

"Thank you," you cheered with a smile of your own.

You could almost imagine that it was before, and your confession hadn't happened. Just you and Rick. This moment would have been a quiet one, maybe after Judith went down for a nap. That was usually when you and Rick spent the most time together, tiny little moments in his home. But, it wasn't one of those and you knew that.

You were looking up at the ceiling -eyes smoothing across the blank space, distracting yourself, "Rick?"

He hummed in response.

"Why are you here?"

There was a silence then, and you felt him shift. You peeked over at him and saw him fully sat up -facing you, and closer than before. Something in you said to follow the movement so you did. You were sure if you hadn't, he would've asked you to.

Something about this was very serious. Or at least he thought so.

He sighed, looking down at his hands and fidgeting with them. You'd seen the habit a few times, rarely though, and you wondered why exactly he was doing it now.

"'S been a really shitty month," he repeated, a little with a laugh -something in you said it wasn't a joke.

You paused, debating your words -looking at him, and deciding on a little whisper, "Yeah, I know."

He looked up at that, blue eyes matching yours. A little like he hadn't expected it. Like maybe he thought you were doing well, healing. He couldn't have been more wrong, and something in you wanted to tell him that. That you had missed him like a limb, that you still loved him so much, that you were probably never going to get over him. No matter how hard you tried.

Your lips stayed sealed shut.

"'Ve had a lotta time to think," he murmured, eyes back onto his hands, "-ever since your... ever since ya told me."

Your eyes remained on him, patiently. Something in you itched to stop his fidgeting -pull his hands apart (maybe intertwine them), you resisted it.

"It... It started wit' an apology," he explained, now looking at you -eyes scanning along your face, "-it really did. I felt like shit for doin' 'at to you. An' I still do. I just..."

Your eyes darted between his -his eyes intense and focused like he wanted you to listen. So, you did.

"I thought I could talk to ya, when I dropped off Judith, tell ya then-" he ran a hand through his hair, "-but Maggie came to get 'er. And I thought maybe ya just needed a lil' time."

You nearly apologized because of the look in his eyes -the desperation. How long had he felt like that? Guilt twisted in your stomach.

"I gave ya a week," he continued, "-'Thought I could try now, maybe you'd wanna listen. But then..."

He looked at you.

"Well, ya already know."

You did. It spilled out before you could stop it.

"I'm sorry," you blurted, "-about all of them. I never... They just started doing it, and I... I didn't stop them-"

Your words fell short, as his hand went to hold yours -a small little embrace of comfort.

"Ya don't 'ave to do 'at," he breathed, something settling in his eyes (they kept darting to your held hands), "-you were hurtin'. I get it, really."

He seemed a little guilty, maybe about your feelings. He didn't have to be, it wasn't his fault. You were in love with him, how could he control that? You almost told him that, but he started talking again before you could.

"The longer I went without ya," he swallowed, eyes hesitant on yours, "-the more... the more I was thinkin'. Feelin'."

You wanted to soothe him, guilt creeping up your skin but it wasn't the time.

"I was tryna to understand it. Maybe, see where I had somehow missed that you... See the signs, I guess. Instead, I-" he bit his lip, "-I started just missin' ya."

His eyes were dusted with tears now, and your heart felt heavy in your chest. You still loved him, and you didn't want him to cry-

"I didn't kno' the extent, until," he looked down, wiping at his eyes, "-until time kept passin' by. I kept not seein' ya, and it just kept gettin' worse-"

You squeezed his hand once, solidly. He seemed to falter at that, like he'd forgotten; his thumb thoughtfully rubbed against your skin.

"You gotta believe me when I say-" he looked at you -straight in the eyes, "-it felt like a piece of me was gone. I felt like... like somethin' in me was missin'."

Your eyes were starting to get blurry.

"I didn't realize how much I was... used to ya," he swallowed, sniffling, "-and it just felt like this big, empty space. I kept lookin' at the couch, where you sat, and it just... it wasn't right. It wasn't supposed to be empty."

"Rick," you whispered out -he didn't listen.

"And the more I thought about it, the more I..." he let out a breath, tears rolling down his cheeks, "-the more I realized I wanted ya there."

You pressed your lips together, trying not to cry, but you could feel the spill of tears from your eyes. Slow little trickle down your cheek.

"Y/N, I-" he started, a little desperately, "-I realized somethin' in 'at month."

You almost asked what, but he cut you off.

"I love you," he echoed out -a little like he didn't expect a response, "-I can't... I can't tell ya when it started or why I didn't realize it, but I-"

You felt a sob rack through your throat, something new lighting up your chest -you knew what that look was now. God, you knew what that look was now.

"-When I was sittin' there, by myself. I just kept thinkin' 'bout you. When I met ya, when you met Carl, when you met Judith, seein' you with 'em, you in my house like ya belonged there, you do is the thing, you do."

"Rick," it bubbled up your throat, as you tried to wipe at your eyes.

Instead, he used his free hand, thumb rubbing back and forth -holding your face like you were something so precious. Were you? Precious to him?

He was looking at you that way again, "I'm just a fuckin' dumbass, and didn't realize it then."

You laughed a little then, it was a little weepy but Rick didn't seem to mind. He smiled big and bright at the noise like it was all he ever wanted to hear.

He paused for a moment, before getting more serious, "I kno' it's been a month, an' you've been tryin' to get over me. But I..."

You watched him for a moment, waiting.

"I hope you 'aven't," he finished, "-I really hope ya 'aven't because now 'at I've realized it. There's nothing more I want in my life-"

You couldn't help it then, moving your hands to cup his face -slight stubble making your palms tingle, "I haven't, I haven't. I tried, but it just... It wouldn't go away, no matter how hard I tried-"

He didn't let you finish your thought, practically leaping forward to connect his lips to yours. You were stunned for a second, before pushing forward -pressing your fingertips into his skin. It was a little salty, and a little desperate, but it was right. Everything felt right.

Something in your chest mended, healed, right then and there. As he kissed you like he needed it, like he'd been waiting forever, you felt a piece of yourself slot back into place.

You pulled back, taking a deep breath through your lungs (that kinda sounded a little like a sob), and smiling. You felt like you'd never smiled as big as you had then.

"I love you too," you expressed, fingertips still holding him, cradling him.

Rick only grinned brighter, letting out a sigh of relief -you felt your heart quicken in your chest, "Thank god."

You laughed fully then, eyes not leaving his -a twinkle shined in his, something new, something happy. You wanted to learn them all now, know him totally and completely.

You kissed a few more times before Rick seemed to be happy with it -quick presses of the lips. It made you giggle, and that would make him kiss you again. It felt neverending but you didn't mind.

He pulled back though, your hands falling from his face -instead, he placed his palm against your cheek, and you leaned into it. Smiling, he just looked at you like you were the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. And you thought for a spare moment maybe you were.

Pretty quickly, you settled into his side -arm coming to wrap around you. His fingertips danced along your upper arm, as you nestled your head into his shoulder -as close as possible. You had a hand laid on his chest, and you could feel the thrum of his heartbeat under his skin; it made your head a little woozy.

"Wanna know somethin'?" He hummed, and you could feel the timber in his chest.

"Hmm?" You responded, eyes heavy from just being near him, being so warm.

"Carl said he was gonna kick my ass if I didn't tell ya soon," he revealed -a telling smile in his tone.

You laughed, a little in disbelief, "Really?"

"Yeah," he ran his fingers leisurely along your back, "-kid knew before I did. 'Just think, Dad.' And everyday 'at went by he kept lookin' at me like a disappointed momma. I could actually see a lil' of her in 'im-"

You laughed even louder, fidgeting with the buttons of his shirt (not enough to get them undone).

"Threatened to tell ya 'imself if I didn't," he mumbled out, a little low in tone like he didn't want to break the feeling of this moment.

"Oh," you yawned, "-I believe him. You raised one hell of a kid, Grimes."

You could feel him look down at you, so you looked up at him -a breath away. You had the initial urge to kiss him, but you'd gotten enough of that, already.

He looked at you so fondly, with a tiny smile on his lips, "Ya tired, sweetheart?"

Something in you fluttered at the name, but you expected plenty more to come. You supposed you'd get used to it.

"How could you tell?" you quipped -wiping at your eyes.

He slid a hand down the side of your face -smoothing along your skin carefully as if you were delicate. Maybe a little like a flower, and he was marveling at the beauty.

"You wanna sleep at mine?"

You blinked, slowly -a bit in shock, "Really?"

"Yeah," he smiled, something soft in his tone, "-I'd actually prefer it, so... Don't make me beg ya."

"I don't know," you teased, "-That's pretty tempting."

He didn't say anything back for a moment. Eyes languidly smoothing over your face, like he was thinking. Like he had something else to say, or maybe he was coming up with one.

It came out in a gust of words.

"What if ya just stayed?"

"Where?" you asked, tilting your head slightly to look at him better.

"Wit' me," he answered, a little casually, "-wit' the kids. In the house."

You laughed, a little in shock, "Rick... be serious."

"I am," he confirmed, his hand suddenly stopping on your back, "-I want ya there. You belong there. And I think, if ya don't-"

You waited.

"-I might 'ave to beg."

You laughed again, playfully tapping your chin, "That might be a sight to see, Grimes."

"You gonna make me beg?" he asked with a quirk of a smile, moving suddenly, "-'Cause I'll do it-"

"Rick-" you laughed again, watching him helplessly, as he made his way to the ground.

Before you could blink, he was on his knees infront of you -hands clasped together and his elbows resting on your knees.

"Rick, you don't have to-"

"Please, move in wit' me," he interrupted, eyes set solidly on yours -he was very much serious, "-I ain't gonna waste any more time, I want ya wit' me."

"You really don't have to beg," you grinned.

"Well, I am," he chuckled a little, "-so what are you sayin'?"

"Rick," you looked at him, solidly settling your eyes on his, "-it's not even a question. But yes, I'll move in with you."

He grinned brighter then, eyes sparkling in that special way you'd gotten used to by now.

"Good," he finally said, "-'cause I was gonna drag ya outta the house myself, if ya sa-"

"I'd like to see you try," you teased, and there was a little glint in his eye -mischievous.

And if he carried you through the streets of Alexandria in the middle of the night -both laughing like you couldn't stop... that was between the two of you.

Well, and Daryl who stood out on his porch -watching the two of you scamper into the night.

"Fuckin' finally."

#its griming time #rick grimes #stuff n' thangs #rick grimes x reader #rick grimes x y/n #rick grimes x you #rick grimes x y/n fanfiction #i told you now #rick grimes fanfiction #twd rick

[werewolf-transgenderism]

just found out that jared harris is richard harris’s son. this is like the maggie smith toby stephens thing all over again

#and like looking at jared harris I am like yeah actually he looks remarkably like his dad #how did I not know this

[lambsouvlaki]

For the Hell of it - Robin

Characters: jason todd x fem!oc

Rating and warnings: G, no warnings.

Word count: 1,626

Summary: A peaceful evening is interrupted by a visitor through time.

Masterlist

------

They were lounging together in Jason’s apartment, Downton Abbey played in the background while they both focused on their own things. 

She was sitting up on the couch, half heartedly reading a new fantasy book. Jason was lying with his head on her lap, on leg swinging over the end while he blithely poked through the GCPD’s servers. A half empty board of snacks sat on the coffee table next to two wine glasses. 

She carded her fingers through his curls, scratching lightly at his scalp. He occasionally moved his head against her hand seeking out scratches in different spots like an overly large cat. She wasn’t sure if he knew he was doing it but she sure as hell wasn’t going to call it out. 

Her eyes were puzzling through a sentence with too many invented fantasy words, when something in the air shifted. She looked up. Jason arched his neck to look around. Her ears popped.

Then Jason was suddenly gone and the head on her lap was significantly smaller. 

She blinked down at a kid in a domino mask. He wore a bright red tunic, a yellow cape bunched up on the couch, bare legs and bright green knee pads and little pixie boots. 

He looked about as startled as her.

On the TV Maggie Smith gasped in dignified shock.

He pulled away all at once, backflipping off the coffee table. He landed in a cautious stance in the middle of the room. She half stood, holding up wary hands. 

“Jay?” she asked, tentative. 

“I’m Robin! Who are you?”

“I’m Andy. Where did you come from, Robin?”

He looked around, taking in their surroundings with no overt reaction. She studied him. His face was round with baby fat, but that was about the only fat he had on him. He had familiar curls on his head, sans a white streak at the front. 

“I was fighting a magic guy,” he said. He pursed his lips. “He didn’t really know what he was doing. Lots of purple light flying everywhere.” 

“Did you get hit? Is that why you swapped places with Jason? Oh.” She dropped her hands. “That wizard’s day just took a very bad turn.”

“Jason?” he asked, carefully casual. 

“Black curly hair, blue eyes, about twice your size. Turns twenty four in a week.”

“Huh.”

He looked at her. She looked at him. 

“Do you want me to tell you the year?” she offered. 

“Na, I got it, thanks.”

“What happens now? Is there… protocol for this?” 

He opened his mouth, then closed it again with a snap. “Excuse me, miss,” he said, and then trotted off to an empty corner for the illusion of privacy, yellow cape flapping behind him. 

What a polite young man, she thought, failing to mentally connect him to Jason in any way. She paused the episode and sank back onto the couch. 

Jason had never actually told her he used to be Robin. She suspected, but not enough to ask. It was one of those things about him that everyone seemingly knew and never talked about. She knew he’d died at some point in his teens, and then stopped being dead, carving his life into a distinct before and after. 

Seeing the ‘before’ was surreal and heartbreaking. 

He was calling someone, and who that was wasn’t a great mystery. His grin was bright and infectious, and utterly foreign to her. His nose was crooked but it had broken in a different place than adult Jason. Weird. 

How did this weedy little sprout turn into her absolute unit of a man? Jason was a verified motherfucker extraordinaire. 

She watched while Robin described his situation and location to Batman, then recounted everything she had said, word for word. 

Well, damn. Batman was probably going to come here then to collect his wayward Robin. 

She had never met Bruce and had really been hoping to keep her winning streak going. He was probably fine as a person, but she didn’t want to turn this sweet little boy over to someone she didn’t know. Going by the earnest smile, he had the utmost faith in him. She couldn’t imagine a Jason who had ever been quick to trust people. 

He finished his call and drifted back near her. 

“So. You know who I am, but I don’t know who you are.”

“We haven’t met yet.” 

“Yeah I figured that.” He looked at her with shrewd eyes. “Are you my– his–” Despite his brashness, his ears turned pink and he looked down at his feet. 

“No,” she said gently, ignoring her own cheeks feeling warm. “We’re not… not anything. He and I are just friends.”

He cocked his head. “Riiiight.”

She was suddenly overly aware of the borrowed hoodie she wore, her short shorts and bare feet. This was clearly a man’s apartment, and it was almost eleven at night. It wasn’t the most platonic looking situation. 

But she recognised the careful assessment he was giving her, even through the mask. He might be fun sized but he was already sharp as a tack.

“Actually, I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you anything,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Something something, preserving the timeline. If you know what’s going to happen it might not happen anymore.”

“Oh yeah.” He puffed out his chest. “No need to worry. Batman and Robin will take care of it.”

“I’ll leave it in your capable hands then.” She picked up her book again. She wasn’t really reading, but she made a valiant effort to move her eyes along the lines. 

Robin looked around. 

“Stop it,” she said. 

“Stop what?”

“Hunting for clues.”

He snorted. “I don’t exactly have to go hunting. What’s with the wall of guns and swords?”

Oh yeah. That. She shrugged. 

“Ask me again in a decade.”

“So it is my apartment.” 

“Don’t touch. He’s very intense about security and I don’t know if your biometrics will line up.”

He looked baffled. 

“Why wouldn’t they?” 

She stared at the words on the page. She shouldn’t have said that. 

“Robin?” a quiet voice called from a dark corner. 

She jumped and stood up.  

“B!” The kid dashed across the room. 

The shadows coalesced into a man, who stepped forwards and wrapped his cape around Robin in an expansive hug. Batman bowed his head. 

She looked away. She tried to tune out Robin’s quiet muttering to his dad. She felt like an intruder just being in the same room. 

Batman rallied himself, and they turned to the door. Of course, Bats never said goodbye, they just stopped being present. 

Batman halted before disappearing though, and looked back at her. 

“Andrea.” 

“Batman.”

“Good luck on your exam next week.” 

She did not roll her eyes. It was a near thing.

“How long do these things usually take to resolve?” she asked.

He looked at Robin with a pain so profound he could not grasp its enormity. Robin looked a little uncomfortable under his stare. Batman didn’t say anything.

The two of them left. 

She stood alone in the apartment. She looked around, feeling the size of the place for the first time. She stooped to collect the leftover food and empty plates. Jason would want the food saved, so she wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. 

What a precocious little rascal he used to be, she thought, in the silence. No wonder Bruce was so heartbroken. 

She stood alone in the empty kitchen. 

She wanted her Jason back. 

Feeling selfish and ashamed of it, she returned to the couch and sat with her feet pulled up beneath her. She turned the show back on but wasn’t really watching it. Maybe she should turn the heating off. It felt silly to heat the whole place just for her. 

Less than a minute later, the door swung open. 

Full Size Jason strolled in, with a bent piece of rebar casually resting on one shoulder. 

“Hey sweetheart,” he said, tossing the rebar onto his weapons table.

“You’re back!”

“Yup, switched back in the elevator.” He was in the same loose t-shirt and sweatpants as before, and they weren’t even blood splattered. 

“What happened on the other side?” 

“Beat up a wizard.” He collapsed onto the couch next to her and picked up her half-drunk glass of rosé. He took a sip and put his boot up on the edge of the coffee table. “Real amateur production. I shouldn’t know how to use your magical artefact better than you. How was the kid?”

“Very sweet,” she said, relaxing. “Bit of a snitch.”

“Yeah?”

“Immediately called Batman and reported every word I said.”

He scoffed. “Yeah he would.” He looked morosely into the glass. “How did Batman take it?” 

“...He was devastated.”

He frowned at the wine.  “He didn’t say a word when we swapped back.” 

She frowned at the screen. 

“I’m glad to have my Jason back,” she said. She wasn’t brave enough to look at him. 

He was watching her though. 

“Yours, hm?” 

“Yeah.” 

He hummed. They settled down again, both looking at the screen. Neither was really watching. 

“How was young Batman?” she dared to ask. 

He sighed quietly. “Younger than I remembered. Worried about his Robin.”

They watched in silence. What could she say to that? Some things couldn’t be fixed, and platitudes were just bandaids on scars. 

That little kid smiled so brightly, and it was a fucking tragedy. But it wasn’t hers. 

He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in against him. 

She relaxed into his side, and he stretched out some more. She snuck an arm around his waist, he nuzzled the side of her head, and neither commented on the desperately tight grasp he held her with. 

Next>>

#Jason needs more people in his life who are happy he came back to life #jason todd #red hood #jason todd x oc #red hood x oc #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x reader #for the hell of it #my fanfic #dc #fluff #angst #hurt/comfort #Robin!Jason

[cultofdixon]

No longer the man I once knew

Negan Smith • She/her Pronouns • It’s been years since you’ve seen each other. The last time you talked, he was seeking advice on how to handle scary news like cancer. Now you were face to face with the leader of the Saviors • ANGST/SFW • TW: Canon Violence / Past Abuse / Scars / Injuries / Anxiety Attacks • Canon re-written • Fuckton of flashbacks

Requested by: @ravenrose18

“Wow…uhm. Are you okay?”

“I honestly don’t know what to fuckin’ feel in this moment” Negan frowns gripping the bottle in hand a bit too tight. “Fuck. I’m gonna lose her”

“Now don’t think that. Yeah brain cancer is one of the harder ones but you’ve gotta have some hope”

“What hope is there if I’m gonna fucking lose her, Y/N?”

Y/N sighs taking the bottle out of Negan’s hand and chucking it into the bushes. Which didn’t bring out the man’s good side and before he could even think about snapping. She suddenly smacked him in the face and before he could react to that. Y/N grabbed his chin forcing him to look at her.

“Treatment will help. She is doing everything she can to stay alive and all she needs is you in her corner” Y/N states and before he even got another word in she tighten her grasp slightly. “Forget about the slut on the side. Forget about every wrong thing you did up until you found out your wife has cancer. And be there for her”

Negan couldn’t think another thought when Y/N said all of that. All he thought was what he needed to do for Lucille.

~

And he did everything he could. Even in the end of the world.

“Y/N!” Rick yells off the top of his lungs to gain the woman’s attention as her eyes glued onto the few carrying Maggie into the RV. “We need to get to the hilltop now” the worry spilled in his voice as Y/N picked up the pace grabbing her bow along the way before piling into the RV.

Y/N quickly went to Maggie’s side, her best friend in this hellish world, taking her hand into both of hers. Letting her squeeze as hard as she could because of the pain she was currently enduring.

“I’ve gotcha Mags. I’ve gotcha”

“Y/N…” Maggie started to sob even harder than before. “What if I lose the baby…and Glenn isn’t there for me?”

“I’m here. I’m here for you” She reassures as she squeezed her hand. “And you’re not losing this baby. We are going to get to Carson and everything is going to be fine”

“You promise?”

Promises are hard…harder now when every day has more unpredictable possibilities…but hell, she’s going to go back on her own values.

“I promise, Mags. I fucking promise”

And it seemed to all go down hill from there.

Messing with that outpost by killing everyone inside the building. Lead to the “rest” of them surrounding each possible route to the Hilltop. Meaning the group inside the RV eventually had to pack up, get Maggie on a board, and carry her to the Hilltop through the woods.

The plan went smoothly at first…

Then they came crashing down again.

Y/N was leading the way to the hilltop while the others carried Maggie. And when she suddenly stopped, so did the rest of them.

“Y/N what’s—-“

“Well…well…well…” the unnamed man laughs to the small group as his(?) men started to surround the group. “Look at what we’ve got here”

Suddenly the outdoors felt like the surroundings was slowly caving in on themselves. Bringing out the anxiety buried in claustrophobic individuals. Y/N tried reaching for the handgun on her hip when a similar weapon was pressed directly into her head.

“Uh uh little lady. We are gonna take those weapons from yea and get y’all in line” another unnamed man states as he presses the gun harsher until his words got to all of them to surrender their weapons.

Once the weapons were handed over, at least the guns and the bow on Y/N’s back, they were forced to be put in line and on their knees. Even Maggie in her state which didn’t settle well with anybody but it showed on Y/N’s face with the rage she felt in the moment.

When the rest of their group was brought out and joining them in this line up, Y/N did her best to contain herself instead of taking care of the issue by herself. Like she’s get any far without a weapon.

“Let’s meet the man shall we?” Clearly, the one who this…well…

________

“What’s your name?” Rick asks the man the group had detained from meeting his end like the rest of his colleagues did in the outpost.

“Negan”

Negan?

Glenn took notice of how the color left Y/N’s complexion entirely when this stranger they never met before said an old familiar name. Clear to her, this man wasn’t the Negan she knows, and most likely this leader wasn’t either. But she still felt like she was going to faint from the deceleration.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” Glenn asks, growing worried for his friend who immediately turned away from everyone throwing up.

“What the fuck just happened?” Daryl scoffs watching Rosita hold Y/N’s hair back to avoid getting vomit in it. “Y/N. What does that name mean to you?”

“Just…” She coughs a bit before straightening up. “Somebody I used to know” she groans slightly, taking the handgun out of her holster and pressing it against the guy’s temple. “Tell us your actual name”

“I ain’t saying SHIT” He hissed and that’s when his radio started to go off.

________

As the man that bears the name every single one of the unknown carries on themselves, the original if you may. He makes his presence known as the new villain in their stories…and boy did it unlock a lot of the past that the group was going to learn about you.

“Pissing our pants yet?” He laughs, god his infectious laugh, caught everyone off guard as the tension grew.

Y/N hasn’t drawn her eyes away from him waiting for the second he looks at her. In hopes something will flip to have this become “an honest mistake” and let them go. Let them take care of her best friend. Her new family.

But he had a completely different feeling when locking eyes with her.

I thought she was dead

She just. Left before the outbreak.

She had a part of this?

I wonder…if she…no

No. I can’t. “One of y’all has to pay for what happened at the outpost” Negan frowns drawing his attention away from Y/N as her whole body tensed when he started pout I h his bat to her family. “One of y’all…has to be the example”

Please…Please don’t Y/N felt her anxiety get the best of her when watching this man she once knew…her best friend from the old world…someone that always had a piece of her heart in the grasp of their hand…was about to kill one them for what they did. But what has he done since they’ve last seen each other?

As eenie, meanie, bullshit seems to be his shtick. Y/N noticed immediately that he would completely ignore her giving her a sense of immunity. But that’s always temporary.

Negan gave one last glance to Y/N, studying her features and watching her a split second before raising his bat about to knock right into Abraham’s skull. The man himself already prepared to meet his end.

But it happened so suddenly. Abraham opened his eyes to find himself on his back and Y/N planted in front of him holding the bat in Negan’s hands letting the blood pour from the barbed wire that embedded itself into her palms.

“Cmon Smith…this ain’t like you”

Suddenly the big bad villain froze as he pulled the bat away hearing the tearing of skin from Y/N’s palms which broke him. But there wasn’t much time to think on how he just hurt someone close to him.

When the gun shot rang through

________

“Hey”

Y/N flinches slightly not expecting anybody else at the bus stop at this hour. She immediately looked away in hopes that Negan would walk away if she pretended she didn’t know him.

But the man has always been stubborn. Patient for the most part, but stubborn.

Negan sat beside Y/N looking at their surrounding and no cars anywhere at this time. He wondered himself what time it was but granted, when he got the call, he half expected Y/N to be gone by now.

“Your ma called me. Thinkin’ you were with Lucille and I”

Nothing

“Why didn’t yea tell me yer dad was hitting yea again?”

Y/N didn’t say a single word to Negan, all he heard was the sniffles coming from her when he asked that. She didn’t want to say “yes” out loud or anything in response because it made it real. The bruises were already a reminder of what happened hours before this moment.

“Well…I ain’t letting yea get on a bus and run away from this shit. But I’m also not letting you go home. Your ma ain’t helpin’. Your dad is a fucking bitch. So you’ll stay with Lucille and I.”

“…really?”

“Yeah. I ain’t lettin’ another soul hurt yea”

“Thanks Smith…”

________

Negan dropped his bat to catch Y/N as one of his own decided to shoot her down for stepping out of line. Thankful the shot was in her left side, but given how much blood she already lost to his hand—-he wasn’t going to let this slide.

The way this man threatened their lives was now being gentle with one of their own. He set her down on the floor listening to her hyperventilate and without a word he snapped at his right hand Simon pointing to her. Which meant to take care of her and get the bleeding to stop. He and another he instructed to help took care of Y/N in the moment which lead to confused looks from her group.

“Who did it” Negan frowns slowly reaching for his bat and once he picked it up. His anger spilled. “WHO THE FUCK DID IT”

It didn’t take long for the man who fired the shot to step forward and follow Negan’s gestures for him to step in front of the line up.

“On your knees”

“B—“

“ON YOUR KNEES” He snaps gripping his bat as if he could break it in half with the force. Once the man did and the group continued to have a tense feeling for what he’s about to do, but also if Y/N would make it that night.

“What’s your name?”

“N—“

“No. Your fucking birth name”

“I—Uh. Kyle”

“Well Kyle. Meet your fucking maker” and everyone witnessed what would happened to Abraham if Y/N didn’t step in.

Once the guy was…splattered on the dirt road, Negan knew he had to show them more of that he means business. But the way the color was fading in Y/N’s complexion, his mind went all over the place.

Why the fuck did she have to be a part of this group Negan groans heading toward the RV and tossing his bat inside before approaching the leader, Rick. “You’re comin’ with me. Y’all watch the rest. Make sure they don’t do nothin’. And Simon” he turned back to the situation seeing him apply pressure to the bullet wound. “Take her back to the Sanctuary.”

“No!” Maggie yells watching her best friend get taken by his men as she tried to get up but immediately fell down given her situation. “Please. Please don’t take her”

The leader of the Saviors quietly approached the sobbing brunette crouching to her level.

“If it weren’t for her…I wouldn’t hesitate to kill every single one of you fuckers for what y’all did” as Maggie continued to sob into the dirt, Negan rose to his feet approaching Rick and grabbing the retired sheriff by the hair dragging him to the RV and show their leader he means business in a different way.

Negan shoved Rick into the seat, slamming his hatchet into table before him. He brought himself to the driver’s seat gripping the steering wheel watching the car they loaded Y/N up in, drive away.

You came back

When I’m no longer me

________

Negan quietly approaches Y/N’s door about to knock when he realizes the door was open. So with a bit of hesitation he pushes it open and finds most of Y/N’s belongings were gone. His anxiety started to get the best of him as he rummages through the entire room for any sign of where she could’ve went.

But then it was obvious. Negan picked up the letter with his name on it from her desk and slowly sat down on her bed.

You don’t need any distractions when caring for the woman you love. I’ll come back someday…but I have to find myself, by myself.

I love you Smith. Don’t get into any trouble when I’m gone.

Y/L/N

Negan felt the tears come on as he wished she never left. Wished he saw the signs that she was going to.

________

Now he wasn’t going to let her go

The pain…wasn’t..unbearable. This felt weird. Nothing like the injuries from running from the prison…or the cannibals.

Y/N slowly wakes in an unfamiliar place and once the confusion settled in. She shot up in the bed seeing her injures were taken care of and that she was attached to an IV. An IV? In this hell? But that didn’t matter anymore. She took it out a bit roughly that would obviously cause blood as she grabs some of the loose gauze from the tray beside her bed to apply pressure.

She didn’t account for how long she has been in the bed or out cold for that matter, that she immediately fell to the ground after getting up.

“Fuck…” Y/N groans as the thud didn’t go unnoticed by the man supposedly guarding her room.

“Shit. You’re awake. Alright. I gotta get the big man but first let me help—-“

“Fuck off” Y/N sighs smacking the hands away when he tried to help her. “Don’t touch me”

“Y-Yes ma’am”

Weird. Y/N frowns helping herself get up and realizing she’s practically naked. “Get the fuck out. I’ll be out in a minute”

After getting the clothes provided to her on, Y/N was lead through the entire place called the Sanctuary. It was creepy even if some parts of the place were “homey”.

“Here we are” the man opens the door to another room letting Y/N in as she tensed even more.

It doesn’t matter if..I know him. I need to leave. Need to see Maggie. Check on my family Y/N frowns examining the place. Even if they’ll never believe my words she sighs knowing this will be difficult to go back to normal.

Y/N quickly turned around when the door opened once more and Negan appeared.

“Hey…”

“Start talking Smith”

“Now come on. I haven’t seen yea in years and—-“

“You’ve murdered a fuckton of people and for what exactly?”

“May I remind you, that your little group ended up in my line up because they murdered a shitton of my people? If y’all didn’t—-“

“Negan Smith fucking explain why you are a goddamn dictator” Y/N snaps not listening to anything more except the obvious elephant in the room. “How could you do this? The stories I’ve heard…the people you’ve killed…the child you killed…what happened to you that lead you to become this monster?”

“I lost Lucille. Lost my home. Lost you. It does a lot to a man”

“Losing me…made you a terrible person?” The hurt in her voice made him regret saying that, but even then he can’t find a way to make what he said even better. “Negan. I don’t know how Lucille died…I have some idea…but I don’t believe she would’ve liked how you turned out for whatever was the turning moment for you”

The way Negan was looking at her made both their anxiety grow. Negan wanted to tell her what happened, what lead to his total change. While Y/N was simply afraid of what he could do or what he did.

“How long was I out?!”

“A few days why—“ Negan was suddenly forced against the door startling the few that thought eavesdropping on the two would be interesting. “Y/N what the—-“

“Did you kill anyone from my family? Did you do something un-fucking-thinkable to the people I care about?!”

“No! Well. One of them was taken here. But the guy I’ve got watching him was instructed not to do anything. For—-“

“If you say for me, I’ll snap you in half. Now tell me. How the fuck you got here” Y/N snaps shoving him back and going to sit on the bed when she felt a pain in her side. “Fuck”

“You—“

“No! Answer my question”

“But you’re bleeding—-“

“Just. Fucking answer. I’ve been through fucking worse” Y/N frowns rising to her feet and approaching the small kitchenette while Negan kept his distance even if every part of him wanted to help.

I understand…Grief brings out of a lot of emotions. Rick was definitely scary when Lori died the way that she did. Hell he went through his own darkness. But he never killed in the way Negan did.

“You need to let my friend go…” Y/N frowns lifting her shirt slightly to press the towel against her bleeding bandage. “And let me go.”

“I can’t do that”

“Smith…”

“Please.” Negan begged. He never did that. He cautiously stepped closer watching her not resent his advance. “I can’t lose you now that I’ve got you back”

“Then change”

If only it was that simple.

Negan had told their group he would visit in a week to collect half of their belongings. But since having Y/N, he didn’t care per se. He still had his men do check ins to make sure they were still collecting enough to provide for the Saviors…but he never went himself to collect. Which lead to an uncomfortable conversation.

“No. You can’t just let that happen”

“Ever since she left with them, he’s never threatened us. With himself at least” Rick states crossing his arms. “We’ll need to get Daryl back and then—-“

“Then get Y/N back” Maggie snaps almost immediately given the conversation was simply leaving Y/N with Negan who has a short fuse and anything could happen to the girl. She wasn’t about to lose her best friend to a mad man.

Even if Y/N was conflicted with her own decision.

“What are you doing here?” Dwight questions Y/N’s presence by the cells. He immediately noticed the black dress she was given after being there for a few weeks. “You’re one of the main guy’s wives. You have to stay in your designated—-“

Y/N socked Dwight in the face as he stumbled back holding his nose from the bullseye shot she landed.

“Leave.”

“I’ll tell—-“

“I don’t give a fuck” Y/N snaps taking the keys off his person watching him leave and she knew this felt rather easy. Is Negan doing what she wants…except for what she actually wants.

When the door opened and Y/N saw the state w that Daryl was in. Her heart shattered.

“He’s a lair” Referring to the fact that when he said he won’t hurt anyone she cares about. “Let’s go D”

“That easy? Seriously?” Daryl scoffs. “What are you to this guy?” He winces when he rose to his feet and Y/N kept a look out before leading the way to an exit.

“He…” He still is. “used to be someone very important to me”

“What like an ex-lover?” Daryl quickly pulled Y/N back into a corridor when he heard footsteps approaching. “Was he always an egotistical bastard?”

“He had his moments” She whispers looking at the floor as Daryl felt tense for a moment, knowing the second they are out of there he would ask her to come with him. Go back to their group…their family…but this is the first time he could actually read her. He’s known her for years and she’s kept a good front, even when moments she would want to fall apart.

“Merle was a bastard his whole life”

“As you’ve said” Y/N went to check for their window and once they had it, Daryl took her wrist before she lead the way.

“But he still did some good. Now I don’t want yea to stay here. I really don’t want you to give your life up just to keep a bastard from hurting your family.” Daryl frowns letting go of her as she brought herself close once more giving the archer a sad look on her face. “Do what you need to do”

Of course Y/N got and took the blame for Daryl escaping. But she wasn’t punished and wasn’t given a public punishment like Negan usual does. Which lead to an uprising finally happening. The residence had enough of Negan’s rules and were thankful to Y/N that they even suggested a change in leadership.

“You’ve changed me”

“Just from existing? Never thought that would be possible” Y/N frowns watching the people pack up their belongings that were rightfully theirs and some of her own group split everything between the communities that the Saviors took from, at least the ones still standing.

“When you lived with me in the old world, you made me a better person. Made me a better partner” Negan frowns knowing that his demise will be met very soon given the window people are given. “I just never thought I’d be losing you again even when I—-“

“Who says you’re losing me? I just got you back. The you I once knew.” Y/N states watching Negan’s features relax. “Yeah we are gonna be running for the rest of our lives because you’ll be hunted…but at least I know my family is safe”

“But aren’t I just causing problems by keeping you from your family? The family…you’ve always wanted?”

“I had the family I’ve always wanted. I lost Lucille and I saved you.” Y/N sighs gripping the string of her bow as it wraps around her front. “You’ll have to repay me with time, Smith”

“I can do that…”

#cultofdixon #the walking dead #negan smith #negan smith x reader #negan smith fanfiction #I hope I did your request justice

[nachosncheezies]

the x files season 7 ficlet, 500 words, angst

I’m bad at titles. I guess this falls under “If Mulder’s brain disease was real, why did he hide it from Scully?”

Note: I don’t really have an opinion about Mulder’s Brain Disease as a plot point; treat this as canon-adjacent or canon-divergent as it suits you.

It is hopeless, the doctors say, hopeless, his contacts agree, and he tries and tries to find his own solution - he will not give up - but hopeless is all he finds. They've seen so much, survived so much, he has put her through so much, and coming to the other side of all things to this place that is theirs is so new. No one ever said life was fair.

He remembers what it was to watch her dying. The helplessness, the anger, the desperation as a placeholder for soul-rending despair yet to come. He doesn't want that for her. He doesn't want her scouring journals, sleeping in labs, crying in the shower where she thinks he cannot hear.

She'll be furious when she finds out, he knows; she'll be furious and hurt and might never forgive him. But if this is all they have, he wants to make it count. Whether she suffers a long, drawn out goodbye over the space of months or whether she's furious for the space of weeks or days, he wants her to have something to look back on. He wants to leave her with good memories, happy memories. Something more than bitter regret for how long they took in getting here.

And so he tells her not to worry. To read her journals, work on her manuscripts. Dine with her mother. I'll check it out, he says, and I’ll call you if it's worth our time. And he does. Week after week, he does. He picks cases that are interesting, mysterious. Things that will tease at their shared curiosity and challenge their shared intellect. Things that will let them laugh, and explore, and have fun in that easy way they've so rarely experienced since their first year, since he and Deep Throat drew her into the Syndicate's crosshairs and loss became the third constant companion in their partnership.

He takes her to Huntington Beach, to Smith Mountain Lake, the Shedd Aquarium, a side trip to Nashville and some truly outstanding chicken. He finds reasons to take her west, and if he accidentally drives a little too far south down I-5 while she's napping and lands them in spitting distance of San Diego, well, it'd be a shame to waste the serendipity of an unexpected lunch with her sister-in-law and nephew. He can always finish the paperwork and meet her after.

He kisses her under the same stars in a dozen different states and watches her bloom, no longer the green and puppyfat kid from Quantico but once again graced with her easy smiles and goofy laugh. He takes a picture or two for Maggie, so that when it's all over and he breaks her daughter's heart, she'll know he did his best, that it wasn't all a waste, that for a while, he made their girl happy.

She'll be furious when she finds out, and he feels terribly guilty, but guilt is not a new companion, and her smile could rival the sun.

#x files #the x files #txf s7 #x files fanfic #xf fanfic #x files fanfiction #txf fanfic #nachos writes

[renren-006]

Love Lost | Part 2: Heart Strings

Negan Smith x fem reader

plot: being in Virginia has sent your heart thumping, will you ever figure out why?

word count: 1166

a/n: hey! this is part 2 to Love Lost I hope you enjoy it!

Part 1: Atlanta- Virginia

Living in Alexandria had set your heart ablaze. You had no idea why your heart would thump away when you walked outside your shared home into the Virginia air. You had never even visited the state let alone DC. Negan always wanted to go to DC together one day and walk around the museums and act like we had never met and meet at a painting. You smiled at the sweet memory of talking about going to DC one day. That's all it was you though, just the idea and memory of him making your heart beat, but even after that it continued to be a problem. 

*

“We should go to DC once you get some time off” Negan has said from his spot on the couch. You turned your head away from the book in your lap. You were only a part time nurse at the hospital in your area, you didn't work too much but you both needed the money so you worked more hours than you should have. While Negan was teaching basketball to the highschool, even he didn't make enough to keep you two afloat. 

“What?”

“Let's go to DC when we both have some time off. Lets go to the museums”

“You want to go to DC? For the Smithsonian?” you asked him, wondering how long he held this obsession.

“Yes! Let's go and look at the art and we can do a little role play” he joked. Him and his role play, he loved when you flirted in a way where you didn't know the other, where you just so happen to fall head over heels for him instantly. 

“You and your roleplay” you laughed, “Okay! Okay! Well go I promise. Only if you take me to the natural history museum” you told him. He smiled and pulled you into his lab holding you close and kissing your cheeks. 

“Whatever you want sweetheart” he told you, kissing you hard and sweet. 

*

Throughout your time at Alexandria it never stopped and only got worse the further you left Alexandria. It wasn't until one day you realized why. 

You did your best to distract yourself from your fast heart beat. You hunted, you helped patch people up in the little hospital they had. They welcomed your help there, learning that your stitches were far neater than theirs. You worked in the hospital for two years before the world ended and then again was trapped with no other option but to patch those cops up even though they trapped you. Within the walls of the alexandria hospital you felt calm, finally being in a place that didn't hold you there and wanted your skills to help the others. You felt at peace for the first time, in a long time. 

With the rest of the group you tagged along with Sasha and with Maggie occasionally. Shasha usually asked for you to watch her back when she went out to shoot at the walkers to get her sorrows and anger out. You worried for her, as the others did, but you let her handle her grief how anyone would. You handled yourself how you see fit, including working long hours in the hospital or even taking calls to houses at night if kids were sick or something happened. 

There was a time where the integrity of Alexandria was compromised and it terrified you. You held up in the hospital watching as walkers poured in from all angles into the community. You saw people running, dying and you saw those things eating. What was worse was when Carl was brought in, the look on Rick's face was something you won't ever forget. 

“Calm down Rick! Calm down” you told him, pushing him back so you could work on Carl's eye. It was nasty and hard but you managed to save his life but not his eye. That night was the first time you charged out behind Rick and Michonne and killed your way through the dead letting yourself feel the anger you felt towards the world. You let those tears fall with no regard to people seeing and when Sasha came up behind you and saw the look of hurt in hers, the two of you continued blazing through the dead.  

The community's life changed around after that. A new group was discovered, the Hilltop. Rick had an idea to the Hilltop with their problem with a whole other group of people, but it backfired. It wasn't for a few weeks before the real repercussions came. Maggie had a problem with her baby and wanted to get to Hilltop. You offered to tag along to keep her company and help her, she smiled and warmed the journey together. Maggie was different and alike to her sister, you took that as a good sign that the two of you could become closer friends.

 This journey was interrupted at every road, blocking your way forward. You were worried for Maggie, with the way she was looking and the pain you saw behind her eyes, you didn't know how much more of this turning around she could handle. When you tried leaving the van and running, even then you were trapped. The van was driven in front of where you kneeled with the others. Your heart like before was beating fast, boom boom boom, you didn't understand, you thought it was the nerves. A man stepped out of the van, leather jacket and bold boots stepped down out of the light. There the man's face became visible to you, although a face hardened by the years of the apocalypse those eyes and those lips were still the same. 

“Negan” you said, whispering your lover's name, he looked at you and froze. The others were all staring at you and the rest of the men gathered didn't so much as move when Negan kneeled down. 

“Y/N. Is that…is that really you?” He asked, the face he had on was instantly broken and the mask fell. There he was the man you loved now looking at you. 

“Yes…”you said not wanting to say more, but desperately craving too. He didn't so much as look at the others in the group. 

“Pack it up boys, we're done here” He said, every man's voice yelled over each other cursing and bargaining to make them pay. They wanted to watch us bleed for their friends' lives that RIck and the others took.

“I said pack it up” Negan snarled, everyone stopped and everyone got in their trucks. “Tonight consider this a blessing” he said turning to Rick who for the most part was terrified and confused. Negan stood a hand outstretched for you to take so you did. You walked with him to his car, the others watching. 

“Y/N!” Maggie called, you turned back, Negans boots stopped as you did, “How..?”

“He's my husband” was all you said before you let him lead you to his car, towards his home.

#negan is a good character #negan smith #twd negan #negan x reader #negan fanfiction #the walking dead negan #jeffery dean morgan

[carlgrimesmissingeye]

Not Them, Please || daryl dixon x fem!greene!reader

Fem!Reader she/her pronouns used.

Warnings: gore! usual twd violence, use of weapons, gun violence, mentions of walkers, Lucille, Negan gets his own warning, violence against reader, no use of Y/n, Negan called reader “little lady" but no mention of readers size/body type, established relationship w Daryl, reader and Daryl have a child and reader is pregnant

A/n: Set at the beginning of season 7, in the lineup. I decided to not kill off Abraham and Glenn:) Eugene technically replaces Daryl’s position with Negan.

===================================

“Let’s meet the man!”

Out of the RV stepped a dark haired, middle aged man, wearing a leather jacket and carrying a barb wired baseball bat. Negan. A sadistic smile tattooed on his face as he studied the groups of people on their knees in front of him, surrounded by his own men. His lips twitched upward as he spoke. “Pissing our pants yet?” He stepped down from the RV’s steps, swinging the bat from beside him to over his shoulder.

“Boy do I have a feeling we’re getting close.” Negan said, walking closer to Rick’s group. Maggie was almost doubled over in pain, [Name] looked over at her sister, and then her brother in law(and quickly catching Daryl’s eye). “Mags, are you okay?” she said, holding out her hand to her sister,scooting away from Abraham and closer to Maggie. Maggie’s sweaty hand grabbed onto her younger sister’s hand, holding it like a vice. [Name] looked up into the eyes of Negan, not swaying nor cowering in the burning gaze of Negan Smith.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be pee pee pants city here real soon.” Negan said, his tongue darting around in his mouth and he waltzed in front of Rick’s group. “Now, which one of you pricks is the leader?” Negan questioned, looking to Simon for an answer. “It’s this one. He’s the guy.” Simon said, pointing to Rick. [Name]’s eyes darted to Rick, panic written all over her face while Rick looked disappointed. Bloodshot (e/c) eyes looked up to Negan, mouth gaped open like a beached fish. Negan stood in front of Rick, tilted backwards and his head cocked to the side as he smirked at Rick. He sighed, stepping more in front of Rick as he breathed out a raspy greeting. “Hi. You’re Rick right? I’m Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men.” Negan’s smiled turned down, his shit eating grin gone as he seethed at Rick. “Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you’re gonna be up to speed shortly.” Ricks eyes slowly made their way up to Negan’s not exactly cowering but not stone cold as he met Negan’s petrifying stare. “Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes.” [Name]’s body shook as a shiver overcame her, not knowing which member of her family Negan would choose to try and prove a point. But one thing was for sure, she sure as hell would be the first to go down in order to protect her and Daryl’s daughter back home, and Judith. Judith and Carl were like her second and third child, if it meant she would die to protect them, then so be it.

“You see Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don’t mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it’s really very simple. So, even if you’re stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready?” At this point [Name] had stopped listening, ears ringing and eyes stinging with unshed tears and a shaking form. Her eyes darted around at her family again, counting in her head. ‘One, two, three…’ going on and on and by that time Negan had made his way over to [Name], pointing his bat in her face. “..you work for me now.” She looked up, swallowing as her eye twitched, holding Negan’s almost homicidal gaze.

“You have shit, you give it to me. That’s your job. Now I know this is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe.” [Name] looked over to Carl, catching his gaze and mouthed to him “it’s okay. We’re gonna be okay”. She again stopped listening to Negan, only following him as he moved up and down their line, her own heartbeat being the only thing she could hear in her ears as her blood rushed up and down her body. She felt nauseous. She barely heard Negan when he said “You are not safe. Not even close” as she thought she was going to pass out. Get home to Amber, and Judith, and Tara. Oh god she’d miss her baby Amber if she died tonight. ‘At least she’d have her father’ she thought as she looked over to her husband, lip quivering as Daryl stared back, nodding to her as to console her. “This is your life now” Negan’s muted voice got back to her, as she looked down, studying the gravel beneath her, her knees begging her to get up, do something. Take down the whole place, save her family.

[Name] only looked back up when Glenn got up, letting out a mighty war cry "No, no!", following behind him before Maggie pulled her back down. The older Greene sister let out a muffled cry at the site of her husband being dragged back to his spot on the ground as the younger Greene’s face contoured to something of pure malice at the sight of Negan smiling, his words not registering in her brain. ‘Smug bastard.’ she thought. Glenn begged "Don't! Don't." [Name]'s own pleads came out of her mouth before she knew what she was pleading for. "Please.. please not her." she begged, "She's pregnant." [Name]'s eyes caught Negan's, a tear rolling down her cheek. Negan bent down, bringing his bat to her face to wipe the tear. Daryl visibly stiffened at the site of this piece of shit man in front of his wife. Negan used the to wipe the tear, also cutting her face in the process. She didn’t flinch. “Wow, you are one pretty lady, but the cut just oh so added beauty.” Negan’s hot breath hitting her face from the proximity of him. ‘He’s too close, way too close’. Negan got back up, walking over to Rick again. Saying something to him that was inaudible to [Name] until she saw Negan get up and point at Carl. “This is your kid, right?” ‘Oh god no, not Carl’. She could feel herself moving to stand up before Abraham pushed her down, nodding to Daryl. Daryl looked made of ice and steel. Daryl shook his head at her, telling her to stay put.

Negan made his way up, pacing back and forth in front of their group, whistling. God, [Name] would never forget that whistle, the long tune consisting of only two notes. "I simply cannot decide." Negan chuckled, moving farther back to get a good look at all of them. He suddenly threw up his hand, the bat like an extension of his already dealy red right hand. "I got an idea!" He chuckled again, moving towards Rick and pointing the bat at him. "Eenie."

This overly childish game went on for a while before the bat landed on Abraham. [Name] wept as Negan finalized the bat be had above everyone's favorite ginger. Abraham sent a peace sign to Sasha as she let out a silent sob. But before the bat could come down, [Name] moved in front him Abraham with a sob and a "No!"

Everyone watched as Negan violently moved the bat out of the way of the woman who bravely put herself in harms way for the cocky, Texan ginger. "Not him, please not him. Not any..any of them. Take me please! If it saves them." she threw her arms up in surrender, protecting Abraham and locking eyes with Daryl and he cried. Negan was moved. To say the least. A woman, obviously had a child and probably wanted more. [Name] was everything Negan wished he could've had with his wife. He couldn't kill this woman when she obviously wouldn't let him kill anyone else. Negan fell sick to his stomach at the thought of having to kill the lady, children and women being off limits to his tirades.

Negan backed up, seeing the (h/c) woman visibly breathe out, relaxing a bit. "I'll follow any rules, if you'll please just let them live." she looked up at Negan through her lashes, lip wobbly at the thought of not being able to go home to her daughter. She still hadn't been able to tell Daryl the good news, she was pregnant. Again. She wanted to be home with Daryl and Amber to tell him the news. She was about two months along from Denise's calculations. She needed to get to Hilltop alongside her sister, she had decided she would tell Maggie first.

"Negan please, kill me if you must but not them. Not my family." she pleaded. "Wow. I am moved. You, a little lady, would be willing to take a beatin for these people? You all sure are a tight knit group. You people take Christmas card pictures in ugly sweaters too?" he joked, trying to keep up the calm and cool facade. [Name] doubled over, hot face touching the cool ground. She wondered if anyone was on watch for walkers around. It would be too easy for a herd to sweep over right now and kill them all. "Listen here now, I don't usually just let shit like that slide but since you're such a pretty lady and Tarzan over there looks like he's gonna rip my head off, I'll let you slide." Negan said, getting down to eye level with (e/c) eyes as he pointed to Daryl, who looked like he was fixing to explode, and she nodded.

"But, that doesn't get you off the hook fellas. I'm still taking one with me, and my pick is...you." Negan bellowed, making sure everyone heard him as he nodded to Simon to bring Eugene forward. Negan looked over to Dwight, as he grabbed Daryl by the collar over to [Name] and as Simon dragged a whiny Eugene to Negan. Daryl dropped in front of his wife and brought her to him, cradling her in his lap. "It's alrigh' sunshine, I gotcha." Daryl said to his weeping wife as Negan's men loaded up Eugene into the back of a truck. "But under the pretty lady's request, I will not be killing the guy. But he will work for me, and if you don't meet my requirements I will be cutting a limb off! Starting with fingers, toes and then hands and arms. We will meet here again in two weeks." Negan ordered to Rick as his men loaded in trucks, leaving the RV, and started to drive off.

Getting [Name] off the ground was quite the struggle, as she stared into space. Glenn consoled Maggie off the ground and into the RV, everyone slowly coming to realize that everyone was alive. Thanks to a pregnant lady and her undying love of her family.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"It could be worse, they could be coming to Alexandria instead of meeting in the woods." Sasha said, her arm around Abraham.

They were all squeezed into the RV, on the way to Hilltop.

They might have been slowed down, but Maggie still needed help. And so did [Name].

Darly sat in the back room in a chair with his wife, Glenn holding Maggie's hand as she laid in the bed. [Name] let out a shaky breath, feeling her hands clam up. "Guys? I have something to tell you." she said softly, only wanting the people in the room now to her. She'd tell everyone else when they got back to Alexandria, she'd host a little party and cook some casseroles and cookies and bresk the news softly. Darly stroked his wife's hair to let her know he was paying attention while she looked over to her sister and brother-in-law to grab their attention.

"I'm pregnant."

She was met with silence, before Glenn let out a loud "What??". 'Well, there went the breaking it easily.'. "I'm pregnant. About two months along Denise said. Not far along to tell the gender yet." she said it loud enough to where she knew the people up front would hear too, as all conversations ceased as she waited for the mixed responses. "And when did you plan to tell everyone?" Maggie asked, not mad like her husband seemed to be. "I was going to tell Maggie at Hilltop, and tell Daryl when we got back and see Dr. Carson in private to get an ultrasound done. I wanted to have a little get together and tell everyone else to ease it on everyone. Amber is near 2 years old now, she can't understand yet but she's awfully mature for her age, already getting potty trained and running around. I had her easily with no complications, another one won't be so hard. I just won't get to go on runs after a few months."

The whole RV was quiet, a pen could drop and you'd hear the echo. [Name] chewed on the inside of her lip as Daryl smiled down at her, happily kissing her forehead. "We'll be alright, darlin,, just gonna hav't find some more baby supplies. Not milk since you breastfeed, but diapers and wipes." Daryl happily spoke, ecstatic at the thought of another baby. "I want the baby named after me this time! Amber got off easy being a girl. Carl Jr sounds awesome for a baby." Carl declared, moving to the room with them. Daryl chuckled as his wife laughed, winking at Carl. "We might be able to work something out. Not Carl Jr though, tough luck on that one. But we'll work in Carl in there somewhere." [Name] spoke, laughing. Daryl rolled his eyes, pushing his bangs out of his face. "Michonnes gonna want to save the Jr. title for the future, if your dad and her have another kid." Maggie uttered, a cheerful smile on her face as Glenn gazed at her, like he'd never seen so much beauty before.

"We've got time."

A/n: hi! This is like super duper long and I spent a lot of time on the lineup part, I just didn't know how to shorten it down to where it sounded right😭. This wasn't a request! I thought about this while dyeing my hair and I couldn't get it out of my head. Send in request if you like ones like this! I love writing when I have free time.

#twd daryl #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixion x reader #daryl x you #daryl dixon #twd x reader #maggie rhee #rick grimes #twd negan #twd fluff #twd season 7 #daryl imagines

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || The Hilltop Colony

Previous

They had ran into another problem on their way to Jesus's community, the RV got stuck in the mud, the tyre spun as Rick revved the engine to get out.

"Damn it." He cursed. "A storm must've passed through. We're stuck."

Jesus stood from his seat, looking out the windshield.

"No worries. We're here." He patted Ricks arm.

When they had opened the door of the RV, the ground was coated in mud, the RV was sat in a large wet puddle.

Natalia hesitated, before stepping down.

Daryl held out his hand to her, which she took, as she got down from the steps, and onto the slippery ground.

She hadn't let go of his hand though, instead intwined her fingers in his.

He looked at the others before looking at her.

"What are you doing?" He grumbled.

"What I want." She smiled at him.

He was embarrassed that people had caught onto them, and now she was displaying PDA, he didn't like it, he felt awkward, but the thought never occurred to Daryl to just pull away.

He scoffed, as he gripped her hand, walking in front of her only slightly.

They had stopped in front of a wall made out of tree trunks.

"That's us." Jesus said. "That's the Hilltop."

The group of 12 walked towards the community.

"Stop right there." A man called.

Daryl and Natalia both ripped their hands apart, raising their guns, so had the other members of their group.

"Woah." Jesus put his hands up.

"You gonna make us?" Daryl asked the two men on the perch's of the wall, in front of a steel door.

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" One of them asked.

"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus told him, he then turned to the group. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." Cal said.

"How about you come down here and get them with your big sticks." Natalia challenged.

"Gentleman, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there." The doctor said.

"Lower the spears." Jesus told them.

"Look, I'm not taking any chances." Rick stepped towards Jesus. "Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."

"No." Jesus turned to talk to him. "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago."

"Brave to admit that to strangers." Natalia told him.

"I like you people." He shrugged. "I trust you. Trust us."

Rick thought about it for a moment, then gestured for them to lower their weapons.

"Open the gates, Cal." Jesus told him.

He did as told.

The metal squeaked loudly as it was opened.

The first thing that came to Natalia's mind when she saw The Hilltop, was that it was beautiful.

A large house sat in the middle of the grounds, huts were around the place, being worked in, having their own stations, for food, black smith, washing, and other useful jobs.

Trailers lined the other wall, that must be where the people lived who didn't live in the house.

The place even had chickens, cows and crops.

"Hey, thanks again. Come see me whenever." The doctor told Glenn and Maggie, "I'm just over here in the medical trailer, okay?"

The couple smiled at him in appreciation.

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby." Jesus explained as the group looked around. "That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them."

"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne asked.

"That's called the Barrington House." He pointed at the large house. "The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down." He pointed at the windows in the top part of the house. "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security."

"If it used to be a museum, does it still have any of the exhibits or art?" Natalia asked him. "Just, that stuffs cool." She shrugged when the others looked at her.

"Come on." Jesus smirked at her. "I'll show you inside."

Natalia followed after him, quite excitedly, as the others hesitated.

If she trusted him, they knew they could, too.

He led them in, the place looked old and tidy.

Natalia made her way around the place, looking at the stuff, fascinated by it.

She used to love History.

One of her and her moms main bonding times were visiting art galleries and museums, her therapist had recommended it when their relationship was strained during her teen years.

"Good gracious. Ignatius." Abraham voiced the groups thoughts as they took the place in.

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms." Jesus explained.

"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked.

"We plan to build. There's babies being born."

A door opened, a balding man with a beard and a punchable face, wearing a suit, emerged.

"Jesus." He greeted. "You're back. With guests."

Natalia hadn't missed how he trailed his eyes down the three women.

"Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here."

"I'm the boss." He gestured proudly.

"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community..."

"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" He told them, cutting Rick off.

Gregory was an asshole.

"We're fine." Rick told him.

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready." He then leaned in to whisper to Rick, keeping the others out.

"Yeah. Sure." Rick agreed to whatever he had said.

"Follow me." Jesus sighed, heading up stairs.

"I don't like him." Natalia told Rick as they followed.

"You ain't the only one." He murmured to her, he then patted Maggie's arm, gaining her attention as she waited up." "you clean up first. Then you talk to him."

"Why?" She asked.

"I shouldn't." Rick said. "And you gotta start doing these things. And I'm scared that If I sent Nat in there, she'd be the only one leaving it."

Natalia laughed at his comment.

"Well, he seems to know your name already." Maggie nodded at Natalia when she left Gregory's office, looking ticked off.

"Mine?" Natalia asked, pointing at herself.

"Kept calling me it, I'm honoured, but it suits you best." She smiled at her.

"Thanks, was given it at birth." She smiled. "But what did he say?"

The others waited to hear her answer as they sat around the hallway, in the gorgeous chairs.

She shook her head.

"The best answer I can give is, he's not interested, says we ain't got anything to give but bullets."

"We want to generate trade. Gregory does." Jesus joined the conversation. "But ammo isn't something we urgently need."

"Well, how's that?" Rick asked.

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."

"Yeah, well, we want things, too." Daryl spoke up.

"We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it."

"We're the reason you guys have that medicine, hell, I could've shot him as soon as I saw him, but I didn't" Natalia told the man.

"I will talk to him and we will work this out." Jesus pressed, hearing the threating tone in their voices. "Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand. Can you give me a few days?"

"We can." Michonne nodded.

"Yeah." Rick agreed.

A man came through the main door, catching their attention, as well as Gregory's as he came back out of his office.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"They're back." The man told him.

Gregory and Jesus walked out without saying a word, so of course the group followed.

Two men and a woman were walking towards them, the man in front was significantly tall, looking frustrated about something.

"Nathan, what happened to everybody else?" Gregory asked the man. "Where's Tim and Marsha?"

"They're dead." He put it bluntly.

"Negan?"

"Yeah."

"We had a deal."

"He said it wasn't enough." The other man told him. "Was the drop light?"

"No." Gregory answered, in an annoyed tone at being questioned.

"They still have Craig." The woman said.

"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." Nathan stepped towards Gregory.

Natalia slowly pulled her gun out.

"So, tell me." Gregory replied.

The man placed his hand on the mans shoulder as he whispered "I'm sorry." Then he stabbed the man.

Rick and Michonne pulled the man away, as Jesus and Maggie helped Gregory.

Natalia stepped forward as the man fought against the couple.

"Get off of me! I had to!" He shouted.

Rick tackled him to the ground, pounding his fists into the mans face.

He was pulled away by the other man, who was then tackled by Abraham.

Rick went back for Nathan.

The man in the red jumper began strangling Abraham, managing to get the upper hand.

Daryl grabbed the mans arm, breaking it.

Then Natalia aimed her gun, shooting at the man in the red jumper, a bullet flew into his skull.

She then aimed at Nathan, who had managed to get on top of Rick.

"Hey!" Glenn shouted.

"Stay back! Anybody who tried to stop me is killing my brother!"

Natalia pulled the trigger, the mans blood splatted across Ricks face, coating his beard and neck.

Rick pushed the man off of him, standing up.

The people of Hilltop stared at them, the woman who had shot their people, and the man covered in their blood.

"What?" Rick asked at their stares.

The woman stepped towards Natalia, punching her in the face, knocking her down.

Michonne dropped the woman as Daryl helped Natalia up.

"Don't." Michonne pointed at the woman who hit her friend.

Rick pulled out his gun, aiming at the spearmen.

Cal had also ran over with a spear.

"Drop it now!" He shouted.

"Bitch." Natalia spat at the woman still on the floor, wiping her lip, where she had split it, the same cut from all that time ago.

Rick walked forwards aiming at the spearmen.

"I don't think I will."

"Everyone, this is over!" Jesus shouted, standing in the middle. "It's over. Ethan and Andy were our friends, but lets not pretend they were anything more than cowards who attacked us. They did this. And these people stopped them."

The woman cried over her friends, Daryl held on to Natalia tightly, stopping from getting her own back.

"What can I do?" Rick asked Jesus.

"Put the gun away." He replied. "You've done enough. You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time."

Dr Carson helped Gregory whilst Maggie assisted.

Daryl led Natalia away from the woman, her back to his chest, his arms were still around her as they walked towards Abraham, who was laying on his back, smiling at the blue sky.

"Hey, man. You good?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "I'm better than all right."

They waited in Gregory's office, until Jesus came in.

"Dr Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live."

"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled." Jesus said, awkwardly.

"We heard the name Negan." Rick stepped forward, his face was now blood free. "A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?"

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us... Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation."

"What is he good at?" Natalia asked.

"Well, he's not the leader I would've chosen. But he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."

"He made the deal." Maggie summarised.

"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."

"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us."

"Why not just kill them?" Daryl said.

"Yeah, how come you never fought back?" Natalia added.

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked.

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20."

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything?" Daryl piped up. "These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit."

"Well, how do you know?"

"Because we've come across guys like this before, and they're all dead." Natalia told him. "Bunch of pussies with scary weapons, that's all." She shrugged.

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ." Abraham shared. "Left them in pieces and puddles."

"You know, we'll do it." Daryl volunteered. "If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows."

Daryl's authoritive tone was doing something to Natalia, she stared at him as he listed his demands, ready to follow him into anything if he kept talking like that.

"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick shrugged.

"I'll take it to Gregory." He then left the room.

Once he came back, he had shared that Gregory wanted to talk to Maggie in his bedroom.

Natalia paced back and forth in front of the window, wondering what was going on at home at Alexandria, if Evie and Sully were safe.

She glared at the woman who had punched her, as the people of Hilltop burnt the bodies Natalia had dropped.

"Lemme see." Daryl stopped her from pacing.

She turned from the window, looking at him.

"See what?" She asked, her arms were folded across her chest.

Daryl grabbed the red rag from his back pocket, tilting her chin up, she stared at his face, startled by his current actions, he dabbed at her bottom lip with the cloth, it was still bleeding.

"Got you pretty good." He said, once the blood was wiped away, stuffing the rag back into his pocket.

"Should've killed her." Natalia pouted. "Dumb bitch."

"Nah, Michonne got her on her ass, an' you killed her old man and friend, think you're both pretty even."

"So, are we going to avoid this morning, and pretend it never happened?" Natalia asked, waiting for him to twist the knife.

"I was waiting for this shit show to end so we could get back." He told her, lowly, checking around them to see if anyone was there to listen in on their private conversation.

"Really?" She raised her brows, someone had gotten brave all of a sudden.

"What you did out there, reminded me..."

"Of what?"

"Why I have faith that not everything's doomed."

"I have a crush on you too, Dixon." She teased, holding his wrist, who's hand was still holding her face, turning her head slightly to kiss his palm.

"Shut up." He scoffed, but his hand that was holding her side, moved down to her lower back, the very low part of her back, as he kissed her forehead.

Maggie was successful in making the trade, half of everything.

As they loaded up the RV, Rick, Abraham and Daryl talked to the woman, Daryl thought it be best if Natalia helped Michonne.

"So, you and Daryl, when were you planning on sharing that?" Michonne pried.

"Maybe never." She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Did you guys have..."

"No, though we were close, I think. Glenn walked in."

"Really?" Michonne's eyes shot wide.

"Yes, we agreed to never talk about it again." Natalia shuddered.

"Look at us, guess we both lied." Michonne nudged her arm.

"You started it first. Thanks for sticking up for me against her." They looked over their shoulders at the woman talking to their men.

"Always." She clapped Natalia's hand, lacing their fingers together for a moment before getting back to work.

On the way back to Alexandria, Natalia was sat next to Daryl, her hand was on his knee as she leaned against him.

Glenn and Maggie had passed their first baby scan picture to Michonne, who smiled at it, then at the couple, she then passed it to Daryl, Natalia pulled his hand down, so she could see as well, when she looked up to see him squinting trying to find what he was supposed to be looking at, she gently pointed at the baby.

"There." She muttered under her breath. "That's the baby."

He nodded, then reached over Natalia's head, passing it to Abraham.

"You scared?" Natalia asked Maggie.

"Of what?"

"Well, it's not gonna be as fun getting it out as it was getting it up there, your-" She made a hole with her hands.

"Alright, let's not scare her." Michonne cut her off.

"What, I was just saying." She rolled her eyes, placing her hand back on Daryl's leg as she looked out the windshield.

It was the next day by the time they got back to Alexandria.

Natalia had fallen asleep beside Daryl, tucked under his arm, looking quite the pair, there was moments he wanted to push her away when the stares got too heavy from their friends, but he couldn't bring himself to it.

Daryl shook her as they drove through the gates.

"We're home." He told her.

"Mhm." She nodded, sitting up, his way of waking her up was a lot nicer than a certain six year old, who thought jumping on her over the covers and shouting was a good tactic.

Aaron and Sasha met Rick at the drivers side window when he came to a stop.

"Get Olivia" He told them. "She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry."

"You have food?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah. Enough for another month." Michonne answered when her and Natalia climbed out the RV. Natalia noticed Michonne's weird behaviour, that she wasn't happy about something.

"I need everybody in the church in an hour." Rick continued.

"What is it?"

"We'll talk about it."

He then started the RV, driving towards the inventory.

"Carol, hey, where's-"

"Both at the house, best behaviour, even got some work done, though Evie's been missing you."

"Okay, great, thank you." Natalia smiled at her before running for the Grimes and co house.

Evie ran down the porch steps as Natalia neared it, jumping into her arms.

"Natty! You're home." She cheered as Natalia squeezed her tightly, spinning around.

"Hey, sweet girl" Natalia smiled largely as Sully jumped at her legs, "Hey, boy, I missed you too."

"I missed you so, so, so much!" Evie exaggerated when Natalia set her down, bending down so she could scratch Sully's neck, which he largely appreciated.

"And I missed you so, so, so much more! What've you been up to? Did you have a fun sleepover?"

"Yeah, Carl and Enid let me read their comics, but every time something scary happened, they would flip the pages so I didn't see it, and he let me play with Judith, and I made cookies with Carol, and I did schoolwork and I helped Denice, one of the builders got a cut, and guess what? I helped him!" She was out of breath by the time she finished.

"Oh, so you had way more fun than me" Natalia chuckled.

"Where's Daryl?" She asked, looking for him.

"He's sorting out the food we just brought home, there's some good stuff, he'll see you later, but Rick's called a meeting in the next hour, are you going to be able to keep yourself distracted until it's over? I'll come right after."

"Do you have to?" Evie pouted.

"I'm afraid so, I hate meetings" Natalia pouted as well.

"Okay, I'm a big girl, I'll wait."

"That's my girl. I love you." Natalia high fived her.

"I love you, too. We can take Sully on a walk until the meeting, right?"

"Sure we can." She stood up, accepting Evie's hand that she held up for her to hold as they set sail to walk along the streets of Alexandria.

Natalia was sat next to Michonne in the church, as the whole of Alexandria gathered inside it, listening to what Rick had to say.

"And we work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food, eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away." Rick started. "These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl and Abraham on the road. Now, sooner or later, they would've found us just like those wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. Its how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

No one had said anything for the moment, letting what Rick said, sink in.

Morgan than stood up.

Natalia rolled her eyes to oblivion as everyone turned around to hear what he had to say.

"You're sure we can do it?" He asked. "We can beat them?"

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us, yes, I'm sure."

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that."

"Well, they don't compromise." Rick tried.

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us."

"We try and talk to the Saviours, we give up our advantage, our safety. No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive." Rick explained.

"Where there's life, there's possibility." Morgan tried.

"Of them hitting us."

Natalia agreed with Rick all the way, but she suspected others didn't.

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this."

"Yet." Natalia stood up. "We're not trapped in this yet. These are bad people, they don't get to live the life they're living, right now. I have family here that I have to protect, and taking out them, before they can take out us, is doing that. It's what we have to do, we've already lost too much, as a community, we can't afford any more."

"Morgan... Natalia's right. They always come back."

"Come back when they're dead, too."

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before." Rick said.

"I'm not talking about the walkers."

"Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviours? Talk to them first."

Aaron then stood up.

"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't." He nodded in agreement with Rick, then sat back down.

"Looks like it's settled." Rick decided. "We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here... They do have to accept it." Rick then left the church, ending the meeting.

Later that night, Glenn, Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Daryl, Natalia, Jesus and the woman from Hilltop mapped out the Saviours place.

"Describe it." Rick told her as she drew.

"Rectangular building, big satellites on it." She said.

"Any windows?"

"I don't remember any." She looked up at Natalia. "I didn't go in there as much as Ethan and Andy, but they're dead, now."

"Get over it, and draw." Natalia pointed at the paper.

She scoffed before going back to the map.

"I think they made it so there's only one way in." She continued.

"Guards outside?"

"Yeah, two of them, at least."

"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne asked.

"No." She thought on it for a moment. "Uh, I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't anything grand, so..."

"You've been inside?"

"Yeah. They made us load in supplies one time."

"Hmm. What do you remember?" Glenn asked, setting down a new piece of paper.

She drew the direction of the inside, that she could think of.

"And you didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie asked.

"No, it's a big place. Like I said, I didn't see it as well as the others had. This is the hallway I saw." she pointed at it on her drawing. "There is more."

"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" Michonne pointed.

"Jesus. We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviours took them down this hallway. Now, they must've done something with them, because they didn't come back with them."

"My moneys on the table for that being where the Armoury is." Natalia pointed at the arrow she drew.

"Okay." She sighed, adding it.

"We get in there, secure the armoury, that's how we end it." Glenn said.

"That's how Carol ended it here." Maggie shared.

"But we don't know if they have an armoury or where it even is."

"We have an idea." Natalia shrugged.

"We've done more with less." Daryl added.

"We go in at night while they're sleeping." Rick decided.

"The guards won't be sleeping." She told them. "Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them."

"We don't need to." Rick reminded. "They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in. They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."

"You coming round, tonight?" Natalia asked Daryl as they left the second meeting of the day, it was dark.

"Like, for dinner?" He asked.

"Well, yeah, obviously, but for the night, stay over." She hinted as they walked towards hers and Evie's house.

He swallowed before looking at her.

"You don't have to, but y'know... if you want to, the offers there." She looked around, trying to hide any disappointment that might be on her face.

"Nah, nah I do, but, what about Evie?"

"Oh, Rick already said she could stay over at yours and Sully stayed with her to keep her company, because we're leaving early tomorrow, don't want to have to get her up in the morning just to take her over there anyway, Carl's gonna watch her and Judith whilst we're... out. So it'll just be me, all alone, by myself, lonesome."

Next

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon smut #the walking dead daryl #twd daryl #carl grimes #carol peletier #daryl fanfiction #glenn rhee #michonne #rick grimes #daryl dixon x reader #daryldixonalonetwd #darylxnatalia #daryl x you #twd daryl x y/n

[at-thestillpoint]

weird questions for writers: 22, 32, 38

[ask me weird questions for writers!]

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

I use Google Drive to write and organize myself. I have a nested folder system broken down by ship, then story universe, then individual fic (if needed). Each fic doc is titled with the pairing, a number, and the title of the fic. The number is honestly for aesthetic purposes—it corresponds to the order in which I had the idea, though 000 is always the headcanons, blotter, and darlings catchall for that ship or fic. I write each fic in a single doc, and use headings so I can quickly jump from chapter to chapter. When I’m in editing or finalization mode, I’ll even use subheadings to tag the areas I’m still not happy with so I can easily navigate from place to place via the Google Doc outline sidebar. I also have a spreadsheet to track all my WIPs, ideas, and completed fics.

So, yeah…I’m quite an organization freak for my writing, but I have to be because I write out of order, and things would otherwise get lost.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

I’ll give you lines from a poem and a novel, because I couldn’t pick!

“There are years that ask questions, and years that answer them.” (Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God)

I read Their Eyes Were Watching God in high school, but didn’t realize how much this line had stuck with me until I’d graduated college, and faced some tough, uncertain years in my early 20s. I used it then as a reminder that answers would come—things would get more clear, or better, or whatever it was I was looking for. I still come back to it as a reminder that the moments I’ve felt most aimless, most lost, most overwhelmed, those are the moments I look back on with the benefit of time and now realize the impact they had on my life.

“Life is short and the world / is at least half terrible [...] / though I keep this from my children. I am trying / to sell them the world” and “You could make this place beautiful.” (Maggie Smith, Good Bones)

I get goosebumps just thinking about it, in particular, I got actual chills when I read this the first time. There is something devastating and poignant in how this poem summarizes the despair and the hope I feel about the world every day. 

Honorable mentions go to the entire timshel passage from East of Eden and “and time yet for a hundred indecisions” from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

I feel like my entire writing process is Really Weird, but the weirdest thing I think I do is act out dialogue in the shower. I struggle with the beat of a conversation when I’m just typing, and find characters’ spoken voices come more naturally when I say them out loud, so I will have the conversations with myself, as the characters, over and over again, and just hope that I don’t forget the words while I blowdry my hair.

#dispatches from my google docs

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I know I said a while ago that I wanted to write some of my thoughts on the New Percy Jackson show out, but as time went on, I found myself having less time to actually sit down and watch it. However, now, I have finally finished the show (perhaps more than once, lmao), and I have a lot to share about it! Far more than I originally thought I would, to be honest. Honestly, I spent a couple of days watching everything over again and ended up starting and ending my first embroidery project since the pandemic started, which felt pretty good as it helped me absorb a lot more information as I worked. And, while I would love nothing more than to just word vomit everything out of my brain, I find myself physically incapable of leaving everything out of order now that I’ve had the time to properly think things over (certainly not due to the fact that I’ve been plotting story ideas for the last few weeks and can’t think of leaving anything disorganized right now). Instead of nonsensical paragraphs, I figured I would take things in four separate sections - my opinions on the characters, the castings I hope we get in the future, my favorite quotes, and a small snippet of how I would see things going down if I were to write this AU.

So, without further ado, I’m going to start off strong with…

My Character Takes:

Right off the bat, I adored Percy (Walker Scobell). I may be biased as I chose Walker as my sort of faceclaim for Bentley, but this child has Percy’s personality to a tee. I knew from watching him act alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project that he would be perfect not only for Bentley, but also for Percy and, when I finally got to see him as Percy, I knew I was right. From the iconic first line to the final moment of the series, he had me hooked. Though I missed the absolutely iconic “This is a pen!” quote from the movie, I feel like they got pretty much everything right for Percy. So many of his one-liners made me pause to laugh because I wouldn't have heard anything that was said afterward if I hadn’t, but he also has the right amount of seriousness and professionalism in certain scenes to make Percy come to life. I doubt Rick Riordan could have found a better Percy if they tried, and I can’t wait to see him in season 2. 

Now, for Percy’s parents, Sally and Poseidon. Sally (Virginia Kull) was brilliant, and her interactions with Percy felt perfectly motherly and sweet while also having a vivid personality all her own. Watching back over the show after seeing it through the first time, I picked up on a lot more subtle hints at her mental struggle as a “single” mother of a demigod (she did remarry, and I’ll touch on that in a moment). I feel like watching it back over sort of gave me the full picture and I love that little touch. Now, Poseidon (Toby Stephens, Dame Maggie Smith’s son) was also incredible. I feel like, although we didn’t see much of Poseidon initially, the way he acted was very telling of his situation (being unable to see or interact with Percy without Zeus’ permission for fear of starting another huge war), and it felt like there was a definite desire and regret that he couldn’t have stuck around for his son (if not for Sally as well). 

As for Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano (Timm Sharp), I feel like they may have tamed him a bit from the book as a way to avoid triggering anybody who grew up in an abusive household, but they still kept him on the despicable side. I always hated him, but I do feel like they could have made him worse. Instead of the bigoted, poker-playing asshole we meet in the books, we get a bit more of an idiot who wastes his money on online poker and sits around all day. I like that they kept his ending the way it was, but I sort of wish it played a bigger role in Sally's story going forward. Who knows; maybe it will in the future, but I wish they delved more into his character being genuinely a disgusting human being rather than just a loser.

Now, even though I don’t want to go too into detail on them because I don’t want to spoil anything in case you care to watch this show later on (highly recommended as there’s no need to read the books to see what’s going on), I want to touch on some of the campers and Percy’s friends. Ironically, I’ll be starting with Clarisse LaRue (Dior Goodjohn). Clarisse is the take-no-shit-and-start-shit daughter of Ares, the god of war, and is also the counselor of his cabin (Cabin 5). She’s very combative, competitive, and aggressive, which we find out is because she wants her dad to favor her despite her being a girl and all his “favorites” being boys. As stated in the show, he doesn’t even really like his kids, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to gain favor. Dior was a great choice for Clarisse, and I have to say, I think she did her great justice. The actor they had in the movies (well, movie as she was only in one despite her character being in more of the books) was good, but she wasn’t nearly as aggressive, feisty, and tough as Dior’s. Honestly, 10/10.

Luke Castellan is one character I couldn’t wait to see come to life, and Charlie Bushnell did an amazing job with him. He is the son of Hermes, the god of messengers, travelers, and thieves, and Luke is, like Clarisse, the head of his cabin (Cabin 11). Luke is one of the best, multi-faceted characters in not only the books, but in this show as well. Though he doesn’t appear in many episodes, I feel as though his character is one we’ll definitely be watching closely as time goes by. Regardless, Charlie did amazing in his portrayal of Luke, and I think he handled everything really well!

I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled when Leah Sava Jeffries was cast as Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy - Cabin 6), but I trusted Rick’s choice in casting her as he said he knew she was the best choice for Annabeth. I have to say, he was right; she was incredible! Her interactions with everyone, the subtle ways she showed that she knew more than she was letting on, and her acting overall was great for Annabeth. I love that they included her Yankees cap as well, something I wish they had in the movies. Leah was amazing, Annabeth truly came to life, and I’m very excited to see how everything pans out!

Speaking of pans, we have Grover Underwood, a hopeful searcher for Pan, the god of the wild, satyrs, and folk music. While Grover is not related to Pan, his goal is to become a searcher so that he can follow his family’s legacy of searching for the missing god of the wild. Now, I actually loved the way the movies made Grover, but I think they did pretty well with him in the show as well. There is a certain scene I wish they had kept from the movie, but with how they made Gabe Ugliano in the show, I’m not entirely surprised they took it out. It would have been hilarious, though! I do have to say that Aryan Simhadri did an amazing job and that I was very pleased with his performance overall!

For the Greek gods that we met this season, I want to start off with the now-passed Lance Reddick, who played Zeus, the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, kingship, honor, and justice (Cabin 1). It’s sad that he never was able to watch his character come to life on screen, but he did a pretty great job in the one episode he was in. The looming threat of his presence throughout the episodes was a very effective build-up to actually meeting him in the end. He was a good choice for Zeus and, while I’m upset he won’t be in any future seasons, his acting was great. I’m sure they’ll find someone to do him good justice in the future, but those will be big shoes to fill as far as the rest of the cast will be concerned, I’m sure.

As I’ve already touched on Poseidon, I’m going to skip over to Hephaestus, the god of fire, forges, sculpture, metalworking, stone masonry, carpenters, technology, artisans, and volcanoes (Cabin 9). Hephaestus is pretty much an outsider from the Olympian family as he doesn’t really bother with the drama of Olympus, and Timothy Omudson does a great job of showing this in his simplistic, yet interesting approach. I found myself wanting to sit and talk with him - get his take on everything, in a way. Unlike some of the other gods we hear about/meet, he seems to think fairly reasonably and is pretty sympathetic, something I really liked about this portrayal of Hephaestus.

Ares is next on my list and, while I was never a huge fan of the character as the Greek myth was originally labelled as a protector of mistreated women and this version Ares was just an asshole, I feel like Adam Copeland made me like him. The first time I watched the episode we meet him in, I just sat there laughing at his personality, but the second time around, I had to wonder how on earth I found myself genuinely sort of enjoying watching him. Though I’m still not big on him overall, as his treatment of his own children is pretty shit, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy seeing him. Also, when he talked about different wars in the diner, it felt like I was listening to my dad in history class all over again, and I kind of enjoyed that. Anyway, he was chaotic and crazy, but he has great taste in motorcycles, and I actually enjoyed him overall. Adam Copeland did a great job not making me fully hate him.

Finally, I want to talk about Hermes, who was played by none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda. When I saw that he was on the cast list, my immediate thought was Apollo, but I ended up loving him as Hermes. I wish we had seen more of him, but honestly, that’s just my Hamilton brain screeching to be let out, as I know he wasn’t supposed to be in many, if any, of the episodes this season because they were following the books. Honestly, though, Lin was incredible, Hermes was incredible, and I hope we see more of him going forward!

Future Castings:

Firstly, I want to say that my biggest hope is to see Sam Claflin as Apollo! His personality in The Hunger Games was all I needed to see, honestly. He would be perfect for Apollo, and I hope that’s who we get, but if not, I’ll just have to trust the process.

My top pick for Thalia Grace (and a semi-popular one I’ve seen floating around) is Momona Tamada.

I could see Zoë Saldaña, Tessa Thompson, or Danai Gurira as Athena. I don’t have a solid choice, but I could see them working really well as they have to play Annabeth’s mom, and they all could pull that off pretty well.

For Aphrodite, I have a variety of ideas. Gemma Chan could be pretty good, but so could Florence Pugh, Elizabeth Olsen, or Indya Moore. I feel like there are so many ways they could pull it off, but regardless of who they choose, I’m sure it’ll be great. (There is no official artwork for her, so I’m using the picture from Rick Riordan’s website, but she is known to change her appearance as she pleases)

One character I’m sure we won't see for a while, but I’d still enjoy, would be either Sadie Sink or Erin Kellyman for Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I doubt either actress will end up being chosen, as it’ll probably be a while before we get to season 3, but they were my top choices for her.

Now, I don’t have many ideas for anyone else, but I’m sure the cast will be amazing no matter what.

Quotes:

I had a lot of quotes from the show that I absolutely loved, but I forgot to write down which episodes they came from as I wrote more in the second time around and they got a bit jumbled on paper. I remember who said most of them and I was originally going to write that in as well, but I think I could use some of them later on, so I’ll just leave them nameless for now. Some of them, you can tell who could be part of the conversation if you pay attention to the names mentioned, but others are up in the air. Besides, the quotes alone are great, in my book. The different formats symbolize different people talking, as I couldn’t figure out a better way in the larger conversation points, but the ones where there’s only one person are just plain text.

--

“She fought valiantly, and she met a hero's fate.”

“She met a pinecone's fate.”

--

“So you're not a monster, what are you then?”

“A survivor.”

--

“It's not here.”

“We know. Yeah, glory's fine. Revenge is more fun.”

--

“Why is there half a goat in your pants?”

“Oh, it's... Oh! Oh, boy, she didn't tell you about... You didn't tell him about me?”

“You're early.”

“So the important thing is not to panic.”

--

“Look, this is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent.”

“I am impertinent.”

--

“Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.”

--

“He was a god.”

“You fell in love with God? Like Jesus?”

--

“I want him to know who he is before your family tries to tell him who they want him to be. He is better than that. He has better things in him than that.”

--

“This is Percy Jackson.”

“Yeah, Grover, I heard him the first time.”

“But did you?”

--

“It was your father who warned me to stay away. Said it was awful watching you struggle and feel powerless to stop it. But that sometimes… that’s what parenting is.”

--

“Are you stalking me, Annabeth?”

*shrugs* “Yes.”

--

“Look, I get that Nancy has issues, I’m just getting tired of her taking them out on me. I feel like… maybe it’s time to do something about it.”

“You could make an appointment to see Mr. Kane. He’s really good at talking-”

“I was thinking more like shoving Nancy in the nearest dumpster.”

“Oh.”

--

“I have a job!”

“Losing at imaginary poker?”

--

“Give me a second, I’m just starting a fight on Twitter.”

--

“I warned you, if you're not careful, you'll find out who I am.”

--

“Poseidon has ignored me my entire life.”

“You are his son!”

“I am Sally Jackson’s son!”

--

“Two things you never wanna be are small and scary at the same time. Things that are small and scary...get squished.”

--

“So, do we have a deal, or am I killing all three of you so I can eat in peace?”

“Ok.”

“Great!”

--

“Do you know what that feels like? To be so close to someone you love, knowing neither of you has any choice but to keep hurting each other?”

--

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“I knew I was gonna like you.”

--

“Is there a Greek god of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid.”

--

“This thing, Zeus's master bolt, we need to get it back, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it's gonna be hard to get, yes?”

“Extraordinarily.”

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed... you'd want someone who won't hesitate when they do it.”

--

“He isn’t here. My father, he just… didn’t show. I mean, ignoring me is one thing, but he doesn’t get to ignore you. I’m gonna make him come down here. I’m gonna make him see me. I’m gonna make him see us both.”

--

“No one comes ba~ack.”

“Dude! Don't make me come back out there!”

--

“You really don’t want the bolt?”

“Why would I want that?”

“To start a war between your brothers.”

“Why would I want that?!”

“Jealousy!”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s all candy canes and rainbows down here. I don’t really do jealous.”

--

“Take your victory. Just spare my son.”

--

“Obedience doesn’t come naturally to you, does it?”

“No… sir.”

“I must take some of the blame, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained.”

--

“Ares is a moron. Perhaps you noticed?”

AU Idea:

I know I've said before that I didn't have much of an idea of what I'd write if I did this AU, but I think watching the books come to life a bit has altered that. I've gone through some of the books again and sort of figured out what I would want to see happen, so I figured I would put it all out here while I'm at it. Some things in my original post have changed, such as their parents, but I also have a basic timeline down as well. I feel like the vibes would be very similar to that of Camp Wanamaker as I plan on keeping things mostly around the camp at first, but there will be some big exploration further down the road as I develop an actual storyline. I do plan on going more in-depth on topics that haven't been brought up in the show/movies as I figure that would make it easier not just for me, but also for you. I have a lot of ideas, but I'll try to work it down to the first couple of chapter ideas as I haven't gone through the whole story's plot yet.

For starters, I think I would have Royce be the new kid at camp - an almost sixteen-year-old who was brought to camp by an adult demigod who rescued him from a monster on a field trip (Butchy, son of Zeus). He's pushed head-first into camp activities, and soon finds himself getting stalked by a pair of younger demigods who have been at camp for some time and have already been claimed (Bentley, son of Apollo, and Kona, daughter of Iris). The kids eventually corner him outside the Unclaimed Child portion of the Hermes cabin (where he'll reside until his godly parent claims him) and encourage him to try different cabins until he finds a good fit. Despite claiming the whole thing is nothing but a dream he'll eventually wake up from, Royce allows the pair to drag him around, starting from the top and working his way down.

Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon's cabins are all quickly dismissed, but before he can get much further, things at camp slow to a stop as the Hunters of Artemis arrive, having been told to stay at camp until the return of their leader and goddess, Artemis. Kona is quick to tail the Hunters, trying her hardest to find acceptance within the female-only group while some others stray to their original cabins to visit their former siblings. Upon asking why the Hunters seem to be a group of relatively young girls, Bentley brings Royce to his older half-brother Miles (head counselor of Apollo's cabin) who explains that the Hunters are maidens (which can be human, god, demigod, or nymph) who have sworn loyalty to the maiden goddess Artemis. They reject love for as long as they live and, in return, gain eternal youth and semi-immortality as long as they don't break their vows, or are slain in battle. There are some who leave if they fall in love, but very few do.

Not long after, the campers and Hunters are pushed into a game of rather brutal game of Capture the Flag, where Royce encounters a small group of Hunters who take pity on him as the new kid, a tall brunette girl with a silver circlet on her head giving him a hand up when the others in her group leave the area (Vivien, Hunter of Artemis and daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic, crossroads, necromancy, and the night). During dinner that night, Royce meets her at the fire as he puts in an offering to his still unknown parent and asks the girl some questions, trading names and finding out her previous cabin before she suggests he not push his luck befriending any of the hunters as they won't be around for long, and heads back to her table, leaving him more than a little intrigued.

I do have a bit more written out, but for now, I'm going to keep it there. However, I'm still going to show some of the parental changes I've made since my last post about this idea. There are only three, but they're there. I also have some plans to add in some of my other characters that I don't write as much, if at all, but they'll come in later on as I haven't quite decided where to put them.

Kona has gone from the daughter of Poseidon to the daughter of Iris (goddess of the Rainbow and messenger of the gods). I changed this because, although I love the idea of Kona just railing people with water when they do stupid stuff, the thought of her being this artsy, hippie-esque little girl who habitually makes friendship bracelets for new campers, who enjoys going around scaring people by turning the world black-and-white or momentarily blinding them with sunbeams. It's also known that children of Iris are great with art/creativity and have a strong connection with pegasi, so I can just picture her trying to use paint or something to give each of the pegasi cutie marks like in My Little Pony or giving them dyed manes/tails.

Vivien has a change of pace as well, going from the daughter of Athena to the daughter of Hecate and a Hunter of Artemis. The Hunter part is a relatively big plot point in the story as, like I said, they give up love in favor of aiding with the Hunt. However, I'll dive into that when I write the story. For now, I'll focus on the Hecate part. Hecate is the goddess of magic, as I've said before, and where Vivien is a collector of crystals in every universe and is great with magic in my Hocus Pocus AU, I feel it's a great fit. Another thing nudging me toward this is the idea that Hecate can be a tough parent, and her children must prove their worth and study hard to master their skills in magic. I feel like Vivien's already established, rocky relationship with her mom in my other stories would come into play in this as well, perhaps playing a role in her decision to become a Hunter.

Another change that I didn't mention in the snippet above was Mick. Mick was originally the daughter of Hephaestus, but I've since changed that as I feel it makes more sense in the way I've fixed it. Now, she is the Roman descendant (otherwise known as a legacy) of Minerva (Athena's counterpart) and Vulcan (Hephaestus' counterpart). Her mother, Mack, was the daughter of Minerva, and her father, Brady, was the grandson of Vulcan. This means that Mick is not at Camp Half-Blood in New York (the camp for the children of Greek gods), but at Camp Jupiter in California (the camp for the descendants of Roman gods), something I feel suits her fairly well and gives her a deeper storyline with not only Butchy, but also her usual friends.

Final notes:

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, I adored this show as a whole! One of my nephews who hasn’t read the books, finally had the chance to watch it, and loved it nearly as much as I did, which is pretty telling. I love that even people who haven’t had an interest/read the books, are loving this show. It’s just great! I have to say, the show is pretty good at explaining everything as they go and making everything feel as though it’s flowing properly. As if it weren’t obvious by now, I highly recommend watching the first season! It’s a great show overall, everything felt realistic, and it gave me a lot of ideas for the future (which, as you can probably tell, might include a Percy Jackson AU of some kind). Anyway, I loved it and plan on going back to rewatch it more as time goes by, but for now, I’m going to end my ramblings and go back to my little one-off story that I haven’t touched in what feels like forever!

#the show was great and I have no complaints! #definitely give it a shot #I highly recommend watching it even if you haven't read the books

[im-a-goddamn-cat]

Alarming Deal

Neggie/Negan Smith x Maggie Rhee | vague Gleggie/Maggie Rhee x Glenn Rhee || Rated: E || Words: 2.4k || CW: Rape/Non-Con

Summary: After Daryl acts out, Negan gives the group two options for a punishment: Either he kills Glenn or he gets to fuck Maggie… And of course, Maggie doesn't want her husband to die.

A/N: I've had this idea for a long time but was always too scared to write it because I was afraid it was too dark but some people in the Neggie Discord server encouraged me to write it so I finally did. Thank you guys! <3

Enjoy! :]

AO3 || FF.net || ↓

......

"Now, I already told you people, first one's free, then what'd I say? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions," Negan explained to the group of Rick's people. One of their people had acted out of line after he already killed one of them and now he needed to punish them again. He paused for a dramatic moment before speaking up again. "But… Lucky for you all, I'm feeling generous today. So, instead of killing another one of you sorry saps right off the bat-" He paused again briefly to chuckle at his own pun. "-I'll give you two options: Option one -" He raised the end of his blood-covered bat towards Glenn's face. "- This one here meets the same fate as Red over there." Maggie's eyes widened in horror at the threat towards her husband. "Or option two -" He lowered the bat and then pointed at Maggie with his free hand. "- I get to have my way with this lovely lady, here and now." Negan grinned. He suspected that this man was close to Maggie from the way he reacted to him threatening her earlier and if it were true, he'd definitely get his way. As soon as he had laid eyes on Maggie, he wanted her, and he hoped that his suspicions were correct.

Maggie's head spun as she registered what he'd just said. He wanted to take either her husband's life or her body. She sat motionless for a moment before looking towards Abraham's poor mangled body and then back up towards Glenn and Negan. The choice was obvious to her, of course she didn't want her husband to die. The thought of Negan touching her repulsed her but if letting him fuck her meant that Glenn lived, she is willing to agree. 

Maggie nodded slowly. "Y-You can have me," she croaked out, her voice hoarse from the crying she'd been doing. Negan smiled, a chilling grin that made him look like a predator staring at its prey. "Excellent choice."

"Maggie, no-" Glenn started to say but was stopped as Negan gestured towards a couple of his soldiers to grab him.

"Keep him quiet and restrained," he told them, not trusting that he wouldn't try coming to Maggie's aid again like he had earlier. One soldier stood on either side of Glenn, holding his arms so that he couldn't move, and one of them stuffed some sort of rag in Glenn's mouth to silence him.

"As for the rest of you… Don't even think about trying anything else or I won't be as generous next time," he threatened as if manipulating someone into having sex was any less heinous than murder. Negan handed his bat off to another one of his soldiers to hold onto and then walked over to stand in front of Maggie.

"Hello, darling… Aren't you beautiful." He smiled down at her and the lust she already saw in his eyes made her uneasy. He reached a hand up to stroke her cheek and briefly gently cupped it as he looked at her. He then reached to unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants. He pulled his pants and boxers down enough to pull out his cock which was already half-hard. He guided it towards her mouth, the tip coming into contact with her lips.

"Come on, baby… It ain't gonna suck itself," he coaxed her. Hesitantly, Maggie opened her mouth and he slid inside. Maggie sucked on him and Negan groaned. A thought of biting down on his dick hard enough to draw blood entered Maggie's mind but she knew that would only lead to another person getting hurt so she restrained herself. After sucking him a little, he was fully hard, and she began to slowly move her head, taking as much of him in her mouth as she could on every stroke, occasionally swirling her tongue around the tip of his cock when she'd pull back.

"That's it, good girl," Negan moaned. Maggie inwardly cringed at the praise. After a few more strokes of her mouth, Negan put a hand on her head and gripped her hair. "Hold still for me, darling," he told her and Maggie complied, stopping her motions. Negan began thrusting his hips fast and bottomed out on every thrust into her mouth. Maggie's eyes widened and watered and she gagged a little, not used to this kind of treatment.

"Fuck, your mouth feels so good on my cock, baby," Negan moaned out as he fucked her face. Maggie didn't know how much more she could take, she felt as if she were choking from the way he was using her. Suddenly, he yanked her head back and pulled out, a string of saliva connecting her mouth to his cock falling away between them. Maggie gasped and coughed as she tried to catch her breath from the attack.

"Too close. As much as I'd love to come in that pretty mouth of yours, I have other plans," he explained as if she cared. She just wanted him to finish whatever it was he wanted to do and for everyone to be safe. Negan grabbed the back of her shirt, pulled her away from the line-up of her friends, and threw her down. He got down on his knees near her legs, flipped her over so that she was on her back, and got between her legs.

He looked down at her with a lustful, predatory look and it sent a chill up Maggie's spine as she fully realized what was about to happen. The fear must've shown in her eyes as he attempted to sooth her. "Don't be scared, baby, I'm gonna make you feel good." 

You're taking me against my will you sick fuck, I won't enjoy this, she thought and almost wanted to say but she knew better than to provoke him so instead she stayed silent.

Negan reached down to the end of her shirt and lifted it up enough to reveal her bra. He then pulled a small knife out of his pocket and put the blade between the two cups, slicing upwards to cut it open. He put the knife back and then moved the cups of the bra to the side, revealing her breasts. "Beautiful," he purred. He lifted her breasts in his hands, feeling them, and running his thumbs across her nipples. Maggie shivered again at the contact, his hands on her body feeling unwelcome.

He leaned down and lifted one breast into his mouth, latching onto it and sucking, while still massaging the other breast with his other hand. Maggie squirmed at the feeling, his mouth on her feeling foreign. He then swapped breasts and did the same thing with the other one. He leaned back, unhooking his mouth from her with a pop, and sat up.

Negan moved his hands down to her pants, undid them, and moved back a little to pull them down along with her underwear. Instinctively, Maggie tried to close her legs but Negan grabbed them and opened them back up. "Don't hide that pretty pussy from me, darling," he told her and looked down to her exposed cunt. "And my, it is pretty," he said lustfully. Negan reached a hand down to rub his thumb across her clit in circles and she gasped. He continued his motions, and her arousal built a little against her will, but the situation she was in was so disturbing and terrifying that she didn't feel very aroused.

Negan removed his hand and situated himself in between her legs again. He pulled his cock back out of his pants, which was hard and glistening with pre-cum, and ran it along her folds down to her entrance, feeling that she wasn't that wet. "Usually I'd work my lady up a little more by eating her out or some shit but I'm sorry, darling, I need you now," he told her and thrusted inside her to the hilt with no warning. "Ah!" Maggie screamed, the sudden intrusion painful. She was sure he probably tore something in her. A few tears spilled out of her eyes and she clawed at the ground as he started thrusting fast and hard already with no care for her comfort, her breasts bouncing from the force of his thrusts.

"Stop! Please stop, it hurts," Maggie begged. She knew she had to let him have his way with her if she wanted her husband to live but it was too much for her, every thrust felt like a knife cutting into her.

"Relax, it'll feel good soon, darling," he simply responded and didn't let up on his cruel thrusts. "Fuck, yeah, so fucking tight… Feel so fucking good on my cock, baby," he moaned and reached up to caress one of her breasts. Maggie felt sick that he was enjoying this when she clearly didn't. 

Maggie turned her head to briefly look around, trying to distract herself from what was happening. Her friends that she could see were either looking on in horror and concern for her or looking away entirely, not being able to watch. She felt embarrassed and ashamed that they had to witness this. She couldn't see Glenn from where she was but she didn't want to anyways, she knew it would be too painful for her to see his face. Some of the other saviors that she could see were either just watching and not doing anything but the others were getting themselves off on the display. The sight made her feel even sicker.

Maggied looked back towards Negan, not being able to take looking at everyone anymore. Negan angled his thrusts a little differently and hit her g-spot, making her gasp and Negan noticed her reaction. "That feel good, baby?" he teased and continued thrusting to hit that spot. He moved his hand from her breast down to stroke her clit and her pussy clenched around his cock, wetness beginning to seep out of her. She was starting to feel pleasure from his cock and fingers and was horrified with herself. She hoped it was just the pregnancy hormones making her body react this way.

Maggie began whimpering a little as her pleasure built further and she came closer to release. She tried to fight it as she didn't want to come from this. Negan wouldn't have it though, he continued thrusting into her g-spot and stroking her clit. "Come on, baby, come for me," he coaxed.

"No, no," Maggie whimpered feebly and then moaned instinctively as she orgasmed against her will. Negan moaned as he felt her walls clench down on his cock as she came undone. "Good girl," Negan praised her but Maggie didn't appreciate it at all. She felt disgusted with herself for coming from essentially being raped.

Negan removed his hand from her and then pulled out suddenly. She caught a glimpse of his cock and saw not only her wetness but also something red, blood she thought, confirming her suspicions that he was too rough with her earlier. He moved her so that she was on her knees, her face facing her husband. Maggie looked to the ground, not wanting to see him while this happened. Negan moved behind her on his knees. He suddenly entered her again and Maggie hissed at the feeling as she still felt sore and sensitive from his rough entry and her orgasm earlier. He gripped her hips and resumed his brutal pace.

The sound of his hips slapping against hers could be heard on every rough thrust. His grip on her hips was so hard that she felt like there was going to be bruises left there from it. Please come, please come, she chanted in her head, wanting this to be over already. Negan lifted a hand and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back so that her eyes met Glenn's. He looked terrified and concerned to the point of crying and the sight made Maggie's heart ache. Negan slowed his thrusts a little and leaned in near her ear. "He's your man, right?" Negan asked her and she nodded. "Husband?" he then asked and she nodded again. "Heh, that's what I thought, the way he tried jumping up to protect you earlier," he told her. "Bet he's never fucked you like this, huh?" he teased but Maggie didn't answer this time. 

"Enjoying the show, bud? I can see why you married this girl, she's gorgeous, and this pussy? Goddamn," he spoke up teasingly, this time directed towards Glenn and Negan flashed a shit-eating grin at him. A flash of anger went across Glenn's features before going back to the scared and worried expression as before.

Negan released his grip on Maggie's hair and she looked away from Glenn again, not wanting to see his distraught face anymore. Negan moved away from her ear and picked up his brutal pace again. His thrusts started to become more erratic and he was letting out moans frequently. "Gonna fill this sweet fucking pussy up, baby," he groaned, indicating that he was close. After only a few more thrusts, he pushed in to the hilt and moaned as he came, shooting his load into her. His cock throbbed inside her as he filled her up with his come.

After he finished, he pulled out. Maggie stayed in that position for a moment, clenching her pussy to try getting his come out of her, not wanting the offending substance in her. Negan watched as his come mixed with her blood from his forcefulness seeped out of her and he groaned at the sight. Maggie collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion and curled up, hiding her exposed body as much as she could. She couldn't think clearly enough yet to just pull her clothes back on.

Negan put his cock back into his pants and closed his pants up. He then stood up and looked over everyone. "Now, I hope we've all learned a very important lesson today. Any disobedience will be punished… But I'm always open to certain alternative methods of punishment."

Negan crouched back down to Maggie and leaned his mouth close to her ear. "I'll come visit you sometime, darling," he told her and then kissed her cheek. Maggie shivered and, after he got up to leave, laid there in horror at the possibility that he was telling the truth.

......

A/N: Ngl, I'm really unhappy with this for... a few reasons. I ended up not even wanting to post it but some of the people in the Neggie server wanted me to so here it was. Hope you guys liked it. <3

Thanks for reading! <3

#my fics #twd #neggie #the walking dead #negan smith #negan #maggie rhee #maggie greene #glenn rhee #gleggie #maggie x negan #negan x maggie #not sfw #twd fanfiction #twd fic #twd fanfic

[dangerously-human]

I was tagged by @dragonslover98, @clawedandcute, and @fairytale-lights for a tag game about reading; thanks, friends! :D

Last read: I recently finished my third read of The Screaming Staircase (the UK version this time), as well as Good Bones, a poetry collection from Maggie Smith. Loved The Screaming Staircase even more this time around. Good Bones was good, but not as good as the first Maggie Smith collection I read (Goldenrod). Goldenrod was more recent, and I think she developed her style more, particularly her use of line breaks in a way I find intriguing (where the meaning changes depending on whether you follow a thought through to completion or stop at a line break).

Current read: Third read of The Whispering Skull.

Next read: It'll probably be a couple weeks yet, but I'm ready to get my heart broken by The Hollow Boy all over again.

I tag @cakeyouareoh, @sheet-metal-memories, and @livingandthriving, if you're interested!

#personal

[alyssaswrld999]

Meeting The Man/Negan Smith

(Season 7 Era) Y/n was apart of the Alexandria Group and was at the line up. Glenn was Y/n's brother. Negan takes Y/n and Daryl back with him to the Sanctuary. Then Y/n gets to talk to Negan in private.

Negan x Reader

(Comment if you want this to be a series)

Y/n pov:

It all happened so fast.... We were all just trying to get Maggie to safety. It was dark and cold outside. I was helping Rick lead everyone in the dark. The Saviors were blocking roads to Hilltop so we couldn't get there.

I just wished things would've ended differently...

I feel numb inside and I don't know what to do. There's nothing I can do at this moment. Me and Daryl are right now in the back of a van. We are getting taken to The Sanctuary. We're the man that killed my brother lives.

*Yesterday*

I'm on my knees looking around panicking. The person beside me is Eugene. All I see is a large group of Saviors and the RV. Then a tall man with a beard and mustache said "Let's meet the man". When I heard those words It felt like I couldn't breathe.

Seconds later the RV door opens. I look to see what was gonna come out of that damn RV. I didn't know what to expect at this moment. "Pissing our pants yet cause I have a feeling we're getting close" A male voice said.

Then suddenly I see a man that was very tall and he had a leather jacket with a red scarf fabric around his neck, black jeans, and black combat boots. I also noticed he had a baseball bat with barbed wire around it.

My ears started ringing so it was hard to hear what he was saying to Rick. All I heard was that his name was Negan and he didn't like how we killed his people.

Next thing I know he is walking around trying to decide which one of us he's gonna kill. I'm looking around seeing the rest of my group having fear in there eyes. Suddenly I hear "And you are.... It... anybody moves anybody says anything cut the other boys eye out and feed it to his father then we will start....." Negan says.

I look up and see who he was standing in front of and it was Abraham. He was a really good friend to me and he always was funny. I started crying and then my stomach started hurting.

"You can breathe.. you can blink.... you can cry... hell yall are all gonna be doing that" Negan says raising his bat. When those last words slip off his tongue the bat swings down. He was beating Abraham to death and I can't stop it.

"No no no no" I mumbled. I wanted to crawl over and beg Negan to stop. I wanted this nightmare to end. "Oh look at that taking it like a champ" Negan said. Abraham sits back up on his knees and looks up at Negan. The blood was coming down his face. "Suck.. My..Nuts" Abraham said.

The bat swings back down again and I fall forward crying. I couldn't take this.... I don't want anyone to get hurt.... I don't want Glenn hurt.... no one deserves this....

I can hear Negan beating Abraham's head in over and over. The sound was ringing over and over in my ears. I didn't know what to do to make him stop. Negan didn't want to stop... he thought it was a game it seems...

Negan finally stops and I sit back up. I looked and seen Negans bat was all bloody. "Did you hear that he said suck my nuts" Negan said laughing. Then Negan started beating Abraham's head again like it wasn't enough.

It all was flashing before our eyes and I wanted to do something....

Then when Negan finally stops this time he acted like he was happy. "Oh my goodness look at this" Negan said shoving his bat around in our faces. Bragging how he killed our friend in front of us.

Then finally Daryl had enough and he ends up punching Negan in the face. A savior ends up putting him down and I start begging them to please not kill him. After Negans little outburst of anger, Negan looks over at me and asks me for my name. "It's Y/n" I said looking up into Negans eyes.

Negan smiles and starts completing me on how I begged to save Daryls life. Negan said it was real brave of me to do that. To prove how much I care about my people....

He walks back to the middle closer to where Glenn was and he turned to our direction. "I need you to know me" Negan says. Then it goes quiet for a second. "So... back to it" Negan said. He quickly turns around and starts hitting Glenn.....

He started killing my brother.... my bestfriend.... my family....

I started crying really bad harder than I have ever cried in my life. All I can see is everyone either looking at Glenn or looking at me. "No" Maggie said. I couldn't help but cry even more at that.

"Please stop" I said crying. But all i could hear was the bat hitting my brothers skull over and over again. I hear Glenn trying to speak and what I saw was the worst thing I could see in my life.

Glenn's head was torn open and his eye was trying to pop out fully from his skull. "Buddy you still there. I just dont know it seems like your trying to speak. But you just took a hell of a hit. I just popped your skull so hard your eyeball just popped out. And it as gross as shit." Negan said. "M-Maggie I-I'll find you.." Glenn said.

My brother was dying in front of me and I couldn't stop it...

I was frozen and it was painful...

"Aww aww hell I can see this is hard on you guys I am sorry I truly am but I did say it... NO ACCEPTIONS" Negan said. He turns back around and starts beating my brother more and more till finally he wasn't moving.... he was gone.

I just let the tears fall and I was crying and you could hear me sobbing. I felt eyes on me but I couldn't care at this moment. I was in pain true pain and I would never be able to see my brother ever again.

*Next Day Moments before being taken*

I was lying there on the ground and I was trying to catch my breath still. I finally did and sat back up. I quit crying a while ago. All I could feel at this moment was anger. I wanted to make Negan feel the pain I felt.

I was looking at the ground and the next thing I see is those damn black combat boots in front of me. I look up and seen Rick and everyone was looking at me. Then the next thing I see is Negan crouched down to my vision.

Negan was looking at me like he was observing. "Y/n right" Negan said. I looked at him in his eyes and I just seen red. "I'm sorry that you are upset but you know that this was for your own good right" Negan said.

I smiled at him because I thought he was pretty fucking stupid at this moment. "Right.. like what you do is for the great or good" I said. He paused and just kept looking at me. I looked over at my people and seem them all looking at me still shocked on what I was saying.

I turn my head back to Negan and quit smiling. "You can kill me... you can hit me.... you can do whatever.. but miss me with the bullshit of you being the good guy" I said. Then I quit talking to him and he smiled. He got up and walked away from me.

Then Negan starts talking bullshit on how he expects us to get it now hoping we understand. "Dwight load him up" Negan said pointing to Daryl. Then Dwight starts grabbing Daryl and forcing him into the van. I was getting more angry by the second.

When they get Daryl in the van Negan turns to me. "Dwight load her up to" Negan said pointing at me. "What" I mumbled. Everyone now was looking at me and didn't want me to go. Dwight walks over and starts grabbing me. I start trying to get away and he held on tighter. "Let me go... Let me go" I shouted.

"Noooo" Maggie was saying. I finally get pushed into the van and I turn to try and fight Dwight but Dwight had already figured I would try. He had Daryls crossbow pointed at me. Daryl put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back a bit.

Then Dwight closed the doors to the van and all I could do now was sit. "Them two got guts... not a little bitch like someone I know I like them. There both mine now" Negan said. After I heard him say that I started cutting him out for right now.

I look up and seen Daryl looking at me. I already knew how he was feeling. Thinking it's his fault when it isn't. "Don't blame yourself" I said to Daryl. Daryls eyes widened when I said that. He nodded at me like he understood what I meant.

*Present to where they get to the Sanctuary*

Me and Daryl got forced to go back with the Saviors to the Sanctuary to stay with Negan. Finally As we get there Negan had us taken to separate cells. Mine wasn't really a cell though it was a bedroom kind of apartment room.

As I enter the room I turn around and looked at Dwight. "Whats all this" I asked him pointing at the room I was in. "Negan wants you to get comfortable" Dwight said.

I was confused on what he meant by that. "Whats that supposed to mean" I asked. "It means your not leaving anytime soon" Dwight said closing the door. I ran towards the door and it was locked.

Great this is just great.....

I look around to see what I can do in the mean time while I'm waiting. I pulled a Blanket off the bed and went to the couch to take a nap. Moments later I'm woken up by the sound of banging.

"Negan needs you to see him" Dwight shouted. I get up as soon as the door opened. Dwight tells me to come with him so he can take me to Negan.

Dwight makes me open the office door and pushed me inside so I can meet with Negan. I turn around to punch Dwight but the door was already closed. I sighed and turned around to see Negan sitting in a office chair at the end of a long business looking table.

"Well hello there" Negan said smiling. I didn't say anything to him and he obviously got annoyed. "Look darling you have to got to respect me." Negan said. "Yeah that's funny why should I respect you" I snapped back.

Negan slammed the table and it shocked me. "You will because I have given you a room to rest and food so you don't die" Negan shouted. Negan stood up and was walking towards me slowly. "You will respect me and you are gonna work for me" Negan said.

I turned my head to the side and was curious on what he was taking about. "You are going to be one of my soldiers... you are also coming with me to Alexandria to take my half of the deal that Alexandria owes me" Negan demanded.

Then Dwight comes back in the room and takes me back to my cell.

#negan smith #twd fanfic #twd negan #sad #Tough reader #glenn rhee #the walking dead fanfiction #maggie rhee #rick grimes #carl grimes #the saviors #crying #negan x reader

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Joel somehow getting punched in the face?

(I am late on Punch Joel April)

"So supposedly," Graham Norton smirks from his spot in his chair. "Supposedly you used to punch people you shouldn't punch."

"Oh, this was a very, very long time ago," Lenny admits with a chuckle, placing a hand over his mouth. "I was young, and very, very stupid."

"But it's a great story, right?" Graham asks.

"Well...one of them is funny, and the other is not so much," Lenny explains as he sits back on the couch. "The funny one is basically some schmo in a bar, mouthing off and hating Jews. I was a little drunk, so I went over to pick a fight. And he...threw me through a plate glass window."

The audience laughs at that, and Graham grins, "So it was a trip to hospital?"

"Eh. I don't remember. Maybe."

"What was the other one?"

Lenny sighs heavily. "So...you know, Midge is my second wife. She's the best. She's great. Her ex-husband is...not great. He's better than he used to be now that we're all old fogies, but back when we were all young and full of piss and vinegar and crap, he was - well for lack of a word i can get past the censors, he was an asshole."

"Lenny, we're past the watershed, you can call him a shithead," Graham assures him.

"Really?" Lenny lights up. "He was a huge shithead!" he crows loudly, making the audience laugh louder.

"So you punched him?" Edris Elba asks from next to him.

"Once," Lenny admits. "Only once in all the years we've known each other. And it was the first time we met."

The audience laughs in surprise at that.

Lenny sighs heavily. "So Joel - his name is Joel - back in the day, owned a nightclub in Chinatown. And when it seemed like Midge and I were getting serious, she took me to meet him during the day at the club. You know, and at first, when we're introduced, he's the nicest guy. Tellin' me how big an honor it is to meet me, how he hopes I'll consider doing sets at his club."

"And then Midge drops the bomb?" Graham guesses.

"Yep," Lenny nods. "She says, 'So Lenny and I have been seeing each other for a little while, and it's getting serious, and I figured you two should formally meet.'"

"How'd that go over?" Dame Maggie Smith asks.

Lenny chuckles, making the audience laugh, and he takes a moment to shake his head.

"Joel looks at me. Turns and stares at Midge. Looks back at me. And then he goes 'so that's how you make it in comedy.'"

The audience gasps and boos.

"That is- that's quite the statement to say to anyone, let alone someone you used to be married to," David Tennant comments from further down the couch, clearly horrified.

"It really was," Lenny agrees. "Joel turns around in that way that do for dramatic affect when they're upset? And I'm standing there, and my mind is fu- it's racing. And I think to myself, 'who the hell does this guy think he is? Midge is the funniest person I know. How dare he?' And my caveman brain just takes over, and suddenly I'm tapping him on the shoulder, and he turns around, and I pop him right in the nose."

"Good," Maggie snaps firmly. "He earned that."

"Did you break his nose?" Idris asks.

"Surprisingly yes," Lenny confirms.

"I don't usually condone violence, m'self," David chimes in again. "But in this case, he really did deserve that."

"Was Midge angry?" Graham asks.

"She probably could have been angrier, all things considered," Lenny smirks behind his hand. "And I shouldn't have done it, but it was such a low blow."

"Truly, what a rotten thing to say," Maggie grouses.

"Yeah, he was a little shit back then," Lenny agrees. "Now he spends most of his time complaining from an armchair."

"And you produced a movie!" Graham cries happily. "That a nice bit of karma."

"And a great plug," Lenny adds with a chuckle.

#fic #au #tmmm #Fictional Lenny #Joel gettin punched #Midge x Lenny

[youleavethetardisbrakeson]

There’s a clip somewhere on Twitter of a HOTD designer describing the process of creating Rhaenys’ armor. Within that clip, there’s a snippet of Eve saying that she’s been told “it looks amazing, but it’s really uncomfortable.” This further proves my own personal headcanon that Rhaenys rejects any form of corsetry. If you watch back to literally ANY of her scenes, and look closely, you can tell that there is no structural support to her torso (this is made even more apparent in her scene with Rhaenyra in episode two).

And I would hate for this to turn into a whole “fuck the patriarchy” thing that Rhaenys pulls (because apparently corsets represent the oppressiveness of male absolutism… they do not). I just think that Rhaenys forgoing a corset makes sense for her because she’s a feral dragon lady who wants to run around in knee high boots and tunics three and a half sizes too big for her.

It’s like when Maggie Smith was allowed to go without a corset during Downton Abbey because she promised to “sit very straight.”

Apologies for the lengthy message, I thought you would find it interesting considering the several costume analysis posts on your dash. <3

Ooh yes its from the BTS featurette "The House That Dragons Built." And yes the entire concept of women's undergarments on these GoT shows fascinates me to no end.

I should mention that I know there are dozens of forms of bodices, stays, jumps, corsets etc and most of them are actually quite comfortable and not at all the stereotype of the extreme waist cinching 'I can't breathe' ones found in a lot of movies. This is gonna be more of a 'study in shapes' than anything technical lol.

You can certainly see in this picture below that Rhaenys isn't wearing what we traditonally call a 'corset' (ie, something that creates a full-abdomen structured, cinched look with a V silhouette). Her bust is clearly defined/rounded and there's a distinct fold in her stomach. As someone who has experience wearing corsetry, that is NOT what a full 'corset' looks like, nor how you sit in them.

In contrast, look at Rhaenyra's dress from epiosde 8. It's much stiffer and structured in the bust (and yes women would traditonally wear corsetry while pregnant, it was perfectly normal and safe).

Eve Best mentioned in her interview with EW's West of Westeros podcast that she actually had a hand in designing her armor. They had initially designed a neck guard and she asked for it to be removed because she knew she was going to need to move and be flexible up on the dragon. I also assume it's a similar reason why they didn't give her any clunky full-armored sleeves. Her dresses in general also seem to follow this idea: they all have a very simple silhouette with no fussy sleeves or impractical style choices. So yes Rhaenys (and Eve) 100% loveeee comfort and to be able to run around being feral; I fully agree.

And I have wondered if Rhaenys is not wearing a 'corset', then what is she meant to be wearing? Based on my rudimentary knowledge of historical fashion, the medieval period is kinda weird in that we don't actually know what they wore as underwear? The GoT show styles are subsequently all over the place (there's so much reddit discourse on this, so I won't repeat it here). My best guess is that she may be wearing some kind of underbust short stays similar to the those of the Regency era. (And again, historical fashion people please forgive me.)

This kind of garment would provide bust support to create that more rounded look, plus allow mobility of the abdomen. You also traditonally wear a chemise under corsetry (you do NOT want hard boning flush against your skin, it chafes soooo much) so that fabric layer itself would also provide some structure to the bust.

If anyone has a better idea, please let me know!

#ask #headcanons #caroline rants about film analysis #and costumes i suppose rofl #rhaenys targaryen #eve best #hotd #house of the dragon