#we can change our faces in half an hour with some cool guy in a lab coat and I bet no one is layering three camis under a t-shirt

[loveshotzz]

I guess it’s never really over

mechanic!steve harrington x fem!reader exes to lovers

chapter three -

This has got to be the longest crush ever

Robin’s bad date, and a late night that changes everything.

warnings: 18+ A little bit of queer and mid twenties crisis angst for Robin, with comfort obvi. Tension, but are we surprised at this point?, and a secret third thing, wonder what it could be? 😚

wc: 6.3k

authors note: Hi babies! I am taking just a week off from my posting schedule for this week long work trip I’m taking on Monday. There’s lots of conferences and I won’t have much down time. We will resume our normal posting schedule for chapter four starting 3/20 🌻🧡

series masterlist | series playlist

June -

Would you believe me if I said I’m in love? 

                            Baby, I want you to want me.

You can’t believe you landed yourself in detention.

All your late night study sessions for the SAT’s that led to oversleeping and missed alarms finally catching up to you just like Robin warned you it would. Miss O’Donnell is the one who makes your best friend's predictions come true, handing you that notorious pink slip for walking into her class ten minutes late for the third time this week. 

When you arrive at exactly 3:15, the classroom is mostly empty. Your eyes scan the bored faces of the few students joining you, hoping to at least see Eddie’s familiar head of curls. But of course, today of all days, he’s managed to be on his best behavior or just didn’t get caught. 

Sighing defeated, you give Mr. Clark a tight lipped smile, ignoring the shocked look on his face seeing you in here. Picking an empty desk in the middle away from anyone, you decide to busy yourself with the Algebra homework you’ve been avoiding for the better half of a week. It’s when you lean over to unzip your backpack that you catch the sounds of sneakers squeaking against the ceramic floors.

”Ahh, Mr. Harrington. Even fashionably late to detention, I see. Your hair looks good enough to sit in silence for an hour and a half to me.” Mr. Clark announces the king of Hawkins's grand entrance with the kind of sarcasm that makes you smirk as you start arranging your things on your desk.

“That’s good to know 'cause I was doing it for you Mr. C.”

Steve Harrington always thinks he’s so charming

Snorting as you click your pen, you dare to look up only to catch ‘the hair’ looking right back at you with that golden smile that you’ve seen take even the strongest soldiers out. 

Oh no. 

Eyes going big, you quickly bring your attention back down to your homework, silently hoping he doesn’t take the seat next to you and land you in here next week too. 

“So thoughtful of you. Now why don’t you take a seat and do some studying for that test on Monday. And maybe this semester you won’t have to worry about relying on extra credit to keep playing basketball.” Mr. Clark dismisses him, earning a low whistle from the boy who holds his hands up in surrender, Nike covered feet coming down your row.

No, no, no, NO.

You still don’t look up, rereading the same question over and over again because no matter how many times you try, you’re too distracted by the cedar and clove that invades your senses kicking them into overdrive. The whites of his sneakers catch in your peripherals when he does the unimaginable and sits next to you.

Staring at the equation with the kind of concentration that’ll be sure to give you a migraine later, it takes him a good thirty seconds before he temporarily gives up trying to get your attention to grab something that gives the illusion of studying out of his backpack. 

Trying to play it cool, your stomach twists in nervous knots worse than the ones you get when Robin forces you on the janky rides at the summer fair every year. Sure, you’ve been hit on by a guy here and there, but no one can prepare you for what it’s like to catch Steve Harrington’s attention—especially for someone in your Hawkins hierarchy who would never be on the receiving end of it.

He flips through the pages of his textbook loudly, earning his first warning glare from Mr. Clark, and you decide to write your name on the top of the page so at least it looks like you’re doing something. After a couple bounces of your knee, you can feel the heat of his gaze back on you.

”Psst, hey.” 

The last letter of your name comes out illegible, and you jump at the hushed sound of his voice. Taking a deep breath, you work up the courage to meet his flirtatious smirk and golden brown eyes. The sun leaking through the windows gives you a glimpse of the green that hides inside them from this close. You hate to admit that he’s just as pretty as everyone says he is.

”Hi,” you smile a little shy, offering a small wave of your pen and it lights up his whole face, making your body buzz.

”You have a highlighter I can use or something?” He keeps up his ruse, the whites of his teeth showing in a grin.

You arch an eyebrow at him, something sarcastic reminiscent of Mr. Clark flashing behind your eyes. 

“What? You don’t think I’m actually going to study?” He acts shocked, slapping his giant hand across his chest and it earns the kind of giggle from you that pushes him full steam ahead.

”It’s blue, is that okay?” Giving into the bait, you try and hide the way your face warms, ducking down to dig in the bottom of your backpack.

”Are you kidding? I love blue. Favorite color actually.” Laying it on thick, you can see the way he scoots to the edge of his seat, the spice of his cologne making you bite at your bottom lip as your fingers wrap around what you’re looking for.

Sitting up in your seat, you aren’t expecting him to be so close and it threatens to steal the air right out of your lungs.

”H-here,” you manage, holding the blue writing utensil in the small space that's left between you.

Steve's eyes roam your face freely, pink tongue coming out to wet his full bottom lip before they settle back on your gaze, lids a little heavy, voice low and somehow sticky sweet.

”Thanks, honey.” He leans forward more, purposely brushing his fingers with yours when he takes it out of your grasp, “but now, I’m afraid the only way you’re gonna get it back is to let me drive you home after this.”

“I’ve got plenty, you can keep that one,” you try to stay strong, but when that second giggle slips out, you seal your fate.

”I can’t do that, this is your favorite one.” He tisks like it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard, with a crooked grin that makes you bite the inside of your cheek.

”Is it?”

”Absolutely.”

“Are you two done? Or should we schedule a second date for next week?” Mr. Clark interrupts.

”That would actually be date number three. We’re going on two after this is over.” Steve smirks, throwing you a wink ignoring the harsh way you whisper of his name. 

Yeah… you were fucked.

“I’ve got a date tonight!” 

Robin sings excitedly, bursting through the front door in a wild ball of energy, successfully waking you up from your nap on the couch. Blinking slowly, as you start to recognize your surroundings, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you force yourself to sit up, wincing at your stiff neck and the fact that you dreamed about Steve Harrington again. 

“A date with who?” You grumble, still a little grouchy, yawning with a stretch that pops in your back.

”This girl that I met at the record store this morning, we talked about Tracy Chapman and Tori Amos for what felt like hours. She’s just, wow, she’s so cool. Almost too cool for me, you know? She’s a senior in college-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up.” Cutting her off before she can ramble any longer, you wave your hands for her to stop: “First of all, no one is too cool for you, okay? If anything, it’s always going to be the other way around.”

“Yeah, okay, Steve.”

It takes a minute for her words to sink in about the man you haven’t seen in almost a week and a half, but when they do, the glare that settles on your face makes her laugh. 

“Ha ha, very funny.” You deadpan with a tight-lipped smirk, before clearing your throat, “Well where are you guys going? Do you want me to go undercover in case you need saving? I’m fully prepared for a stakeout.”

Robin rolls her eyes, but her smile, which spreads wide enough to see all her teeth, gives away her love for your dramatics. 

“No, I don’t need you to go undercover or anything. I mean, it is going to be nice knowing you’ll be here waiting for me to tell you all about it instead of having to call you and hope the city girl answers.” She teases, earning the scoff from you that she was looking for.

“I’m choosing to ignore that, and if at any point you change your mind, you know your own number.”

Earning a genuine laugh from Robin always makes your soul feel lighter, so when your joke lands and you get one, the heaviness of Steve that’s been weighing down on your shoulders eases up just a little bit.

”I’ve just never been approached in public before like that, you know? It’s not just the other girl you know is gay on campus. I don’t know, it feels good.” Your best friend’s confession makes you want to wrap her up in a hug, keeping the urge to remind her of your offer to move to the city with you to yourself for right now, letting her bask in the moment.

”Well, you're hot. Can you blame her? If you weren’t basically like a sister to me, I’d be all over it.” Wiggling your eyebrows, she flips you off, but you still catch the tinge of pink that paints her cheeks rosy.

”Please, Steve would have my head on a stake.” She snorts, purposely trying to get under your skin now.

”Robin.”

”What? I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel in his eye when I mentioned your little ‘adventure’ last week” She giggles, heading towards her bedroom.

If only she knew just how much those words were true. Your thighs meet like in the memory you can’t stop playing on a loop, palms turning sweaty, remembering the velvet of his lips so close to your neck.

”Wait! Did you ask that on purpose?!” You gasp, jumping to your feet to follow her.

”Maybe.”

”Maybe?!”

”You know what I do need help with?” She ignores you, spinning on her heel to meet your narrowed eyes.

”What?”

”Help me pick any outfit?” Pushing out her bottom lip, she gives you the kind of puppy dog eyes that no one in their right mind could say no to.

Sighing heavily, your feet drag on the carpet before flopping yourself onto her bed huffing out a “Fine” as the box springs squeak.

The rest of the day is spent going through what feels like every outfit in Robin’s possession, even getting desperate enough to try on some of your clothes despite your clashing styles. Settling on a pair of boot cut jeans, a black half crop top with a flannel shirt that you’re pretty sure she stole from Steve and the Dr. Martin’s you got her for her birthday last year, she was ready to break hearts. Blue eyes roll in the back of her head when you make her say ‘I’m the prize’ until you feel like she halfway believes it before handing over her I.D. that you’d found stuffed between the cushions of the couch in a frenzied panic to search for it only ten minutes prior.

The sun starts to set on Robin’s small apartment after she finally heads out the door, and the shadows that bounce off the white walls bring back the thoughts of Steve you’d successfully gotten rid of for a few fleeting hours. 

Huffing to yourself with crossed arms, you watch the flat bag of popcorn spin around in the microwave. You can still hear the beginning Moonstruck playing on the TV in the living room, over the loud hum of the machine. Comfortable in an oversized shirt that lands just at the bottoms of your cotton sleep shorts, goosebump dot across your legs from the cool of the A/C. Your skin still tingles everywhere he touched and the week of radio silence feels worse the second time around. 

The shrill sound of Robin’s phone and the first kernel of popcorn exploding in the bag overpower your ears all at once, making you jump. Mumbling cuss words under the now constant sound of popping, you try to calm your heart rate down, wandering to the living room. Your hand hovers over the phone, the realization about who might be on the other line making your stomach drop. He hadn’t called Robin yet. There’s a moment of hesitation, but you take a deep breath, letting the air expand in your lungs, silently counting to three before you grab the phone off its hook.

”Buckley residen-“

”I need you to come get me, I- I’ve made a huge mistake and I’m just so fuck - “ Robin cuts you off, the rasp in her voice cracking like she’s trying not to cry, “I’m just really embarrassed, please come get me.”

“What happened? Where are you? I’m coming, just - just tell me where you are.” Running to her bedroom to grab your sneakers with the phone pressed to your ear, you can hear her sniffle.

”Benningans, it’s the next town over. I’ll be outside -“

”Are you safe?” You panic, slipping your foot into your shoe as quickly as you can.

”I’m safe, I’m just, I’m embar- I don’t want to talk about it right now. I’m safe, I’ll be outside.” She mutters.

”I’ll get there as fast as I can, okay?” Feeling a little helpless, you try to ease the hurt that’s evident in her tone with soft reassurance. 

”I’m just, I’m really glad you're here. I’ll see you soon.” She manages to get out before the line clicks dead.

Slipping your second shoe on, the realization that you don’t actually have a car to save her with, hits you like a ton of bricks. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Stomping back to the living room, your eyes find the mustard yellow address book next to the phone’s dock. Your fingers fumble through its pages, eyes squinting as you try to read Robin’s messy writing, searching for a familiar name. You find two:

Eddie and Steve.

You stare at the page, your moral compass going haywire. Despite the way he’s rented a space in your mind, the thought of seeing him alone again makes your stomach twist. Eddie would be simple. Eddie would be easy. Your thumb hovers over the first number in the one she has scribbled down for him, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t bring yourself to press it. She needs Steve.

You groan loudly, stomping your foot for good measure, before letting out a long breath through your nose, dialing his number that you knew you should have all along. 

It only rings twice.

“Whatever it is, the answer is no,” Steve deadpans.

”Is that really how you answer your phone?” You scoff, doing your best to ignore the butterflies you’ve managed to stifle as they start to come alive at the sound of his voice.

“I thought this was - shit, I thought this was Henderson - erm I mean Dustin, you remember Dustin?” He stammers and you know that hand of his is running through his hair right now.

“Yeah, the middle schooler.”

“Well, he’s like nineteen now -“

“I didn’t call you to talk about Dustin, Steve,” You sigh heavily, rubbing the bridge of your nose, “Robin called me really upset from Bennigans, and I don’t have a car or any way to go get her-” 

“I’m on my way.” He cuts you off without any hesitation,“Be outside in five minutes for me?”

”My shoes are already on.”  

After a click, you’re left with the sound of the dial tone in your ear. You hang up the phone as warmth floods your body, easing some of your temporary worries. 

Steve Harrington is making it hard to hate him.

The short walk to Steve’s BMW from Robin’s front door feels like stepping through a time machine.

One that takes you back to late nights sneaking out your bedroom window, always being extra careful not to wake your parents up so you could go make out with your secret kind of boyfriend under the stars. Those were always your favorite nights with him. The nights he’d put away the king Steve armor, those nights he’d just be Steve. A boy who just wanted to make his father proud, thinking maybe he’d stay home more if he was.

You can feel the way his eyes roam your body, the heat of his stare lingering on your exposed legs, setting your skin on fire. Suddenly more than aware of your lack of pants, only part of you regrets not changing into some leggings, but you try not to think about that too hard right now.

He clears his throat when you open the passenger door, the smell of leather and the dark woody sweet scent of oil surrounding you as you slide into your seat. The spice of his cologne tickles your nose when you close yourself in, clicking your seatbelt in place before daring to meet his eyes. The golden brown inside them shimmers with something you’d missed in the orange glow of the street light and the nerves still feel the same way they did five years ago. The only thing that hasn’t changed.

”Thanks for doing this,” you offer with a weak smile.

When he realizes you’ve put your weapons down for the night, his face softens with a crooked grin, subtle pink dusting the apples of his cheeks.

”I meant it when I said I can’t say no to you,” he starts, selfishly letting his eyes roam the smooth lines of your face that are finally not twisted up into a glare before realizing his slip up, “and Robin, my best friend obviously.”

”Our best friend, Steve.” You tease trying to ignore the tension that crackles in the empty space between you even worse than before.

”Whatever you have to tell yourself,” he winks, forearm flexing as he puts the car in drive.

Scoffing a ‘whatever’ with a playful roll of your eyes, you let your muscles relax into the familiar seat. The Police’s Every Breath You Take spills through the speakers just loud enough to be heard over the low rumble of the engine, and you become hyper aware of his hand resting on the stick shift, the tips of his fingers just close enough to brush against your thigh every time you hit a bump. 

There’s a silence that falls between you once the street lights run out and his full focus shifts to the pitch black road ahead. The quiet is filled with what almost happened in his room, unspoken words that don’t dare to roll off of sober tongues. You wait until he’s too distracted looking for surprises that might run out from the woods on either side of you to let your eyes wander over and really take him in.

A white drawstring hangs low on his heather gray sweatpants that fit tight over his thighs spread wide. Your throat goes dry at the white tank top that hugs his broad chest, the gold chain that wraps around his neck getting lost in the thick patch of curls on display. You’re finally able to really make out more of his tattoo for the first time, thin, precise lines that look like feathers attached to a set of sparrow wings.

”Did she tell you what happened? I mean, is she safe?” He interrupts your greedy stare, eyes lighting up when he catches you, tucking it away for another time.

”Uhh, yeah,” you answer with a shake of your head, teeth biting down on your bottom lip with hot cheeks, “she’s safe, she kept saying she’s embarrassed but wouldn’t tell me why, just kept begging me to come get her.”

He just hums, lost deep in thought of all the things it could be, and his grip on the steering wheel tightens with worry. 

“We’re only ten minutes away, so it won’t be too much longer now.” 

He reassures you, but it feels like he needs it too, especially when his hand leaves the stick shift to run through his hair that looks more tousled than usual, making you wonder if he was lying in bed before this. A worried breath exhales through his nose, with a tight jaw, and you hate the way your stomach drops when both his hands find the steering wheel after he tugs on his roots a little bit. 

Nervous fingers play with the bottoms of your sleep shorts, trying your best not to stare while you keep your gaze out the passenger window. Stolen glances are followed by tight lipped smiles when you’d always find him staring back. Honey and chestnut make your stomach flutter, and you think maybe some things never change. 

It takes less than the ten minutes that Steve promised for the back roads to turn busy, and bright with the kind of lights a small town on a Saturday night has. A slouched frame sitting on the side of the road catches in his headlights, getting closer you see that Robin’s waves have lost all the bounce she left the house with, along with the rosy tint in her cheeks. The flashing Bennigans sign spins a block behind her, and the orange bulbs match the burning ember on the end of her cigarette that dangles from her full lips. 

“Shit, it’s bad if she’s smoking,” Steve mutters, turning on his hazards as he pulls up next to her, the wheels of his car coming to a stop. 

She hollows her cheeks out, taking one last drag, waving at you to stop unbuckling your seat belt as she gets to her feet. Blowing the smoke from her lungs into the wind, she flicks the half smoked butt into the street before opening the back door, sliding into the leather seats with an exasperated huff.

“Just, don’t – I’m okay,” she starts, closing the door and shutting out the whir of the traffic outside. “Turns out her boyfriend’s best friend really likes Tracy Chapman and Tori Amos too. She really thought me and him might hit it off after our talk at the record store today. I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to go home with my two favorite people and feel sorry for myself.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” Steve doesn’t miss a beat. Turning around in his seat, he flashes her his million-dollar Harrington smile. “I’m the king of feeling sorry for myself.”

Her lips twitch, but when she sees the natural roll of your eyes at the boy next to you, it turns into a full blown smile. A little shimmer came through in the dulled-out color of her eyes.

Got me up all night

            all I’m singing is love songs.

“Honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, this girl sounds like a scammer, Rob. I mean, come on.” Steve snorts, rifling through her cupboards in the kitchen. Tracy Chapman and Tori Amos, what kind of game was she playing at anyway?”

Robin giggles from her place next to you on the couch, her head resting on your shoulder, the green apple of her shampoo still lingering on her curls that tickle your cheek. 

“Plenty of people like those artists, Steve.” She sighs, but you can still hear her smile, “It’s fine, I’ll just stay the lonely Hawkins lesbian for the rest of my life, no big deal.”

”Shut up!”

”Will you stop?!”

You and Steve chide her at the same time, hard eyes meeting from across the living room and softening. He doesn’t even try to stop the lopsided grin that pushes up your favorite cheek and you hope Robin doesn’t feel the way it makes your skin warm. 

“Whatever, I already warned you I’m going to be miserable. Gimmie a break, and you’re actually taking forever in there, by the way.” Whining, she sits up, sending a rush of fruit and leftover tobacco to your nose.

“Yeah, well, I can’t find your peanut butter,” he mutters, opening up the cabinet above the sink, the bottom of his tank top rising enough to see a sliver of sun kissed skin and a few more freckles. Why does it feel like there's always more?

”What are you even making anyway?” you ask, ignoring the way Robin’s head whips around. A smirk spreads wide across her face because you’re actually trying to make conversation with Steve.

“Just a little something that’s going to cure my best friend’s heartbreak,” he winks, the jar of JIF extra crunchy looking extra small in his grasp, twisting the cap off. “We came up with it together, actually.o biggie.”

Your gaze narrows, but he doesn’t miss the way the corners of your mouth twitch, something sparkling inside the dark gold in his eyes.

”Interesting, considering I ran to the store earlier to grab my best friend’s favorite ice cream, just in case.” You counter, something mischievous twisting up your lips. “You didn’t even think to stop and get it on our way home. Some friend.”

Robin’s smile lights up the room, very obviously enjoying the show, maybe even a little too much. Clapping her hands together, she lets out a content sigh before leaning back into the couch cushions.

”I really could get used to this,” she beams, “maybe we should have a contest, see which one of you can do the nicest things for me.”

You can’t stop the snort or the roll of your eyes that has Steve throwing his head back in a fully-bellied laugh, giving you the perfect view of his neck, and only Robin clocks the way your giggles are cut short and the secret way your eyes glaze over.

”I’m not gonna lie as much as I love crunchy peanut butter banana s’mores, I have to say Steve, the fact that she actually called you makes her the winner for the night.” She smirks, chuckling harder when you shove her with a hushed ‘Robin!’

His smile doesn’t fade as he starts to cut banana slices. Big eyes meet yours with the kind of look that threatens to melt you into the couch.

”That’s alright, I’ll be a gracious loser tonight, but just know, honey, I’m very competitive.” He warns, long fingers spreading the fruit evenly throughout the peanut butter that messily coats graham crackers.  

“I don’t like to lose, so it’s fine.” Your quick reply deepens the smile lines in his cheeks, putting the finishing touches on your snacks.

“Yeah, this is definitely the life I was meant to live,” Robin gloats, nudging you, “I’m the prize, right?”

It’s your turn to throw your head back in the kind of laugh that rattles in your rib cage, too distracted to see the lovesick way Steve bites his bottom lip watching you from across the room.

But Robin does.

With a heart so full it might burst, tears threaten to spill from the ocean in her eyes, daydreaming about moments like this, only ever thinking they would be something that stayed trapped in the confines of her mind. The warming feeling of happiness wraps around Robin like a blanket when she gets to sit between you both on the couch. A distant friend she hasn’t seen in a long time, a secret she’s kept mostly to herself. 

With a messy plate of half eaten treats and sticky fingers, she’s content watching Cher and Nicholas Cage fight over how much they love each other. Fully knowing that Steve is sneaking looks at you from over her head, smiling to herself at the nervous way you fiddle with your hands in your lap because of it.

Robin doesn’t fight the exhaustion that starts to make her eyelids heavy just a little halfway through the movie. It’s easy to give in when your body weight relaxes deeper into her side, and how Steve drapes his arm over the back of the couch, tucking you both into his chest with evening breaths.

You’re warm, cozier than normal, and it surrounds every part of you.

Cheek pressed against something that’s not firm enough to be the couch, you nuzzle yourself deeper, chasing the heat and the sleep that’s threatening to evade you. Your cushion starts to move, making eyes shift behind lids that aren’t ready to open yet. Lashes flutter, feeling the way your leg is slotted between someone else’s, and the warmth of a palm finds the small of your back, pulling you closer.

A deep sigh rumbles in your ear before fingertips lazily trace up and down the dip of your spine. Stubble tickles your forehead, and as coherency starts to come back to you, a softer patch of hair rubs against your cheek. The kind of spice and lingering sunshine that could only come from one person hits your senses, and the white cotton of Steve’s tank top finally becomes visible. 

The shift in your breathing brings his soft touches to a halt, the muscles you’re pressed on your side against stiffening. Realizing your hands are sprawled across his chest, just under your chin, you can feel the way his heart races under your palm. He’s everywhere, and despite the way you’ve told yourself you hate him, your fingers curl into the cotton of his shirt because it feels like home. Toes pressing into his calf, you wind your leg around his tighter, and it turns timid fingertips sure of themselves, tracing patterns between your shoulder blades. You don’t dare look up at him yet, or it would make the way your own hand starts to explore his abs that twitch under your red nails real. 

He feels different than you remember, there's more of him now, harder in spots that used to be soft. Your fingers get greedy, the blunt ends of your nails scratching along the outline of his happy trail, earning a low groan from him that vibrates deep in your core. Those butterflies that have made a permanent home out of you start to stretch their wings, and when they feel the soft velvet of his lips against your forehead, they tickle at your ribcage and kick up your heart rate. You wonder if he can feel it.

It’s the faintest kiss, one that you’re not sure you would’ve even felt if you were asleep, but it makes you lean in closer. Inhaling deeply, tears sting at the corner of your eyes when the familiar scent only makes you crave him more. After years spent denying the existence of his touch from your memory, it’s almost overwhelming to feel it again. 

The muscles in his arm underneath your neck twitch, and the fingers that have been drawing lazy circles on your back move slowly up your shoulder. The backs of them run down your arm before they finally connect with your skin, goosebumps exploding underneath his touch in a ball of electricity that you can feel on the pads of them that start a new path up the loose sleeve of your shirt.

You fiddle with the bottom hem of his tank top, the heat of his body radiating against already flushed skin. Brave fingers dare to dip underneath only to get stopped by a large palm wrapping around your wrist 

“Baby,” there's a hint of a smile and a little bit of grogginess in his voice that gives away that he hasn’t been awake that much longer than you, “I think you should at least look at me before I let you get under my shirt.”

Biting at your bottom lip, you push yourself deeper into his chest, embarrassed, feeling the gentle shake of his body when he laughs. 

“Come on pretty, let me see your face.”

His affection makes your heart swell, and you know what it means if you look him in the eyes. Your nails dig into the cotton, tugging at the fabric a little while you pull yourself together, lashes fluttering against your cheeks, shaking the rest of the sleep. Lifting your head up from its hiding place, you cross the line you promised yourself you wouldn’t, but when you meet the green that shimmers in the darkness of his eyes, and the crooked grin that twists up his full pink lips, it feels good to give in.

Releasing the hold on your wrist, he’s gentle, almost hesitant, when his warm palm cups your cheek. The rough pad of his thumb traces the line of your cheekbone feather light, and you can’t help but lean into his touch. No more armor, fleeting glances, or stolen looks, not when he’s this close and even more handsome in the glow of the moonlight. 

“Beautiful.” He murmurs just loud enough for you to hear, and your legs somehow wrap around his tighter.

”Yeah?” you whisper, your fingers coming up to the play with the gold chain dangling from his neck. “Why didn’t you kiss me then?”

”What?”

”Last week,” 

”That wasn’t the right time,” he sighs, eyes tracing every line of your face like he’s committing it to memory, “It would have ruined it.”

“Ruined what?” You press, twisting the metal between your fingertips, heartbeat ringing in your ears.

“My chance at trying to do this the right way, the way you deserve.” He doesn’t hesitate to say it, like it’s something he’s thought about for years, and it makes your head spin.

“What about now?” 

“That depends,” he hums, the pad of his thumb dragging across the slight pout of your bottom lip, threatening to steal the air from your lungs.

”On?” Your voice comes out just above a whisper. Tilting your chin up, you can still smell the peanut butter on his breath.

”If you want me to.”  He breathes, the tip of his nose running along the length of yours. 

Your hold on his gold chain tightens, pulling him even closer. His eyebrows pinch together when he feels the slightest brush of your lips against his, and he can still taste the sweetness of the banana.

”Please tell me you want me to.” 

The desperation in his voice is enough for you to tug him down, closing what’s left of the small gap, your top lip catching against his full bottom one. Just enough to feel the familiar silk that could leave a wildfire in their wake before you finally speak.

“Kiss me, Steve.”

A groan rattles deep in his chest, and he doesn’t hesitate to do what he’s wanted to since he saw you. Applying just enough pressure to wake up every last butterfly, the tip of his nose pushes into your cheek when he slots his lips with yours. It’s soft at first like he’s testing the waters, taking it slow so he can savor it, just in case you never let him do it again.

He pulls away enough to look at you, chestnut eyes blown out wide, and you hate that you already miss his kiss. Giving into everything you’ve fought for so long, it’s your turn to capture his lips. It stuns him at first, but when you open your mouth, his body melts easily into yours, and that big hand of his moves from your cheek to hold the back of your neck. Tongue swiping boldly across your lower lip, he begs you to let him in.

Moans get hidden, muffled inside each other's mouths after you grant him access, your fingers tangle themselves inside the thick forest of his hair that’s still just as soft as you remember. Nipping at his bottom lip, the grip on the back of your neck tightens and you can feel the way he kicks up in his sweats because of it. Your own thighs threatening close when you’re reminded of what’s between his legs.

“Baby,” he warns in between kisses, feeling the roll of your hips, but you don’t miss the subtle way he tries to meet them with his own.

It’s too easy to get lost in him, and the years it took to move past him make even more sense when your tongue finds his again. Fighting for dominance, you try not to think about the irreversible damage tonight might do to you as you tug at his roots, teeth scraping together, the kiss turns more heated by the second. Years of anger and longing come out in desperate touches. His hand finds its way to your hip, the pads of his fingers brushing against the skin under your shirt, sending a shiver up your spine, letting you roll them one, two, three times before tightening his hold.

He pulls you closer, letting you win before his nose nudges against your cheek, his lips finding the corner of your mouth. Catching his breath, he trails them along your jaw before making his way down your neck. Your chest heaves, fingers turning soft and slowly running through his hair. He hums against your skin, his hand staying under your shirt, the warmth of his palm covering the small of your back, leaving wet kisses on the sensitive spot behind your ear.

”Let me take you on a date,” he whispers, leaving one more under his jaw before pulling back to look at you.

”Steve -“

”Just one,” he begs, bumping his nose with yours, smirking when it makes you smile.

”Let me sleep on it,” you sigh, ducking your head under his chin to hide. Too many thoughts trying to occupy space in your mind with a head still dizzy from his lips.

”I’ll take what I can get,” he laughs, the tips of his fingers starting up the familiar patterns that started all of this, quickly make your eyelids heavy, nuzzling deeper into his chest. You weren’t ready to think about tomorrow yet.

🌻 chapter four

#my writing #steve harrington #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x reader smut #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington fic #steve harrington x y/n

[carolmunson]

alive with the glory of love

(older!rockstar!eddie x older!actress!wife!)

a valentine's slice of life with our favorite rockstar almost thirty years into our marriage. the year is 2023 and we're still stella rink and we're still famous as hell. aged like fine wine. a decades long career and a decades long marriage with two twins in their late twenties. this is semi from the twins perspective. we know what our life was looking like before, let's see what it looks like now. :) eddie manip by @eddiemunsons-missingnipple cw: 18+ minors dni, allusions to smut/wearing lingerie, but overall this is a short little something. reader and eddie are both 57, so, sorry if you don't want to be fifty seven. but if i have to be in my 'early twenties' every time i read a fic, you can be older for like, seven and a half minutes.

The phone eases into focus, Violet’s giggle sounds as she presses record, leaning on her elbows at the kitchen island. The room is a sun drenched, black and white tiled vision — still partially stuck in the 90s, remnants of your old life, despite the ongoing renovations. Despite the teasing from your adult children. Some stuff just never lost its charm – plus, the kids were calling it ‘a 90s vibe’ and you were both pretty sure that was cool. 

“Morning, happy Valentine’s Day,” Violet says sleepily, Van trudging in behind her. They both take lazy seats on the bar stools across from the chef stove that their father is delicately working over. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, honey,” Eddie calls over his shoulder, daintily pouring pink batter into a cookie cutter mold on a hot pan. The kitchen and dining room are filled to the brim with flowers and balloons. Eddie’s been up for hours getting everything set up for you, some things never change. Some things never get old. 

“What’re you doing?” Van asks. 

“What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m making mommy—” He turns around with a furrowed brow, deepening his forehead creases before he realizes they’re recording him. He sighs before turning back to his task, “Guys, again with the phone?” 

“C’mon dad, they love you!” Violet begs, putting her phone down and shoving it in her sweatshirt pocket, “Van show him the comments on the last one.” 

“They think you’re hilarious, they want you to have your own account,” Van encourages, he opens his own phone to bring over to his dad. He grew up to be a spitting image of the two of you, as if they pasted Eddie’s face on his and gave him all your other features. The color of your eyes, the texture of your hair. Your bright, enrapturing smile. A perfect fifty-fifty. 

Van scrolls slowly through the endless comments, Eddie squinting down at them, “Van, I don’t have my glasses.” 

Eddie peers down lower, “What does that mean? ‘I know it’s big’? What’s big?” “New…choker…just…dropped? I didn’t make chokers for merch,” he shrugs, waving him away to pay attention to the stove. “Ew,” Violet laughs, “Stop making him read these out loud, that’s so gross.” 

“You should still make your own,” Van says, sitting back down, “It’d do way better than the one for Corroded.” 

“Have your mom do it,” Ed shrugs off, “She knows how to do all that internet shit.” 

“That Howard Stern clip is going viral again,” Violet says devilishly, “The girlies are obsessed with you.” 

“I don’t care about the girlies, Vi,” Eddie blushes, flipping one of the pancakes on the pan, “I care about your mom.” 

“I just wanna show them what you guys do for your favorite holiday,” Violet whines, “They’ll love it.” 

“They’re gonna call him a simp,” Van teases, a look of realization washing over his face,  “Wait, you’re such a simp for mom, actually.”  

They both laugh, Eddie doesn’t know what ‘a simp’ is so he laughs too.

“That’s a good word for like, a DND character type — you should see about that in your campaigns,” Ed continues while he plates a pancake on an ever growing stack of pink and red. 

“Ohmygod Dad, no, that’s not—“ Van laughs silently into his hands. 

“Stop making fun of him, he’s old,” Violet pleads between giggles, taking her phone out again, “Dad, seriously can you just tell us what you’re doing? Why do you love Valentine’s Day?”

“Is this for your TikTok thing?” he asks, pulling his dark curls up in a ponytail with a black silk scrunchie, bangs he can’t quite part with falling in waves over his brow. ‘My Pilates teacher was telling me they’ll be safer on your hair,’ you’d said — and he’s never been one to say no to you. Every time the kids came home they’d take their phones out and make Tiktok’s of the two of you, sometimes you’d make a solo one for Violet or Van’s page if you felt like it. But with Twitter and Instagram, you didn’t want to overload your assistant with some other form of social media – but it looked like the two of you were really popular. Especially Eddie. 

Violet educated you about ‘fancams’ which were just clips to music. There were a lot of the two of you together, or you solo from your movies and shows in the 90s. Progressions of you then and now and how you’re still ‘so hot’ and ‘unproblematic’. Eddie’s almost always started with the clip of him at Howard Stern, jaw ticking while he tried to keep his composure: ‘Excuse the fuck out of me, what did you just say about my wife? Do you wanna lose your fuckin’ teeth?’ The comments were always flooded with a mess of young people losing their shit: ‘god i’ve seen what you’ve done for others’ ‘stopppp he’s obsessed with her’ ‘@vidawn i hope your mom can fight’ ‘@vannywayne @vidawn i’m five years younger than u but i would be a great step dad’ ‘when is someone gonna fight howard stern FOR ME?’ ‘@vannywayne @vidawn they’re thirsting over your dad again’ ‘i’m banging on the walls of my enclosure’ 'ewwww we hate cheaters' ‘i NEED to fuck him’ ‘@vannywayne you look EXACTLY the same’ ‘are they looking for a third?’ 'idgi he looks dirty' ‘they are notttttt making them like him anymore’ ‘not him being old enough to be my father i’m sick’

“Obviously,” she snaps back, rolling his eyes when he starts touching himself up for the camera. 

“Should I do a couple of push ups so I look buff or…?” he teases. Violet and Van make a face that puts any face you’ve given him to shame. It’s the only regret he has about having kids with you – all that attitude had to go somewhere. 

“Fine, fine,” he huffs, “I’m ready for my close up, Vi.” 

“You’re so cheesy, dad. Just be normal for like, five seconds,” Violet huffs, taking out her phone again, “You’re ready?” 

“M’ready,” he smiles. “Okay, so, what’re you doing?” Violet asks again. 

“I am making pancakes,” he starts, pouring red better into the cookie cutter mold on the pan this time, “In a heart shape, for your mom.” 

“How long have you been doing this?” she asks, a smile spreading across her face. It matches her dads. There was no mistaking that Violet was Eddie Munson’s daughter. 

“Since we got together, so – the first one was in 1990,” he muttered, flipping the pancake, “I do it every year ‘cause she loves it. They’re strawberry, but they’re pink and red ‘cause I put food coloring in them.” 

“Is Valentine’s Day her favorite holiday?” 

Eddie grins, “No, her favorite holiday is the fourth of July. Not ‘cause she’s got a boner for America or anything. She just likes fireworks and when I use the grill.” “Is it your favorite holiday?” Van asks this time. Eddie nods, a bright blush pushing up on his face. 

“How come?” Violet and Van ask at the same time. Eddie turns the burner off, placing the heaping plate of heart shaped pancakes on the center of the island. He opens the wine cooler on the opposite wall, pulling out a bottle of champagne and two flutes from the top cabinet.

“‘Cause I get to spoil your mom all day,” he smiles, “She deserves it.” 

“You spoil her every day,” Van teases, “I can’t think of a more doted on woman on earth than mom.” 

“She’s very special,” he shrugs. 

“And you do this every year?” Violet asks, zooming in on the pancakes. 

“Every year for the past thirty four years, well, minus ninety-two,” he frowns a little, “We had some time apart that year.” 

“Still had my chef make them for me though.” 

Your voice cuts in from the large arch way connecting to the dining room and Violet pans quickly over to get you in frame. 

“Hi mom,” Vi says, “Is this your favorite holiday?” 

“No,” you shake your head and laugh, the same laugh he fell in love with, “It’s the fourth of July. C’mon Vi, how long have I been your mom? Do you even know me?” “You’re supposed to be in bed, honey,” Eddie frowns, “You’re ruining the surprise.” 

“The surprise that’s older than my kids? How could I forget,” you grin, rounding the island and greeting your husband with a gentle kiss, “Happy Valentine’s day.” 

“Happy Valentine’s day, baby,” he murmurs into a second chaste peck, “You’re supposed to let me bring them up to you.” 

“My kids are home, I don’t wanna spend all day in bed,” you pout. He pouts back dramatically, tugging on your arm to pull you flush against his chest. 

“I thought you loved spending all day in bed with me,” he pushes some of your hair back before resting a palm on your cheek, moving in to kiss you deeply. The scruff on his chin scratches around your mouth but you never care because he still kisses you, he kisses you every day. He’d kiss you all day if you let him. You had too many girlfriends whose ex-husbands were on their third wife and every year they’re more surprised that Eddie is still on his first.

“Okay, I think that’s our cue to leave,” Van says, Violet stops recording. Their faces sour.  

“Yeah we don’t want a January ‘94 repeat or anything,” Vi jokes. The twins high five at their own mean reference to your horrific sex tape debacle, but you and Eddie toss them a playful glare. 

“Hey, she might be your mother, but she’s my wife,” Eddie warns, hand sneaking down to rest on the small of your back to pull you close to him, “Don’t mess with her.” 

“Yeah,” you tease, crossing your arms, “You saw what he did to Howie’s studio. I just gotta say the word.” 

“So scary,” Violet rolls her eyes, leaving the kitchen with her twin in tow, “We’re taking the Jeep to get Jamba Juice, do you want anything?” 

“My usual,” you answer while Eddie goes to the fridge to get grapefruit juice out of the fridge, “And get daddy’s usual too. Do you want his card? Where’s your card, hun?”

“Wherever you last left it,” he responds, gracefully pouring grapefruit mimosas for the both of you. 

“It’s in my purse,” you call out. 

“Which one?!” Violet calls back, both of them waiting by the door. 

“The pink Kelly!” 

“Got it! Do you want anything else?” Van calls out. 

“Just uh,” Eddie giggles to himself, tossing you a once over, “Take your time!” 

“Gross!” they yell back in unison. Eddie waits for the door to close to pull you back into him, he watches you at first. Brown eyes cascading over the slope of your nose, your cheeks, the crinkles at the edge of your eyes, your smile lines. He looks at you like he’s looking at you for the first time, every time. He looks different, but the same. Dark curls smattered and entwined in silver, a nose ring, a never ending scratch of overgrown stubble. Deep lines on his forehead that exaggerate his already animated features. Lips still full and warm, hands still big and covered in rings. He’s kept his body real tight for fifty-seven, still throwing himself in the gym daily. ‘If I’m gonna be addicted to something now it might as well be like, my cardiovascular health, babe.’ His crows feet make him somehow more attractive, his smile got better with age. He still makes your heart race when he catches your eye from across the room. “You wearing that little red thing I like?” he purrs in your ear. The tie to your robe sliding between his inked fingers.

“Maybe,” your finger trails over a tattoo on his bicep, “Maybe, I got something new for you to see. Maybe it’s black, maybe it’s strappy. Maybe it’s that thing you saw when we went shopping last week.” 

“Christ,” he huffs, pressing a kiss to your cheek before stepping back over to the counter, “Do you ever stop getting hotter? Eat your breakfast before I bend you over this bar stool.” 

“Let’s bring it upstairs like you wanted,” you smile, following him closely to press your hips up against him, “We can get a little messy.” 

“Yeah?” he growls, pushing part of your robe away to see a peek of black lace and strappy leather, “Fucking god, Stell.” 

“C’mon,” you whisper breathily, pushing up on your tiptoes to kiss him again, “They’ll be home soon.” 

Some things have changed, some things remain the same. He still fucks you like a rockstar.

#eddie munson rockstar au #rockstar!eddie munson smut #rockstar!eddie smut #rockstar!eddie munson #rockstar!eddie #eddie munson fluff #rockstar!eddie fluff #older!eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fan fic #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fan fiction #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x y/n

[kyojurismo]

★ — spider-man!bakugo part 2 !

character : katsuki bakugo

tags : spider-man!au, fem!reader, 2.9k words (yeah i got carried away), this is a continuation of a series of hc i posted a while ago, bit of angst, injuries, mention of getting shot, kissing, happy ending i guess? both r & katsuki are 18 by the way, half proofread so don’t look at it too closely.

part one

notes : hi guys !! okay so i finally finished writing it, i was way better in my mind but i wanted to post it anyway since spider-man!bkg is bringing me loads of comfort — idk if i’ll post more about him, for now that’s all i guess >_< so anyway, i hope you’ll enjoy it. plus, i take this opportunity to thank you those who showed love for the part 1, it means the world to me <3

“katsuki!” you rushed to his side as he finished putting some books into his locker. he turned his head to look at you. “what is it?” he tried to hide his nervousness, the look on your face seemed that of someone who discovered something big. “i know who’s behind spider-man!” you said excitedly, but not that loud to let the whole school hear you.

bakugo’s heart skipped a beat and he had to fight for his expression to remain calm. “ah? r-really?” he chuckled as he closed his locker, gulping down. “tell me everything.”

“it’s a student. i wasn’t too sure about this before, but i watched a couple of videos and he had a backpack with a pin from our school! isn’t it cool?” you explained while walking beside him. bakugo sighed in relief in his mind, grateful you had no real information about spider-man.

wait… a backpack?

he was grateful you didn’t seem to notice but he mentally noted that he must change backpack as soon as possible.

“you don’t seem so interested in spider-man, huh? you don’t like him?” you then looked at his face, noticing that he seemed rather distracted. “no no! uh, i just… i’m not a big fan of superheroes, y’know? i trust the police and the government,” he explained offering a small smile before looking away. “hm.” you seemed to be thinking too much about his answer so he changed subject. “today at 4? mine or your place?” he pulled your attention over homework. “i live closer to school, so…” you shrugged and he nodded, before you two entered your classroom.

─────────────────────

“welcome, katsuki!” your mother greeted your friend with a huge smile, happy to see him. he seemed to be liked by your mother a bit too much in your opinion. “hello,” he smiled timidly. you grabbed his hand and pulled you with him towards your room. “keep the door open a little bit!” your father shouted from the living room. you rolled your eyes and stepped into your room, followed by an amused katsuki.

“i’m not a kid anymore, for god’s sake,” you murmured and closed the door anyway. katsuki sat by your desk, as usual, and followed you moving around the room before grabbing your notebooks. “alright, can you help me with this math exercise before we start with biology?” you pleaded, showing him the reason behind your distress. “yeah, sure. it’s nothing too impossible,” he comforted you with a smile.

after hours of studying your mother came and offered katsuki to stay for dinner but he politely refused, saying that his mother was waiting for him as his father was out of town for a couple of weeks due to work. “oh, you don’t have to add more. i totally understand! maybe next time, okay?” you hid your face behind your palms in embarrassment as she left.

“she’s sweet,” he commented, chuckling at your status. you groaned in response and hit his chest playfully. “just with you,” you said and watched him pack his things.

a couple of pins attached to his backpack caught your attention, resembling a bunch of superheroes and a group band. you remembered katsuki told you that he wasn’t too fond of superheroes, so it confused you a bit.

“hey, ‘tsuki… what do you think about that superhero who helped spider-man last week?” you try to sound casual, playing with your pen. “uh, he was cool,” he answered while shrugging. “i saw him on the news, i don’t know if he actually is,” he was quick to add, laughing. he gulped down and finished to put his books away when you threw your pen at him and he caught it without even turning around.

you gasped and quickly got up to your feet as katsuki groaned and turned to meet your face, your hands covering your lips as you tried to process what just happened.

“l-listen…” he tried to think of something to justify his reflexes but you were quick to start throwing small objects at him, to see him do that again.

“why aren’t you catching them? you’re doing it on purpose?” you tilted your head to the side, your tone showing a bit of annoyance. “no, it’s just that the way you’re throwing them is not gonna hurt me so… fuck,” he groaned and sat down at the edge of your bed. “forget it, please. it’s just a thing my father taught me, it doesn’t mean anything,” he lied straight to your face.

did he not trust you enough?

“you’re spider-man, right? it-it just makes sense! god i’m so stupid!” you started pacing around the room, connecting the dots. “when you got hurt, that one time you came here… the next day you couldn’t play basket because you said you fell or something. it was because the wound would open up right? and when you showed up with a big bruise under your eye, it was because of that criminal hitting you with… whatever that thing was,” you spoke fast, your hands shaking slightly as you kept explaining all the things that gave him away — they didn’t, actually. you caught him just because he stopped the point of your pen from hitting his nape a bit too hard.

“[y/n], take a deep breath and sit down for a moment, hm?” he moved closer and grabbed your hands making you sit down on the bed. “you’re spider-man,” you squeaked, covering your mouth once again. “spider-man kissed me, so you kissed me…” you added and katsuki sighed at the memory, regretting it not because he didn’t like it but because it was extremely dumb for him to do something like that.

“you idiot!” you then hit his chest, for real now. he looked at you in confusion. “what was that for?” he asked, stopping you from hitting him again. “you nerdy coward! why would you kiss me as spider-man?” you asked in an angry tone.

katsuki let go of your hands and simply shook his head before going to grab his backpack and reaching the door. you swiftly reached him and planted yourself against the door so he wouldn’t open it. “you can’t just walk away as if it’s nothing, you know? why didn’t you tell me? we grew so close since the last year… don’t you trust me?” you didn’t seem angry in that moment, you seemed… hurt?

he took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before glancing at you, his hand timidly took yours and his thumb started caressing your palm. “it’s not exactly something you shout when entering a room, y’know… plus, no one knows it.”

you were the only one?

“be serious,” you gasped, not expecting to be the only one to know his secret. “i am!” he swore, not breaking eye contact not even for a second. “oh ‘tsuki…” your eyes filled with tears as you suddenly hugged him, holding him tightly. he looked confused as you held him, his eyes staring at the door in silence. “it must have been so hard… but now you have me! i’ll help you, like a sidekick or something!” you smiled enthusiastically at him. katsuki’s face darkened at your statement and pushed you away as gently as he could in that moment, you frowned.

“help me,” he spat, walking to your window instead. “you can’t help me without getting involved or worse, killed. i can’t allow it, so forget about your silly discovery,” he shook his head, his voice was firm as he said all that. you tried to move closer to him but he turned and glared at you with a cold look, you froze in place at that. “forget about it. i think it’s better if i distance myself from you.”

those were his last words and they hurt you deeply. you could only watch him exit your room through your window and swing away, leaving you standing there in silence.

─────────────────────

for the following month, katsuki kept his word. he barely waved at you in class, you didn’t meet up to study anymore. he became something similar to a stranger. your friends noticed how you two became distant and you shrugged it off with a simple ‘we had a fight and he never apologised so i don’t wanna be friends with someone like him.’

your own words hurt. katsuki heard them too, but he thought it was for the best so he was okay with what you told your friends.

this whole situation worked until spider-man was attacked by a strong group of criminals and got shot. you heard the news about how he helped capturing them but no one heard about what happened to spider-man after that. what scared you even more was that he was missing school, something that was unusual for someone like him.

after three days you decided to go to his house, using the notes from the lessons he missed as an excuse.

you rang the doorbell and waited patiently, an anxious feeling biting at your heart. when the door opened you noticed that you were actually holding your breath. “hello!” katsuki’s mom, mitsuki, offered you a warm smile. “h-hello, i um… i brought the notes from the lessons katsuki missed in the past days,” you explained, gripping your bag tightly.

“oh, thank you! come inside,” mitsuki nodded and let you enter inside. you followed her and quietly glanced around, it was the second time you visited his house after all. “i can make you some tea?” she asked while entering the kitchen, glancing at you. “uh, no. no, thanks. i’m fine,” you shook your head before smiling politely. she nodded and sighed, losing herself in her thoughts for a moment. “katsuki is upstairs, first door on the right” she turned and smiled at you. “got it,” you thanked her and reached the stairs.

now you could feel your heart racing in your chest, wondering how could you initiate an actual conversation with him. you bit your lips and knocked on his door, waiting to hear his voice. “i told you i’m not hungry!” he shouted from the other side, making you realise he didn’t know you were there. you sighed and decided to open the door anyway.

he was sitting by his desk, his headphones were covering his ears. you closed the door and slowly reached him, jumping when he suddenly turned ready to shout to get out of his room. he was about to say something before deciding to keep his mouth shut as he took the headphones off.

you noticed the bandage on his right temple and the bruise on his cheek, his rest of his body seemed alright but you were sure he was hiding other bruises and minor injuries. you felt a sense of relief fill your chest, as you realised he was alright after all.

“t-tsuki, i…” you glanced at the floor and gripped your bag nervously, trying to find the right words. “i uh… well,” you bit your lips before simply pulling out the extra notes you took for him and putting them on his desk. his eyes followed your actions before he glanced up at your face, your eyes not meeting his.

“i-i’m glad you’re okay, i just came here to make sure… so i’m leaving, alright,” you spoke after a couple of moments of silence, turning around and walking towards the door. before you could open it, his hand planted itself on its surface and his shadow towered over you. you gulped down and held the doorknob nervously.

the silence was suffocating, you felt more and more anxious as you didn’t know his intentions.

“say something!” you finally snapped, shutting your eyes closed. “thanks for the notes,” was all he said, his deep voice making you shiver. “not about that,” you turned to look at his face, visibly upset. katsuki tilted his head to the side, looking at you in a way that made you feel small. “what do you want me to say then?” he asked, his voice was low now.

“y-you got shot, katsuki!” you screamed as low as you could, not wanting his mother to hear. “you could have died a-and all you can say is thanks?!” your eyes started filling with tears, making it hard for you to keep eye contact. katsuki felt his heart clench at the sight, knowing that he was the reason you were feeling like that.

“but i’m not, so it’s fine,” he shrugged, sighing. “don’t look down on me, i know what i’m doing,” he then added, clenching his fist. “oh? then explain this!” you pointed at his head and he caught your wrist before you could even touch him, making you flinch. “i got distracted, it happens you know?” he said while gritting his teeth.

you shook your head and turned around, trying to open the door. “you’re so self-centred you don’t even acknowledge the feelings of those around you,” you muttered coldly and were about to walk out before he grabbed your arm and made you turn around, surprising you. katsuki cupped your cheeks and pulled you in for a kiss.

it took you a couple of moments to reciprocate it, your hands grabbing hold of his shoulders as you closed your eyes. katsuki pulled you even closer as he moved one of his hand down to your waist, pulling you inside his room and closing the door. your back was pushed against it as he kept kissing you with more desperation now, his hands holding you more firmly. you had to push him away to catch some air, your cheeks warmed up now as he looked at you.

you were the one being silence now and he started to grow nervous as you simply rested your hands on his shoulders. “oi, say something, dammit.”

“it was definitely better than the first one,” you murmured before chuckling. katsuki rolled his eyes before kissing your forehead, his warm hands caressing your cheeks. “i missed you. keeping you away was the hardest shit i’ve ever done in my life,” he confessed and pulled you to his chest, resting his chin on your head. you silently cried into his t-shirt, holding him even tighter. “i’m so sorry.”

“don’t push me away again,” you pleaded, sniffing. he smiled and held you even tighter. “how can i push my little sidekick away?” he chuckled and you gasped, pulling away to meet his eyes. “sidekick?” your face lit up and katsuki was quick to pull you back to reality. “my sidekick that keeps her butt at home and stays in contact with me,” he clarified, making you pout like a little girl. “that’s not a real sidekick, ‘tsuki.”

“i gotta make sure you’re not getting hurt,” his voice was dead serious, he was promising to protect you. “hm. ‘kay,” you nodded before kissing his bruised cheek softly.

“i’m dating spider-man,” you jumped a little while smiling happily as you reached his desk. katsuki chuckled at your reaction and smiled while looking at you, his eyes shining.

tags : [ since multiple ppl were interested in reading more, i thought it would be okay to tag you guys in the second part… if you want to be removed just lemme know !! ] @doumadono @reyathens @ohwhale-exo @its-claude-time @nikoruropesu @selfindulgenthoe @sigmaswaist @archer-fb

#📂 — writing !! #spider man au #spider-man!bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugo x you #katsuki bakugo x y/n #katsuki bakugo one shot #katsuki bakugo imagine #katsuki bakugo fanfic #bnha bakugo katsuki #mha bakugo #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha x reader

[skzswife]

Taste (Lee Minho)

PT 2 Pt 1 link here

"oh shit sorry dude" Chris says immediately after bumping into the small yet also very big man "It's alright you good?" the man says "Yeah I am just on my way to reception to find our room" Chris responds then another man pipes up "What's the number?" he asks "O-oh umm 143 I think" Chris responds nervously (He has social anxiety) "Oh really? You're right beside us then we can show you if you want!" the buff one says "Really thanks..uhhmmmm" "Bin, call me bin" he responds with a giggle "Ok thanks bin'' a third boy pipes up after looking ahead to you and Gina surrounded by bags "You need this?" he points at the cart he's sitting in "if your not using it, yes please" "get out of there innie" the second boy says blatantly "Fine" He gets out and walks with Chris who has started walking with Bin towards you and Gina "thanks again, innie right?" he looks at Chris "it's what my friends call me you can to i don't care" Chris nods and stops Infront of you "Hey these guys are gonna show us our room because they are right next to us apparently" you nod and look at them "Let me introduce them this is Bin, Innie, and um" "Don't worry about it" he says coldly then locks eyes with you "Min just call me min I don't care" Chris nods "And Min" you nod with a small ah in understanding and they lead you to your room showing you how to work the complicated key "Thank you guys" you say as they go into their own room after being yelled for by someone with an Australian accent. Throwing your stuff down on the bed you prop your head up as Gina starts speaking "We need to get ready the concert is in 2 hours and we still have to drive there" "No we don't" Chris interrupts "what" "Gina the concert is in the stadium like 2 blocks down we can just walk" Gina scoffs "Okay smartass" you giggle and head to the bathroom to get ready finishing in 20 minutes and coming out to them ready already "Huh?" Chris laughs "There's 3 bathrooms" you look around and sure enough there is 2 other bathrooms "Huh that's cool anyway let's go". you all start walking to the stadium with your bags and other things and arrive 1 hour and a half early to the venue so you ask if you can help set up and the workers very much appreciate your help "Hey are you good at makeup?" one of the workers asks "Yes she is" Gina answers for you "Good come with me" She says walking in a direction signaling for you to follow her leading you to some rooms with stars on them labeled stray kids "Oh my god I can't go in there" "Please we are down an artist and Bangchan needs his makeup done" you start pacing "I-I don't know if I can" "Please try, I'm begging you" y6ou nod and she knocks and is answered by 8 familiar voices you take a deep breath as she open the door and it's your luck the second the door open not only are all eyes on you but you lock eyes with Lee Minho and he doesn't break it until Chan says "who's this Jess? (The worker)" "She's a fill in makeup artist" "For?'' Seungmin asks "Bangchan" another girl speaks up "I took his over so she has to do someone else" you start to get more stressed "Hey! Your the girl in the room beside us! y/n right?" you blink a few times "Uh- Yeah" there is no way that Han Jisung knows your name "Oh good eye Han it is her I thought so" Lee know says "I don't have an artist would you do me?" you nod nervously and start walking up to him, The worker Jess shows you what his makeup should look like and you inspect it also inspecting his Beautiful ,face to change it to his facial shape and start working, dipping the brush in the eye shadow and preparing yourself to touch his face starting to apply the makeup in the way the picture you accidentally slip up by saying "God your even more beautiful in person" under your breath but he heard you causing him to chuckle "W-what did you say?" he says between giggles "W-What do you mean?'' he chuckles again "I'm not deaf y/n but I won't make you say it so just keep going" you continue nervously and are the last one going while your working on his perfect kissable lips "Wow! This is actually really good!"

PT 3 LINK HERE

@linos-kitten

#skz smut #skz #stray kids imagine #stray kids x female reader #stray kids hard thoughts #stray kids fic #lee know smut

[heartfucksmouth]

guys I did it

I survived a full day of being a parent WITHOUT A NAP. Aidan slept through the night in bed with me and myles, he woke up at 5am and it's 845pm and I survived the day, I didn't even lose my temper or have a meltdown or sensory overload (it is like 30 degrees out and I'm still sweaty all the time why) and Myles didn't get out of work til 11 (he's working 1am-11a ugh peak season for holidays).

sure, I got a little stressed and my brain was going in a hundred directions at once, but I GOT STUFF DONE. I DIDNT NEED A NAP (I mean, I did, I always ~need a nap, but I managed without one!) holy shit never thought it would happen. I told myles I feel insane bc I was so so sad last night but today I've been such goofy weirdo and laughing at everything. maybe the sleepy-delirium is good for me lmao

~let me list my accomplishments for the day please

•I got all our laundry out of the dryer (myles folded it later)

•I put in a load of Aidan's laundry

•made coffee and a peanut butter + jelly sandwich for breakfast lmao and a pitcher of formula for the day

•I chopped up apple and banana to put in the little mesh fruit feeder things and froze them for his teething pains. he's doing okay on the chamomile tea right now but I can't wait to use the camilia again cuz it's concentrated and I won't feel like I'm filling his belly up on tea water

• did dishes and washed Ade's bottles

• I packed up a lingerie set that I sold on depop, added some cute little surprise gifts, wrote a quick thank you card and dropped it at the post office while Myles hung with Aidan.

• While Myles had Aidan, I also sorted through my stuff that's in boxes from when I moved here, repacked some things, and got almost all my boxes onto the shelving unit in the basement. it makes me sad that I have so much cool stuff and can't display it or be my full self and feel at home.

•I took care of the dogs too, made puzzles for Zaiyah and made sure Bear wasn't licking his surgical incision - he is SO STRONG, he even tried to chase a rabbit today. crazy fucker, it's been like 3 days since you had half your shoulder muscle removed. gave lots of pets and sweet words bc they are the best dogs.

•I got little dude to nap while Myles worked out and we finished Squid Game The Challenge (minus the finale in December) and he slept for 3 frickin hours. I also deleted a million photos that were taking up all my phone storage.

•and finally I had Ade hang in his crib to wind down, while I took some photos for depop and packed a box to donate to savers tomorrow

Editing to add that I still managed to tell Myles I love him and get some good kisses and quick cuddles and man, I just really appreciate our relationship. we're insane for having a child after a year of being together - but... are we that insane? our relationship just keeps growing and getting better and feeling more solid. it's incredible. seeing him be a Dad makes me love him even more and I find him even more attractive. I used to think I was lucky in my last relationship (and people told us they were jealous) but no. no no. I was settling for less than i deserved back then (lessons lessons) this, is it. this is the relationship to thank the universe for blessing me with it.

and that's all in between bottles, diaper changes, soothing crying, playing, tummy time, crawling practice, lots of spit ups, dancing and making him laugh.

I ALSO TOOK THE CUTEST PHOTOS OF HIM WEARING A STAR WARS GROGU SWEATER AAAHHH

hope you get the idea even though I'm keeping half his face anonymous lol I just don't want photos of my kid floating around the internet - unless where I can control it. his grandparents are ridiculous with posting his photos and I can only hope they have private profiles (I keep meaning to ask)

also if we are mutuals and talk, you probably have seen photos of him. but if you haven't, you can surely ask :) he's the kind of cute where you wanna scream and it lights up your day lol not to brag, I'm still in awe I created such a beautiful human.

anyways I'm really fucking proud of myself right now. I won't always feel this way or have days like this, so I'm gonna yell about it while I feel good.

ps I STILL need to shower. the one thing I didn't manage to do. tomorrow is the day bc my mom is coming to watch Aidan for a few hours and im gonna shower and faceplant in my bed for a nap before doing my errand. I cannot wait to shower lol being a new mom is truly wild

also the way I'm writing this must sound truly manic/adhd brain and y'all just have to deal, this is who I am now.

#personal #post partum #almost 6 months! #momblr

[a-problematic-writer]

*grabs you by the shirt* can I request Aiden seeing Jesse for the first time. I wanna see this man fumble in front of them. I beg

Another late summer, another EnderCon.

Oak Creek went from quiet to bustling within hours as demonstrators and merchants and coordinators and attendees all flooded in for the convention. This year was a bit lamer, in Aiden’s opinion. No Order of the Stone appearance, just the building competition. The only thing that could change his opinion is if they won this year. They’d gotten so close last year, second place, but lost out to a veteran team. As if that was fair. He was sure they got extra points for being favorites.

But none of that mattered now. They’d announced that was their last year of competing. A win was more than in sight; it was practically in the bag. They had only lost by two points to one of the greatest teams. Admittedly, though, he was still anxious. There was another veteran team here. Though these three had never won.

Hopefully, it would stay that way.

He shook his head and leaned into the nearby fence. Lukas was going over the blueprints again. The theme for this year was “Colorful”. Where others would have likely went for some statue. Lukas decided on a fireworks dispenser. Not just any though. One that shot up one rocket of each color in succession that made them pop in an almost rainbow fashion. It was going to be insanely hard to get working correctly. But it was nothing they couldn’t handle.

They’d already got it working on a smaller scale weeks ago.

His train of thought was derailed by a commotion behind him. He turned himself so he was still leaning into the fence but could now view the booth behind him. He didn’t recognize the group that’d, literally, stumbled in.

The bulkier man with black hair and beige skin—wearing a green sweater and orange shorts—was on the ground. A shorter woman with curly black hair tied into two pigtails with rich brown skin—wearing a red vest over a white t-shirt and black slacks—stood over him with her hands on her hips. A third woman with umber brown skin and black hair that fell in tight curls—wearing overalls over a yellow and white cropped shirt—was reaching her hand out to him laughing.

It was the nicest thing he’d ever heard.

“Come on, big guy, let's get you up.”

The two women took hold of his hands and pulled him up with a heave.

“Thanks, guys.”

The woman in the overalls patted his back while the one in the vest shook her head. Aiden couldn’t keep his eyes off the former. Her gaze met his and his breath hitched. Her face broke into the brightest smile.

“Hi!” She said with a wave, making her way over. “Are you competing too?”

His voice seemed to catch in his throat.

“Ye-yeah.”

“That’s awesome!”

The woman in the red vest and the man approached then. The former scrutinized him.

“Did you guys compete last year?”

He nodded.

“Yeah.” He said, “I don’t think I saw you guys.”

“We couldn’t compete. Our team was too small.”

“Not anymore!”

The woman with the overalls beamed, hands on her hips. He couldn’t help the smile. The woman in the red vest smiled fondly before redirecting her gaze to him.

“What place did you guys get?”

The man beside her stuck an elbow gently into her side.

“Olivia, do you not remember these guys? They got second place. Against the Nether Stars.”

‘Olivia’s’ eyes widened

“Was-was it these guys?”

“Yeah, dude. They lost by only two points.”

She bowed her head and rubbed at her neck. Aiden couldn’t help the smirk. It was nice to have his team recognized as some of the best. The woman in the overalls leaned against the fence next to him; her arm brushed his. His smirk slipped and his stomach twisted.

“You got second place?!”

Her eyes were wide and she was grinning. He couldn’t find his voice.

“Uh, yeah. We-we did!”

She settled her chin in her palm, smile softening and gaze half-lidded.

“That’s so cool~”

He couldn’t respond and his face was getting hot. He was almost glad to hear his name get called. He whirled around to Lukas who had a stern glare on him; Maya and Gill on his heels.

“I told you to pay attention. What—“ his glare softened as he looked upon the woman with overalls. “Oh, hi. Haven’t seen you before.”

“Hi!” She said, “I heard you guys got second place last year! That’s awesome!”

Lukas chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It was nothing.”

Aiden couldn’t help the eye roll. It wasn’t nothing. They’d worked hard for weeks.

“Humble!” The woman with the overalls exclaimed, “I like that!” She extended her hand. “I’m Jesse! And this is Olivia and Axel!”

Lukas took her hand.

“Lukas! This is Maya, Gill, and Aiden.”

Jesse beamed.

“It’s nice to meet you guys!”

A megaphone crackled and squealed to life, startling them all, and then the announcers voice began rattling off the greeting.

“Ooh!” Jesse jumped giddily. “They’re starting!” She turned to Aiden with a smile and patted his shoulder. “Good luck!”

He stuttered horribly.

“You too—“

She grinned and the trio made their way into their booth. He couldn’t quite get his heartbeat to slow or breath to even out. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her either.

An elbow to his ribs shocked him out of his stupor and he whirled on the culprit. Lukas was grinning and not in a good way; in the teasing way Aiden absolutely hated. Maya and Gill had similar expressions.

“You gonna be able to focus with them so close?”

Aiden’s eyes widened as they cut over to Jesse and then back to Lukas. His face felt impossibly hot now.

“What?! Of course!”

Maya and Gill coughed and snickered and he sent a glare their way. Lukas was still grinning and Aiden was about three seconds from slugging him until he patted his shoulder.

“Alright. Let’s get this done then! I think we got a really good chance!”

His anger slipped and he found himself smiling and nodding. They all found their positions in the next moment and were awaiting the countdown. His eyes drifted to the booth next to them. Jesse was jumping from leg to leg and shaking out her arms. Her eyes cut over to him and she beamed, giving a thumbs up.

His heart stuttered in his chest and he forced his gaze away with a shake of his head. Contrary to what Lukas thought, he would not let her get in the way of them winning.

#answered asks #cold-lilies #my writing #kyler writes #north writes #mcsm #minecraft story mode #mcsm aiden #mcsm jesse #mcsm aidesse #aidesse #Aiden is smitten almost immediately and he HATES that #this was so fun to write thank you for the request frendo 💚💚💚

[madaboutmunson]

The Reflex - Club Tropicana - Part 6 of 8

Characters: OC, Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson

Warnings: Swearing, drinking, drug use, dancing, fluff, swimming pool, Wham!

"Look, I'm not complaining, but I am concerned. My friend, Robin Buckley, cancelled our movie appointment for a pool party. Not just any pool party, though. A pool party with a guy she has no interest in but did indeed help her on her path of self-discovery. Are you indeed a pod person?" Thora says, pretend threatening Robin with a toothpick.

Robin rolls her eyes, "We can watch a movie here. It's not a big deal" she shrugs.

"You. Robin Janet Lilian Buckley. Just said movies weren't a big deal?" Thora's eyes go wide with alarm as she tries to make eye contact with Robin, who is busy avoiding her.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on here, Rob? I mean, I have some pretty obvious observations I've made. Like biiiig in flashing neon sign ones, but I can't for the life of me, think of why?" Thora adds, wiping down the bar and setting the optics behind her.

"I just think you and Eddie look cute together, is all. I mean, before today, I thought maybe you just had a little crush on him, and he was taking that opportunity to...well...entice you." Robin says, wiring up the stereo.

"But, today, when I rounded that corner...his face...was like..." Robin makes the sound of a choir singer, "And, honestly, I am just watching some of my favourite movie tropes in real life right now. Also, you totally called him out, and he still wanted to come here." Robin says, grabbing a cherry from the bar and eating it.

Thora laughs, "He wanted to come here because you told him there was a pool with a bar and a slide, Rob."

"Yeah, but...he didn't ask about bringing any of his little cronies, did he? Like when I get invited somewhere that sounds cool, but I'm like, these people suck, I always invite you along with me, always. That way, if the event bites, I still have someone to have fun with." Robin says, finally meeting Thora's gaze.

"I dunno, Rob. Today sounded a lot like the opportunist Eddie you told me about. I was just trying to show him I could give as good as I got. That was all. I had kinda hoped the other part had been more true. You know that he was a nice guy. But you know it's fine. Friends is good, right?" Thora smiles and starts filling some bowls with snacks.

Robin reaches over and stops Thora mid snack pour, "None of us get it right every time. Maybe he just got a bit nervous and relied on some old tried and tested stuff. Maybe, He doesn't know his audience yet, is all. I can stand here and tell you he's a nice guy all day long, but it's not my place to push the issue. I'm just here moving pieces to places and watching the scene unfold."

Thora smiles, "Well, that has made me feel a lot more comfortable."

Robin tilts her head at Thora, her hands on her hips. Pulling her sheer poolside robe back,  showing off her care bear one piece, "I expected those words to be sarcastic, but they are genuine", Robin says, puzzled.

"Well, I definitely know you're not a pod person now. Only my Rob could turn matchmaking into an improv scene," Thora laughs.

"Oh, ha-ha. Think you're funny, don't ya" Robin pretends to be mean, poking Thora away from the bar towards the pool edge. "Also, wardrobe wants to know if you're going to wear those over your swimsuit the entire party?"

Thora looks down at her shorts and t-shirts over her two-piece swimsuit, "What's wrong with them?" She complains.

"Ok, well, one, it looks like you're trying to hide. Two, you're both gonna get used to it within like half an hour, and you can be more relaxed around one another. Three a wet swimsuit looks fine, but a wet t-shirt...come on, Thora, do the math..." Robin adds.

"But it's not even-" Thora starts before Robin shoves her backwards into the pool.

"Sorry, what's that? I can't hear you. What was that?" Robin shouts back as Thora gasps from the sudden temperature change.

Thora swims over to the side and climbs out, absolutely soaked. She peels off her wet t-shirt to reveal her black swimsuit and chucks the tee at Robin's feet "Robin Buckley...I swear-"

The doorbell chimes, "I'll get that shall I? I am the driest out of the two of us, right?" Robin smiles with a playful taunt.

Thora takes the scrunchie from her hair, rings it out, and places it neatly on one of the draft hand pulls, grumbling to herself.

From inside the house, you just hear a long whistle of amazement. Robin is obviously giving Eddie a quick tour of the inside. Thora smooths her wet hair back and tries to sit poolside, looking as casual as possible, but must go through about twenty or so different poses before she is interrupted by hearing them coming her way. Finally, she runs around to the other side of the bar and makes three Shirley temples.

Robin and Eddie are very much engaged in conversation, giving Thora time to examine him.

He's basically wearing the same as earlier, except his jeans have been traded for some board shorts. Under one arm, he has a rolled-up towel and, in the other hand, his black lunch box.

On their approach to the bar, he sets them down on a sun lounger and picks up the wet t-shirt from the floor, "Started without me, huh?" He waves and shouts over to Thora.

She just waves back in return. Noticing Robin pulling at Eddie's t-shirt and him slapping her hands away. Eddie picks up speed and heads over to the bar away from her, looking back occasionally with an intense look of worry on his face.

Robin throws her hands up in annoyance.

Thora places a set of cherries across the top of each drink, "I see you've met the director", she laughs, "Pushy, isn't she" she says, sliding a glass over to Eddie.

"Very!" Replies Eddie looking down at the drink, "You have a whole bar at your disposal, and you made Shirley Temples?" He laughs and shakes his head.

"Yep, indeed I did", Thora replies and reaches for his drink, "You don't like them? I can get you something else."

His hand quickly snatches the drink, and he takes a sip through the straw, "You really do presume a lot of things, don't ya? I didn't say I didn't want it. I was just making an observation," Eddie adds, leaning on the bar and twisting the glass left and right between his fingers, trying to take a discrete look over Thora.

Robin sits on the stool next to him, "It's a pool party, Munson. POOL PARTY!!!"

Thora shakes her head at Robin and tosses the bar towel onto her shoulder, putting her hands on her hips, "At least one of us here shouldn't need your approval on our clothing, Rob."

Eddie smiles smugly at Robin.

"I just thought it was only fair we all feel as awkward as one another, is all", Robin states to the both, her hands splayed out like it just makes sense.

"Eddie will take off his t-shirt when he's good and ready, and you know what's also fine...he can keep it on the whole time if he wants to," Thora says kindly towards Eddie.

Eddie looks between them, shocked, "Is that what you think? Like I'm shy about what's under here?" He says, pulling at his cut-off tee.

"No one thinks that, Eddie. You're just fine as you are." Thora adds.

"I do, I think that", Robin retorts.

"She just pushing your buttons, Eddie, don't listen to her," Thora says, knowing Robin's game all too well.

He looks between the two of them, and a realisation sweeps over him.

He points at Robin, "You want me to because..." Then, he points at Thora, still looking at Robin, "because she doesn't want me to because..."

Robin nods slowly at Eddie and raises her eyebrows.

A wicked smile spreads across Eddie's face, and Thora quickly moves around the bar, "Hey, we just want everyone to be comfortable here. It's a party. It's supposed to be fun, right? So everyone can just...hey, what about I make something else out of the cocktail book? Hmm. I'm sure I saw something with the blue stuff in here."

Eddie steps towards Thora and crosses his arms in front of him, grabbing the lower hem of his t-shirt. Thora takes a step backwards.

He looks at her amused and inches up his shirt a little, moving towards her again. She moves back again, "Ok, yes, very funny, everyone," Thora says, trying to regain control of the situation.

"Eyes up here, Harriton," Eddie says, grinning widely, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Robin is giggling into her Shirley Temple, surveying the scene.

The t-shirt inches up again, and Thora's eyes can't help but look over the pale-toned midsection on display in front of her. Then quickly shoots her eyes back up to his, as if she'd reprimanded her own self with his previous words.

Eddie laughs, "What's the matter, T? Cat got your tongue?" He purrs as he moves towards her again.

Thora grabs the towel from her shoulder and flicks it at him, "Back you devil", she says half in jest.

Eddie lets go of his shirt and lets it drop, "Ok, Ok!" He says.

Thora relaxes and moves forward, back towards the bar, when Eddie grabs the back of his shirt and pulls it over his head and arms in one fluid motion.

The amount of sensory information hurtling its way into Thora right now was overwhelming. The visuals, all the tattoos, the way his body was perfectly toned, but not a forced muscularity, the tan lines where she guessed his vest would typically sit.

Then there was that waft of scent that hit her. He'd obviously made enough effort to shower first and put on some sort of cologne.

The pulse in her ears was downright deafening, and she was sure that if she stood there a moment longer, her heart might burst to clean out of her chest.

Was she malfunctioning? It felt like she could be.

But she didn't have to worry about that moment longer because as her heel went to find the next space backwards, it was met with nothing, and she fell backwards into the water.

Thora resurfaces, furious. She slaps the water and points over at the two giggling teens at the side of the pool. "You little fucking shits! I swear you sons a bitches are gonna pay for this"

Robin is gasping for air between laughs but manages, "I told you she swears."

Eddie's giggling turns into raucous laughter when he observes the annoyance on Thora's face.

"Oh, alright then..." Thora says menacingly, getting out of the other side of the pool, "Keep laughing...go ahead", she says, disappearing around a shrub.

"Oh no...no!!" Robin starts to panic and gets up from her stool, frantically trying to spot where Thora is.

Eddie is still laughing, clutching his sides, and slows down to ask Robin, "What's wrong?"

Robin's eyes are still searching around the outdoor area, backing up towards Eddie, "Eddie, you might wanna put your t-shirt back on."

"What? Why?" He says, still softly laughing.

"Because she's really pissed," Robin says, positioning herself behind Eddie's back.

"What are you doing, Buckley?" Eddie laughs in confusion.

"Surprise Motherfuckers", Thora yells from behind them. In her hands is a high-powered hose, which she blasts them with until they both fall into the pool. Then, each time they resurface, she shoots it at them again.

"I can do this all day, fuckers!!" Thora yells into the pool.

Robin splutters out, "Look, I'm... we're...sorry...it was just funny."

"Oh, haha, my sides are splitting!!" Thora yells sarcastically, blasting Robin in the arm.

Robin yelps.

Eddie holds his hands up to his face, turning to Robin. "I can take her out. Just need a distraction."

Robin nods as a jet of water blasts them again, sending them both under the water.

Thora has her eyes trained on the water, but this time, they don't pop back up...She waits a little more and starts getting worried, "Rob? Eddie? Are you both ok?" A shape underwater drifts to the pool's right, which Thora follows with her eyes in alarm, "Robin??!" Her voice getting more anxious.

As Thora turns off the hose, she steps towards the pool, and an almighty force crashes into the side of her waist.

It's Eddie. He's decided to flying tackle her back into the pool. Thora screams in terror before her screams are silenced by the pool waters.

Thora breaks the surface with a gasp and immediately puts her hands up, "Truce! Truce!"

"What do you think, Buckley? Does she deserve mercy?" A mostly submerged Eddie says, looking at Thora with his arms folded.

"Well, I guess it is her house... But, you know what, ok. as long as you make us some of those fancy cocktails and I get to pick the music."

Eddie looks over at Robin, giving her the big eyes, "I don't get to pick the music?"

Robin frowns, "I mean...I guess" she shrugs.

Eddie throws his arm around Robin and squeezes her tightly to his side, grinning and then making his way back over to the stereo and bar.

Robin shouts after him, "Eddie, you can't be first. Club Tropicana has rules, you know!"

Eddie turns around slowly, looking bemused.

Thora gets out quickly and gets back behind the bar producing some Panama-style hats, putting one on her head, grabbing a pair of pink flamingo novelty sunglasses and offering the box to Robin and Eddie. She then starts flicking through the cocktail book.

"Club Tropicana?" Eddie asks, still puzzled.

Robin takes a hat out of the box, puts it on Eddie's head, and takes one for herself, "Yeah, here at Club Tropicana, we have rules, Eddie. Everyone wears a hat, sunglasses and sun cream. Everyone dances. Everyone makes sure everyone else is not too intoxicated. Everyone is a model. Everyone is a photographer. And lastly, everyone jumps off the top of the slide."

Eddie takes the hat off and starts trying on some others, checking himself in the mirror, "How many people are normally at these rules-heavy pool parties?" He queries, selecting some cat eye sunglasses.

"Before today? Just the two of us." Robin says, bumping Eddie out of the mirror, fixing her hat just so, "So can you hang, or not Munson."

"These photographs..." He starts

"...are all polaroids", Robin finishes

"Ok...I can deal with that," Eddie agrees, "You know you said the bar was in the pool, and I don't see a slide." Eddie grumbles.

Thora swaps her glasses and is busy mixing some vibrant blue drinks but advises, "Well, all that is around the corner, in the other pool, with the jacuzzi, behind the shrubs. It's more private there."

"You have a second pool," Eddie says, gobsmacked.

"Nope, I don't, but this house does", Thora states, carefully shaking the mix.

Thora continues to rattle the cocktail shaker and looks confused. "Didn't Robin give you the tour? I thought that's what you were doing before you came out?"

"I showed him what he needed to know about, Ra," Robin says, putting in the Club Tropicana mixtape, the first song of which was obviously Club Tropicana.

Thora adds the finishing touches to the drinks and serves them, grabbing the camera, "Say cheers!" She says, taking a snap of Robin and Eddie holding up their glasses.

They all take a sip and start coughing. Thora looks concerned at them and back to the book, "Oh shit!"

"Care to share with the class, T?" Eddie says, reaching for a carton of orange juice and drinking straight out of it, making Robin recoil.

Thora takes off her glasses. "Well, my glasses were all wet, and I thought it said 3-4 meant shots, not erm 3/4 ounce..."

Robin grabs the recipe. "So there are at least 7 shots of alcohol in here?"

"Yes, sorry!" Thora says awkwardly.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Robin says, taking another sip and wincing a little, "At least we're prepared this time, right Eddie?"

"Hmmm," says Eddie as he leans on the bar, absent-mindedly sipping his drink and looking at Thora panicking behind the bar.

Thora pulls out a punch bowl, tips her drink in and looks at the others. "We can't let anyone get too intoxicated, right? That much in one drink through a straw is bad news. Let me do the math and calm it down."

Robin and Eddie begrudgingly follow suit, and Thora grabs more pineapple juice and adds it into the vat of bright blue cocktail, "Ok, that ratio should be better now", she says hopefully, stirring it with the ladle.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you without your glasses on before," Eddie says softly, leaning his chin on his palm and holding his glass to Thora.

Thora pouts him a glass and says, "You didn't even know who I was until yesterday" she laughs.

"Wrong!" He says, taking a sip of his drink, "I didn't know your name until yesterday. This is much better."

Thora pours some for Robin and herself and looks oddly between Robin and Eddie, "Your next drink is a soft drink, Eddie...We look after one another here."

They transport the music and punch bowl over to the more private pool.

The next few hours we full of dancing, laughter, cannonballs, drinking, and snapshot-taking in and around the pool.

"Ok, ok. Guys, the time is getting big, yes, big numbers, so I'll be the party pooper. The club is officially closed."

"Noooo, one last picture. Just one more." Robin whines, "It's an important one" Robin grabs the camera.

"Ok, so wave then," she says with a little slur. You and Eddie both raise your hands from your respective inflatables to wave. She takes the shot and leaves it on the side to develop.

"Hmmm, one more, she says, but you'll need to stand together." Thora and Eddie giggle and start paddling their way toward one another.

The inflatables bump, and Thora catches hold of Eddie's arm. Eddie looks down at her hand on his arm, smiles, and flexes his arm slightly. Thora falls into a fit of giggling and blushes.

"What part of stand together don't you understand?" Robin complains, "Oh, can you also dunk yourselves first too, please."

"Sure," Eddie says, not taking his eyes from Thora. Instead, Eddie pulls his arm towards him, causing Thora to plummet into the pool. He cackles loudly until his inflatable is pushed out of the water, and he goes flying backwards off it.

Thora readjusts her flamingo sunglasses and assumes a hand-on-hip pose for Robin. Eddie emerges from the water and does the same but puts one of his arms around Thora, the other throwing the metal horns.

Robin takes the picture and smiles, putting it on the table to develop.

Eddie moves his arm from Thora, and they both move to join Robin.

"Well, ladies, that was a lot of fun. Unexpected but a lot of fun," Eddie says, grabbing for his towel as Thora walks into a stall near the pool.

Robin frowns at him, "What are you doing, dingus?"

"Getting dry, dingus", Eddie teases back.

"Just wait, you are gonna love this, ok" Robin urges him.

"I thought the party was over?" Eddie asks curiously.

"It is! But now we get chill time. You should run along and get your lunchbox sharpish, buddy," Robin says, pointing over at the other pool, "You can't drive home now anyway. So what's your hurry?"

"I dunno, I just thought that's what T meant, you know. Party's over. Get out," he says, roughly drying his hair.

"No, no, no, no", Robin slurs. "Now is the cool bit. Here help me with the firepit."

"There's a fire pit?" Eddie says, shocked.

"It's right in front of the seating behind you!" Robin shouts

"Ok, ok, wow. Calm down. Sorry, I don't know everything at Ritchie Rich's house," he says, walking away to get his lunchbox.

Thora returns with a pile of fabrics in her arms, almost covering most of her face she can just about see over the top.

"Two for you," Thora says to Robin, handing her over a bundle. "Those are for Eddie bear, and these for me."

Robin stops halfway to open her big fluffy bathrobe, "Eddie bear?" She says, looking at Thora with wide eyes and starting to laugh.

Thora freezes for a second but tries to rescue it. "No, that's not what I said you misheard. I said these are for Eddie...yeah". Thora quickly puts on her giant fluffy bathrobe too.

"Of course, you did", Robin chuckles, putting up the hood on her bathrobe, "Ah, here he is."

Eddie stops in his tracks, "Do I get one?" He says, his eyes soft and pleading.

"Of course you do, Eddie bear", Robin says, earning a glare from Thora, who hands him his fluffy bathrobe.

"Say, T, is it cool if I crash here tonight?" He says, tying his robe around his waist. It is far too big for him but somehow amplifies his sweet level to cute as a button.

"We kind of expected you would, you know, because you can't drive home after all this", Thora confirms without making eye contact with him, "I've made you up one of the guest rooms."

The firepit roars into life, and Robin sits on the circle seat in her robe and a crocheted blanket over her knees, waiting, "Hurry up, already".

"Yes, your highness", Thora answers, carries her stuff over to the seat, and waves Eddie to follow her.

As soon as Thora sits down, Robin lies down and throws her head onto Thora's lap facing the fire. Thora gently runs her hand on Robin's arm, "Better now?" Thora asks Robin.

"Almost! Maybe our special guest can share some of his wares with us? You know, seeing as we've been such great hosts?" Robin ventures.

"Already a step ahead of you, Buckley!" Eddie beams, making the final adjustments to his roll.

He lights it and, after a few draws, hands it over to Robin, "Now, don't get me wrong, I had fun earlier, but this is niiiiice", Eddie says, snuggling into his robe.

"You know, you don't have to sit so far away, well, you know, if you don't want to," Thora says quietly.

There is no verbal reply, just Eddie sitting right up next to Thora very quickly. He raises the arm nearest her, "May I? For comfort?" He asks gently. Thora nods, and Eddie drapes his arm around her shoulders.

Thora takes a deep breath and lets her head gently fall on his shoulder. She waits a few seconds and then looks up at him to gauge his reaction, but he simply rests his head on hers.

Thora's heart doesn't race this time; it pounds against her ribcage, but it's a deep, soothing beat. Everything just felt so right.

He pulls out two Polaroids from his lunch box. They are the last two that Robin photographed, "I think these are done", he says, trading Robin the pictures for the smoke, and puts it to Thora's lips first, which she gratefully accepts and takes the finest inhale. She was so comfortable. She didn't want coughing to ruin it for her.

Thora can feel Robin chuckling and is way too curious not to ask, "What's so funny, Rob?"

She holds up the picture of Thora and Eddie standing together, "Look at you both, with average person hair. You both look so...so...normal" she continues to giggle to herself and sigh. Eddie makes the smoke for the photo trade again.

"Holy shit, we do. I mean, you can see my tattoos, but without them, no one would know it was us." Eddie marvels at the picture and sneaks it into his lunchbox.

"Are you saying that our only remarkable feature is our hair?" Thora smiles.

"I'm saying it's the one that captures the norm's attention first because, respectively, it's two damn fine heads of hair!" He says, quickly leaning across Thora, grabbing the joint from between Robin's fingers as her sleepy hand slumps towards the floor.

"Looks like Buckley's done for the evening." Eddie smiles and turns his head to Thora, who laughs quietly and strokes Robin's arm.

"Oh no, this is a tactical nap. In about 30 minutes or so, she'll drag us to watch some double VHS or something."

"Hmmm, what if we did something else?" Eddie ponders taking a hit and passing it to Thora, who declines.

"Something else?" Thora says inquisitively.

"Yeah, we'll call a cab and go someplace, all of us. I'm supposed to make a drop there tomorrow, but I can call and see if they want it tonight. Well, if you don't mind me using your phone." He says enthusiastically.

"Oh, I don't know, Eddie. It's easy to have fun here. No one gives us a hard time. But, out there, there are so many unknowns. I mean, look at us three. We don't fit in around here. It was a cool thought, though, and you know it's nice you wanna spend extra time with us," Thora replies kindly.

Despite its rocky beginnings, Thora just hated the thought of Hawkins ruining the fantastic time they'd had today.

Eddie chuckles, "What if I told you this place is specifically for people that don't fit in? Would you wanna go then?" He says as his towelled arm moves onto her own, the outside of his hand gently brushing against her own.

Eddie looks at her quickly to see Thora's reaction, but she doesn't move and just smiles a little.

"I mean, we'll have to ask Robin when she wakes up, but we have to let her have her nap. She is a nightmare otherwise." Thora whispers.

"Listen, I'm sorry about this morning. I just, I dunno. I got it wrong, got nervous, and went to my usual stupid script. But, I mean, it's not totally stupid. It works often, but not how I want it to, you know?" Eddie says regretfully and takes a deep inhale of his smoke.

"You know, that was a two-way thing. I...um...I didn't want you to think that I was always so easily intimidated. Like the whole hair thing." Thora takes the joint from Eddie, takes a slight drag, and waits.

"Yeah, something else I need to work on. Just when I get nervous sometimes, I fall into old defences. It's not excusing my behaviour; I'm just explaining why I'm a total dumbass sometimes." Eddie laughs awkwardly. Thora moves her pinky finger to cross over his.

"So, what was the whole hair thing about?" She asks, puzzled.

"Honestly? I just...I don't know...I think I liked that you complimented and appreciated me, and I wanted to return that somehow. Then something happened I knew I could help with. My intention was just to hand you the scrunchie, but I didn't want you to reject it," Eddie confesses and coaxes her hand closer to his.

"Well, I wasn't gonna reject it. It was very kind of you." Thora says gently.

"Can I just...may I...like, I wanna fucking hold your hand already. please?" Eddie asks, his chest heaving

Thora laughs and moves her hand to hold his.

"Did you agree to that because I scared or intimidated you?" Eddie asks, worry painting his words.

Thora turns to him with a big stupid smile, "Does this look like the face of an intimidated person to you, Eddie Munson?"

Eddie shakes his head, and a vast grin erupts on his face, "Shit. He says, laughing and interweaving his fingers with Thora's and wiggles in his seat a little to get closer to her.

"How long do you think we have before Buckley wakes up?" He asks.

"I dunno, maybe another twenty minutes or something?" Thora guesses.

"Good," Eddie says as he nuzzles his head onto Thora's shoulder and watches the fire, gripping onto her hand.

Part 7

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddiemunson #eddie stranger things #eddie the freak munson #stranger things fanfiction #fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie x oc #robin stranger things #robin buckley #romance #friendship #Spotify

[legendarywolf2022]

Chapter 9: The Wolf and the Fox Are Not So Different

(Everything seemed to calm down after the hiccups between Wolf and Diane as the spark seemed to fly a bit as they began to talk with the others.)

⏰ 9th of July 2022, 02:45pm ⏰

🌎 The Bad Guys’ Hideout, Los Angeles 🌎

After the couple of minutes later, everything had been talked about what really happened few hours ago before the news came along while they were able eating their lunches.

“I see,” Diane said as she drink her tea. “But you girls should never do something about running away from your home or your school trips. Have you ever wondered what your parents would say if they find out on the news?”

The Panda Squad haven’t thought about that, and now they were really in big trouble.

“I know that,” Meilin asked. “We we just wanted to show them that…”

“Mei,” Snake spoke. “Proving that you girls are ‘grownups’ has to be a reason, and that you should get to University, get to college degree, get a job, find a flat, and make sure you’re controlling your money.” Even the Bad Guys agreed.

“Well,” Meilin said. “Yes, but we’re impatient to get the opportunity. I thought that we could just so that we are more than just kids by doing what any adults can do.”

“Snake,” Shark spoke up. “Maybe they were just doing like Home Alone 1 and Home Alone 2 movies in the Panda Squad style.”

“Which it’s not for other kids to do that,” Snake snapped. “And plus, stealing your parents’ half of money and half of your school trips’ money is uncool.”

“Hang on,” Miriam said. “You guys used to be kids and you might have stole money from everyone.”

“Yeah,” Snake pointed out. “But with you girls doing criminal stuff, you’re too cute to my taste. And I can easily taste air for the example.”

Miriam make the ‘wait what’ look on her face. “Air?” She asked.

“Yup,” Snake nodded. “Air.” He then flickered his tongue and sighed, “Hmmm. Bubblegum of strawberry and watermelon I can taste air between you.”

Miriam still wasn’t sure, “Okay… but snakes can taste air is kinda odd..?”

“I think it’s kinda cool,” Priya said.

“But, sorry to interrupt, but did Mr Wolf said that the governor was once a thief herself?” Abby asked, kinda wanted to change the subject. “Sorry, I’m kinda bit curious and confused.”

Diane and Wolf looked at each other…

“It’s okay,” Catalina said as she noticed Wolf’s face was getting worried. “I know she’s the Crimson Paw.”

The Bad Guys, the Panda Squad and Diane looked at her in shock.

“Wait, what?” Diane asked, “How…?”

“The Crimson Paw would be an animal that got many skills as a fox and the ways the female move as well as the crimson colour of your fur,” Catalina explained. “And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

“Who’s Crimson Paw?” Miriam asked.

“It’s a long story, Miriam.” Tarantula said.

Diane thought of, if it was a good time, to tell them about her criminal story. After a moment passed, she cleared her throat before explaining. “When I was just a kid, I was perfect to my family. I was smart, pretty and loyal to the family.” She said while the others listening to her story. “But all that change when someone had burgled our home as they were hunting something for them to take from us, they stole everything except my mom’s box that was hidden under the bed. Since then I became some sort of a troubled teenager when I started to steal sweets, drinks and money when my dad passed away. It became more of a struggle for my mom. So when I got older I went to college then to University. When it comes to summer holidays, I would come to my mom’s and looked after her. But at the same time, I still kept on stealing and I realised what my talent was. I became a thief after I graduated, but no one especially my now-short family doesn’t know about it.”

The others were surprised that Diane’s life from the past wasn’t perfect than they thought it was. Diane was actually telling her story about how she became a thief while trying to stay loyal to her family.

“I know it wasn’t easy to keep my secret from my mother, as well as leaving everything behind.” Diane sighed, “I was the best thief in the world that I even had no idea I was this good after everything I needed to know about how to be the best criminal ever. Fast, fearless and inventive. I stole everything I could think of, and I just had one thing left to steal…”

“The Golden Dolphin.” Snake, Shark, Tarantula and Piranha. Wolf nodded, he knew because Diane told him last year.

“You went after that dolphin?” Meilin asked.

“I didn’t just went after it,” Diane said. “I had it. And it was a clear escape route.” She thought back to that night, how she’d had everything she thought she’d ever wanted in the palm of her hand… but… the guilt had somehow sink in. The worry and regret, “All I saw in the end was the tricky fox they always told me I was. I also thought what would have happened if my family finds out about me and they would be disappointed with my life as a criminal. All the thoughts had changed everything. So, I dropped the dolphin and left.”

Everyone but Wolf and Catalina were shocked, this wasn’t the legendary story they thought they knew.

“So…” she went on, “Instead of hurting people, I’m helping them. I’m still me, I’m just me on the right side.”

“Have you ever missed being a criminal?” Catalina asked.

“Sometimes,” Diane replied. “And maybe everyday.”

“Have you hurt someone?” Meilin asked. Diane paused as her ears went down, “Sorry if I ask you something like that,” Meilin said as she regretted it.

Diane smiled, “Don’t be. I did almost got that person to nearly fall from the tall building but I managed to save that person who turned out to be my cousin.”

“Does they know about it was you as the Crimson Paw?” Miriam asked.

“No,” Diane replied. “I actually thought that I was alone after my heist when I realised my cousin who’s a police officer was followed me, but that story would be another time because I need to get home for Mr Whiskers who is looking after Sophie McDonald.”

“Wait,” Catalina said. “Are those the tiny little crystals that actually part of the Zumpango Diamond for you to make them as your necklace and bracelet?”

Diane looked at her in shock, “How do you know?”

“My dad and his friend were once thieves and they knew all kind of the jewels, diamonds, gemstones, all kind of expensive stuff that live on from the olden days. So, I kinda researched more history about the greatest thieves of all time who stole stuff that was very interesting.” Catalina explained.

“You are very creative,” Wolf smiled. He had no idea that Diane’s necklace and bracelet can also be part of her Zumpango heist then just her ring.

Catalina sighed before looking up at Diane who was staring at her in shock… and something else? “Look, I understand that you’ve been there before you’ve made a choice to no longer be a thief, you’ve made a choice to become the governor of Los Angeles. But… but it wasn’t your choice to control everyone so they won’t make the same mistake you’ve done. Mr Wolf made a choice to choose a better because of you who somehow knows what he’s going through. A wolf and a fox aren’t so different because they have a same personality but depends on what they have that each other don’t know about.” Catalina then asked. “I mean, you two are a couple, right?”

Both Diane and Wolf looked at each other before their faces were revealing blushes. Snake and the other Bad Guys were smirking at that point while the other Panda Squad smiled as they tried to not giggle.

“Well,” Wolf breaking the awkward silence. “We’re just… friends?”

Catalina give Wolf a ‘oh really’ look on her face, then give Diane a ‘let’s see shall we’ look on her face. “Really? I thought the ship should be sailed by now.” She replied which caused Wolf to chuckled a bit.

And with that, Diane got up from the couch and head to the elevator followed by Wolf. “I’ll be back,” he told the others.

🐺🐍🕷🦈🐟

After a long walk down the stairs, Wolf spoke up. “Man, what a day. I mean, it’s still young at day.”

Diane smiled sadly, “Yeah… Tell me about it.”

Despite feeling comfortable to each other, there was still unresolved issue. Not wanting to get things arkward again they finally spoke. “Listen I…” they both paused before spoke again, you go first. No, you go...” Both of them sighed, then spoke again. “On 3. 1, 2, 3…”

“I'm sorry for lashing out on you!” Wolf said.

“I'm sorry for jumping at conclusion!” Diane said.

Wolf and Diane looked at each other in confusion, “Huh?”

Before Diane could say a word, Wolf raised his hand to stop her, then pointed his finger at each other while speaking. “No wait, stop. Look as cute as this is, but let me talk first.” He took a deep breath to compose himself and then looked at her with eyes full of regret. “I'm sorry for yelling and... scaring you.”

Diane looked at him and spoke, “It’s okay…”

Wolf shook his head, “No, it's not okay. You didn't deserve that. You helped us so many times, when we struggled to become good guys even after we got released. And what did I do in return? Instead of gratitude, I lashed all of that anger at you like some viscious animal. And I scared you. I...I…”

Diane took his hand onto hers. “Wolf, it's okay. Yes I was scared, but I'm fine. Really.” Wolf didn't convinced. “And besides you were right. I am a hypocrite.”

“What?” Wolf asked, “I never said that.”

Diane looked away, “But you pointed that out during argument and honestly I can see it. Instead of listening and understanding your situation, I kept arguing and try to justify myself. I should be the one who apologised for not giving you a chance or believing you that you and the others changed. I guess that proves I still need to learn about friendship.” She turned her head towards him only seeing a confused look on his face. She sighed as she said, "Truth is.... I'm not good in socializing. Aside from you, I don't have any friends."

Wolf look at her, stupified as if she was an alien. “You're kidding.” Wolf said, “You kidding right?” But the look on Diane's face was proof enough, that she was serious. Though Wolf found it hard to believe. “I mean, Come on! You have got to be pulling my tail. When we first met, you talked with those guests and delegates at ease and you are always friendly towards everyone in public. You want me to believe that you have no social skills?”

“There is difference between socializing and social skills,” Diane explained. “Which in my case, you mentioned that acting is profesional. Always smile and wave, pretending while others do the same. But it's not like I'm not myself. I'm still me only on the right side, just this "same new me" is just as a loner as the old me. None of those people are my real friends.”

“What about Luggins?” Wolf asked, then Diane gave him a "really" question look on her face with a raised eyebrow. “Not that I'm big fan of her, but I thought guys get along.”

Diane sighed, “Our relationship is only professional, since she's technically my subordinate. Though, I think she's aware after spending too much with you.”

“What about your family before you left for college, then you graduate from University and became a thief?” Wolf asked, Diane didn’t say anything which made Wolf regret it for asking that question. “I'm sorry…”

“It's okay.” Diane said, “I still had my mother as well as my uncle and my cousin.”

Wolf was little nervous since this a touchy subject. But despite knowing she doesn't tell, he asked. “What happened to your father?”

Diane wanted to say, that she doesn't want to talk about what happened to her father and the rest of her family. But��� but after everything that happened, she decided tell him a bit more about her, much to Wolf's surprise. “Me and my entire family used to live in a place where humans hunt sometimes foxes. Just for fun. Because they think we're worthless dirty creatures who don't deserve to live, and also we are predators that we would hunt chickens and rabbits. My father thought he would stopped the madness but was viciously attacked by dogs and he passed away few hours later. A week later, my grandparents and cousins were killed while trying to avenged my father one by one while me, my mother, my uncle and my cousin managed to escape.” She said in a small venom in her voice, then her anger turned into a sadness as she continued. “While I was in the new world around me with my mother, I felt like I lost everything. My father was everything to me because he was there for me, no matter what. And at age 9, it was harder for me to come a terms of my father’s death.” She then pulled away from Wolf and turned away before gazing at the sky as her ears went down. “Then one day after I stole few sweets and money, I decided… if the world was only gonna see me as dirty thief, then I'm gonna be one. After graduate, I became the Crimson Paw. For the longest time I was angry at the world, didn't trust anyone and giving them what they wanted as their punishment which is not death than just my cousin who is a police officer now. But that changed after I tried to steal the Golden Dolphin.” She then turned to Wolf, “And you know the rest.”

However, Wolf thought there was more, that she was actually letting out. He still remembers those words: ‘Instead of hurting people, I'm helping them.’ He then asked, “Was there anything else that made you turn good?”

“Well, there was something else.” Diane said, then she paused. “But it doesn't matter. I still screw things up, even as a governor. Because of my lack of better judgement, I trusted wrong person and you guys paid the price.”

“Hey, it wasn't your fault.” Wolf said, “He fooled us all.”

Diane shook her head, “But you suffered, because of me.” Her voice then sounded like she was about to cry. “And now I did it again. The reason why it was easier for me to give up of that old life, was because I had nothing left to lose.” She then took off her glasses off. “Until now. You are the only friend I have. After getting call from Officer Bob of your whereabouts, I guess I got scared that I might lose you. That's not an excuse for what I did though, I should know that you had good reason for what you were doing. But instead, I jump into conclusion like Luggins. Some friend I turn out to be.”

Wolf felt like that his heart was hurting just to see how upset she was in the inside. He walked up to her before taking her hand onto his, “Hey… stop it.” Wolf said which makes Diane looked at him. “Stop blaming yourself for everything. Look, no one's perfect and everybody makes mistakes. I also made mistakes and if my friends could forgive me back then, who says I can't forgive you too?”

Diane looked at surprised. “You still considering me as a friend? Even after...”

Wolf nodded. “Yes, we're still friends. You didn't give up on me or others, so we are not giving up on you. You are stuck with us governor, whenever you want to or not.” He said with cheeky smile and Diane couldn't be more grateful for that.

Without realizing she hugged him, “Thank you…” she mumbled.

Wolf was stunned, as he could feel his cheeks and ears are getting warmer. It felt... nice. He smiled a bit, but froze as felt his tail slowly but surely wag. To avoid futher embarassment he gently pulled away from her with nervous laugh, not noticing vixen's blush as well.

"You're welcome," he said trying to change the subject. Then he remembered something. "Also I think you shouldn't be worried about girls knowing your secret identity now that you told them. I mean they're pretty comfortable with us, I'm sure they wouldn’t tell others about you as the Crimson Paw.”

“I just don't know why I told them…” Diane mumbled.

Wolf smiled, “Because you knew they would figure it out sooner or later. Catalina somehow was the first to figure out quickly than her other friends. Besides some of them will soon call you a descendant of Robin Hood.”

Diane stopped talking after hearing of what Wolf just said. Then burst out of laughter by the absudity. “Robin Hood is an urban legend, he's not real. And even if he was real, wasn't he a human by the way?”

Wolf thought before replied, “That's what I said. Not the urban legend thing, but the human thing. And you know what Catalina said? She said that there is rumor of Robin Hood who was actually being a fox while some people also say that his ancestor was none other than Reynard the Fox.”

Diane couldn't stop laughing and Wolf joined as well. It was hilarious, but also sweet. “That girl Catalina, is special, isn't she?”

Wolf nodded. “Yeah, well... she is definitely unordinary.”

Diane smiled. “Though I didn't imagine you as father.”

Wolf eyes widened as Diane said the word ‘father’. “Say what now?” He asked.

“You and Catalina.” Diane explained. “You're unusual kind of father-daughter duo.”

Wolf chuckled nervously. “Wha-? No, it's not like that.”

Diane raised her eyebrow. “Really? Then how do you explain what you did for her back there?”

Wolf replied nervously. “I was, uh, just trying to make sure she's okay, like any person who sees a sad child. It was an instinct.”

“That is the actual definition of parent comforting their own child.” Diane pointed out.

“Diane, don't be ridiculous.” Wolf said. “I mean me, a father?”

“But I can tell that you are very fond of her.” Diane replied.

Wolf wanted denied, but then he stopped himself as he was realising that she has a good point. “Heh, I guess I am.” He sighed. “I mean, can you blame me? I never expected someone except you would stood up for me. A human girl, no less. And here she is, roasting chief only to protect me without second thoughts... without fear. It felt.... I don't even know. But I know it was definitely a good feeling.” He then looked at the sky as he continued talking. It makes me wonder, if things would turned out differently, if she was there that night year ago. Maybe we wouldn't end in jail, maybe we would stop Marmalade's plan sooner and.... maybe I wouldn't lost contol over my anger.” He said the last line in regret as his ears get droopy.

Diane placed her hand on Wolf’s arm. “Wolf, are you okay?”

Wolf looked at Diane and replied. “Sorry, today was a kind of emotional rollercoaster for me. The girls, the car chase, the chief, you, that nightmare…”

“Wait,” Diane interrupted. “What nightmare?”

Wolf looked at her and sighed before telling her what happened.

🐺🐍🕷🦈🐟

The other Bad Guys and the Panda Squad were having a great time as they getting to know each other while Catalina writing something on her notebook since she and Meilin got in common with writing stuff on notebooks.

Tarantula chuckled, “You know what? This girl is the best.” She was talking about Abby when she told them that she was the dodgeball player and she almost outsmarted the boys who tried to mess with her and the other girls.

“Oh, yeah?” Snake asked and Tarantula nodded. “Well, then. I think I should give you, Abby, a Push Pop since you behaved yourself after that killer moment you put me through. And this is for real, since I kinda messed with the wrong person.” He then pulled a cherry flavoured Push Pop behind Abby's ear like magician. “Here you go.”

“Oooohhhhh!” Meilin, Miriam, Shark, Piranha and Tarantula said.

“You sure you’re serious?” Abby asked, wasn’t sure he was playing those prank again.

“Oh come on,” Snake said rolling his eyes. “I may not be a goody-shoes like you all, but I'm that not heartless. And besides, it's not the first time I get beaten over a push-pop.” He then looked at Shark who was smirking and chuckled.

Abby looked up at Shark, “Don’t worry.” Shark said while patting Abby’s hair. “Snake has been through a worse. But I must say, I'm impressed. You're a great fighter.” Abby smiled at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Snake rolled his eyes. “Here, just take it. You pretty much deserved it.”

Abby smiled at the Push Pop before taking it from Snake. “Thank you, Mr Snake.”

Shark then burst out laughing. “Dude, you really got beaten by a child. That has to be the second embarrassing and hilarious moment ever for you now.”

Snake growled while rolling his eyes. “Please, just quit it.”

Catalina looked up with confusion, “What was the first?”

Tarantula chuckled, “You really don’t want to know.”

Shark then pulled out a camera and was about to head to elevator door.

“Mr Shark,” Miriam said. “Where are you going?”

Shark smirked, “Just going to check what Wolf and Diane are up.”

“With a camera?” Miriam asked.

“You never know what they are up,” Shark replied with a wink.

“Hmm,” Priya hummed. “That’s I wanna see.”

“Me too, me too!” Abby said, “Come on!”

🐺🐍🕷🦈🐟

“Wolf, I had no idea.” Diane said after Wolf finished his story about his nightmare that he had last night.

Wolf sighed, “It doesn't matter. And probably wouldn't matter even back then. It doesn't change the fact that I lost control and almost hurt someone. I don't know what is happening to me or why, and it scares me.” Wolf looked at his reflection on the window as he spoke. “What if Chief is right? What if I am threat?”

Diane grabbed his face to made him look at he, “Diane?” He asked.

“Wolf,” Diane spoke. “Look at me and listen carefully. You are not a threat, and don't you dare even think you are, just because of you’re a species. Luggins is nothing but Mother Goose Blowhard to even has audacity says such thing.” Normally, Diane wouldn't trash-talk like that about people she's working with, but there are certain limits, that no one should cross with her. And the police chief wasn't an exception. “And don't forget, you are not alone. You have us, your friends by your side and we will figure this out together. Like you said to me, 'You are stuck with us, whenever you want to or not'.”

“Heh, touché.” Wolf said, not knowing that their tails were wagging a bit too close to each other until they hooked, looking almost like holding hands.

Both of them looked at their tails before staring at each other, realising how close they were as their noses were touching one another as the tails were still hooked which was causing them to even embrace their own. It reminded Wolf the only good thing from the night year ago; When he danced with Diane and how they got closer both physically and personal, this was similiar yet different. Even Diane felt it too. It was much deeper, more genuine.

CLICK! SNAP!

And the moment was gone as Wolf and Diane saw Shark taking picture of them with others smirking at the duo, while Panda Squad were gushing how cute they are.

Wolf and Diane pulled away from each other while blushing, “It's not like that!” They both said it at the same time, “We're just friends, not a couple!”

“Oh, come on!” Abby said, “Let the ship sailed like Titanic movie but with a happy ending! You’re so super cute and so in love!” Even the girls agreed with her.

“That’s what I’m going to say, chica!” Piranha replied while the others except Wolf and Diane laughed joyfully.

“You guys!” Wolf said, rolling his in annoyance. “You’re really not helping!”

Diane chuckled a bit before she replying, “I really should be off. Sophie really don’t want to stay a bit longer while looking after Mr Whiskers.” She then went to the car while the others waved at her but before she was about to start her engine, she rolled down her side window. She looked at Catalina before to Wolf. “You don’t mind you and Catalina come to my placed just to discuss about your job, do you?”

Wolf and Catalina looked at each other before Wolf looked at Diane smiled, “Sure. And I’m sorry that I didn’t come to the meeting…”

“Hey,” Diane smiled. “It doesn’t matter now, the important thing is that you and the others are safe.”

“Thanks for checking on us, Miss Foxington.” Catalina said.

Diane smiled, “It’s no problem.” Then she drove off, leaving the Bad Guys and the Panda Squad with the smiles on their faces.

But Wolf’s smile faded as he was feeling unsure about what Diane said; ‘You are not a threat, and don't you dare even think you are…’

He still felt like he was a threat…

(I think I should give everyone a little spoiler for next chapter, shall I?

Next chapter: Wolf having doubts about what happened today while the others were doing their own business, but Catalina seemed to notice is wrong with Wolf.

Any thoughts on the chapters so far?)

#the bad guys au #dreamworks the bad guys #the bad guys dreamworks #the bad guys #dreamworks #mr wolf #mr snake #mr shark #mr piranha #miss tarantula #diane foxington #disney #disney tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #disney turning red #turning red mei lee #turning red #my story

[vespersposts]

Decks Dark

This is an experiment born out of my great passion for music.

On Sunday, if exams allow, I will publish a short story based on the feelings I got from a song I love.

The first song Im choosing is "Decks Dark" by my fav band, Radiohead.

The song is about depression, the story is a slice of life of someone taking the first steps out of it. Please only read it if you are not easily triggered and aware of the content.

You can find them with #songonsunday #songtowrite. If you have songs to recommend feel free to contact me.

Catch you later,

V-

Then into your life, there comes a darkness

And a spacecraft blocking out the sky

And there's nowhere to hide

You run to the back and you cover your ears

But it's the loudest sound you've ever heard

Into your darkest hour

A smile, a slight movement of the head and another sip of that disgusting drink that is so fashionable. You shift your attention from one face to the other, so as not to give the impression of being too much or too little interested in the summer plans that your childhood friend and new boyfriend are exposing to everyone, but above all you try to hide your fatigue.

To not always be the odd one out.

So as not to be unsuitable, childish, out of touch, in the words of those who drag you into those evenings full of chatter that become an exhausting mental exercise. 

"And you?" the worst question, which draws all the attention of the table to your person.

"I haven't decided, yet" you answer, hoping that no one will suggest you join their group of holiday-youthful fun-forceps, now that at the threshold of 30, everyone seems to want to compete to see who is more immature.

Ibiza, Greece, alcohol and occasional sex.

Groundbreaking.

The cool guy in the group who has slipped into yet another failed relationship and is beating his chest.

The married couple who know everything about life and look down on you.

The pseudo-psychologist/good soul who tries to explain your life to you with the same interested solicitude as the shark who can taste blood.

Darling, if only it were as easy as you make it, even a bonobo would have managed it.

But... that's ok.

If it distracts them from the usual lottery of finding you a shred of a man it's fine, if you then find some new friends it would be even better. 

When the energy returns you'll do anything, you tell yourself.

You look at your watch, you've given yourself a time by which to finish the evening and you intend to stick to it, not because you have a pressing commitment, but to see if you can.

"So..." the next investigator tells you.

"I understand you've changed jobs" you interrupt him, giving him a topic on which he is surely more comfortable.

The last half hour of your life outside your room ends like this, talking about car parts.

But… It's all right.

You'll do anything not to talk about yourself.

And all we trapped ragdoll cloth people

We are helpless to resist

Into our darkest hour

#songonsunday #songtowrite #vesperfairytales #vesperwrites #vesperdreams #radiohead #radiohead songs

[naturalborndragons]

Mid Dragon's World Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Farewell My Friends

Two months had passed since I started at my new school and became friends with Jericho and Cassie. During those two months I would sometimes skip out on my missions to hang out with my friends. This was one of those days. Well actually I was still doing what dad wanted me to do but I was also hanging out with Jericho and his family.

I was at the mall with Jericho and his family as well as Theian and Alex. Theian suggested to dad that perhaps a good place to start was some place smaller than a town like the mall. Dad agreed with Theian’s suggestion and sent us to decide how would be the best plan of attack.

Jericho, Cassie, Theian, Alex, and I were at Gamestop checking out games. Well, me, Jericho, and Cassie were. Alex and Theian stood behind us, impatiently waiting so we could start our mission.

“Jake, come on!” Theian said irritated. “We didn’t come here to screw around.”

“I know!” I said in a bit of a whiny voice. “Just give me a minute.”

Just as I picked up a game, I heard an annoyed growl coming from Theian. He was becoming mad and I knew that it was never good when Theian got mad. I put the game back on the shelf and was about to leave when suddenly, Billy, the Gamestop employee who was there when I first ran into Jericho called Jericho’s name.

“Yeah, Billy?” Jericho asked.

“Are you guys going to be around for awhile?” Billy asked Jericho.

“I think so.” Cassie answered for Jericho.

“Awesome! I get done with work in half an hour. I’ll meet up with you guys then.” Billy said enthusiastically.

“Cool! See ya in a bit!” Jericho called out, waving goodbye.

As we left Gamestop, I asked Jericho how he knew Billy.

“How do I know Billy?” Jericho repeated. “He’s my older cousin.”

“He’s your cousin?!” I said, slightly surprised although I did think they looked a bit alike.

“Yeah, he’s my aunt’s son. He’s twenty two and in college. And he’s got a lot of games. Heck, he’s got games all the way back from the 1980’s!” Jericho explained, smiling when he mentioned Billy’s games.

“Is he your cousin on your dad’s side or your mom’s side?” Asked Theian.

“My mom’s. His mom is my aunt and my mom’s sister.” Jericho explained.

We walked around the mall for a little while until it was time to meet Billy. We met outside Gamestop and together we headed to Disco Burger. Alex didn’t look too happy about having another human hang out with us but he didn’t seem as bothered about it as he usually was. I thought that maybe being around Jericho might be changing him. At least, I hoped that was happening.

We were led to a booth. After awhile we ordered some drinks and food. I sat with Theian and Alex while Jericho, Cassie, and Billy sat across from us.

“So you’re Jake, right?” Billy asked, taking a drink of soda.

“Yeah.” I answered him just as I grabbed my burger and was about to take a bite.

“My little cousins told me quite a bit about you. They say you’re a dragon. Can you believe it?” Billy laughed, not believing that I was a dragon…well, half of one.

“No, Billy, he’s a half-dragon.” Jericho corrected him.

“A what?” Asked Billy.

“A half-dragon. It means he’s human and dragon.” Cassie explained.

I nodded in agreement. “It’s true. My brother’s a half-dragon too and Theian here is a dragon.”

As he ate part of a fry, Billy raised one of his eyebrows. I could tell that he still didn’t believe us. How could I show him that I was telling the truth? I couldn’t show him my real form in front of all these people. Maybe…

“Billy, come on! I’ll prove to ya I’m a half-dragon!” I said, getting up from my seat.

Billy stood up as well. I led him to the bathroom. Once we were in, I made sure no one was around before I went into one of the stalls. Billy stood by the door, not understanding what I was about to do.

“C’mon! C’mon!” I said, waving him in.

An uncomfortable look formed on Billy’s face. Regardless, he still came in with me. I shut the door and pulled my shirt off.

“Kid, what are you doing?!” Billy said, sounding very uncomfortable.

“Just watch. You’ll see.” I said with a grin.

I turned around, my back facing Billy. I did what I always did when I change into my half-dragon form. My ears changed into fins and my wings and my tail grew from my back. When I turned around, Billy had a look of surprise on his face. His mouth hung open and his eyes wide.

“Wow! Jericho and Cassie weren’t kidding huh? So you guys really are…”

“Mmm-hmm!” I nodded.

“Wow!” Billy said again. “That’s pretty crazy man.”

I closed my eyes and turned back into my human form. I put my shirt back on and we left the bathroom. Back at the table, everyone was just about done eating.

“What were you guys doing in there?” Asked Alex, taking a drink of water.

“I just showed Billy we weren’t kidding ‘bout being half-dragons.” I replied.

“And I gotta say, that is pretty impressive. So Theian, since you’re a real dragon, I’d assume that means you can live longer than a human, right?” Billy asked.

“Uhh…yes?” Theian answered back in a questiony voice.

“Then that must mean Jake and Alex will also live longer than the average human.” Billy stated.

“What are you getting at?” Theian asked.

“I just think it’d be great. You know, to live a little longer. I mean, how long can the average human live? Like, maybe eighty years at most? Just imagine if there was a way to extend a person’s lifespan. A way to stall death for just a bit longer.” Billy said with a really creepy smile. A smile that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

None of us knew how to respond to Billy. Theian and Alex gave him weird looks for a minute then finished their food. Once we finished eating, we headed back out into the mall. Billy pulled out his phone and looked at the time. Slipping his phone back into his pants, he told us that he had to get home and said goodbye to us. Jericho and Cassie waved and said goodbye back to him as he disappeared into the crowd.

A few minutes later, Jericho and Cassie’s family met up with us. Their mom asked us what we did and Jericho explained to her that first we went to Gamestop and then had lunch with Billy. As soon as Jericho mentioned Billy’s name, his mom gasped, a shocked expression on her face.

“Jericho! Cassie! What did I tell you two about Billy?” She said in a scolding voice.

“Be careful around him?” Said Jericho.

“That’s right.” Jericho’s mom said sternly.

“But why? I like Billy, he’s cool!” He’s got old games from the eighties!” Jericho said in response to his mom.

“Jericho, we understand.” His dad said, joining in, putting his hands on his son’s shoulders.. “It’s just that we want you and your sister to be careful when he’s around you. Billy is…well…he’s strange, we’ll leave it at that.”

“Strange in the sense that he likes talking about death.” Theian stated.

“That’s pretty much it. I take it he brought it up with you guys. ” Said Jericho and Cassie’s mom.

“Ooh, yeah.” Theian replied, surprisingly sounding a little disturbed.

It was beginning to get late and we had school tomorrow, so we said goodbye to Jericho and his family but before we could get heading for home, Jericho and Cassie ran up and asked Theian if he could fly them around for awhile. Theian insisted that we had to get home which made me, Jericho, and Cassie plead with him to do it, even for a little bit. Eventually, Theian gave up and agreed to it.

The twins told their parents they’d be home a bit later. Afterwards, we followed Theian to the parking lot under the mall. Theian took a quick look around to make sure there was no one around.  With the coast clear, Theian transformed back into a dragon and told Jericho, Cassie, Alex, and I to get on his back. I climbed on first, then Cassie, followed by Jericho and Alex.

Theian’s wings unfolded. “Prepare yourselves. This is going to be a fast takeoff.” He said.

We all held onto each other tightly as Theian flapped his wings and began to lift off the ground. Suddenly, without warning, Theian zipped out of the parking lot and flew straight up into the sky. Behind me I could hear Jericho and Cassie screaming at the top of their lungs. Cassie’s arms were pressing tighter against my stomach which was causing me a bit of pain.

“Alright. We’re good.” Theian called to us.

Cassie loosened her hold on my stomach, something that made me relieved. Once we all calmed down, we looked over the side and noticed just how high up we were. It was always surprising for me to be up this high. I flew through the sky before but never was I anywhere close to being as high up as I was now.  Even though my wings were getting stronger, I wasn’t certain they’d ever be strong enough for me to fly this high.

I looked back and saw Cassie and Jericho staring down with big smiles on their faces. I could tell it was amazing for them. I was glad they were having fun. I remembered the first time I flew on Theian’s back at this height. I was so scared fearing that I was going to fall off and unlike Jericho and Cassie, I had wings to save me in case I did.

“Man! This is awesome! Cassie, don’t they look like ants from up here?” Jericho asked in an excited voice.

“Yeah!” Cassie agreed, a wide smile on her face.

“HEEEEEEY!!!” Cassie hollered down at the people below us. “CAN YOU HEAR ME DOWN THERE?! HEEEEEEEY!!!”

“I don’t think they’re gonna hear you.” Said Alex.

We flew over the city, then the mall, and finally some neighborhoods. After flying for a little bit longer, we dropped Jericho and Cassie off at their house.

Just as we hopped off Theian’s back, Cassie turned to me, smiling widely.

“That was so much fun! It was like being on a roller coaster but better!” She said excitedly.

“Thanks guys! That was pretty awesome!” Jericho added, showing us a smile that was just as big as his sister’s.

“Wasn’t it? It’s too bad you guys can’t fly. It’d be fun having some new flying buddies!” I smiled back at them.

Just as the twins were about to head to the door, Cassie turned around and walked up to me.

“Hey Jake. If we do this again, do you think I can fly with you?” Cassie asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked her back, not understanding what she meant.

“I mean like, while you’re flying, you hold onto me. I just want to know how it feels to actually be flying, you know?”

“Hmm…Well, I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I mean, I’m still getting used to flying and you’d be too heavy for me to hold on to and…”

“HEAVY?! You jerk!” Cassie yelled. Then she slapped me in the face.

“Ow!” I placed my hand over the cheek she hit and rubbed it.

“You little creep! I’m not heavy!” Cassie huffed, turning around and storming into the house.

Cassie slammed the door shut. I just stood there, staring blankly at the door, rubbing my cheek and trying to figure out what I said that made her so angry.

“You okay, Jake?” Jericho asked.

I nodded just as I stopped rubbing my cheek. “Why did she slap me like that? What did I do?”

Theian laughed as soon as I asked that. This was just making me more and more confused. Why would Theian be laughing at me getting hit?

“Oh, Jake! You’re still so young! Look, it’s simple: girls don’t like it when a guy says they’re heavy.” Theian explained.

“Ooh!” I said, finally getting it. “Still…she didn’t have to slap me…”

It was starting to get late. The sun was beginning to set which meant that it was time for us to be getting home. I said goodbye to Jericho and was about to climb on top of Theian’s back when Jericho called my name.

“What’s up, Jericho?” I asked.

“You guys are a lot of fun. I hope we’ll always be able to hang out together.” Jericho smiled.

I smiled back at my friend. “Me too, Jericho. You and Cassie are fun too.”

Jericho and I bumped fists. We said goodbye to each other as me, Theian, and Alex flew home. As we flew, I thought about how great things were for me since I met Jericho and Cassie. I had never had as much fun before I became friends with them. Since I met them, I was happier, I wasn’t afraid of using my powers, and I actually got to be just a normal kid for once. Being around them and their family also made me think that maybe I didn’t need to take over the world with dad. Dad always told me that once we took over the human realm, things would be perfect for me then but…well…things were perfect for me now.

The next day after school, me, Jericho, and Cassie decided to stay after school and play together for awhile. We played around on the jungle gym for a little while then we played Jericho’s favorite game: soccer. Jericho had brought his soccer ball from home. We took turns kicking it against the school. Once it got to be my turn, I suddenly felt something hit the back of my neck. I looked up and saw dark clouds beginning to form, hanging over us. Slowly they covered the sky, obscuring the light and bringing with them rain. First a few raindrops fell, then all of a sudden, rain came pouring down on us, meaning it was time for the three of us to go home.  Jericho grabbed his soccer ball and together, the three of us walked home together.

“That’s strange.” Jericho thought out loud. “It almost never rains.”

“I wish it would rain more.” Cassie said, jumping in a puddle, splashing me and Jericho.

“Hey!” Jericho and I said at the same time.

I wasn’t about to let Cassie get away with splashing me. Looking to my left, I saw a rather big puddle sitting by the curb. Walking over to it, I held my hand over the puddle, slowly lifting it up as the water followed my hand’s movements. Suddenly, an idea hatched in my brain. I laughed evilly under my breath. I was going to get my revenge.

“Hey Cassie!” I yelled.

Her attention turned to me, I swiped my hand, launching the rainwater at her. With a girly shriek, she threw her arm up to cover her face as the water drenched her clothes. She looked down at her sopping wet clothes then looked at me and glared.

“Oh, it. Is. On, Jake.”  She said in a serious tone.

Cassie ran to the curb. In front of her was another puddle except, much to my horror, this puddle was even bigger than the one I used to get Cassie. I knew this wasn’t gonna be good.

“Cannonball!” Cassie cried as she leapt into the puddle, getting me back for getting her wet yet, at the same time getting her brother wet.

Now Jericho was in on this. The two of us looked at each other. We knew what had to be done. It was time for the two of us to join forces. We stood in front of the same puddle Cassie was standing in and together, we jumped into it, splashing her with double the water. Soon, the three of us were laughing together and jumping in the puddle, getting one another wet. I was having so much fun. I didn’t want it to end. However, as we continued playing…

My back started aching. I wasn’t sure why. I covered the area around my butt which was where the pain was coming from. With a loud yell, I collapsed to the wet grass as my tail shot out of my back. When the pain faded, I grabbed my tail, wondering why it suddenly grew. I didn’t make that happen.

My tail started wagging on its own. Then it dug into the ground and began to write something. The three of us watched, confused about what was going on. In the mud, my tail wrote, “COME HOME NOW”.  After its message, it spilled into the puddle with a small splash.

“That was weird.” Jericho commented.

“Yeah.” I agreed, not knowing what else to say.

“Maybe we should get going.” Cassie said.

I agreed with her. And so we continued for a few more blocks before we split. Jericho and Cassie went left and I went right. We waved goodbye to each other. As I walked home, I held my tail in my hand, looking down at it and wondering what just happened. My tail never grew on its own before, nor did it write messages for me in the mud.

“Hey tail, do you have anything else to say?” I asked, assuming my tail now had a mind of its own.

I let it go and expected it to write something again but it didn’t.

“Why can you suddenly write stuff?” I asked it again.

Still nothing.

“Ok, don’t say anything. I’ll just do what you said earlier and go home.” So I did just that.

After I passed a few more houses, I was standing in front of my house. I opened the door and found my dad sitting at the table, his back turned to me.

“Hi dad. I’m home.” I said.

Dad didn’t say anything or even turn around to look at me. I thought that was kind of strange. Did I do something to make him mad?

“Hey dad? Are you okay?” I asked.

Dad stood up and walked up to me. He had a really angry and scary look on his face. I knew that look very well. What I didn’t know was what I did to make him mad.

“We need to have a talk, Jakol.” Dad said in a low, serious voice.

“Okay.” I responded nervously. “About what?”

“I know that you’ve been slacking off on your missions so that you could spend time with your friends. I had Girido secretly keep tabs on you yesterday while you were “inspecting” the mall with Alex and Theian.” Dad explained.

“But! But I was doing my mission! I was just doing it while I was with Jericho.” I explained.

“Regardless, Jakol, I know this isn’t the first time you’ve put off your duties. I’m sorry but to prevent this from happening again, I’m pulling you from that school and you are not to talk to that boy ever again.” Dad ordered.

Dad’s words cut through me. I couldn’t believe he said that. I wasn’t going to go to school with Jericho or Cassie anymore? AND I couldn’t hang out with them anymore either? But…I liked being with them. They were two of the best friends I ever had. I didn’t want to lose them! I couldn’t lose them! I looked up at dad, a determined look on my face, and said to him…

“No…No, I’m not leaving.” I said, for the first time going against him.

Dad’s face twisted, his eyes widening, and his eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you talking back to me?” He said angrily.

Once he said that, I felt a shock in my chest. I realized I made a big mistake in talking back to him.

“No…I didn’t mean…”

“You little BASTARD!” Dad yelled, smacking me with the back of his hand and knocking me off my feet.

“You DON’T!” He yelled, kicking me in the stomach. “TALK!” He kicked me again. “BACK!” And again. “TO!” And again. “ME!” And yet again.

As he kicked me again and again, I just lay there, taking it and crying. Suddenly, I heard someone shout, “That’s enough!”

Dad stopped kicking me. Once he did, I looked up, seeing Z’haer standing before us. He looked just as angry as dad.

“Look at you: the great and mighty Saulstrance, beating on a little kid. A little kid who happens to be his own son.” Z’haer said swiftly.

“I’m not ‘beating on’ him; I’m teaching him respect.” Dad growled.

“What you’re doing isn’t teaching anyone anything. What you’re doing is cruel. Kicking your son while he’s down, forcing him to leave his school and give up the only true human friends he’s ever had. Do you not see that your son isn’t like you? He’s not a dragon who wants to take over the entire human race; he’s a lonely little kid that just wants some friends!” Z’haer exclaimed.

I couldn’t take anymore. I staggered to my feet and ran out the door and into the rain. Dad shouted my name and commanded me to come back but I didn’t listen. While I ran, I shut my eyes and entered into my half-dragon form. I flapped my wings as fast and as hard as I could, lifting myself into the rainy sky. I didn’t know where I was going to go and right now, I didn’t really care. I just wanted to get far away from here.

As I flew, tears filled my eyes, making it twice as hard for me to see. I just didn’t understand why dad was doing this to me. He knew how badly I wanted to have friends so why did he want to take them away from me?  If it was just because I was focusing more on hanging out with Jericho and Cassie than I was on completing my missions, then I’d try and focus on missions if it meant I’d still get to see them. However I knew that wouldn’t work now. Dad made his decision and knowing him, he wasn’t going to change it.

While I flew over the houses, I decided to stop by Jericho’s and let him and Cassie know what was going to happen. So I flew in the direction of their house, knowing in the back of my mind that this might be the last time I ever get to see them. Once I got there, I knocked on the door and asked for Jericho and Cassie. I explained to them that I wasn’t going to be going to school and that dad wouldn’t let me see them anymore.

“So you’re not going to our school anymore, Jake?” Jericho asked in a sad voice.

I nodded.

“No! You can’t leave!” Cassie exclaimed. “You make school fun! Can’t you talk to your dad about letting you stay?” She pleaded.

“I wish.” I said, sounding defeated.

“But what if we just like, hang out for a little while after school, then on the weekend, you can do that stuff for your dad?” Jericho suggested.

“I’m sorry guys. I really am. But it’s too late. My dad’s already decided and…he’s not going to change his mind.” I said.

I turned and started to walk away. I was never good at saying goodbye and I especially didn’t want to say it to two of the best friends I ever had. Just as I started down the sidewalk, I felt something on my shoulder. When I turned around, I saw Jericho and Cassie standing behind me.

“Jake, even if we don’t see each other anymore, you’re still gonna be our friend.” Jericho smiled.

“That’s right, so don’t you ever forget it.” Cassie smiled too.

I lowered my head and sobbed. Cassie and Jericho both hugged me at the same time. While I cried on Cassie’s shoulder, I hugged them back. I knew they would always be my friends but I just wished I could have been able to get to spend more time with them.

I waved goodbye to them and flew off for somewhere else. I flew for awhile when I saw the mall below me. I decided I’d stop there next.

I walked around the mall, stopping by all the places me, Jericho, and Cassie would go to like Disco Burger or Hot Topic. There weren’t many people around and the few that were were in the stores. When I passed by Gamestop, I saw Billy in there getting his coat on and heading for the door. I just stood there, staring in blankly, not really thinking about anything.

“Hey, Jake.” Billy greeted me, pulling his hood over his head.

“Hey…” I said in a soft, dull voice.

“You here by yourself? Where are Jericho and Cassie? Aren’t they with you?” He asked.

I didn’t answer him. I turned around and headed for the exit to the mall but I was stopped by Billy when he called my name. Billy ran over to me and asked what was wrong. I explained to him that my dad was pulling me out of school and said that I couldn’t see Jericho or Cassie anymore.

“That’s pretty rough. Sorry to hear that, kiddo.”  Billy said sympathetically.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him.

“Y’know, Jake, if you want, I can help you and Jericho keep in contact.” Billy offered.

“How?”  I asked, feeling slightly better after hearing him say that.

“Well, if you have a cellphone, I can give you Jericho’s number. He and his sister don’t have cellphones but you can try giving their homephone a call.” Billy said.

“Thanks.” I smiled, appreciating his offer. “But I don’t have a cellphone either. My dad never let me or my brother have one. Besides, I’d probably just get me, Jericho, and Cassie in trouble with my dad.”

“Ah, I see.” Billy replied. “Sorry, Jake. Wish there was something I could do to help.”

“It’s okay.” I said sadly.

I said goodbye to Billy and left the mall. I flew into the sky again and thought about where else I could go. There weren’t a lot of, if any choices left. The only place I had left to go was…home.

But before I went home, I realized there was one other place I could visit: my now old school. As soon as I got there, I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I just stood in front of my school, thinking about how much I was going to miss it. Thinking of how much I was going to miss my friends. I started to think about the great times I spent at this school and how much happier I was ever since I started here two months ago. And now it was all over.

I sighed and walked away. I took one more look back and headed for home. While I walked home, I wondered if mom would have let dad pull me out of school and keep me from seeing my friends if she were still alive. I always wished mom was here with us but now more than ever did I need her.

The next day, dad called the principal to let him know I wouldn’t be going to Newton Elementary anymore. He also told me that my new school would be closer to home, exactly a few blocks down the street.

Late that afternoon, I walked past what was going to be my new school. To try and cheer myself up, I told myself that maybe things wouldn’t be too bad here. After all, Jericho and Cassie weren’t the only kids who could be my friends.

As I walked down the sidewalk that connected to the back of the school, I noticed two kids about my age talking together. One boy had blonde hair while the other’s hair was a light brown. It was kind of hard to hear but I could hear the brown haired kid exclaim, “Okay! Okay, Drake! I get it!”

Drake? Was that the blonde boy’s name? I wondered what they were talking about. I continued watching them from a distance when I saw something that made my eyes grow wide: Drake’s ears turned into fins and he grew a tail and a pair of wings, just like mine! Once I saw what he was, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! This Drake kid…he was a half-dragon too, just like me! I was going to be going to school with another half-dragon? Was this for real?

#animeboye #dragon #dragon's world #original writing #dragon boy #half-dragon #dragons #dragon hybrid #Mid Dragon's World #friends #best friends #dragon boys #dragon hybrids #standing up to parent #written when I was in my twenties #new school #forced to leave friends #depressed #depressed boy #crying #leaving school #saying goodbye to friends #abuse #flying #flying with dragons #new years post #end of the year #last post before the end of the year #Mall #gamestop

[castle-dominion]

c3x17 countdown

Edit: haha I found it! I couldn't find my liveblog while clipping last time but this time I went into my archives for the second half of the episode!

Ok so before the episode starts, I need to talk. I’ve been in my fair share of walk-ins, I’ve read a few stories where people get stuck in freezers, what u need to do is grab a screwdriver or smth & break the cooling mechanism.

Rodeo clown, red herring. We've got to find jamal, they say, & the dramatic irony is we know jamal is here in the freezer. Dead.

Why are they covering him? For their own psychological wellbeing? Castle, do up your coat all the way. Y'all be sure to dance sometimes. Don't waste all your energy tho. Now trucks can probably get to -20f or -25c but more likely are set at 0f or -18c like most freezers. Like girl, it is definitely well below freezing. Girl lay on your back & kick with your feet, don't dislocate your shoulder. Plus, you definitely have more than a few hours. Like you would probably get frostbite within half an hour but it is also not a windy place. The real killers are wetness & ventilation. Even if the cooling mechanism is still going, if you kill the fan you would be fine. Just don't sweat too much. Move enough to keep your body temp up, don't move so much that you would sweat. Ok that is bad counting. Count better.

Oh no they r home. lmao circus accidents martha what Grinch changing scene. Yes ew.

Ricochet? Ok I thought y'all shot thru the tin box earlier. Now here: SHOOT THE DANG COOLING MECHANISMS OR BUST EM WITH THE BUTT OF YOUR GUN. Keep moving babes. At least beckett can cover her ears.

Interesting interactions here. You sound like fallon & maybe castle was right. Really really interesting characterization. Is it alexis/martha? Ok but what are their faces, they are just staring at each other & looking more & more intensely

Yeah. I had a radiation interest at some point. Super scary. YOU WEREN'T LOOKING FOR THE TARGET ALREADY??? KR, with his face the way it is: Sir, can I speak with you alone? *glances awkwardly at fallon* But ofc comes with esposito lol Lmao my first thought when they mentioned their history was not what I mentioned last episode (they did the off-grid police work recently) but actually kissing. They haven't kissed yet. Ryan & esposito are so cute & I'm so glad that alexis called even after trying to go to bed. But then again, she called ryan's cell. That's... idk what that is.

Ok put your exposed skin BACK UNDER YOUR EFFING JACKETS & SHARE YOUR CLOTHES I mean at least you're cuddling BUT BREAK THE DANG FREEZING MECHANISM & MOVE & KEEP YOUR BODY TEMP UP. The scariest part for me is the fog at the bottom. THE FIRST ALWAYS Girl it hasn't even been that long & this place shouldn't be able to get that cold y'all are fine, stop being babies. I thought new yorkers complained about the weather! Come up to canada, meet my inuit friends!

The intro is blue <3

Castle's eyes are so good in this lighting. tbh I think the frost on his cheeks is weird. Eyelashes & eyebrows yes. Cheeks? not so sure. Are those our guys or are they the killers? Wait, man's holding a gun

Yucky sound! Bro they should be fine it wasn't that bad. Motorcycleboy! Also while he has at least had one hour of sleep he still needs to go to bed. Same to ryan & esposito & well,, everyone. Alexis called <3 (oh btw what happened to karpowski? I saw her in s2 but never in s3.) K but wdym "until josh called"? We figured you were with beckett until josh called. Then we went back to thinking you were with beckett. edit: they figured he was WITH beckett ;) bc she was struggling with Josh but then josh called & they remembered that she was with josh & she is actually doing well with josh bc he came home for her; & that's why rick & josh exchange those looks. Then they figured he was with beckett as in doing smth incredibly stupid against orders. Oh & costume update: Ryan has another coat. Again, it is nice, but it is also chill, & it is the third jacket I've seen him wear this day! & Esposito has that nice coat I've seen him in before, the one with the shoulder buckles. What patrol units were available bro??? RC: I'm glad my stupidity is predictable Their little handshake <3 RC: You pulled us out of there? (KR nods) RC, probably not thinking about how he was found snugled up with beckett: thanks Beckett was standing there watching him. Apparently castle was more tired than her (even tho she should have frozen more than him) so she was up in a blankett watching him while he was still waking up. Even tho she fell asleep first. Maybe she woke up first because she fell asleep first. Then again, she wasn't standing there in the first shot when he was sitting up. Also just realized, esposito & ryan probably had this exact convo with beckett. That's the kind of deleted scene I want to see.

Oh no it is not even white anymore. So 13 hours at the start, it is now ten hours. They were in the freezer for maybe 2 hours if they've been out for an hour like josh said. Imagine being ryan & esposito, you help each other drag one person out of the freezer, then you drag the second. Then you go back in for that third person under the tarp (which caskett should have been using as a blanket) & whoops it's a dead body.

I'm also assuming they meant 4pm not 4am. Meaning dang it's 6am & nobody has slept! Also meaning alexis called at like 1am or smth. So they found the bomb at 3am actually & alexis might have evenn called that late. Crazy that she would just call ryan (on his cell too) to ask about her dad.

gtg we're watching s4 in my family watch now bai ily

Ok hai I'm back!

KB *politely requests that her & castle be reinstated* MF: Well that's not up to me. It'd be up to your doctor, wouldn't it? Which is so good & so true KB walks off MF: Yk it's funny, when I first met you two I thought you were together. RC: Oh. No, just friends. I watched When Harry Met Sally the day before watching this the first time. *sighs with my hand on my cheek* MF: Get cleaned up. We have a long day ahead of us (which is weird bc castle hasn't been cleared by his doc yet.) Also have they called alexis yet?

Wow it is bright & sunrisey! MR: You look like death warmed over XD <3 Fair has nothing to do with it Rick you might have been able to say "I sent you with grams to that spiritual retreat for a reason. I want you two to go to the hamptons & stay there for the weekend. No questions. Don't try to figure out why. Just listen." or "I just need you two out of the house for a bit"

Yay they've changed. But have they slept? IDK what time it is now. Living this every day is probably why he is the way he is. This is not the time for a special hell reference mom. Except for me. So mum went out with her friends yesterday & Tammy went out to a movie with her son. She had been watching movies at home so much, covid & all, that she would make these huge gasps whenever smth big happened. Her son was sooo embarassed. Mum looked at me & said she could never take me out to a movie. Apparently we took 1.5x the 44min episode to watch it. Ofc lil bro went upstairs to get water & another time to get food but a lot of it was me pausing it to talk (bc it's rude to talk during the movie, well u can talk as long as there is no dialogue). So yeah special hell for those tho talk at the theater.

I wish I could give an esposito outfit update bc he looks cool af but he is backlit. This reminds me of @codex-dominion my other blog. When Tavi (as rufus scippio) was made captain, he had to work a lot. One time he was super overworked & wanted to keep working but his singularé said "no, you need a sleep & a shave" & tavi/scippio said "nah bro I need to do so much I don't have time for that" & his singularé went "no. You never saw the previous captain with stubble. You need to shave & take a crowforsaken nap." Still, I like his gloves! Ah yes, the military. What did I say? Six tours is a lot. Bruh it's the effing military what do you expect?? Why would they choose kevin mcann? Identity theft in the military is surprisingly not uncommon.

You haven't done facial recognition yet? Well ig not bc you thought you knew him MF: I thought this guy was a crime novelist RC: I.. I am MF: Well then you should know *proceeds to explain identity theft lol* KB & JE: :] :]

Gal has a nice mural Pointing with a cig lol VA? They were voice actors together? Or as in veteran affairs or smth? (welcome to indian affairs, which indian would you like to have an affair with?) Support our troops: Bring Them Home. I'm FTM. Oh a trans man? Happy pride. Nonono, I'm nonbinary. I meant Fuck The Military. my post : ) Hey a cell number is good!

This man is a child I love tech geeks from csu or wherever. Old timey phones <3 I remember when canadian troops left afghanistan. I remember it because it was a thing in school. & I remember finally finally it ended in 2021. Let's roll

Casually turns around B'y don't look back. If you must, use a mirror.

Castle is the only sane one here. Yeah like esposito you need a wakeup call. Interesting how he takes beckett in there, not captain montgomery. Tbh I respect his skills. He's cool. Sitting there, quiet, keeping his mouth shut. I can respect that. I might hate it or find it annoying but on a level of skill not ideology it's really cool. Hm, that might be why lockwood & his ones chose to drown ryan instead. If they knew abt esposito & why they couldn't break him. (the cops already know everything about me & your mom) No he won't fallon. The way he talks. It's so true, so good, so calm & thoughtful & angry. Good episode. Becks, idk if holding YOUR gun at him is the best idea. Ok so you're holding him at gunpoint but you haven't even cocked it? I'm assuming it's semi-automatic, you shouldn't cock twice. This military boy would have noticed. Btw the music is slamming. Doesn't even turn on the safety? It took them that long to break down the door or did they only come in after he put it away?

At least fallon is explaining himself. He feels. He knows it will go over better if he does this. But what opening was there my dude? (note: he said he can't break him in three hours. 3h. So what, he had him for 3 hours already or it's 13.00/1pm & he has three hours left?) He is calm & talking to her in his respectful quiet voice even tho she said that to him. Fallon is actually gaining my respect for that. RC: does that guy take jackhole lessons or was he born that way? (heh) KR, who has also changed & hopefully taken a nap, now getting coffee too: Neither. I asked my buddy at DHS abt him. (Cool so we know ryan has a contact at dhs now.) Turns out his wife was killed in 9/11. She rode the second tower down. They were on the phone together when it happened. Man should have started an emo band then, not become this jackhole fellow.

Oh dang fallon's surveillance guy is down! Make ur phone call! Now I have Holy Gail (Hunters & Collecters, Cut) stuck in my head

Ok & now they say less than 2 hours left. That's the next number. It must be 14.00/2pm now or smth. So has it been one hour since the earlier thing or...? I'm still stuck on whether any of them slept. They all seem to have changed (tavi) & they are all drinking coffee, & I'm sure if they didn't go home & sleep that someone took a nap in the morgue or on the couch in the captain's office or in the break room or even on mats up in the gym. A powernap is important if you can't sleep. It at least resets your brain a little bit so you don't feel like you're dreaming. I remember when I was sick one day I either couldn't sleep or chose not to sleep bc it was painful & I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep for hours. I went thru my facebook page back until nov 2020 (it's may 2023 now) to find the day I was talking about. I was awake for 30 hours. "I fell asleep for maybe an hour but I feel like it's tomorrow morning (Thursday) or tomorrow morning but it's actually Wednesday morning which is today. But I also feel like it's 8pm and I have my violin lesson. It doesn't help that the book I'm reading has huge cases of derealization/depersonalization/confusion/etc/etc and I read it righ before falling asleep this afternoon and after I had a miniature bowl of cereal when I woke up. Who am I? What day is it? Did I hallucinate my brother walking around this morning, or was it a legitimate shadow? Have I already taken my meds today? I'm half convinced I'm still dreaming buds" wow yeah that's what it was like. That's probably how they would feel if they haven't slept.

Esposito is wearing that? I didn't realize that when I saw him earlier. Oh no, an explosives ordnance disposal? CRAWL UP THEIR WHERES WITH MICROSCOPES? You're right, they are not brainwashed kids on a student visa, they are brainwashed adults with training. Oh... the syrian consolate guy... Fallon my man! Woah he gained beckett's respect.

Bud that's such a lie. You do what we ask & everybody lives? That's literally the biggest lie bc you are trying to kill everyone!

Fallon, the guy came over for ya, shake his hand & thank him for coming! Should we be giving away our hand like this...? Mike, let the guy talk. Man just didn't do anything when he saw nazihah get abducted?? What he meant by that appointment outside the city was he doesn't believe you can succeed.

Wow they actually shot the guy. Ooh music. So dramatic bestie. our people aren't wearing vests?

If he couldn't get fake-kevin-mcann to talk then how did he get these guys to talk? Oh he lied.

Is that beckett's personal vehicle or? (ew ghost cars)

Work wife. Why would the car turn in front of them? Wouldn't they be taking the same route? Also, wouldn't they already have the sirens on? Make like a stag. (When you're driving, never let a deer that is chasing you get ahead bc as soon as it pulls ahead, it turns, not realizing it still needs to be going forward so as not to get hit. Never let a stag in front of you.) Make like a stag, get right in front of the car. Lol castle getting his face smashed against the window. Ugh finally they did it

Update: I clipped the work wife arguing about driving moment on my new chromebook, the quality might not be any better but at least now it will be easier to tag & upload to tumblr lol

YEAH YOU KNEW THE BOMB WAS THERE, unless it wasn't in which case good on castle for checking BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY RADIOED (one lincoln forty again!) & it is 15.58/3.58pm now. (unless the bomb was set to go off around 4pm not exactly 4pm.) It would take two minutes for them to park the helicopter & run in to the bomb. Remember those times both in sherlock & murdoch mysteries where they just stopped the timers? Yeah. Oh & that other time murdoch had to defuse a bomb bc pendrick was claustrophobic. (those two needed to get it on.)

Mk so continuity with timers like this can be hard. I can't tell but I think the show did a good job with this. At least she is calling fallon. My dude. You are not going to get there in time (unless he doesn't know that they only have 1m left bc beckett didn't communicate with him) so pull over the car. What advice do you have fallon? Anything? Tell them to at least look for a "stop/start" button in the hopes that there is one? Wait is he actually the guy who did this is he still driving so he can get out of town bc he planted the bomb? Ooh! Why do the tank & stuff still have the radioactive stickers all over them? I feel like they'd peel em off or smth. (what if some traffic cop pulled her over bc she was driving erratically & then checked her trunk, that would be crazy & possibly a bit of a deus ex machina.) R u 2 finally going to confess ur love 3 seconds left it was probably made poorly or a decoy bomb so it is not going to go off bc the real bomb is somewhere else & they either find it & stop it OR they end up with a crater in new york; a crater that means people are going to be displaced, & without help they have no choice but to turn to crime, & then that escalates future episodes. Possibly even some mistaked DNA stuff, they catch someone & check their dna to what they have in the database but it doesn't match bc of radiation. I think a post apocalyptic crime show would be cool, or at least a post disaster crime show. Wait castle just pulled all the wires out.

Rick just pulled all the wires out. & all at once too. Wow. Well then. I want to laugh but this is so intense. (clipping this too) Right at zero huh. During my family watch All Of Us mimicked castle's triumphant finger point at the bomb. So valid bestie. I mean heck yeah, he had to do smth. Two choices, two endings, but three paths. A: let the bomb kill you. You die. B1: Take out the wires & you die. B2: Take out the wires & you live. You're going to die either way, so might as well take the chance of living. btw why isn't beckett's radiation detector going off?

(all laughing) KB: No you should have seen his face because he stopped, (stopped what?) he looked at me, grabbed all the wires & then he just yanked them! *immitates rick yanking the wires* (her voice is kind of intense) KR: . All of them?? RC: I figured one of them had to be the right one. RM: You know, the mayor wants to give you guys a medal. I didn't have the heart to tell him you had no clue what you were doing. ... JE: Captain's right. You two don't know how lucky you are. RC: *looks at becket* KB: *looking back, seemingly out of breath* RC: Actually, I do. (Do you? I think you do. Just stared death in the face & said "f it, I'm taking a chance!" Tho it is not a risk. You risk blowing up the bomb if you yank the wires but the bomb was going to go anyway so it was not a risk. It was a chance.) RM: Hmm. *as castle & beckett look at each other*

KB: Actually I was doing my job, idk wth he was doing. RC: Hey. But that's true Fallon. I'm so happy that he is explaining. It's his way of apologizing without explicitly apologizing. RC: A codeword. "run" (won't clip but funny) Y'all need some sleep, not beers in the pigstye. Bro I want you to confess your love but josh literally just saved ur asses. Hug her! Hug her goodbye bc you love each other, even if you cannot express that love in the romantic way you want to. Also, say goodbye to all the other ppl around!

Motorcycle boy -w-

Yeah that was good! I enjoyed it.

I can't believe it's already 11.30! I haven't even watched a full episode!

(Girl now imagine it's been weeks of trying to pull s3 clips)

#castle 3x17 #castle 3x17 quote #castle 3x17 spoilers #castle s3 spoilers #the dirty bomb episode

[the-firebird69]

Can-Am just got like 5 million calls each store

I thought we ruined their business said no no it's like that thing with a Christmas guy but people getting money I checked in the circuits were overloaded like 5 million people so they called us and said what do we do I said we have to put an intercept on it it was Doctor stores too and we'll have to put warehouse at warehouses nearby I'll have to hire my people that's right we start banging them out we need to add huge numbers of companies factories and military DuPont so we bought up like half of what's out there for a quad and four wheeler and yeah mostly brands people don't know and there are tons of them tons of people tried it all of them fail

Okay who's number calls they will switch it over to the 800 number and temporarily until we fixed it and put the ad up and change the number and it goes direct to the main line and there's a quick menu and the dealers have individual numbers a lot of people want to take delivery at the dealer and have them do stuff to it like the scan and full inspection knowing that Starfleet does not a chance. And Trump is trying to threaten for some. Before we go I'd like to say this he had a good time with his wife made some progress did a really big deal for us and her but they both did it she's very happy with him she allowed him to treat her with a special treat to keep her around so she's like she wants him to do the work he's getting on it this is big for him though but he got it he's doing it she sees what he's saying too it's like this can't-am is global and although it's a good thing that tracks attention too and we need that they were off this is going to be great we got a huge number of orders huge it's ridiculous everyone wants a Can-Am and we electrify all of them models and they can make them space for the pretty easy doesn't take much effort you just enclose some things doesn't even have to be perfect it's just against the dust and we've seen him do it and they make it pretty good they make molds that fit and they seal it against the frame and stuff and boy does this thing move those things go real fast and Mars and Jupiter the Saturn will work really well and especially with airless tires royals tires for such a pain I've never seen people flip out more in my life who the f*** makes this tire is it Michelin we tried to buy the company we couldn't inside banging them out and the guy said please God help him and it was Mac one of the max he comes around he says he went to Michelin and became a man so he went to him and said I need you to help him and here's how so he came up with a plan now they know what they're doing

Thor Freya

Tried to tell you so many times I'm pleased with you and you turn around and say I'm doing it anyways I have to do it for you and you're my love and I'm not going to let go you it makes it worse that's all I have to say

Hera

So the usual

Zues

Haha lol ok ok

Hera wow fun. So I sent him my little honey and it started laughing is that what this means I said no but you can bring it with you and he said I'm cracking up and saying that's fun as hell and he said even in the vehicle and there's a way to make the love compartment refrigerated and it's from the air conditioner and so he started cracking up and he said that's great when you close the door even in the Sun for an hour it stays cool a lot of people want that cuz they're out in this way too hot and they're tired and hungry they bring drinks they get hot and it's disgusting but wow this is awesome they said so he's putting this the little honey in his stores

Hera should see this reaction I'm getting it's got some evil look on his face when I say a little honey I'm giving out I'm selling it

What do I do with my hands there's too many

Zues

Lol our movie ok watch out

Trump

Oh great now he's going to go crazy like on a sugar high. So he's like running around trying to find it they can't see what he's looking for and it's only in certain stores so sucks to be him but he's going to California he's going to try interviewing for that job actually did and got it he's going to teach the kindergarten cop that's first then this last action hero I need to get into the serious stuff the sixth day.

Thor Freya

This is outstanding we're now providing the vehicles and he thought of it and we're doing it and we also make starships have a bunch of them and we don't have to be on board but boy oh boy this is incredible we have to be involved and we are we're making tons of factories for Can-Am huge numbers and we're making skimobiles again. And we had this tunnel I looked really weird and he wanted was for I need to figure out what it was almost and he says what is that for and he heard where the machine and he said I know where the snow. So it runs over there and someone's there with some hot chocolate some other snacks from the winter so there's no way it goes inside snow until the skimobile to come over and it's not for him to turn around turns around and he goes zooming off it's no way it's a Can-Am and it's real smooth real fast red's like a Ski-Doo because it's got more stuff on it but that's what they used to be it says why do that they said that's what you were in the sort of are he's a special vehicles and he says this is intense he loved it he has having a great time instead of sometimes ideas for a long time and nobody wants to do them and we have a hard time watching him but you guys need them right now and we need to have them you're fighting these clones you're unbearable it's really a tough nut to crack and they're playing a second round is oh my God this is hell it's kind of a trick they have more designs after the ones they had so we're doing it and we know what to do

Olympus

I'm on the bottom with Freya yes I'm here talking to you can't hear me of reminders

Freya Thor he reverse the names

[chucksfavouriteprophet]

The Cowgirl

Dean Winchester x Reader

Request by @blank-artistry : Hi! I was wondering if I could request a Dean x reader where the setting is like the Longest Ride?

A/N: God I haven't seen this film in forever, but I hope I kinda did it justice! I went a bit different with the reader as the bull rider, so I hope you don't mind, and I added a little smut at the end which is a first for me and I was pretty nervous to do but I just felt like it needed something hahaha. Also, I wrote this with the reader being a girl because I just found it a bit easier, but feel free to change this to suit you.

Warnings: Classic supernatural violence, Dean getting sassed, language and some smutty shit at the end

Word count: 3,949

Sam shook his head and laughed as he glanced at his brother. Dean was standing across from him, ogling himself in the mirror.

"C'mon Sammy, don't tell me these boots aren't the coolest things you've seen in the world? And this hat - man, North Carolina is awesome!"

Sam could tell this was going to be a long weekend. The gig was small, and pretty far fetched if he had to be honest. Bull riding was a dangerous sport - was it really something supernatural that killed those men on the same day every year in the ring, or was it just pure coincidence? In Dean's opinion, "it's never a coincidence", but Sam knew his big brother was just excited by the prospect of watching a proper rodeo event.

Still chuckling under his breath, Sam stood up and patted his brother on the shoulder. "Alright then cowboy, lets get this show on the road." They swiftly left the motel and made their way over to Baby, Sam not failing to notice Dean's newly-acquired swagger. He couldn't be mad - it was nice to see Dean in such high spirits when things had been so rough lately.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the rodeo event. It was a warm May Saturday afternoon, and the place was brimming with stetsons and plaid. God, this was practically Dean's wet dream. He parked up gleefully, hopping out and heading straight into the crowd.

"Sammy, you go see if theres anything weird around the stalls. Imma go check out the ring." Before Sam could even reply, Dean was off, skipping towards the main event. The ring was in the centre of the fair, with staggered seats running all the way around the edge. As he approached, a rowdy bull was getting loaded in, grunting as it resisted against those trying to tame it. From that angle, Dean couldn't tell who was about to ride it, but he made his way round the arena and settled in an empty seat just adjacent to the gate.

Seconds later, a buzzer sounded, the gate flew open, and the bull came tumbling out. It instantly whipped round, bucking ferociously in a desperate attempt to kick its rider off. But you didn't budge. In fact, you swayed with the animal's movements, as though you were part of him. You kept your head down so Dean couldn't see your face, but your shiny y/h/c hair flew across your shoulders under the brown suede hat you wore. He couldn't take his eyes off you. Those eight seconds were the shortest of his life; the buzzer sounded once again and you hopped off the bull, giving the elated crowd a wave before heading back out the gate.

"Er Dean? You find anything? Or were you just enjoying the show?" Sam hovered behind him, looking down smugly.

"Huh? Oh, er, yeah. I mean no. Hey, can't a guy just enjoy himself for a few seconds?" Dean was flustered slightly as he stood up and cleared his throat. "I'm telling you man, that's some crazy sport. Did you see that gal? She - she was awesome!"

Sam nodded, "yeah man, I saw. Pretty cool. Also stupidly dangerous." Dean frowned. "Well yeah, but hell, our job is pretty dangerous too. We can't judge." Sam gave him a small smile. "Yeah, yeah you're right. Anyway, lets keep scanning for EMF for a bit, see if we can figure this thing out."

-

The Winchesters walked the perimeter of the fair three times, and Dean managed to watch at least another five rodeos in the ring. By the time it started getting dark and the event started closing up, neither of them had found any sign of a haunt.

"C'mon man, I think it's time we called it a day. Theres nothing here." Sam was tired and was dreaming of his bed, even if it was a grubby little motel one half his size. Reluctantly, Dean agreed, but refused to leave until be bought a mega hot dog with some secret sauce trademarked by the town. He was tired too, and although the day had been fun, he was looking forward to heading back and dreaming of the badass girl in the ring from earlier.

Still, he couldn't sleep. There was something that bugged him about the case - yes, rodeo accidents were common, especially when so many events were going on in the Spring season. But ten deaths, one each year for the past ten years, all on the same day, in the same ring? If that wasn't suspicious enough, the circumstances had to be. None of the deaths had happened during a ride - the bodies had all been found in the ring, mutilated by a bull, in the early hours of the morning. They'd occurred during the night, when no one was around, and when all the animals were back in their respective barns and trailers. It didn't make any sense.

After a few hours of searching, Dean found something. It wasn't the sort of thing that would usually have caught his eye, except for the fact that the article below was about a wonderfully busted actress which had drawn in his attention.

"Sam. Sam, wake up!" Dean shook his brother, waving the paper in his face.

Sam groaned and rubbed his eyes. "You're still up? The hell's going on Dean?" He pushed himself to sit up and squinted at the article Dean excited thrust towards him.

"It's not the spirit of a person we're looking for. It's the spirit of a bull." Dean's eyes were wide with satisfaction.

"A-a bull?" Sam wasn't quite awake and looked at his brother questioningly.

"Yeah, man, a bull! See here, eleven years to this day, May 5th, 1997, this bull rider right, it was his last ride, he was a sure thing, fan favourite to win. The competition was rigged, so he knew which bull he was gonna get, and he'd practiced on him for weeks. Dude was gonna make history."

Sam nodded, wondering when Dean was going to get to the point.

"But it went wrong, see? He'd trained the bull to swing left, then right, then right again. He'd like choreographed the moves and all, so he was ready to move even before the bull did. But instead of going right a second time, the bull went left, right, and then left. But his rider, he swung right. Fell straight off on the seventh second. Lost the championship by the skin of his teeth."

"Did he die?" Sam ran a hand through his hair.

"No no, see, he was fine. Mad as hell, but fine. Stormed out the arena and didn't return. Except that evening, he snuck the bull out the trailer and set it loose in the ring. Went wild on it, whipping it and throwing beer bottles at it, making it tear round for hours until it died of exhaustion. Then he upped and left, and the cleaners found the bull's body in the ring the next morning."

Sam was already packing his bag. "So it's the bull that haunts the ring every year. Tries to get revenge for what the rider did to it." Dean nodded. "And guess what? Estimated cause of death of the bull - 1.39am."

Sam froze. "That's the same time each of those people were estimated to have died too." Dean nodded. "Oh, and Sam. What time is it now?"

"1am..."

-

The fair was pitch black when they arrived. No one was around, and the purring of Baby was the only sound to be heard. The boys tiptoed hesitantly around the stalls until a light caught Sam's eye.

"Dean. There. Look." He pointed in the direction of the ring where a torch was being shone. They heard the gate squeak open and the flood lights jolted on, causing the brothers to wince slightly. Once the coast seemed clear, they quietly made their way across the field and round the back of the ring into the stands.

"Ahh shit," Dean groaned once he saw who was in the ring. He would always be able to recognise the way those y/h/c/ locks shimmied from under that dusty stetson.

"What?" Sam frowned, peering round to get a better look.

"That's the girl from earlier. We gotta get her outta here Sam." Before Dean could move, a voice halted him in place.

"Hey! Up there! Yeah, I'm talking to you two creeps!" You’d spotted them. Hands in pockets, you started walking across the dirt and stared up at them.

"Oh, er, hi, ma'am." Sam stood up slowly, cracking a smile. "Sorry, we didn't mean to bother you or anything but..."

"But if you don't leave right now you're gonna die." Dean swallowed down the words as he felt Sam's eyes burn into the back of his head.

You just laughed. "Die? What, you two dorks gonna try kill me or something?" Sam nudged Dean roughly, giving him a glare before he stepped forward.

"No, no of course not. But er, it's just, it's hard to explain. But every year, on this night, someone dies in this ring. So if you could just, you know, leave, that would be great!"

You’d reached the fence now and leapt up, the shake making the brothers jump slightly. You climbed up with ease until you reached the top and hung your head over, grinning down at them.

"Honey, this is a bull riding ring. People die. It's unfortunate, but it happens. But I ain't gonna be one of them, okay?"

Sam and Dean shot each other a glance. Okay, so you were a stubborn one. "Look, I'm Dean, and this is my brother, Sam. We saw you ride earlier and, I don't know, I-we, thought you were cool. What's your name?"

You scoffed and shook your head. "Y/N. Which, if you had actually watched me ride properly, you'd already know." They knew you had a point.

"Alright then, Y/N, you got us there. But seriously, you need to get out the ring before you get run down by some mad angry steak." Dean gave you a cheeky grin, hoping his charm might help slightly. It didn't.

"Man, it's the middle of the night. I ain't bringing no bull in here without back up, I'm not insane. I'm just scouting out the ring, getting my bearings before the finals tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter." Sam looked at you with such a serious look, it kinda creeped you out. "The bull that's gonna get in here, it'll do so on its own. Its name is Rampant Thunder."

You shook your head. "No, no Rampant Thunder is dead. Everyone knows that story, his jerk of a rider murdered him because he lost a gig years back." You threw yourself over the fence and stormed towards the boys, your face a myriad of emotions.

"We know," Dean said solemnly. "It was this day, this night, 11 years ago. And every year, on the anniversary of his death, he kills someone, in this very ring. And tonight, that's gonna be you unless you do what we say, and get the hell out of here."

You couldn't believe your ears. Who the hell were these guys? You knew people died here more often than in other rings, but hell, this was redneck country and all sorts of crazy shit happened around here. But there was something about their faces that made you question your instincts. The tall one, Sam, looked anxious, constantly glancing around him. You hadn't failed to notice the gun he gripped tightly behind his back. And as for the cute one, Dean. You had seen him earlier, when you were riding. Every time you got on a bull, you found someone in the crowd to latch onto. This time, it had been him, and you’d enjoyed catching those ocean green eyes for those eight seconds. Dean looked downright scared right now, and you could tell that wasn't an emotion he felt often.

"Look, it's getting late anyway. It's gone 1.30am, I ought to be getting going. And not because of some crazy ghost bull you two keep going on about, but because I need my beauty sleep, alright?" The boys seemed content with that answer and stepped aside, making way for you to make your way back out the gate onto the main field. They gave each other a look of relief as Sam nodded towards his watch, hovering at 1.39am. They were in the clear.

Except they weren't. With a few seconds gain on the Winchesters, you started to hurry back towards your car before you froze.

"Hey, Y/N. You alright?" Dean took a quick look around him in the darkness.

"Er, yeah. Sorry, I just thought I heard something. Ignore me, I've been hanging around cows too long, sometimes I can hear them mooing in my damn head!" You chuckled, but it was clearly one of anxiety.

"It's not in your head." Sam breathed. The three of you stood incredibly still as you heard the roar of a cow to your right, followed by the stamping of hooves.

"Y/N. Run!" Dean hollered as he spun round, pulling his gun out in the direction of the the sound. In the darkness he couldn't see a thing except the grey misting of breath some meters away.

You legged it as fast as you could towards the stalls, crouching behind one to find your breath when you felt your were far enough away. What the hell was going on? A fucking ghost bull? This was ridiculous.

But of course, it wasn't. Not when you could feel the warm breath against your ear and felt the bull's saliva drip onto your shoulder. You turned your head slowly, but there was nothing there. Nothing visible, at least. But it was there alright.

Your piercing scream sent Sam and Dean running, weaving between stands, guns at the ready. You were crouched in a ball, rolled up tightly against the corner of a candyfloss stall. Sam fired to your left, the rocksalt penetrating the invisible animal and sending it up in smoke. Dean ran forward, reaching out to you.

"You okay?" You nodded, then shook your head strongly. "No I'm not damn okay, a fricking ghost bull just tried to kill me!" Dean couldn't help but smile at your abruptness. "Yeah, takes a while to get over that stuff." He didn't even realise that you had shifted position to curl into his arms, tucking your head into his shoulder. "Is it dead? Or gone, or whatever?" You peered up at him.

"No," Sam said, reloading his gun. "Rocksalt just blasts it. But it'll be back, and you're it's target. We've gotta get you out of here now."

Dean stood up, helping you to your feet and starting to guide you towards the lot behind Sam, who was poised and ready with the gun.

"Wait." You tugged at Dean's jacket and caught his eyes despairingly. "You said this thing comes back ever year, right? And every year, it kills someone because of the way it was killed?"

Dean nodded frantically, "yeah, that's why we gotta go!" But your feet were planted and you weren’t going anywhere. "That poor animal didn't deserve to die, especially not like that. He was totally abused, and left to die all alone. He was probably terrified. Look, I don't know much about this ghost shit, but surely he's haunting this place for a reason? Can't we free him or something?"

The Winchesters glanced at each other. Damn, you were testing their morality. But you were right. If they just left, the bull would come back year after year, killing innocent people. They came here to stop it, and that's what they had to do.

"Maybe, but it depends. It's an animal, so there won't be any records of where the body is buried and burning the bones is usually the best way to free a spirit. And if it's revenge the bull is killing for, that's pretty much hopeless because we can't just kill a man because he killed an animal, as much as I'd love to." Sam shrugged, stumped for thought.

"What if it's not revenge?" you questioned. "These animals, sometimes they go through horrendous treatment. I mean, we ride them for all of eight seconds, right, just letting them go feral trying to buck us off because clearly they hate it. So, what if it's not revenge he wants. What if he just wants out?"

Dean nodded, glancing back and forth between the two of you. "The guy that killed him. He was never punished, right?"

Sam shook his head. "No, the guy ran off and they never heard from him again. No one went after him."

Dean turned to look at you, staring you straight in the eye. "You're right. He's trapped here. He's got no closure, and he can't leave this place. He's only killing people out of fear, not revenge. We have to free him."

At that very moment, there was an almighty crash as a stall to your left shattered into pieces. Hooves thudded on the grass, growing louder by the second.

"So how the hell do we do that?!" You shouted, gripping Dean's arms tight.

"We get him over the threshold, that's what we do."

In a split second, he wrapped his arm round your back, propelling you forward towards the fair exit. The three of you ran like hell, the bull close on their heels. You could feel his horns brush your back as you stumbled over the threshold, falling to your knees with a yelp. You braced yourself for impact, squeezing your eyes tight. But there was nothing. Nothing but the slight 'poof' behind you. You spun around just in time to see smoke drift up and away, threading itself around the entrance sign and floating off into the night sky.

Sam looked round to see you being embraced tightly by his brother. "How - how did you know that would work?" You stammered. "I wasn't sure it would," Dean chuckled. "But I figured every death happened in the ring. He never had a reason to leave it. But if he needed to chase you outside, if he needed to follow you away from the scene of the crime, outside the boundary even, it might give his spirit just enough of a push to let go and be set free."

Sam shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He knew what was going to come next. "Maybe?! Christ sake, maybe?!" You shoved Dean with disbelief and Sam chuckled. "Good luck getting yourself out of this one, big brother." He slapped Dean's shoulder as he headed back towards the car, still chuckling at himself. Something told him Dean wouldn't be coming back to the motel just yet.

-

Naturally, Sam was right. Dean had figured the only way to stop you from going on a rant about how much of an idiot he had been for almost getting you killed was to seize you by the face and kiss you. It worked, of course. You couldn't deny that you’d wanted to do the same thing since he'd grabbed you from behind the candyfloss stand.

By the time you’d made it back to your car, all you were wearing was that sexy stetson and your Ariat boots. That was more than he had on, to be fair. Dean pushed you against the hood and you wrapped your legs around his waist eagerly, squeezing them tight. He kissed you all over and your hands wandered, first giving his peachy butt a good slap before reaching round between both your legs. By this point, his mouth was around your left nipple, sucking gently while his right hand caressed the other.

"Fuck, I've always wanted to do it with a cowgirl," he giggled as he took a breath. "Well, today's your lucky day, cowboy." You looked down at him and bit your lip as you grasped tightly onto his rock hard penis. Dean's head thrust up and he growled before softening into your grasp. Your hand moved methodically up and down, hitting all the right places at just the right speed. He couldn’t help but think if this was how she rode the bulls, they were damn lucky bulls.

Before long, Dean started to feel himself brewing. Quickly, he pulled you up further so that his face could burry itself in your dripping wet pussy. His tongue caressed you, taking it all in as your hand gripped his hair tight and moaned. Mosquitos buzzed around you, but neither took any notice. You were far too busy enjoying yourselves.

"Dean," you moaned, reaching down to tilt his head up. "Dean, come up here. Let's make it a tie." He did as he was told, moving up to lie next to you, replacing his mouth with his hand. Once again, you took hold of his penis, rubbing even harder this time. Quickly, you fell into a rhythm, your hands working their magic on each other while your lips intertwined, only parting to take a brief breath.

Neither had any idea how much time had passed, but the night was still as you locked eyes, feeling the energy catch its spark. You both exploded, coming into each other's hands at the exact same moment. It took a while for you to recover, both panting while laughing as you gazed into each other's eyes.

You sat like that, wrapped in each other's arms, for a few more hours as you watched the sun rise. At some point, you’d both gotten dressed, but Dean had made a point to steal your stetson and refused to take it off. As the first stallholders started to arrive, you stayed where you were, giggling like children at the funny looks shot at you. After a while, Dean was alerted by the familiar honk of Baby's horn, and the pair of you turned round to see Sam pull up a few yards away.

"Hey, Sam!" You yelled, giving him a wave. "Hey, Y/N. Glad to see you still alive and kicking. Oh, and thanks for keeping my brother preoccupied. Best night sleep I've had in weeks." He winked as Dean rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, I gotta shoot." Dean stroked your hair softly. "More ghost cows calling, huh?" you giggled, planting a quick kiss on his lips. "Something like that. I'm sorry I can't stay to watch your ride."

You shook your head and crinkled your face. "Don't worry, you won't miss it. Just turn to the first page in the paper in the morning. I'll be the one who wins, if you're wondering where to look." He smiled down at you, reaching up to pass the hat back.

"Keep it. I've got plenty." You gave it a pat and adjusted the brim to fit on his head better. With one final kiss, Dean slipped off the car and headed over to his brother, who was already chuckling away.

"Keep that trap shut, boy, or you're riding shotgun for a year." Dean sauntered round to the passenger side, giving you one final nod as he climbed in. As Sam sped away, Dean flipped the hat off to run a hand through his tousled hair. He grinned when he saw the phone number scribbled on a scrap of paper tucked into the inside of the rim.

If one thing was for sure, Dean Winchester would never forget his rodeo with his cowgirl.

#dean winchester #spn x reader #supernatural #spn #sam winchester #dean winchester x reader #sam and dean #dean winchester x y/n #spn fic #spnrequests #spn smut #dean x cowgirl!reader

[beels-burger-babe]

A Pain You'll Soon Regret - Pt. 2

Poly! MC Summary: MC and the demon lords get in a fight resulting in MC leaving. They planned on going to Purgatory Hall until things cool off, but they never quite make it there. Ft. Poly!MC

TW: Heavy Angst, Violence, I don't know what to tag this, but there is a pretty nasty verbal fight, Gore/Injury Vomit Part 1: HERE, Part 3: HERE, Part 4: HERE

Meanwhile at the House of Lamentation

Your leaving hadn't made the situation at the House any better. Asmodeus threw his hands up in the air and glared at the rest. "Great! Just wonderful! Now they've run off. Happy now?" venom filled his words, but he could feel his heart race in fear that he had just lost the one person who loved him for more than his looks. Satan scoffed, though he glanced at the door through the corner of his eyes. "Don't act like you're better than us. I didn't see you standing up for them." Levi growled and went straight to his room as Satan and Asmodeus began to argue. Beel took a step towards to door you had just marched out of and glance between it and his brothers. "Should we go after them? It's dark and they're drunk."

Lucifer lifted his chin as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should we? It's like they said, they don't want to depend on us anymore, fine. Let them see for themself how far they get without our protection," with those words, Lucifer turned on his heel and stormed to his office.

Beel sighed and looked at Belphie, "What do you think? We can go get them together?" Belphie stared at the door for a minute, a guilty look in his eyes, before he shook his head. "Give them space, Beel. They're probably heading for Purgatory Hall. Simeon and the others can take care of them for tonight. Right now we all just need to calm down before facing each other again," he patted his twin's shoulder before heading to their room; regret swirling in his stomach as he thought of how he betrayed you once more.

Mammon stood frozen staring at the door like he still hadn't made up his mind on what he wanted to do. His instincts screamed at him to get you back in his arms and keep you there. You were his human, reckless or not, and he had a duty to protect you both as your assigned protector and as your boyfriend. But for some reason, he couldn't seem to move his feet. His mind replayed the discussion in his head over and over again. He had once told MC that if they couldn't be saved by him, to make sure that they died. That he was the only one allowed to protect them. Tonight, as everyone was fighting, MC needed him to protect them, but instead, he pushed them towards the wolves. He let his greed get the best of him. "Fuck," Mammon cursed to himself as he shook himself out of his thoughts. He glanced over to see Beel restraining Satan from pouncing onto a sneering Asmodeus. He sighed and shook his head. They hadn't fought like this in a long time. You had always been there to put them into their place. Now look at them. Mammon groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Will you guys cut it out? MC is gone, okay? Ain't nothin' we can do about it now," to his surprise, his younger brothers actually stopped and seemed to be listening to him. Mammon huffed and began walking towards the stairs. "It's like Belphie said. We ain't in no place to make things better right now. Fightin' like this is what got us in this position, so quit it. Get some sleep. We'll figure it all in the mornin'." Beel, Satan and Asmodeus blinked at their older brother as he disappeared upstairs. Seeing Mammon mature and take control of the situation like that, was strange, but not unfamiliar. Asmodeus massaged his temples with one hand and fixed his hair with the other. "Ugh, all this fighting is going to be horrid for my skin," he glanced at the door one more time with a defeated look before heading towards his room. Satan clenched and unclenched his hands a couple of times, taking a few deep breaths, before silently nodding at Beel and walking away. All alone, Beel stepped towards the door. He opened it and looked out at the dark vast of the Devildom before him. With a heavy, guilty heart, he closed the door and pressed his forehead against it. He used one hand to lock the door for the evening, while the other pulled out his D.D.D. The others didn't want him going after you, but a message couldn't hurt, right? He opened your contact and wrote out his text, "Hey MC. I'm sorry for how things happened tonight. Things got out of hand, and I'm sorry for not doing anything to stop that. I know you and the others are upset right now, but I was hoping that tomorrow, once we're all calm, you could come back home and we could talk about it?" Beel sat by the door for half an hour waiting for a response, but none ever came. He frowned and glanced up at the locked door handle before shaking his head. "Maybe they left it on silent for a bit," he mumbled to himself before picking up his phone once more. "Text me when you get to Purgatory Hall. You don't need to say anything else. I just want to know you're safe." With that, Beel headed towards the gym. He wasn't tired. He wasn't hungry. He just wanted you home, but he couldn't have that. So in the meantime, he'd stay awake until he at least knew you were safe.

Only the morning came and went, and there was no word from you. The brothers were starting to get concerned. No matter what was said last night, they still loved you. You all needed to talk, yes, and things needed to be worked out, but that didn't change how they felt for you. They would never want to see you hurt. Lucifer had reached out to Simeon, while Asmodeus contacted Solomon and Beel texted Luke. Only Beel received a response. "Never contact me again. If you come anywhere near Purgatory Hall, I will not hesitate to smite you in an instant, you foul fiend?" Satan read out loud as he passed the phone back to a very confused and worried Beel. "What in the world did you do to him?" "Nothing. At least, I don't think," he thought about for a second. "I've stolen his baked goods on occasion, but besides complaining about as I did it, he never seemed to hold a grudge." Lucifer frowned deeply. "This is clearly about MC. Luke has taken to them as though they're his older sibling."

Levi scowled and pressed a few buttons on his game. "Sure they aren't dating him too?" he yelped as Asmodeus smacked him on the back of the head. "Stop it," Asmodeus growled. "I know you're the Avatar of Envy, Levi, but MC was open and honest with us. They told us that they loved us all and that they wanted a relationship with all of us. We all listened to what they offered and agreed. You agreed to this!"

Levi huffed and put down his game. "Because it was better than not having them at all!" he sighed and put an arm over his face. "I know that they love me, and them being with a-all of us doesn't change that, but it's so hard sometimes. I-I-I just-" "Want 'em to yourself?" Mammon provided. Levi blushed and nodded in response. Mammon shrugged and sat down beside him. "We all understand that Levi. This is somethin' new for all of us. When I see MC bein' sweet with you guys I get this urge to just rip 'em off ya and hold 'em tight in my arms where ya guys can never touch 'em again," he sighed and put a hand on Levi's shoulder, "but then I see MC smile at me the same way they smile at Beel or you or Lucifer. I know that when I'm holdin' them, they're thinkin' of me and they're there with me because they treasure our time together. It's hard sometimes, and it hurts to admit, but you guys make MC happy, and I can't take that away from them." He nudged his younger brother gently, "Neither can you." Everyone sat quietly as they thought of Mammon's words. "They always bring me snacks after my workouts," Beel said with a small smile. "They always seem to know when I'm hungry and would just whip out snacks out of nowhere." Satan leaned onto his knees from where he sat on his chair. "They ordered me their favourite books from the human world on Akuzon. They wanted to do a trade. I'd read their favourites and they'd read mine. That way we could learn a bit about each other just by reading something that the other loved and would understand one another a little better." Belphie tiredly rubbed his eyes and leaned against Beel. "They wake me up after all class and before any meals," he chuckled softly at the memory. "No matter how much I snarled or insulted them, they'd just put their hands on their hips and patiently wait for me to wake up so that I wouldn't miss any of my classes or any meals."

Asmodeus giggled and smiled brightly. "That alone proves how much of an angel they are. Your demon side really shows when you're woken up." The others laughed as Belphegor stuck his tongue out at Asmo. "They would always give me their opinion on my outfits. I know it seems impossible, but even I get torn between which outfit I should bless the public with sometimes. MC would always be the voice of reason to help me choose," his eyes softened, "Though they always said at the end that the most beautiful thing about me was my heart, something no one could see but radiated from the outside-in." Lucifer sighed, closing his eyes as he put aside his pride, and spoke. "They check on me in the middle of the night. I swear they have an alarm. They'll come into my office to see if I'm still awake. If I am, so long as the work isn't truly urgent, they'll poke my cheek and play with my hair until I give in and go to bed."

Everyone turned to Levi. The otaku's face was bright red as he avoided everyone's gaze. "Your turn, Levi," Mammon ordered. "Come on. I know that MC's super gentle with ya. Ya have to have somethin' to add." Leviathan pouted before mumbling. "They'll hold my hand when we're in crowds and in public because they know how anxious it makes me. If I start to freak out, they'll just gently squeeze my hand and pull me along until they can find a quiet space where I can calm down a bit," he groans and glares at Mammon. "What's your point?"

"His point," Satan began calmly, "is that MC loves us all equally. They take special care to do the little things to ensure that we all know that we are loved by them." Mammon nodded and pointed and Satan. "Exactly!" Lucifer hummed in thought. "Though this doesn't fix the problem of MC having no regard for their own safety." Everyone winced. There was no denying that. You admitted it yourself. You were reckless, and in a place like the Devildom, that kind of behaviour would get you killed one day. What would happen if you weren't with them one day? Just like you currently weren't. Memories of your storm out swirled in all of their heads, and concern pooled heavily in their stomachs. "Has anyone heard from them yet?" Belphie asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous. But then again, he was always protective of you as he never wanted you to get hurt again, especially since he had been responsible for so much of your pain in the past. Beel opened his mouth to respond when Asmodeus's D.D.D. went off. Everyone eagerly stood, as Asmo pulled out the device and answered it without checking. "MC? Are you alright?" "Put it on speaker!" Levi snapped, crowding as close to his brother as he could. Asmodeus nodded and quickly did as told. The voice that answered wasn't you, as they had all hoped, but rather Solomon. "I'm afraid they're not," the brother's felt their blood freeze at Solomon's words, as time seemed to stand still around them. Solomon's voice was cold and stern, showing his obvious anger at the demons. "I apologize for not contacting you all sooner, but I was spending every last second of my time and energy on trying to keep MC from dying of blood loss. That, and Luke is quite determined to keep the lot of you as far from MC as possible. If it was up to him I wouldn't even be calling you all right now. I, however, figured that you should at least be made aware of their condition." None of them heard a thing after the words "dying from blood loss" reached their ears. Lucifer took the D.D.D. from Asmo's shaking hands. "What happened? The last we saw them they-" "Presumably walked away from a fight with all of you and was trying to come to us. Yes. I'm aware. I read Beelzebub's texts on MC's phone," everyone glanced at Beel. His brows narrowed as he kept his eyes fixed on the D.D.D. "To answer your question, MC didn't make it to Purgatory Hall last night. They were jumped by a group of three demons who seemed to think that human would make a delectable midnight snack. What do you think, Beelzebub? Is that true? Is the taste of human flesh, really so delicious? I think I've heard you comment as much once or twice before you all began your relationship," Solomon spat the words accusingly. Fury danced on his tongue as though he was Wrath himself. Beel winced back and put a hand on his stomach as flipped inside of him. Belphie growled at the mention in his defence. "Stop dancing around the subject and get to the point. What happened? Are they okay?" The demons were surprised to hear a snarl come from the other end. "I already told you, they aren't. Luke had opened a window to air out some of the kitchens after he failed a new recipe he was trying out when he heard their screams. By the time we got there one of them had eaten half of their right leg, while was one biting along their shoulder, and the other was trying to choke them to death. Simeon and I were able to get the heathens off of them and incinerated them on the spot, but MC was already unconscious. While we were fighting the demons, Luke was just barely able to cast enough healing spells to stop the bleeding and stabilize them. Simeon and I have been working ever since on using every spell, charm, and potion that we know to keep them alive and somehow attempt to heal their injuries." At the mention of MC's leg have been mostly eaten, Beel turned and threw up on the ground. No one moved to comfort him, as they were too distracted by their own states of shock. "A-Are-" Mammon began to choke out before clearing his throat. "Are they

alive? Please tell me they're alive." The answer hung just out of their grasp. Waving dangerously above them like a deadly knife held up by a string. No matter what the response would be, all the brothers felt as though they may faint. "They're alive. Simeon had to use all his power to bring their blood count levels up to a healthy level, and their shoulder was dislocated, they most likely have a concussion going off of their head injury, not to mention their right leg was unsalvagable and had to be amputated, but yes. They are, at the very least, alive." Mammon joined Beel. Satan stood still, though he had changed into his demon form and the aura of pure wrath filled every cranny of the room. Asmodeus held a hand over his mouth as tears streamed steadily down his face. Leviathan had stumbled away from the group and was in the beginning stages of a panic attack. Belphie stared at the phone with a bewildered expression, his eyes pricked with tears, as though he couldn't believe the words coming from Solomon's mouth.

Lucifer was doing everything he could not to hurl the phone across the room.

Solomon continued. "Luke is currently watching them and making sure that they remain stable, while Simeon and I rest. As such, you will have no luck if you try to see them right now. I'll text you when I wake up and then you can come to see them," with that, Solomon hung up. Anxiety, grief, and remorse clung to each of the brothers like a new skin. Earlier they were arguing that all of them had your love, and because of that, all of them had nearly lost you. ***Duh duh duh!!! Part three to come. Part three will probably be the final part, but I don't know. Haven't quite figured out how this is going to end yet. Though a heads up, a may fill out another request before pt. 3 is up just to give me a break from the heavy angst. Thank you all so much for supporting me! And thank you to @millenniumofpain for the request!***

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me fanfic #obey me fic #obey me angst #obey me demon brothers #obey me lucifer #obey me belphegor #obey me satan #obey me leviathan #obey me mammon #obey me beelzebub #obey me asmodeus #obey me luke #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #poly!mc #polyamarous relationship #hurt no comfort #angst #gore #violence #they all need therapy #lets be honest

[thefanficmonster]

Power Couple

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing 

Genre: Fluff, Humor

Summary: Sean, Felix, Dave, and Joel welcome Corpse’s girlfriend to a game of Party Animals. It’s her first time playing and she has to deal with a lot more than just the controls and objectives - her boyfriend being a cute, cuddly sweetheart with ulterior motives to his clinginess.

Requested by @susceptible-but-siriusexual. Thank you so much for your request! Hope I captured what you wanted and how you wanted. Feel free to send any other requests you may have XOXO

It’s been one hell of a day. Had to correct twice as many documents as I was originally supposed to at work; found my car with a flat tire in the parking lot as I was about to go home; argued with my boss over the phone while stuck in a traffic jam. It’s been a rough twelve hours, but it has led me here and that’s what I’d rather think about.

By ‘here’ I mean I’m sitting on the couch in Corpse’s recording room, my computer in my lap, my screen displaying the screen to the game Party Animals. The suggestion was Corpse’s. He immediately picked up on my below par mood and wasted no time finding a solution to bright up the remainder of the day, shadowing the shitty portion of it. I am not what you would call a gamer. Sure I’ve played Among Us with Corpse and his friends a few times. Even that I struggle to do because I’m internally fangirling over all the people in the lobby. Yeah, dating a youtuber doesn’t mean you automatically stop gushing over the many content creators on the platform you’ve been watching for quite some time now. Corpse knows how nervous I get so he’s always near me when we play with Sean, Felix and the other. All he has to do is give me that encouraging smile and wink of his and I’m good to go. Side note: massive props to him for going easy on me in Among Us, getting teasingly called ‘simp’ by his friends in the process.

“You’ll love it.“ He promised me over and over again as the game was downloading on my computer.

“I don’t doubt that, Corpse. But I am going in completely blind and I seriously don’t wanna embarrass myself.“ I mumble a quick ‘nor you‘ under my breath, hoping he doesn’t catch it because I’m in for a pep talk if he does. 

To my dismay, he does, “Listen here, you couldn’t embarrass me even if you actively tried to do something outrageous. Most likely scenario, I’d join you in the act.” He ducks in front of the couch so we’re at eye level, his hand coming up to cup my cheek in the sweetest, most comforting gesture ever. “We’ll show em who’s the boss at stealing candy.”

I can’t help but laugh, feeling unable to express just how much this man means to me. Words can’t do the feeling justice.

“Y/N!“

“Y/N!!“

“Corpse Wife has arrived!“

Hearing all the greetings lights a flame in my chest, the warmth spreading all the way to my neck and cheeks. “Hi guys! Missed playing with you!”

“We missed you too!“ Dave, the only one of the gaming gang I’ve actually met in person, replies to me, his words along with all the others’ wrapping around me like a comfort blanket. Despite them knowing I’m a fan of theirs, they’ve always made me feel welcomed, comfortable, nothing less than them.

“You know anything about this game?“ Felix asks me.

I shake my head, almost forgetting he can’t see me, “Corpse told me it’s funny and cute. It sounds like the perfect game for me.” 

“Oh no, this is a game of survival. Survival of the fittest!“ Sean shouts excitedly, a bang following his shout I can only assume was him hitting his desk.

“I’d like to think I’m pretty fit.“ I shrug my shoulders, laughing along with the guys.

“This is the only way to find out if you actually are.“ Joel’s voice comes through my headphones in the form of a tease.

Sean mumbles quietly to himself as he’s deciding how to separate us in two teams. “Guys, a little help here. We all suck at this game, it doesn’t really matter who’s in which team.”

“Actually...“ Felix trails off, “Corpse and Y/N are the ultimate power couple in Among Us. Chances are they will be in this as well. So, the only logical move would be to...“

“I’m taking Y/N, you take Corpse.“ Sean declares. “Joel, Dave, who do you guys wanna be with?“

And the game starts. Sean, Joel and I are the Meowfia while Corpse, Felix and Dave are yet to choose a team name. We throw around snarky, cocky comments at each other, taunting the opposite team as we struggle to take the candy to our respective sides of the map.

“Don’t you dare pull that lever, Dave!“ I launch at Dave, knocking his cute avatar away from the lever, buying Joel and Sean some time to steal back the gummy bear Corpse and Felix took from us.

“Y/N! Joel is out! Help me!“ Sean is freaking out now. I ditch Dave’s unconscious body and run to Sean’s aid. 

As I’m helping him push it towards out area a member from the opposite team latches onto my avatar, weighing me down and hindering me from doing anything.

“Hug!“ Corpse laughs as he has literally turned into a koala, holding onto my avatar.

“Corpse, you know you are actually supposed to hinder Y/N, not hug her. It’s cute though, don’t get me wrong.“ Felix laughs as him and Sean continue to struggle over the gummy bear.

“Nah, his tactic’s great. I can’t do shit.“ I desperately try and shake him off, “Babe, this is unfair. I can’t even be mad at you!“ I whine, staring to panic now that Dave is back to life and Joel is nowhere to be seen.

The round is won by Felix, Dave and Corpse who, if I might add, didn’t let go of me for the rest of the game.

We switch maps, now every man for himself. We’re on the submarine, recreating the Hunger Games with cute fuzzy animals. The thought passes through my mind, causing me to giggle.

“Y/N, you sound exactly like I’d imagine your avatar to sound. You’re so cute.“ Sean’s avatar circles mine a few times as he laughs.

He’s not wrong, my pale blue puppy is indeed cute. Apparently immortal as well.

“How is Y/N still alive?! Holy shit, her and Corpse really are a power couple.“ Dave shrieks when he sees me pick up the freeze gun. “NOOO!“ He shouts, devastated by the fact I shot him, sending him straight to his death.

“Chill, Dave. It’s all cool. Nothing personal.“ I struggle to hide my laughter, “No hard feelings, right?“

“Of course not, love.“ I can tell he grits the sentence through clenched teeth.

“Aw Dave, you are such an ice guy.“ I giggle, now shooting Joel with the gun.

“Someone take that gun from her!“ Sean cries as him and Felix race up the submarine.

Suddenly, the avatar of my boyfriend again wraps itself around mine. I hadn’t seen him in a while, considering Sean knocked him into the ocean earlier in the round. 

“How are you still alive?!“ I try to spin my puppy to get him to let go but he holds on tightly. “Babe, I swear, you are cute and I love you, but this is ridiculous. How and why are you alive?”

“That’s his superpower! He never fucking dies.“ Felix laughs, letting out a yelp when he briefly slips while climbing.

“Immortals!!! Immortals!!!“ Sean breaks out into a song, a song I really like, breaking the restraints I had on my laughter.

“Drop the gun or we’re dying together.“ He says almost seriously. Even though I can only see the back of his head I know he’s grinning.

“A Titanic/Romeo and Juliet mashup? Why not? I can live with dying a double historical death.“ Even though I appear accepting of his offer, I’m still trying to set myself free.

In the end, Sean claims his first win of the game and the rest of us are dead at the bottom of the ocean. Corpse and I did indeed die a Romeo and Juliet/Titanic death, getting everyone in their feels. We make a deal to get together and play again as soon as possible and we all go our separate ways, exiting the Discord call.

*Later that night* 

After a dinner consisting of takeout and two thirds of a shitty romantic comedies, Corpse shifts from next to me, starting to get up from the couch. I am surprised to feel jolted out of a half sleep as the room is now completely silent, the TV being turned off.

“Hey where’re you going?“ I ask groggily, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

“I have some editing to do. Don’t worry, I won’t stay up too late.“ He kisses my forehead before grabbing his phone from the coffee table.

Just as he’s about to walk away, I wrap my arms around his legs. He laughs, catching onto what I’m insinuating. His chuckle brings a smile to my face and butterflies in my belly. No matter how long we date for or how much time we spend together, some things never change. 

“Payback, huh?“ He asks, the smile audible in the question. I keep my eyes shut but nod, my arms still around his legs. “Alright, you koala. You’re coming with me.”

In his recording room, he settles in his chair placing me in his lap in a way that my legs dangling off to the side, my side leaning against his chest, my face hidden in the crook of his neck. We’re both comfortable, content and relaxed.

I don’t know when exactly it happens, but all my mind has registered is a quiet ‘I love you’ and the soft touch of Corpse’s lips on my temple. I manage to reply with an ‘I love you too’ before my sleepiness consumes me, my body completely relaxing against his, the warmth of his body, his scent, the sound of his breathing making me feel safe and loved: the two feelings I want him to feel with the same intensity when I’m in his arms.

Something tells me he does.

@simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @hacker-ghost  @itsminniekat  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17 @chrysanthykios  @annshit @i-cant-choose-a-username-help

#corpse #corpsehusband #corpse husband #husband #corpse fanfiction #corpse fanfic #corpse husband fluff #corpse husband fanfic #corpse husband fanfiction #corpse x reader #x reader #corpse husband x y/n #corpse husband x reader #reader #requests open #request #fluff #love #romance

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Twenty-Nine

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: not an ending, but a middle.

this chapter was ridiculously difficult to write and edit. it tops out at 7.5k words so… beware

***

Cassian and Nesta make full use of the summer house without his friends there, making love on every other surface just because they’re all alone and they can. Nesta shows a soft spot in particular for having sex in Cassian’s old bed, proving to him that she can be just as sentimental as he is.

Which is how they end up sprawled naked on the living room floor early the next morning, fast asleep in each other’s arms with nothing but a throw blanket to cover them.

Cassian is woken up by the sound of the front door being flung open, followed promptly by a feminine yelp as the intruder catches sight of the tangled couple in the living room. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Cassian whips his head up to find who interrupted his sleep, and his nostrils flare in shock when he sees Mor at the entryway. He carefully but swiftly moves his arm out from under Nesta’s head and replaces it with a nearby pillow before starting to stand up. “What the hell are you doing—”

“Fuck no, I can see your ass—No, now I can see your dick!” Mor squeals in disgust, promptly spinning around and clapping her hands over her eyes like she can burn the image out of her mind.

“Will you shut the fuck up?” Cassian whisper-hisses at her, throwing a worried glance at Nesta’s still sleeping form. She doesn’t shift an inch.

Scooping up his flannel sleep pants from the floor, Cassian pulls them on while Mor makes gagging noises with her back to him.

Spying a pair of underwear flung over the arm of a chair, she bends to pick them up with two pinched fingers and turns to face Cassian, who’s now appropriately covered. Heavy judgment wrinkles her nose as she casts a glance to the owner of the panties, then to Cassian. “Granny panties, Cass? Is this what your sex life has been reduced to?”

“Don’t touch Nesta’s underwear.” He stalks over to Mor and snatches them out of her hand, before grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her off into the kitchen.

She shakes him off once they’re out of earshot from Nesta and takes a seat across from him at the wooden breakfast table. She brushes her golden hair over a shoulder and smirks. “Someone’s been having fun on their own while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive.”

“What are you doing here?” Cassian repeats.

Mor waves a languid hand dismissively. “I ended up taking a commercial flight. I wasn’t a fan of being stuck on the same private plane as Az and Elain.”

Cassian blows out a tight breath, wishing he’d at least gotten some warning before his plans for the day were ruined. Plans that included taking Nesta in the lake before breakfast.

“But seriously,” Mor glances over her shoulder in the direction of the living room, “what’s up with the prude panties? I thought you would’ve thawed that ice pussy by n…” She trails off at the look on Cassian’s face, and a glimpse of fear crosses her own face. She forces a nervous laugh and twists her fingers together. “I suddenly remember making a promise a while ago,” she murmurs while staring down at the table.

“It’s a good thing you remember,” Cassian says stoically, “because I was just about to bring it up.”

“I know, I know, no criticizing your girlfriend.” Mor rolls her eyes.

“It’s about a lot more than that,” he grits. “It’s about how you’re only wary of her because you don’t trust me to choose who I give my love to. It’s about how you don’t respect my decision enough to maintain boundaries when you talk about Nesta.”

For once, Mor looks put off her game. “I never meant it like that,” she tries to say.

“That’s what it looks like,” Cassian retorts. “It looks like you’re judging someone you have no right to judge, like you’re trying to protect me from an imaginary threat.”

Mor coughs aloud. “Do I really need a scolding for a girl I see maybe twice a year? I haven’t even thought about Nesta since the New Year’s party.”

“It’s not a scolding,” Cassian says firmly. “It’s an order to be on your best behavior for the duration of this vacation, because the sisters and I went through a lot to get Nesta to come here. There will be no catfights, or backtalk, or rude looks and snide tones until we’ve returned home. The same applies for everyone else once they get here.”

“Or, how about this? I’ll stop making ice pussy jokes if you stop being this…” Mor waves a hand up and down at Cassian’s shirtless figure with a grimace, “unrecognizable creature with the tension of a forty year old single dad.”

Is Cassian tense? Of course he’s fucking tense. The last time he convinced Nesta to go to a family event with him was Christmas Eve, and he’s never letting that mistake be repeated ever again. His glare confirms it.

“Morrigan,” he says lowly with a hint of warning.

“Okay, okay,” she exclaims, throwing her hands up in surrender. “But for the record, I’ve never said anything rude to your girlfriend’s face, and I never plan to.”

Cassian crosses his brown arms across his chest. “No, you’ve only done it to my face.”

Guilt crosses Mor’s features for the quickest second. “Oh.” She bites her bottom lip. “In that case, I’ll pull back from now on.”

He releases a terse breath. “Good.” Now to hammer the message into anyone else who might threaten the quiet solitude he and Nesta have found here.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she adds somewhat apologetically. “You know I just want the best for you.”

“And you know I already know what’s best for me.”

Mor dips her head in reluctant acknowledgment. “Can we go back to normal, then? I don’t like feeling like your adversary.”

Cassian’s shoulders slump in relief, and his crossed arms fall away. “Of course, Mor.”

Like flipping a switch, Mor claps her hands together. “Good. I left my luggage in the rental car and it’s super heavy; I brought enough clothes for three outfit changes a day. Why don’t you put those big strong muscles to work while I get settled into my room?”

Before Cassian can object, she’s out of her seat and flouncing out of the kitchen. From the entry hall, Cassian can hear Mor say perkily, “Good morning, Nesta! Love the undies.”

Cassian drops his head onto the table with a thud, lifts it, then drops it again. Mor is going to be a work in progress.

“You okay?” A voice makes Cassian look up from the wooden table. Nesta stands in the kitchen entryway wearing nothing but Cassian’s shirt, and her hair is a rumpled mess from sleep. Her hands twisting into the hem of his tee tells him she couldn’t be less excited about Mor’s early arrival, though the rest of her doesn’t show it.

Exhausted apprehensiveness drops in Cassian’s gut. “How much of that did you hear?” he asks warily.

“Not much. I just woke up a minute ago and heard your voices.” She comes over to him and wraps a comforting arm around his shoulder. “Why, were you guys arguing?”

Cassian slings his arm around Nesta’s waist, basking in her warmth. “Not exactly.”

She frowns. “Was it about me?”

“It was about Mor.”

She nudges him. “Will you tell me about it?”

“No,” he quips, yanking her down onto his lap. He pecks a kiss onto her lips. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

Nesta hums to herself. “So our morning plans are out the window?” she asks, raising a brow.

“Yup.”

“Does Mor actually like my undies?”

“Nope.”

***

The rest of Cassian’s friends and Nesta’s family arrive by late afternoon, piling out of a dark SUV in a frenzy of noise and colors. Nesta forgot how… many of them there were.

She lets Cassian and Mor handle the greetings, choosing to observe everyone from her spot near the stairs.

Azriel is the first to catch her eyes. He looks the same as ever, dressed head to toe in black even in the middle of a heat wave. Elain is an overdressed peacock in comparison to him, not that anyone would be comparing them, because they carefully stand at opposite ends of the entry hall.

He sends a simple nod Nesta’s way, which makes her narrow her eyes. Does he think he can act too cool for her just because they haven’t talked in a while? Idiot.

Feyre notices Nesta next and waves her arms wildly. “Get over here!”

Nesta reluctantly pulls away from the banister and nears their group, offering only a half smile to everyone there before hiding behind her sisters. Cassian cuts a glance her way in solidarity, and it feels like a pillar of reinforcement against her wavering self. She scrambles around for a solid ten seconds for something to say, either to her sisters or to the whole group, and finally comes up with, “What are we having for dinner?”

“That’s still hours away,” Rhysand assures. “Everyone scram and put your shit up first.”

“The girl has a point,” Amren grumbles. “I’m starving.”

“Yeah, Rhys, can we have an early dinner?” Mor whines.

And just like that, Nesta has melted into the background again. Which might be for the best, considering how loud it is right now.

Feeling overwhelmed, Nesta checks on Feyre and Elain to make sure they’re not paying attention to her, and then meets Cassian’s gaze through all the luggage and bodies. Tilting her head toward the back door to let him know that she’s leaving, she silently slips down the hall and out of the house.

Outside in the gardens, the light breeze soothes her heightened senses. It’s hot as shit at this hour, but she’ll take it for the peace and quiet.

Only a few minutes into her getaway, however, Nesta hears the porch door open behind her. Her shoulders stiffen when she hears footsteps that don’t belong to Cassian. There goes her peace and quiet.

Nesta is surprised to find Amren slinking up to her side, her small head appearing at Nesta’s shoulder.

Discomfort crawls through Nesta’s bones at the woman’s unexpected presence. It’s a subtle sense of wrongness, like being in the proximity of a predator but not having enough information to guess how they’ll attack.

“Hiding out from Rhysie’s big bad inner circle?” Amren taunts.

Nesta stiffens. Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it needs to be thrown in her face.

“I suppose I can’t blame you,” she goes on. “We can be a scary group.”

“I’m not scared of anybody,” Nesta says, keeping her focus glued to the trees’ cherry blossoms. “I just wanted fresh air.”

“And I’ve wanted to find out what Cassian sees in you ever since he gave me that verbal lashing about being nice to his new girlfriend.” Amren turns to face Nesta fully, closing in. “What kind of pussy grip can a woman have to make Cassian of all men heel?” She hisses in a thoughtful breath through her teeth.

Nesta only shrugs, but her interest is piqued at the idea of Cassian warning Amren away from her. She definitely doesn’t need the protection, and once would have found it offensive, but… she likes the idea of someone standing up for her, being unapologetically on her side even if they have no good reason to do it. The only other times she can remember feeling defended were brief, subtle childhood instances with Feyre and Elain, and that was only because blood instinctively defends blood. It’s different to feel chosen. It makes her chest crack.

When Nesta doesn’t respond, Amren throws out, “Are you on the spectrum or what?”

Nesta again doesn’t reply.

“No one mentioned it, but I assumed as soon as I saw you.”

“It’s rude to make assumptions,” Nesta says, her voice cool as a running river.

Amren barks a laugh that sounds like a whip lashing. “I like you, girl.”

Nesta finally meets Amren’s silver gaze and states, “I don’t like you.” Her tone is blunt, to the point—but if she has to participate in this twisted version of small talk, then she should at least get to be honest.

Amren laughs aloud again, as if that genuinely amuses her. Nesta doesn’t know how amused Amren will be when she realizes that Nesta is serious.

She shrugs to herself, turning back to face the garden. It isn’t her problem, she decides.

***

“Even for you, this is overprotective.” Rhys’s voice comes from behind Cassian, who stands at the sliding glass door at the back of the kitchen that peers out onto the gardens. He’s been watching Amren converse with Nesta for the last seven minutes—or rather, he’s been watching Nesta, inspecting her body language to gauge her discomfort.

It was a struggle not to hold his arm across the back door and block Amren from following after Nesta earlier. Amren had the look of a cat going out to play with a new toy, and Cassian had nearly snarled at her for it until she gave him that expression: the raised brow and sneer that said Really, Cassian? Pathetic.

It made him think of how Nesta would feel if she knew he was trying to physically keep people away from her, and he managed to have enough shame to move aside and let Amren pass with only a warning look.

So far though, it looks like Nesta is handling herself just fine. He should’ve known better than to underestimate her.

When Rhys doesn’t get a response, he comes up to stand at Cassian’s side and get a look through the glass door. “I never thought you’d be applying your passion for security to your damn girlfriend.” Rhys lets out a low whistle.

Without taking his eyes off Nesta and Amren, Cassian tells Rhys, “Protecting her is protecting myself. When she gets hurt, I feel it twofold.” And he really doesn’t want to be hurt on this vacation. Nesta already thinks he’s a crybaby as it is.

Rhys is silent for a long minute, as if he can’t deny that he would feel the same way for his own girlfriend. Eventually he says, “I might finally understand what’s going on in your brain whenever you’re around her.”

Cassian only nods.

Rhysand claps his hand down suddenly on Cassian’s shoulder, breaking the somberness of his confession. “Call them in to help make dinner,” Rhys orders. “I want all hands on deck tonight.”

Cassian looks at his brother with narrowed eyes. “And what will you be doing to help?”

“I’ll be watching the game on the nice TV that I paid for, in the beautiful new living room I also paid for.”

“Bastard.”

***

Nesta and Azriel help prepare dinner in silence. Their quiet acknowledgment of each other is better than any words could be, but it’s all shattered when Mor dumps a serving platter on the counter right next to Azriel.

“Ooh, ricotta-stuffed mushrooms!” She grabs a handful and starts arranging them onto her platter. “Az, how was your mystery weekend away? I haven’t seen you since you got back.”

Azriel shares an unreadable glance with Nesta before sliding his chicken parmesan dish toward her and saying loudly, “Wow, is that football?” He promptly turns around and walks out of the kitchen.

Nesta glares after him in disbelief, but Azriel can’t hear her wordless cries for help because he’s already in the living room.

Left alone at the kitchen counter with Morrigan, Nesta keeps wiping at the wine glasses that have been gathering dust in the cupboards. From the corner of her eye, she can see that Mor’s mouth is tightened into a displeased line.

Not that Nesta isn’t grateful for it, but Mor usually isn’t one to keep her mouth shut. She wonders if something is wrong that she doesn’t know about. “You look constipated,” Nesta tells Mor under her breath. “Anything you want to get out?”

Mor only scoffs in indignation. Then she shakes her head and mutters to herself, “I promised not to say anything.”

Now Nesta is really intrigued. “Promised who?” she prods. “Cassian?”

“Like you don’t know about it.” Mor rolls her dark eyes.

Nesta doesn’t know, though after Amren’s comment earlier she might have a hint. “I would prefer you be honest with me rather than follow Cassian’s orders.”

“That’s funny, so do I.” Mor plucks up a stuffed mushroom and shoves it into her mouth.

Nesta thinks back to how she woke up to Cassian and Mor’s voices lowered in seriousness. After what Nesta overheard on New Year’s Eve, it’s no secret that Morrigan doesn’t care for her, but she suddenly has the urge to have it said to her face. “Well, if you want to stop holding back with me, I won’t tell.”

Morrigan sets down her mushroom platter with a thump, turning to face Nesta like she’s done her a personal wrong. “You know what I know about you, Nesta?” Mor says. “I know that Cassian has changed since he’s gotten with you. I know that he’s more serious whenever he’s around you. I know that you don’t love him as much as he loves you. How can Cassian expect me to trust someone that doesn’t want to be around his own family? How can he expect me to trust you with his heart? Not that I’m allowed to be saying any of this, because I’m supposed to be hiding my feelings about you to stop my best friend from hating me.”

It’s crazy how a year ago those words would have been enough to make Nesta retreat to her room and never come out again. Each statement pricks like a shard of glass against her skin, though none of them are accurate or true.

And yet Nesta finds herself hurting more for Cassian than for herself. She feels her familiar old mask go up around her face and harden there.

“It sounds like your problem is more with Cassian than it is with me,” Nesta says stoically. “Because I won’t be going through any trials to prove myself. I have nothing to prove. I don’t care if you like me or not, if you’re nice to my face or cruel behind my back—but it’s rude to shit over your friend’s life choices like that. He’ll stop trusting you if you keep it up, and it won’t be my fault when it happens,” Nesta finishes. She wordlessly gathers the wine glasses in her hands and abandons a silent Morrigan to go set the table.

Nesta knows the dynamic at dinner is off with her presence there.

For once, Cassian’s priorities lie somewhere other than laughing with his friends. He keeps a protective hand on Nesta’s thigh from the moment they take their seats, and he only removes it when he’s filling her plate with food.

With memories of Christmas dinner hanging over all of them, Cassian looks like a bodyguard prepared for attack— except he’s contributing to a good half of the tension at the table.

“How was the drive here?” Feyre pokes at the two of them in an attempt to break the ice. Nesta glances to Cassian for his response, but his attention is taken by the platter of bread rolls.

Sighing internally, Nesta answers, “Better than yours, that’s for sure.”

Everyone laughs hesitantly. A steaming bread roll then appears on Nesta’s plate, golden and fluffy with a buttery aroma; one glance at the rest of the bread tells her it was the biggest roll in the pile.

Nesta drops her walls enough to give Cassian a small smile and an arm rub of appreciation, and then she reaches straight for the bottle of wine.

She loves Cassian and hates this dinner too much to allow this to go on.

After filling Cassian’s empty glass high with Merlot, Nesta presses it into his free hand with a subtle kiss on his cheek. “Relax a little,” she murmurs into his ear.

It takes ten minutes and two full glasses for her plan to take effect, but relax Cassian does. Like oil slipping through rusted gears, the tension in the room slowly unwinds and natural conversation starts to flow.

“You guys will not believe what I had to walk in on this morning,” Mor announces at one point during the meal.

“Yeah, yeah, Cassian’s ass and dick, we’ve already heard,” Amren says.

Cassian’s glare at Mor is more lighthearted than life-threatening. “This is why I can’t talk to you anymore,” he states, pointing a finger at her. Nesta is so glad for the lack of tension in his shoulders that she doesn’t even care if everyone basically knows about her having sex in the living room.

With Cassian acting more like his normal self, the pressure to make useless small talk is no longer on her. Nesta is content to watch everybody share stories and laughter, but for once she doesn’t feel like an audience member on the outside looking in. Maybe it’s because no matter how much Cassian drinks, his hand stays steady on her leg the whole night, keeping her rooted there with everybody else. He doesn’t let her fade into the background for a second.

“What’s that on your wrist, Az?” Mor’s voice rings from one head of the table. Azriel snatches his hand back in a flash before Mor can reach for it. From his other side, Nesta grabs it smoothly out of the air to take a look at the cause of Mor’s question.

She raises her brow at the sight of three colorful bracelets lining Azriel’s right wrist.

Az tries to pull his hand away, but Nesta’s hold is tight. Even if the signature of the maker wasn’t stamped onto one of the childish bracelets, she would know who had made them with one glance.

“What does it say?” Mor asks her.

“Nothing. Just some beads.” Nesta pulls Azriel’s dark sleeve over the beads that spell out GWYN’S BITCH and gives his arm a little pat. She sincerely hopes Elain is thoroughly over Azriel by now.

“Was that Rainbow Loom I saw? Since when did you wear kiddy bracelets?” Mor snorts at Az.

Nesta’s attention is pulled away from their conversation by a heavy head falling onto her shoulder. “Nestaaa,” Cassian slurs, slumping against her side.

Blushing at the attention he’s drawing to her, Nesta tries to shove a drunk Cassian back upright. “I think we need to get you to bed.”

“Oh really? Promise you’ll tuck me in?” He tries to wink at her, but it comes off as a strained blink.

He looks ridiculous. It isn’t helping the blush on her cheeks, though.

“I promise.” Nesta shoves her finished plate aside and grabs Cassian by the bicep, standing up and attempting to drag him with her. “Come on, I’ll take you right now.”

Mor is quick to get to her feet. “We can take him,” she offers eagerly.

“Who’s we?” Azriel mutters. Nesta hears a hard stomp, and then Az is coughing, jumping out of his seat after Mor. “Yeah, we’ll take him,” he says.

Nesta reluctantly lets Cassian slip out of her grasp as Morrigan and Azriel take one of his arms from either side.

“Wait, but I want Nesta to tuck me in!” Cassian twists around as he’s dragged away, drunkenly finding Nesta’s gaze. He’s pouting.

Affection battles with secondhand embarrassment and wins. “I’ll be right there,” she promises with a wave. As soon as Mor and Azriel accomplish whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish. Her voice flattens into a cold warning when she adds after them, “Be careful with him.”

Daring a quick glance back at the table, Nesta wants to cringe when she meets everyone else’s eyes. Rhysand looks highly amused. Feyre looks disturbed, and Elain looks glum with envy, the love-obsessed bitch. Amren is Amren.

After dinner is over, dishes duty is handed over to Rhysand and Amren goes off to bed complaining about beauty sleep, which leaves Nesta alone with her sisters in the foyer.

She doesn’t quite know how, but she ends up forgetting her promise to Cassian and following the girls out to the front porch for some fresh air instead. The sun has long since set, taking some of the summer heat with it, but the air is still stuffy as the three of them settle down onto hand-painted wooden chairs. Lanterns on the porch are lit up to keep the darkness away, and the lake before them gleams with the reflection of the rising moon.

Feyre is the first to speak, her voice hesitant. “It’s hot out tonight, isn’t it?”

“I’m not doing this,” Elain announces. She stands abruptly from her chair and goes back inside.

Nesta and Feyre stare wide-eyed after the swinging front door, but a minute later Elain returns holding a decanter and three crystal glasses. She sets the glasses down on a side table and starts pouring. “It’s not really Tennessee without a strong whiskey,” she says to no one. “And I’m way too sober right now to handle this vacation.” The third glass gets an extra finger of liquor, and it ends up in Elain’s hand. She passes the other two to Nesta and Feyre before settling back into her seat.

Nesta grimaces at the drink in her hand without even tasting it. She hates most alcohol, but strong alcohol especially. For the sake of her sisters, however, she throws back half the glass without thinking.

Liquid fire scalds her tongue and throat, and she groans aloud. Instant regret.

Elain has no such issues downing her liquor. “Did you know,” she says after swallowing a gulp of whiskey like it’s apple juice, “that our old place is just a mile and a half that way?” She waves with her glass toward the back gardens.

“Is it really that close?” A frown wrinkles Feyre’s brow, like the memory of their old home might taint the perfect life she has now.

“Yes,” Nesta confirms. She doesn’t offer anything else.

Feyre shudders despite the temperature. “I hate even thinking about it. It’s so depressing. Reminds me of Papa.”

Which is also depressing, Nesta thinks to herself.

“It wasn’t depressing for me,” Elain says, chin tilted up in defiance.

That doesn’t surprise Nesta. Even in the depths of their father’s patheticness, he was Elain’s favorite man on earth.

Nesta used to wonder how her papa would have reacted if Elain was the one with crippling endometriosis pain every month instead of her. Would he have ignored her cries like he ignored Nesta’s, or would he have come running to her aid?

It’s not a question that’s worth Nesta’s time and energy, though. Not when the man himself has long been six feet under. Instead she pokes at Elain, “Then why did you hide your background from every guy you met like you were ashamed of it?”

“I was ashamed,” Elain says primly, “but that doesn’t mean I hated all of it. We didn’t all grow up with a ten foot stick up our ass; at least I could appreciate what we had without taking my attitude out on everybody else.”

The whiskey must be working quickly, because Nesta can’t hold back an unseemly snort. “There you go again,” she drawls in a cutting tone, pointing an accusing finger with the hand that holds her glass at Elain. “Dishing out shit when you can’t take it back. At least not without crying.”

Feyre, who was trying to hide her cringe with the rim of her drink, now perks up with eagerness. “She does do that, doesn’t she?” she exclaims. “I thought I was the only one who noticed.”

Elain’s lips twist into an indignant sneer. “What’s this dynamic now, why’s everyone ganging up on me?”

Nesta mutters, “Because you need to hear it every now and then.” Turning to Feyre, she adds, “God, she can be fucking annoying.”

“Oh, like you’re everyone’s favorite person to be around?” Elain scoffs.

“At least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. That’s called a con artist, Elain. You’re a con artist.”

There’s stunned silence for a tense moment—and it’s broken by full laughter. Elain is chuckling sweetly as she says, “Well, I suppose it’s okay if only you two are the ones who notice it. It can be our little secret.” She presses a finger to her pink lips.

Feyre giggles along at that too, but Nesta remains quiet. Too sober for the current mood, perhaps. “Do you think someone will notice at one point?” she asks Elain. “That the smiles and Southern charm and—the kindness...” She doesn’t know how to feel about that word in relation to Elain. “Do you think someone will notice that that’s not all there is to you?”

Elain’s grinning face freezes quicker than an actress’s. “No one will know,” she answers smoothly, “because I’m not going to be with anyone else for a while.”

At the confused silence filled only by the chirp of cicadas, Elain supplements, “I’m trying out the single life.”

Nesta meets Feyre’s eyes, and it only catalyzes the sound quelling up in her throat. At the same moment, the two sisters burst into cackling laughter. Well, Feyre cackles. Nesta makes a noise that imitates a dying whale.

“I’m serious,” Elain insists, glaring at them. “If Nesta could spend all those years living like a widowed hag, why can’t I? I don’t need men to live.”

Nesta’s laughter sours at the insult, and she turns to Elain with seriousness in her tone. “No one needs anyone else, Elain—but you treat loneliness like a leper from the Middle Ages. Are you even happy for me and Cassian beneath all that jealousy?”

Elain shifts uncomfortably in her chair and mutters, “Of course I’m happy for you two.” And then she adds in a much quieter voice, “Deep, deep down.”

“Is that what was wrong with you on New Year’s?” Feyre asks gently. “You were jealous?”

Nesta raises a brow; she didn’t know this.

“I wasn’t exactly having fun watching you two suck face right after getting dumped by Azriel,” Elain tells Nesta. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy for you. I just…I’m not used to being the lonely one.” She huffs out a sigh and reaches for the decanter again. “If anyone should be in a happy and healthy relationship right now, it should be me.”

Feyre turns to Nesta and whispers too loudly, “You’re right, she is fucking annoying.”

“Don’t get too friendly; so are you.”

Feyre leans away from Nesta in affront. “I didn’t even do anything this time!”

“You don’t need to do anything for Nesta to think she’s better than us,” Elain chimes in.

The three of them break out into bickering, which soon devolves into hysterical laughter, which then morphs into a comfortable silence—which doesn’t last long until they’re bickering again. They spend the rest of the night going in small circles like that over their whiskey, occasionally taking breaks to talk of more serious things: Elain’s flower shop is finally starting to pick up business, but expenses are still too high. Nesta is worried about Cassian being all alone in Italy by himself, but she’ll never show it to him. Feyre’s work at the children’s art studio is making her seriously consider having kids (“Don’t you dare, you’re way too young,” Nesta threatens).

Each of them reveals that they miss at least one of their shitty parents these days.

Maybe it’s because they’re under the same night sky that they spent their childhoods under, but if Nesta closes her eyes, it’s like she’s seventeen again, letting her sisters stay up and talk her ear off even though it’s a weeknight.

***

The lack of Nesta in Cassian’s bed must stop him from succumbing to deep sleep, because his nap is hazy and doesn’t last more than a half hour. When he blinks awake, the fog of wine from earlier has mostly cleared away and the lamps in his room are lit. Mor sits on the bay window seat and Azriel lounges on a chair nearby, both of them murmuring quietly to each other.

Noticing Cassian’s movement, Az turns away from Mor and drawls, “That was quick.”

Groaning, Cassian rubs at his eyes and sits up straight. His shirt and jeans are flung on the floor, and he can only assume he took them off himself before collapsing into bed.

Holding the thin blanket to his chest, he demands, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Oh, now he has modesty,” Mor grumbles.

Cassian grabs his wrinkled shirt from the floor and shrugs it on before repeating his question. “What are you doing here, and where’s Nesta?”

“Don’t know,” Az shrugs from his chair. “But Mor wanted us to talk alone, so Nesta probably doesn’t need to be here.”

Growing wary, Cassian straightens up against the headboard. “Talk about what?”

Mor’s words take him by surprise. “I wanted to apologize.” She straightens up in her seat and throws a cautious glance at Azriel. “And I wanted Az with me for moral support.”

Az rolls his eyes to himself, likely considering the task beneath him.

“I didn’t take your words that seriously this morning,” Mor goes on, “but I’m taking them seriously now. Someone made me realize that I’ve been blaming your—girlfriend... for our relationship changing when I’m the one who’s been pushing you away the whole time. While you were falling in love, I wasn’t there for you. I didn’t trust you to find love without my input, and I didn’t respect you when you did.” Tears line her dark eyes, taking Cassian aback. “I’m sorry,” she says weakly. “Please don’t hate me.”

A headache takes root in Cassian’s temples, and he has to shut his eyes against the dull thudding. “I could never hate you, Mor,” he says past the lump in his throat. That was never the problem, though her words have eased some of the pent up frustration in his chest.

Cassian lets out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s not just you. It’s every single one of us. We’ve known each other so long, we’re so fucking entangled in each other, that even when I’m living by myself up in my cabin I feel like I can’t get away from it.” He stares out the window like he might find some relief there. “That’s why I’m going overseas. To get some space from all of this.” He waves between the three of them and laughs bitterly. “We created this incestuous little circle and now we don’t know how to care about anyone outside of it.”

He catches Az frowning, fingers toying with one of the bracelets on his wrist that Cassian spied earlier.

Mor sniffs away a lingering tear. “What about Nesta, then? Where does she factor in?”

Cassian’s mouth turns down in a distasteful frown. He still doesn’t like that he has to leave without her, but the fact that he doesn’t like it is only more proof that he needs to do it. “I can’t let Nesta be a part of me,” he answers. “I need to be all of me.”

Only once he learns how to do that can he be the friend and lover that the people in his life deserve.

***

Nesta wakes up the next dawn not on a hard chair, but in a soft bed. The smell of Cassian lingers on the sheets wrapped around her, and she blinks blearily as she tries to remember the events of last night.

Feyre fell asleep first. Elain and Nesta were just going to close their eyes for a moment and take a brief rest as well, but the next thing Nesta knew Cassian was helping her take out her contacts and laying her head against a pillow. Now the sun is dawning and she has a pounding headache. She needs at least another ten hours of sleep before she’ll be fit to face the world again.

She looks around for her phone to check the time and spots it plugged into the charger on the bedside table. Despite feeling like she’s been rammed with the flu, the tiniest smile lifts Nesta’s lips at the thought of Cassian carrying her to bed and making sure to charge her phone.

She finds her lockscreen blown up with notifications, all from her shared groupchat with Gwyn and Emerie.

Clicking into her texts, Nesta scrolls back through the hundreds of messages to see what she missed.

Emerie: i can’t believe nesta isn’t here for this.

Emerie: what the hell is she doing

Gwyn: probably hanging out with her best friends the inner circle

Gwyn: or getting railed

Emerie: >:(

A tired laugh escapes Nesta as she reads the texts, and she’s grateful for the reminder that these are her chosen friends. This is her found family, and she’ll be back with them soon.

Scrolling a little further back, Nesta finds the cause of all the commotion.

Emerie: A RACCOON JUST FELL THROUGH MY CEILING IM GONMA DUE &%!@

Emerie: DIE

Followed by multiple pictures of a scarily large raccoon chewing up Emerie’s bed.

Nesta shudders at the images. Reminding herself to message the girls back as soon as she has her head on straight, she puts away the phone and drags herself out of bed.

Her knees wobble a little as she stands upright and slips her glasses on, but her body keeps moving automatically toward the door. It’s not until she’s halfway downstairs that she realizes she’s looking for Cassian.

In the main hall that cuts through the house, Nesta glances between the back door and the front door. Instinct tugs her toward the front door, and as she passes the living room she spies Elain knocked out on the couch.

One of her legs dangle off the edge of the cushion and she still has her shoes on, like she dragged herself up onto the loveseat in the middle of the night and fell straight asleep.

Cassian brought Nesta up to their room sometime during the night, and Rhysand would have done the same for Feyre, but Elain… Elain has no one to carry her to her room, Nesta realizes.

Hating the unusual feeling of pity that blooms inside of her, Nesta goes over and grabs a throw blanket from nearby. She flings it haphazardly over Elain’s body. There, that should do it.

She might take a few seconds to tuck the blanket in a little better, but then she’s out the front door and jogging down the porch steps. Early morning dew beads the grass, and the sun isn’t high enough in the sky yet for the heat to be unbearable.

Like perfect timing, Cassian’s form appears from the lightly wooded running trail that circles the lake. He has his hair tied up and is wearing nothing but workout shorts, and even from this distance Nesta can see the sweat gleaming off his hardened chest.

She forgets about her headache and the bitter aftertaste of alcohol coating her tongue. Her feet speed up on the grass, and then Cassian takes sight of her too. He grins wide and breaks into a run toward her.

When they’re mere feet away from each other, Nesta is the one to halt first and hold out a hand, blocking Cassian’s incoming bear hug. “Don’t you dare.” She eyes his body with a warning look. Nesta will do a lot of things for her boyfriend, but sticking her face into his sweaty pits is not one of them.

Cassian looks her up and down with scrutiny, trying to decide if going in for the hug anyway is worth it. “Fine,” he gives in. He spins on his heel and walks down to the head of the pier, where a standing shower is set up for washing off after swims in the lake.

Twisting the faucet, Cassian stands under the cold burst of water and gives Nesta a look that says, Happy now?

Nesta cautiously goes over to where Cassian stands, but she gets too close—

In a blink, she’s being tugged under the shower stream, held tight to Cassian’s chest.

“Cassian!” Nesta splutters, trying to pull away. Droplets hit her glasses and blur her vision, and she has to shove the glasses up into her hair so she can properly glare at Cassian’s face.

He only laughs deeply and tugs her closer. “Like you don’t smell either. You’ve been in that dress since yesterday.”

Nesta catches her breath under the pouring water, glancing down at her soaked sundress. Right; she probably needs this more than he does.

The water isn’t freezing like she expected, she realizes as she relaxes in Cassian’s arms. It’s actually the perfect temperature, almost soothing after the initial shock to her senses.

Broad hands stroke long lines across her arms, like Cassian is making sure that she isn’t uncomfortable. The action triggers an old memory inside Nesta—or rather, an old familiar feeling. The feeling of Cassian in Nesta’s early days of knowing him, always pushing her out of her comfort zone but never tossing her in the deep end to drown.

“I handled my sisters and your friends pretty well the other night, don’t you think?” she murmurs into his chest.

Cassian looks down at her with pure reverence in his eyes. “I can’t be surprised. You’ve always been like that.”

“Like what?”

“Brave as hell. From the minute you stepped outside of the little circle you’d drawn around your life, you became the bravest person I know.”

“Not true,” Nesta states matter-of-factly. “I can name at least three braver people.”

Cassian pokes her in the ribs, but his smile is good natured. “It’s just an expression, Nes. Take the compliment.”

The shower keeps spraying around them, refracting the sunlight to scatter rainbows across Nesta’s vision. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she tells Cassian earnestly. “I did the bulk of the hard work, but you…you gave me that first push. You taught me I could find safety in others, because you were my first real friend.”

Her words clearly take Cassian by surprise. Maybe it’s because Nesta is so rarely open about her true feelings, so her words have more value when she is. Maybe Cassian just wasn’t expecting to get so much credit, which is why he blinks rapidly now. “And what now?” he tries to tease, emotion tangled in his throat. “You have better friends?”

“Much better,” Nesta plays along, but her gaze carries all her sincerity. She suddenly laughs to herself, remembering: “I was terrible at socializing.”

It’s something she brushes off easily now, but few people will ever know that part of her inability to get close to others stemmed from a debilitating fear of rejection.

“Not to me.” Cassian reaches out to twist the faucet off, leaving the two of them standing soaked in the morning air. “I loved talking to you. I couldn’t stop wanting to talk to you, even if you didn’t feel like talking back.” That was how insistent he’d been on becoming her friend, that he would open up to her even when she was closed off to him.

Nesta watches Cassian tug his hair tie off, a little dazed by how much she feels for him in this moment. She isn’t ready for when he scrubs a hand vigorously through his loose hair, shaking the dripping strands out like a dog.

“Cassian!” Nesta scolds for the second time this morning. She flinches back at the water droplets hitting her eyes, making Cassian laugh when he looks back up at her. “Sorry,” he says, not sounding sorry at all. To make up for the assault, he delicately plucks her glasses off the top of her head and uses the hem of her wet dress to wipe off the lenses as best he can.

He slides the glasses back onto her face and nods, inspecting her. “That’s better.” Then he swoops down to kiss the mole beside her mouth.

Nesta wrinkles her nose in surprise. “What’s that for?”

“It’s a thank you,” he says. “Thank you for your car breaking down in the middle of the woods, and for agreeing to spend the night at my place last September.”

Nesta’s brows raise high in amusement. “Shouldn’t you be thanking Feyre? For calling in that favor with you?”

“One day, I’ll do that too,” he promises.

Nesta bites down on a smile and shakes her head, muttering, “Ridiculous.” Yet she can’t help but wonder: who would she thank?

The universe, probably. Whatever forces made it possible for her to wake up every day in the same bed as Cassian, eating the food he cooks and accepting the unconditional love he offers.

She suddenly shivers under the rising sun, becoming aware of how just uncomfortably her sundress clings to her body. Without Cassian’s words distracting her, everything is damp and cold.

Cassian notices and slips his hand into Nesta’s, already starting to pull her away from the pier and toward the house. “Let’s get you dry,” he says. “I’ll make us pancakes before everyone else wakes up.”

“With chocolate chips?”

“With chocolate chips.”

So hand in hand, the two of them walk back up to Cherrywood House.

***

a/n: IM FREE OF THIS BEAST. that ending was absolutely horrible to write, but i hope it satisfied you anyway. and if didnt, well, that’s what the epilogue is for

tagging: @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @valkyriewarriors @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @swankii-art-teacher @wannawriteyouabook @arinbelle @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja @maastrash @bow-dawn @perseusannabeth @dead-on-the-inside666 @jlinez @hungryreadingaddict @anidealiveson @planet-faerie @shallowhighwaters @ghostlyrose2 @chosenfamily-valkyriequeens @rarephloxes

#nesta archeron #nessian #cassian #ncssianwrites #a favor #nessian fic #nessian au