#well. gotta keep in mind she was alone in a house taking care of her mother for eleven years

[technicolorxsn]

oh okay

#well. gotta keep in mind she was alone in a house taking care of her mother for eleven years #she changes so quickly but its hard to pinpoint when or how or why #i first picked up on it when she was disgusted by theo's distress over her clothes but did it start sooner? #i feel like towards the end its spurred on by her fear of judgement; shes convinved they all hate her and are laughing about her #and her acting like that's true makes it self fulfilling #though the way luke treats her still feels sort of cruel #esp after trying (succeeding? it was unclear) to get in her pants #i cant help but feel sympathetic towards eleanor‚ shes so hopelessly sad #i feel like i should apologize to the person i accidentally have been visualizing her as lol #shes so... strange though #im still not sure i get why she lied about the apartment esp after shes talked about her mom? #i feel like the stuff she keeps mentioning abt the apartment means something but i cant figure out what #stone lions white cat oleander bushes cup full of stars.. #i mean i know its stuff she saw on her drive but why those? #also whats the importance of the song??

[mrslankyman]

Change

Mike Schmidt x (Fem) Reader

-> eventual smut

-> Mikes friends Sister

-> mentions of alcohol/drunk mike

->3.5K words

————————————————————————————————————————

Everyday felt the same. It was the same drag. Wake up, work, go to sleep, wake up, work, go to sleep and so on.

Today was different how ever. I was going over to my friend Tyler’s house. Abby decided to stay at her friends this weekend. So I had some down time.

I head up to his house. Knocking on the door. He lived about 10 minutes away. Took me 20 to get here. I like to just drive around. Take my mind off things.

Tyler opens the door and looks down at me. He’s always been taller. Which made me slightly annoyed.

“Come on in. Oh by the way.. my sister moved in. She needs a place to stay so. Sorry if she annoys you.” He chuckled and plopped on his couch. I’ve only ever met Tyler’s sister once. Back a few years ago. She came to his Christmas party.

I shrug not really caring and sit down beside him. He chats with me about random things. We hadn’t hung out in 2 months. We’d call but that was about it.

”Hey, I gotta run to the store.” Tyler says getting up. “Im gonna get us some booze. Gonna have a fun night. Your sisters at a friends yeah?” Tyler asked making sure it was okay to get drunk tonight.

“Yeah she’s staying over.” I answer looking down at my shoes. Even around Tyler I couldn’t seem to pull out a happy tone.

“Sick. Ima go get some then. You need to loosen up a little tonight. Relax. You can watch what ever you want.” He says as he headed out. Of course. He leaves me alone here.

Not that I mind much. I’ve stayed over here a lot before my dad took his life. Back when I had a little more freedom.

Not that I mind taking care of Abby. She gave me a reason to keep going. Though sometimes a little break is nice.

I hear a door down the hallway open. I almost forgot Tyler’s sister was here. She came walking into the living room. Her eyes landed on me and she gave a confused look.

“He went to the store.” I said looking over at her. My eyes linger a little. She must of got all the good looking genes. Tyler got zero.

“Mike right? Tyler’s friend?” She asked walking over. I nod and look at the tv again.

“Yeah.” I don’t look at her. I keep my eyes on the Tv. “Not much of a talker?” She asked curiously.

“Not really..” I say my voice quite. I didn’t wanna show any interest. She was Tyler’s sister. I also felt slightly uncomfortable.

“You and him gonna get drunk?” She stood up and headed to the kitchen.

“Probably. I don’t drink much so.. this will be fun I hope.” My reply wasn’t much of a welcoming one. I didn’t wanna talk. I hated talking to new people.

Last time I talked to her I was more than likely black out drunk on Christmas.

“Right. Well I’m gonna go back to my room. Don’t tear up the house please.” Her request made me look at her. She was already off down the hall.

I assume Tyler makes her clean or she does most the cleaning. Tyler obviously wasn’t the one keeping this house so in order.

——

I was about 8 beers in. They tasted terrible. But my mind was fuzzy. One thing I liked about getting drunk was I didn’t feel so sad. I loosened up. Me and Tyler were cracking jokes. He offered to invite some more friends over. Soon enough there was a party.

How the hell did we get to this? There was about 10 of us now. Not too big of a party but still. This house was too cramped for all of us. They were busy watching some game show on tv.

I stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. I felt like I was gonna throw up. Maybe drinking wasn’t so fun. I finally made it and slung the door open. Falling down and just breathed heavily.

When did walking become so tiering?

I let my head fall back on the rim of the tub. Just sitting there. Trying to subside the feeling. I hated throwing up. Something about it just made me afraid.

I covered my face and then slid my hands down. Letting them pull my skin till they fell off back to my chest. Foot steps came walking to the bathroom. Probably Tyler or one of his friends. They’d make me get up and leave. I didn’t feel like leaving though.

Instead my eyes landed on Y/N. She looked down at me. Partly confused and partly annoyed. “This is my bathroom. If you wanna puke in Tyler’s go upstairs.” She walked over to me and bent down.

“I don’t wanna go upstairs. I wanna stay here.” I looked up at her with pleading eyes. She sighed and sat down beside me instead. Crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine. But I’m staying in here with you.” She kicked the door closed with her foot. “I don’t like any of Tyler’s friends. They’re all annoying.” She leaned her head back line mine. Smiling a little.

“Yeah. I don’t think they’re so bad.” I shrugged. Honestly that was a lie. I hated them. They were too loud and wanted to watch sports all day. I just wanted to sleep. Or be alone.

“You live in town?” Her question jolted me out of my thoughts. “Yeah, only a few minutes away. Where did you come from?” I turned to her.

“I was going to college back in our home state Arizona but.. money ran short. So I asked Tyler if I could stay with him here. He makes good money. He said yes and I work down at the diner now. Sparkys. It’s nice. My co-worker Ness says I should leave. Go back to college and be the great scientist I should be. I wish it was that simple.” She sighed. Her eyes going down to her feet. That feeling of not being good enough hit home to me.

“Hey, you’ll make it back one day. Stuff takes time. You wanna be a scientist you say? That’s pretty cool. I just work security at the mall.” I tried to cheer her up. Make my life sound terrible. I mean it is. She doesn’t have to know that.

“That’s not so bad. I think a security job suits you. Maybe I will.. or maybe I’ll change careers. Maybe being a server at Sparkys my whole life would be amazing.” Sarcasm laced her voice at the end. I frowned slightly and looked away. The buzzing feeling coming back in my head.

“I get it. Feeling like a dead end. Life is difficult but.. we all make it with what we got.” I closed my eyes. She said something but I honestly didn’t hear. I was already asleep.

——

So rightfully so when you wake up in your own house after blacking out in a friends bathroom you’d be confused. Which I was. I looked around. How the hell did I even get back here? Did I drive? No possible way.

I looked down at my night stand and the answer was there for me. I picked up the small slip of paper.

‘You blacked out, drove you home. Lucky Tyler remembered your address. - Y/N’

A small smile creeped on my face. At least there was some hope for kind people in the world. Aunt Jane could use some lessons.

I grabbed my black hoodie and slid it on. Going for my dark blue jeans.

I didn’t have work tonight. So maybe I’d take Abby out for dinner.

——

I would be lying if I said I picked Sparkys cause it’s my favorite diner. It’s not. I only come here sometimes. Abby loved it though. She loved the milk shakes.

We headed inside. Abby over joyed to get out of the house. Me on the other hand. I had about $10 to tip our waitress. She deserved it.

We headed inside picked out booth and waited. Y/N came walking over. In the usual Sparkys outfit. She smiled at me before seeing Abby.

“Didn’t know you had a kid.” She teased. Abby’s face scrunched up. “Gross. He’s my brother.” She corrected. Doing what kids do best and acting disgusted.

“Yeah she’s my little sister.” I nodded noticing Y/N’s demeanor shift. She seemed relaxed. Maybe she thought I had a wife or girl friend. Which wouldn’t look good if she took me home.

“What can I get for you two tonight?” She asked pulling out her note pad.

——

We ate dinner. Got the check. $14.30 wasn’t so bad. Abby did get a milk shake. I watched Abby as she raced out to the car. I slid down the $10 tip writing on the napkin.

‘Thanks for taking me home. - mike’

I walked up to the cash register. Paying the bill and heading out to take Abby and me home.

——

So to say the least I hadn’t seen Y/N in 2 weeks. No reason to go to Tyler’s and no reason to go to Sparkys. Until Abby begged to go. She wanted a milk shake. I couldn’t say no.

So we headed back. Going inside felt different. Like my hope of seeing Y/N against wasn’t going to happen tonight. And truth be told. It didn’t. Ness sat us. I remember him. I’ve talked to him maybe 4 times. Heard about him through Y/N as well at the ‘party’.

he greeted us cheerfully and sat us down.

“I’ll be back with that Pepsi and your milk shake.” He smiled and walked off to the kitchen.

I was looking around. Searching for Y/N. Why I have no clue. Why did I care if she was working tonight?

“Who you looking for?” Abby asked curiously I quickly looked over at her. “No one just looking around.” My face blushed. Of course she catches me.

“There’s not much to look at. Are you looking for that girl?” She smiled wide. How does she always know?

“No..” I lied feeling my face flush more. “Sure.” Her simple reply told me everything. She definitely knew.

“She’s pretty. Why don’t you tell her you like her?” Such an innocent question. Why don’t I tell her?

“I don’t know Abs .. it’s complicated.” I sighed leaning my head in my hands.

“It doesn’t have to be complicated.” She urged on. “Just tell her she’s pretty.”

“I.. Abby let’s drop it okay?” I was getting irritated. Not at her. At my self. I always do this. Never say what I want too. I guess if I want to get with someone I have to make moves.

On big problem is she’s Tyler’s sister. I don’t wanna just date his sister without his approval.. which in part isn’t his business but.. we’ve been friends for so long it be wrong to not ask.

“Here’s that milk shake for you little lady.” Ness says smiling setting down Abby’s milk shake.

“Y/N says thanks for the tip. She wasn’t sure when she’d see you again. But she told me about it.” Ness spoke to me. Which made me look at him confused for a moment. “Oh ugh.. tell her it’s no problem.” I answered nervously he gave a little smirk. Like he was definitely going to tell Y/N about this interaction.

——

It’s been 5 weeks. 5 whole weeks. I really should’ve left my number. My mind races every night. Thoughts of her. How can someone fall for another in such short time? With such little interactions?

I feel like knowing she cared enough to take me home made me fall harder. Never having anyone in my high school days also makes this harder.

My mind tracks back to any girl I’ve talked too. Any girl I’ve let get intimate with me that would end it after a week or two. None of them did something this small that made me feel this much.

I close my eyes and all I can see is her. I doubt she thinks of me.

I haven’t went back to Sparkys. I don’t wanna look like a creep. Though I’d die to see her again. Just chat. Even a simple hello would be enough.

I’m cool on the outside how ever. Abby hasn’t mentioned her since that night at Sparkys.

Tyler hasn’t called me. I assume we won’t hang out for a good while again.

The second I thought all hopes were lost and this crush of mine was a waste I met her again.

We were down at the store. Just trying to get some last minute groceries before it closed. I bumped into her.

She said she had to get some food for the house. Tyler never wanted to go grocery shopping. I nodded and listened to her rant. She thanked me for the tip. Thought she told me not to do it again. It was too much money to leave as a tip.

She wasn't wrong. I could really use every penny I got but.. it seemed worth it for her.

We exchanged numbers. Stating how she had few friends in this town. On the outside I was cool about it. Just giving her my home phone number. On the inside though. My stomach was doing flips.

——

So we call. We chat. We hang out at my house. She didn’t want Tyler to think she was stealing his friend.

Funny enough she was.

We sat on the couch. It had been 3 weeks since we started talking. Abby went off to some friends for the weekend. Tabitha was the girls name. They had been friends for a while. I had no problem with her going to a friends. At least she had more than me.

“You think this movie is good?” Y/N asked as I looked at her. Shrugging I lean back in the couch. “Honestly no, but it’s something to watch.” She giggled at my response. “I suppose you’re right.” She leaned back copying my position. She was slightly closer.

Closer than she had been before.

I could feel her arm against mine. The heat from the small amount friction felt like it set me on fire. Not even the sleeves of my black hoodie could cloak the feeling of her arm.

I don’t wanna be a perv. I wish I didn’t pick jeans to wear tonight. They weren’t doing me any favors as I felt my dick harden.

I prayed she didn’t notice. It be to obvious if I took the pillow at the end of the couch and hid it. It also be weird if I didn’t.

My eyes stayed glued to the tv. My face turning red. My stomach was doing flips. All just from her arm touching mine. That was until..

“You okay?” She asked looking in my eyes. I looked back at her nervously. “Yeah.. fine.” I swallowed back my spit nervously. She was leaning closer. Too close. If the bulge in my pants didn’t scream I like you the redness on my face sure would.

Her eyes flicked down. I was so caught. She’d tell Tyler and he’d tell me off for finding his sister attractive. I’d lose a friend. I’d lose my dignity and be even more embarrassed.

I watched her as her eyes flicked back up to mine. A small smirk spread across her face. Not the reaction I was thinking off.

“Want some help?” She asked, when did her voice become so seductive? If it was possible my face got even redder. It felt like the fiery pits of hell had come up to my face.

“W-what..?” Of course I sound like a nervous idiot. “Do you want help?” She titled her head having that look on her face. Her hand rested in my thigh now.

“Would it be weird if I said yes?” Some confidence had come back. I could do this.

“It be weird if you said no.” She giggled and slid her hand up further. Her palm of her hand rubbed up my bulge. Did I get the right size jeans?

I groaned as she rubbed back and forth. It was one thing to have my hand do it but to have hers? It felt 10x better.

I leaned my head back and let her do her thing. Till she crawled up onto my lap. I opened my eyes and looked at her.

She smirked down at me wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

“You’re so hot.” Her words hit my ears and that was it. She pressed her lips to mine and my hands instantly went to her grabbing her hips. She grinned against me, I’d push her down harder. Moans escaped my lips in between kisses. The feeling of her jeans against me was something else.

She finally pulled away. Catching her breath between unbuttoning her jeans. Before I could even blink they were off. Leaving her in her underwear. My eyes shot up to her. Trying to be as respectful as I could.

“I didn’t take you to be such a horny guy. You fooled me with the sweet and quiet act.” She unzipped my jeans. I don’t respond. I was too caught up in the moment. Before I know it she had my pants off and was back to grinding. This time it felt 100x different.

It almost hurt how good it felt. To feel my cock slipping between her folds. Though I slightly wished the fabrics of our under garments weren’t there.

Her tongue slid into my mouth after a small gasp. I didn’t ever wanna let her go. I didn’t ever want my dick to go soft again. I just wanted to make out on this couch for ever.

“I want you Mike.” Her words made my dick twitch, my heart race, and my head spin. “I want you too..” I moaned out as she kissed my neck. Her lips were so intoxicating. Wether on my lips or skin. I wanted them. I wanted them all over me.

I was growing tired of waiting. I wanted her. I wanted her so bad. I wanted her now, tomorrow , and forever.

I slid my hand down. Pulling my dick out of my boxers. She put her forehead against mine and we locked eyes. She nodded slowly. Giving me the green light to go head. I used my other hand and pushed her underwear to the side. Giving me enough room to just slid in.

She moved her head to the crook of my neck and moaned. I gently guided my self inside before I was all the way in.

“You’re so fucking good.” She whispered in my ear. That sent me in a craze. Because I don’t even remember when but we ended up in my room. Clothes completely off. Going on round 2.

——

My thoughts spun around as I saw her laying on my bed. Naked. I looked down at my self.

We did it..

i felt her shift and sit up slowly. I felt her eyes on me so I turned to look. Her face was red and she smiled awkwardly. “Hey..”

“Hey.” I answered looking down. Should I ask? What if she thought last night was a one time thing? Just a quick fuck and go back to being friends.

“Was last night-“ “did you-“

We both stopped and laughed a little. “You go first.” I offer, she nodded and sighed.

“Did you..like it? Or well.. do you like me? I just wanna know if last night was just something for fun or do you genuinely like me?” Her question stung a little.

She thought I was just doing it for fun? Do I come off as that big of an ass hole?

“No. No no.. I didn’t just do it for fun. I genuinely like you.. a lot.” I scooted closer. She smiled a little. Relief washed over her face.

“Thank god… I was worried you were just using me.. as like.. I don’t know ‘My friends hot sister is in town let’s try to fuck her.’ .. I don’t know. It’s stupid.” She looked down. I frowned and leaned closer to her.

“I’d never do that to you. I think you’re a beautiful and smart girl. Someone who doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I wanna get to know you. Learn about science with you. Hell maybe even.. go further in life with you… if you wanted to that is.” My face flushed as I pooled out my thoughts. Her sweet laugh filled my ears and she kissed me. Not a sexual kiss, just a sweet gentle kiss. Much different from last night.

“I’d love to teach you about science and go further in life with you and just get to know you as well..”

I felt over joyed. That was until we had to tell Tyler. Turns out he already knew. He had a hunch his sister talking about some guy everyday wasn’t just some guy.

Abby approves of her too. They often hang out and color together. I’m sorta jealous I can’t join in on the ‘girl squad’ hang outs but. At least I have my two favorite girls in the whole world with me.

That's all I need.

#mike schimdt x reader #mike schmidt #fnaf movie #fnaf #josh hutcherson #fnaf fanfic #mike schmidt smut #fnaf smut

[canirove]

Friends, lovers… and an orange | Chapter 2

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Mum, I already told you. We didn't kiss!"

"Adele, if you did there is nothing wrong with it, you know? You've known each other your whole lives and..."

"Mum, for the millionth time: Mason and I didn't kiss! I was just smelling his neck!"

"Ok, ok. No need to get that angry" Elizabeth said over the phone.

"How am I supposed to not get angry when no one believes me? Not you, not Jourdan, definitely not the press..." Adele said.

"This will pass, don't worry. It has always been the same. And with all these daily trends online, people will have forgotten about you and Mason in a week. His fans may even start a new gossip if they see him following another girl on Instagram."

"Yeah, that's true" she sighed.

"Addie..." Jourdan said after knocking on her room's door. "There is someone who wants to see you."

"I gotta go, mum. Call you later."

"Ok. Love you sweetheart."

"Love you too" Adele said before hanging up. "Who is it?"

"Mason. He wants to talk with you."

"Of course he does" she said before walking into their living room. "Hello."

"Addie, hi. How are you?"

"Well... you know. The whole country and part of the world believes we were making out after your mother's birthday party, and my best friend and my own mother didn't believe me when I explained to them that we weren't."

"Hey, I do believe you" Jourdan said.

"Yeah, but because you saw me crying after I explained everything ten times."

"You cried?" Mason said, getting up from the sofa and moving to where Adele was standing, stopping himself when he was about to... Touch her face? 

"I did, but you know me. I usually cry when I get frustrated" she shrugged. "Anyway, how are you? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to apologize. All this mess is because of me, because of my fame. You've always wanted a quiet life, you don't deserve this."

"Thank you" Adele smiled. "Have you spoken with your agency, tho? What are we supposed to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. The best thing to do is to let things cool down. People will move into the next piece of gossip and leave us alone."

"That's what my mum said..."

"And mine" Mason chuckled. "They've been through this, they know what they are talking about. And so does my agency. So we should keep calm and..."

"Guys..." Jourdan said. "I think you may want to see this."

"Are those… paparazzis?" Adele said when she joined Jourdan and looked out the window.

"Fuck, they followed me" Mason said, joining them.

"They what?"

"They were waiting outside my place, but I thought I had lost them on my way here" he said. "I am so sorry, Addie. This is all my fault."

"What are we going to do now? Call the police?" she asked.

"That won't do anything, they are just standing in the street" Jourdan said.

"So then what?"

"I'll leave and distract them, take them back to my place” he said.

"But now they know where I live, Mase. What if they camp outside or follow me everywhere?" Adele said.

"Then you will call me and my agency will take care of it. I promise you it will be fine."

But it wasn't fine. 

For the following couple of weeks and every time Adele left the house, she was welcomed by paparazzis shouting at her and asking her about Mason, the photos being online just a couple of hours later. At one point, they even followed her while she was on her daily run to the park. 

Things weren't cooling down as everyone had told her, and it was exhausting. 

"That's it, I'm leaving" she said after her latest encounter with the photographers.

"Leave? Where?" Jourdan asked.

"New York with my brother. No one will bother me there." 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Welcome, sis!"

"Hello, Luca. Would you mind giving me a hand with my suitcase?"

"Yes, of course. How was the flight?" he asked. 

"Long. And can you believe that the paps followed me to the airport?" Adele said, letting herself fall on the sofa.

"That's what happens when you make out with Mason Mount and get caught."

"We didn't make out" she replied, throwing a pillow at her little brother.

"That's what you say. But those photos..."

"Those photos are taken out of context. And can we please talk about something else? I've come here to disconnect from all that drama."

"Sure" Luca said, sitting next to her. "What are your plans?"

"Just relax and mind my own business. I won't be bothering you and... Wait, where is your other half?" Aka, Alex, Mason's little brother. Like the best friends he and Luca were, they had decided to move to New York to continue with their studies, and they had obviously had to live together.

"On a date. We'll see how long it takes him this time to fuck it up" Luca chuckled.

"Jealous?" Adele asked.

"I'm not interested in dating" he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's not what I meant." She had always suspected that Luca had feelings for Alex that went beyond friendship, but the few times she had asked him about it, he had always denied it. 

"I'm not jealous. Of any kind. So stop trying to turn my life into a fanfic and put that energy into something else."

"I will, don't worry." 

And for the next month, Adele managed to do it. To put her energy somewhere that wasn't the paparazzis and everyone thinking that she and Mason were finally dating. She would go out for a run in the mornings, visit a new coffee shop every day, visit museums, go for walks and take photos of everything, spend the day at campus with Luca and Alex, join them at a couple of parties... She even went on a date! 

Everything seemed to be going well, until that one morning.

"Mason!" Luca said when he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Got a job in the city and decided to come pay my little brother and his twin a visit" he smiled. "Hello, Addie."

"Hi" she said.

"How are you?"

"Good, good. And I'm sorry, but I have go. I have a pottery lesson in an hour and I want to grab something to eat first."

"Could we... Could we meet for lunch? Maybe dinner?" Mason asked. "I would like to have a chat with you. Alone."

"Yeah, sure" she replied. 

That night, they met at a small restaurant around the corner, one of Luca and Alex's favourites. Usually it was packed with people, but that day it was almost empty except for a group of girls and another couple sitting next to them.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Adele asked him.

"I wanted to apologize."

"What for?"

"Ruining your life?" Mason chuckled.

"You didn't ruin anything, Mase."

"You ran away, Addie."

"Yeah, but..."

"You were being harassed, and it was all because of me."

"Mase, hey" Adele said, reaching for his hand and giving it a little squeeze. "It's fine. I'm fine. I actually needed this break from London and everything back home, they did me a favour."

"Really?"

"Really" she smiled. "So stop blaming yourself, ok?"

"Ok" he said, smiling back. 

After that, they spent the rest of their evening catching up on what they had been doing, and as they left, Adele noticed that the girls who were sitting not far from them were checking out Mason. And she didn't blame them. That night he looked more handsome than usual, and she may or may have not checked him out too as he left to go to the bathroom. 

But what had made her feel uneasy, was what had happened while they were at the door waiting for another couple to walk into the restaurant. She could swear she had heard one of the girls saying her name and Mason's. 

Could they have recognized them?

#mason mount #mason mount fanfic #mason mount imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

[girlzlovinggirlzlovingme]

It's the weekend. . . okay well, it's Friday night but like, same thing. . . I'm doing my usual thing of staying in and doing fuck-all with maybe a little bit of dicking around, sitting at my desk, doing whatever. Usually, my big sis is here with me to hang out with me but she's celebrating her birthday with her friends so I'm doing nothing, all alone. It's not like I got anything going on, so, the sound of the front door opening is like glass shattering in the dead of night. I don't really give all that much of a shit until I hear my mom start yelling at. . . my big sis. I honestly didn't expect her to even come home tonight, I guess I thought she'd spend the night at her friend's house, but mom is pissed. She's yelling all "Where were you?! We made you a cake and you couldn't even show up to your own party!?" and then she says something that actually makes me care "Are you fucking drunk!?" Now, I'm interested in what's going on. I take off my headset and try listening, it's a whole lot of nothing but I pick up that Sis went to a bar, got fucked up, and was hoping to sneak back in the house. That's, honestly, the most interesting stuff I can decipher from the yelling. After a few minutes Mom just kind of storms off and I hear big sis shuffling down the hall. Which is all like cool, she needs to sleep off her alcohol and chill. She ends up opening my door, though. . . I look at her and ask if she's gonna pick a fight with me or something, but she just keeps walking towards my chair. The smell of the cheap booze she's been knocking back hits me so hard that I feel like I get a secondhand loss of my sobriety. She starts mumbling about how much she loves me, but like not in the sister way, she's doing it like how people in movies do when they admit feelings towards one another. . . I tell her that she's gotta chill before she does something dumb but she just keeps going on and on about how she's so happy she gets to spend time with me. Of fucking course it makes me blush and I swear she picks up on it because she starts saying how cute I am, how she's surprised I don't have a girlfriend because how any girl would love to "break me in" whatever that means. . . It kind of reaches a moment where she's got me so fucked up that I tell her that if she wants to flirt so hard then why doesn't she do something more than talking about it. To my goddamn shock, she actually does. She lifts me out of my chair and throws me onto the bed while I try hitting her and telling her to put me down. She's staring at me though, daunting over me while my back is on the bed, telling me she'll do way more than flirt. . . "The. . . the fuck you doin', Sis. . . ?" "The fuck it looks like, dork?" She slurs her words, but to me, it sounds like they're coming out of an angel. She starts leaning closer like she's going for a kiss. . . Then, like the perfect way to stop all momentum, she passes the fuck out. Falls straight on her face, laying right on top of me, in my bed. She's as taller than me as she is bigger so I'm stuck having her on top of me till she wakes up. . . after everything tonight though, I'm not sure if I really mind all that much. . . I hope we can pick up where we left off in the morning. . . I love you, Big Sis. Sleep well. . .

#fauxcest #sibcon

[myocsfanfictions]

The Road Ahead of Us - TWD (Season 2)

The Walking Dead Fanfiction

MASTERLIST

They had left Atlanta behind, trying to reach Fort Benning; but during an apocalypse nothing ever goes at it is planned. Sarah and Nicolette will have to face new challenges and dangers. How will they survive?

<< Previous - Next >>

Chapter 30

SARAH

"You made it work!" Nicki had told her as she got inside and Sarah started to drive. She had to make it back to the house, she was not sure how long the car would have worked.

"You're so dead after this!" Sarah exclaimed as she did her best to avoid the walkers, "What were you thinking?!"

"Can you leave the lecture for another time?" Nicki said as she looked outside, "We gotta find Carl and Rick!"

Sarah kept driving, trying to go towards the house, but the walkers were so many, and she could not put down all of them. She would have not risked them to get stuck in that situation.

"Alright," Sarah said, her hands gripping on the wheel. Daryl was right, they could not stay at the farm. Sarah had to find a way to reach the road.

"Nicolette, take that rope behind you," she said.

"What?" she heard Nicki ask as she avoided another walker.

"Take the rope!" she exclaimed. That car didn't go fast, not as much as she wanted, but it'll do.

"The fuck, why is it wet?" Nicki cursed.

"It's gasoline," Sarah said trying to keep the car steady, "Tie the ends to two arrows, we can buy all of them some time, so that we could leave."

"Leave the farm?" Nicki asked.

"Place is lost," Sarah said with heavy heart, "Defending it would only mean being killed," She had really hoped that the farm could become their new home. A secure place, were to live togheter and grow. A place where they could have a pale imitation of a normal life. But there was not such place. Nobody was ever safe.

"Alright," Nicki muttered as she tied the rope around two of her arrows. Sarah nodded her head. They had to go away. Her mind went to Glenn, hoping that he was alright. She thought of Lori, hoping that she decided to leave the house as well with Carol. She hoped that Rick and Carl were somewhere safe. And she thought of Daryl. And she so hoped that she would have seen him again.

"This is crazy, you know that?" Nicki said, and Sarah nodded her head.

With all her friends in mind, Sarah turned the car around. She would have drive in the middle of the herd, trying to held back as much walkers as possible, maybe they could buy the other some time, before heading out.

"Go," Sarah said to her sister, that climbed out of the window, sitting on it, so that she could aim her bow, from the top of the car. Sarah looked at a walker falling on the ground, the arrow in its chest. Sarah kept driving as Nicki shot another arrow, in the skull on another walker. The rope tensed, bringing down maybe a dozen of walkers.

As Nicki was getting back inside, Sarah stopped the car taking out a lighter that she had found in the shed, when she started the car, she turned it on and throw it against the walkers. As the fire hit the rope, it immediately starte to burn, thanks to the gasoline. Those walkers got on fire and the one behind them get attracted by the light, leaving them the space to leave the farm.

Sarah took a look at the farm from the rearview mirror and the sight made her cry. The barn was almost ashes, the walkers kept walking towards the house and she could not see anyone. Were they alright? Were they alive?

"How long can we go with this?" Nicki asked, her tone flat.

"We'll go as long as we can," Sarah answered drying her tears with her hand. She was terrorized. What was going to happen now? They were alone, with nowhere to go. Where could she bring her sister? Where could they be safe?

"Do you think they survived?" Nicki asked looking out.

Sarah had to keep a sob inside. The thought of all those people that she really cared about was terrify. She felt heartbroken. She wanted her friends with her, she needed her group. Glenn, Rick, Lori, Andrea, T-Dog, Carol, Shane and Daryl...

"Don't wander around," had been the last thing the man had said to her. She had started to deeply care for him, and she really hoped that he was alright. That they would have seen eachother again.

They drove in silence and the sun started to appear at the orizon. Where was she going? She could not leave the others behind. She could not go on with only the hope for them to be alive.

"Where would they go?" Sarah asked her sister at some point.

"What do you mean?" she asked, turning to look at her.

"If they were alive, where would they go?" Sarah asked. They were a group, a family. Whoever was alive would have want to meet with the others. They would have surely searched for a gatering place.

"The Highway," Nicki said, "It was the last place where we've been together," Sarah let out a breath. A lot of things happened after they arrived on that highway. That made sense. She didn't knew Georgia, and her reference points were very few. They Highway was one of those.

"Where do I have to go?" Sarah said, turning to her sister, "Can you find the way back there?" Nicki nodded her head, before starting to give Sarah instructions to where she had to go.

Sarah followed the indications given by her sister. She wanted to blame the stressed state she was in, but she didn't recognize a single road that Nicki was pointing at. Sarah trusted her sister, and she was to scared that when they arrived there, no one would be there. The no one would ever came.

"You think they are there?" Nicki asked quietly.

Sarah took a deep breath, "I have too," she said.

Her heart beat faster as they arrived at the highway. The same grave yard that they had met the first time. But she kept going, trying to find the point where they had left the supplies for Sophia.

"Sarah..." Nicki muttered, pointing on the other side of the road from them. Sarah let out a sobb, when she noticed the green car and the blue pick up. They were there. Nicki opened the door, and Sarah thanked God letting out another sob before exiting herself.

Rick had walked towards Nicki, bringing her into an hug. Making sure she was alright. Nicki saw Lori and Carl, moving closer as well as Nicki nodded her head. Then Sarah's eyes noticed Daryl getting up from his bike, looking in her direction, his eyes wide. Seeing him there made her let out another sobb and before she could stop herself, she was running towards the man, throwing her arms around his neck when she got closer. She could not help but crying seeing him alive. Daryl's body went stiff as she hugged him, crying against his shoulder.

"I'm so happy to see you," she said, her hands gripping the cloth of his vest. Sarah had really thought that she would have never seen him again, and the others as well. She had felt so lost. She cared about all of them, she really felt them as close as family and she wasn't ready to lose another. Not again.

Suddenly she felt Daryl's arm moving aroung her waist, and she let out a content sigh.

"I thought I told ya not ta wander around," he muttered, and she nodded.

"I know," she said, "But I couldn't stay back, I had to try to find my sister," Sarah felt bad for having lied to him, but she had no choice. Nicolette was her sister and she couldn't have never lived with herself knowing that she didn't even tried to look for her.

"Ya did," he said gently, making her eyes went wide. Sarah moved just a little so that she could look at the man in the eyes. In his gaze there was no sign of anger, he was looking at her softly, somewhat relieved. And Sarah's smile grew larger, as some tears left rolled down her cheeks.

"Ya alright?" he asked, and she nodded.

"You?" Daryl was biting the side of his lip, before looking down with a little smile, nodding his head. Sarah obsereved him for a moment. He had finally revealed himself for the man he truely was, and she was glad.

"You actually made it work!" Glenn's voice made her move away from Daryl, before being hugged by her friend.

Sarah left a giggle, "I told you I could do it," she said.

"I never doubt that," he said. Sarah give him a kiss on the cheek, before Rick approaced towards her, Nicki close behind.

"We thought you didn't make it," Rick said putting a hand on Sarah's shoulder, "I'm glad we were wrong," her hand moved to cover his, give it a gentle squeeze. She then hugged Lori, and shared a smile with Carol and T-Dog. Then she glanced towards Maggie, nodding at her, both happy to see eachother alive. But then she noticed that Shane was not there. And she didn't see even Andrea. Or Jimmy and Patricia.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked and Sarah noticed the smile disapper from Rick's face.

The man took a breath before answer, "We are the only ones who made it so far," Sarah looked down.

Were they dead?

"Shane?" Lori asked with shaky voice. But Rick did not give an answer, he just shook his head, his gaze on the ground. Sarah covered her mouth with her hand and when she turned to Nicki, she noticed her sister sharing a look with Carl. They didn't seem surprised by what they were saying, but the saddness in their eyes was evident.

Sarah could not believed Shane had died. He had changed in the last weeks, but he was a friend, and she never thought that he could die. Shane was strong, he knew how to defend himself, he seemed ready for everything. But maybe no one was ever ready for what they were living.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked, but this time it was Carol who spoke.

"She saved me, then I lost her," she explained.

"We saw her go down," T-Dog informed them saddly.

"Oh God..." Sarah muttered. Andrea was gone too. She felt tears in her eyes again, but for a very different reason then before.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her, too," Beth sobbed from next to her father, "Took her right from me, I was... I was holdin' onto her, Daddy," Sarah's heart clanched at the sight. That poor girl had been living in a constant nightmare since the farm. Her believes had fallen apart, then her home, now even her friend died in front of her.

"What about Jimmy?" Beth asked, "Did you see Jimmy?" Sarah looked at everyone.

Not her boyfriend as well, she prayed.

"He must have been the one in the RV," Nicki said from next to Carl, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes were looking at Beth saddly.

Oh no, Sarah thought.

"Yeah..." Rick muttered looking at Nicki, before turning towards Beth, "He was in the RV. It got overrun."

Jimmy was so young, few years older then Sarah. To die like that. Alone. No one should have died like that, with no way out, alone.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked, her attention on Lori and T-Dog.

"They were walkers everywhere," at Lori's answer, Sarah's eyes widened.

"Did you see her?" Carol asked again.

There was no answer at her question.

"So you didn't see her get bit or dead?" Sarah asked with hope. If they didn't, she might have been still alive.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said making his way towards his bike. Sarah's gaze followed him. She didn't want for him to go back, but what if Andrea was alive, maybe wounded? What if she needed their help?

"Don't go alone," Sarah said, but Rick stopped Daryl.

"We can't just leave her," Daryl said looking at the sheriff with a frown.

"We don't even know if she's there," Lori said, but Sarah made a step forward.

"What if she is though?" She asked worried.

"She isn't there. She isn't," Rick said, "She is somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her."

Sarah understood his point of view. After all they all thought about leaving the farm. But Sarah could not stop thinking about a wounded Andrea, she wanted to be sure that she had died. She didn't want to leave her.

"So we're not even gonna find her?" Glenn asked in disbelieve.

"We gotta keep moving," Rick stated as a growling sound could be heard, "There have been walkers crawling all over here," as he said so, they all turned to see a walker approach them.

"I say head east," T-Dog said.

"Stay off the main roads," Daryl began to say walking right behind Sarah to take his crossbow, " The bigger the road, the more walkers, more assoholes like this one," then he took some steps ahead, aiming towards the walker, "I got him," she shoot hitting it right in the eye, making him go limp on the ground.

"So we go east," Rick said, "Hershel, Glenn, Beth, Maggie and Carol, you'll ride in the green car," he pointed at the car behind them, "The others in the red one, and Daryl, you take the bike."

Daryl nodded, "I can take one person with me," he said and Rick nodded his head.

"Alright," he said, starting to make his way towards the car. Sarah observed Rick as he walked away. She felt bad for the man; he had just lost his best friend and more people he cared about, everyone knew that he felt resposable for them, it wasn't his fault if things went the way they did.

They all decided to scavange a bit more the cars. They needed gasoline, food and water. Maybe there was something else to find there, or at least she hoped.

"Let's go search for food, Shorty," Nicki said.

"Stay close," Lori said as the two children walked towards a car.

"I'll be where you can see me," Nicolette said as she passed by Sarah.

Sarah observed her sister, she seemed so much older than her years. That made her sad, but somewhat it made her feel more calm. Nicki was an intelligent girl, very mature for her age, and even if she could act impulsively, she never did something that she had not think through. Sarah trusted her.

"Ya one hell of a mechanic, I give ya that," Daryl's voice came from behind her, once she had gone back to her car to take back Dale's screwdriver that she had left there.

"It was not just me," she said tucking the object in the back of her jeans, "Dale and you helped me a lot," but Daryl shook his head.

"The work's yours," she smiled looking up at him.

"Do you want to scavange with me?" She asked, her smile never faiding as he nodded chewing the side of his bottom lip.

They walked for a bit, searching through different cars. They needed gasoline, food and water for the journey. They didn't know for how long they would have been on the road.

Back in the road....

"We really need to find warmer clothes," she said looking up at Daryl that was walking next to her, with his crossbow in hand. The winter was close and they barely made it out of the farm, no one had anything anymore.

"How long do you think we'll take?" she asked taking an heavy breath.

"For what?" Daryl asked, his tone wasn't harsh.

"For us to find another place," she had really thought that they could live peacefully at the farm. So much space, a house with doors and windows, fences all around. It seemed so safe. But there were any safe places anymore?

"It's gonna be alright," Daryl muttered and that made her smile.

"Thanks," she said and he frowned, "You don't think it, but it makes me feel better," they smiled at eachother, before Daryl looked down.

Sarah opened the door of another car. She set down in the backsit, while Daryl opened the trunk. Sarah found a back pack and when she opened she happily found some bandaid. Then there was a notebook, and some pens. There was even a wallet. She took it out, and opened it to read the document.

Alice Wynfild, 45 years old.

Sarah wondered if that woman was still alive, if she was safe somewhere. If she had found good people, or bad...

Taking a breath she put away the wallet leaving it on the seat next to her. And there she smiled when she noticed a little stone. Soft shapes, the colors were straped, different shades of brown.

"Ya found something?" Daryl asked appearing at the door.

"Some baindaid, and this," she said with a smile showing him the object in her hand.

He scoffed amused as she put it in his hand, "Ya're so happy about a stone?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, "It's a crystal," she explained, "It's called Tigers Eye, and gives to whoever owns it the courage to face any adversities," Daryl had knelt down, looking at her, observing her expression like he had done many times, but she just smiled at him.

"How do ya know all that?" He asked with soft voice.

Sarah sheugged her shoulders, "Internet. I liked to keep myself busy," she answered, "And I like crystals."

Daryl looked at the crystal in his hand for a moment, "This yar favorite?" He asked. Sarah shook her head.

"It's beautiful," she said, "But I like jasper. Green."

"What does it mean?" He asked.

"Protection," she answered. They looked in eachothers eyes, and she always got surprised at the blue of his irises.

Sarah forced herself to look away, before moving to get out of the car. Daryl got up, making space for her.

"Here," he said handing her the crystal, but she closed his fingers gently around it.

"You keep it," she said, looking at their hands touching, before turning to walk back towards the cars.

"Ya like bikes?" His sudden question made her look at him.

"Yeah," she said. She had always loved bikes, her best friend Lucy's brother had a one. Once he tried to impress Sarah, wanting to give her a ride. Sarah went and that night she came back home telling her mother that she would have liked to have a bike one day, but it was not very lady-like to her. Her mother had put many exprectation on Sarah, being the first born. She had always had a say about many things about Sarah's life, and she let her. She was grateful for her life, but the future that she had in front of her only gave her anxiety. She had never felt passion about anything rather than fixing, but in the old world that was useless, not like in this one. It was unbelievable that in a world like tge one they were living, Sarah had found something that she was passionate about.

"Why you ask?" She said, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"Want a ride?" He asked.

Sarah's eyes grew larger as she crossed her arms, "I thought I couldn't touch your bike."

Daryl scoffed as he started walking, "Ya ain't touching it," he said with a small smile as he passed by.

"So we are a real team now," she said keeping up with him, "We got each other's back," at that he snorted, making her chuckle.

"Ya're crazy, girl."

**********************************************

If you liked it leave a ❤️ and reblog!

#the walking dead imagine #the walking dead oc #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead #twd oc #twd fanfiction #twd imagine #twd #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x y/n #daryl Dixon #carl grimes #carl grimes x oc #carl grimes x y/n #carl grimes fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc

[writebackatya]

Wip Preview!

Once again I’ve caught the writing bug. And once again I’m just too excited about what I’m writing so I thought I’d share a little bit

So come on! Come get your pre-canon Spear of Selene angst! All though this part ain’t too angsty. And this hasn’t been beta read and still a work in process so it ain’t final

Also in case you couldn’t tell, I love writing for Duckworth:

***********************************************

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

After hearing the inane shouting of Della, Bradford let out a quiet exasperated sigh; which was then followed by a rather loud startled gasp as the buzzard spotted the duck sliding down the stairs, using a shield as her personal board.

“Ah! Bradford?!” Della then swung her body into the direction away from the buzzard, causing the duck to wipe out off her board but away from Bradford.

“Umph!” Della grunted as her face made contact to the ground. She then quickly looked up to greet her guest.

“Bradford.”

DONK

The shield that Della was using as a stairboard landed on top of the duck’s head.

After the shield fell off her head, Della got up onto her feet, “I mean, Mr. Buzzard. Sorry, I thought you were Donald! He’s coming back home today and well you how siblings can get, right?”

“…No. I do not.” Bradford answered, “and yes, your uncle did tell me that your brother would be arriving sometime today.”

“Yeah! He’s going to meet the kids for the first time!”

“Yes, he also did mention your unexpected pregnancy.”

“Heh, yeah.” Della rubbed her head as she awkwardly picked up the shield from the ground. “Well I’m past that part, now all I gotta do is sit on them till their ready. So far, I think I’m handling things well. But let me tell yeah, pushing those three out was a whole another story. You ever push out-, never mind…”

“I see…and do you at least know who the father is?”

“Some asshole I hope I never see again.” Della chuckled which became rather awkward when she noticed the unamused look on the buzzard’s face. “I uh, suppose you’re here to see Uncle Scrooge?”

“Uh, yes.” Bradford cleared his throat and then look passed Della. “Does he know that I’m here?”

“Oh keep your shirt on, Bradford I’m right here.” Scrooge said as he made his way down the stairs.

“Augh, Della,” Scrooge sighed. “Did you just go surfing down the stairs while we have company?”

“Uncle Scrooge, I did not know, I thought he was Donald.”

“That’s not the point lass, I don’t want ya treating my house like it’s a skate park.”

“Oh come on, I was just having some harmless fun” Della explained as she once again rubbed the bump on her head, “our guest is fine and King Arthur’s shield is perfectly intact.”

“Della, please put it back where you found it.”

“I was gonna,” Della assured her uncle as she awkwardly backed away from the two older birds, “Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk about business. Woo! Business. Heh, yeah…”

“Yes, thank you Della.”

“No problem, Uncle Scrooge. I’ll just, uh, be in my room till Donnie gets here.”

As Della made her way up the stairs she hissed to her uncle’s passing butler. “Thanks for the heads up, Duckworth.”

“I’ll be sure to speak faster next time, Della.” Duckworth remarked before joining Scrooge by his side.

“Now Bradford,” Scrooge began when Della had left the area, “I thought we agreed that you’d come over after noon, my nephew should be here soon.”

“Oh, right.” Bradford cleared his throat. “Sorry, I must’ve mixed the times up I can come back if you’d like.”

“Perhaps you can get yourself a personal planner,” Duckworth suggested getting a glare from the buzzard, “I find those to be quite useful when I organize my day.”

“Nonsense, Bradford. There’s no point in you leaving when you came all this way, I’ll have plenty of time for Donald later. Duckworth that’ll be all for now.”

“I’ll be taking care of young Della’s nasty bump if you need me, Scrooge. Mr. Buzzard.” And with that said, Duckworth left the two businessmen alone.

#wip previews #ducktales fanficiton #della duck #bradford buzzard #scrooge mcduck #duckworth

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Nothing New

Previous

The group had set up camp for the night, though Natalia was restless, she wanted to go home, she needed to go home, and she was pissed at her friend for being the one to convince her to go.

She needed to be with her kids, it was killing her to not know what was going on, and how she acted out, she was terrified that anything could happen to them, where would Alpha draw the line? She'd proven plenty of times before that she didn't care for the lives of children.

Natalia was nervously scratching at her arm, staring into the firey flames as she thought of every bad scenario that could happen, she couldn't help it, that was until the distraction of Carol walking away, brought her back.

"She ain't been the same since she got off that boat." Daryl told Michonne. "Maybe she's better off on it. Found some peace, you know."

"Hey. She belongs with us." Michonne told him. "She ain't sleeping either. She's out all night looking for them."

"We gotta take care of them." Natalia stood up from the log. "This isn't like Negan, no ones holding the weight of peace over our heads. You shouldn't of stopped her." She looked at Michonne.

"Nat, this is different."

"Don't talk to me like that, Mich. I know what the stakes are and what they're-"

"Are you, do you really, cause that punch you threw earlier, doesn't have me so convinced that you do." Michonne snapped.

"You're lucky it was just a punch. After what she did, what she's done, and to do this! Sometimes it feels like Rick never really left, cause you filled his spot, just rolling over and taking whatever shit is handed to us."

"Don't you dare-" Michonne pointed at her, her jaw clenched.

"Do you even know why we left, Michonne? Why we ran away to live in the woods? Because I couldn't stand to be in that place any longer, to hear the things people said about that man, having my daughter go behind my back and converse with him, keeping him around as a constant reminder to them, to us about what he did, what he did to us, to me! Whilst you all defended him! And now, he's out walking about, with freedom, getting to do what the hell he feels like doing, gaining sympathy from the people who forgot, being around my children!"

"And he's the one who saved the twins!" Michonne shouted.

"He what?" Daryl tuned into the conversation, the one he had been desperately trying to block out.

"Oh, yeah! Your wife never bothered to mention this to you." Michonne turned to him.

"Mich, stop, just shut up." Natalia shook her head.

"During the snow storm, which was, hm let me think, five months ago! As they were evacuating everyone to Aaron's house, the twins ended up wandering off and getting lost, Negan was the one to go out and find them, bring them back, not Nat, but he did, when no one else bothered."

"You know full well it wasn't li-"

"Nat." Daryl growled.

"Daryl, honey, it wasn't like that, we had no choice-"

"You didn't tell me?" He asked. "Why the hell didn't you tell me!"

"Because I knew you would react like this!"

"Bullshit! I had a right to know that ma girls almost died when I weren't even there, then to find out he saved them-"

"Exactly, you are never here!"

She couldn't elaborate further as gun shots ran out, alerting everyone.

"Carol." The three muttered as they ran towards the sound.

"What happened?" Daryl asked her as she got up from the ground.

"Whisperers. Three of them." She explained.

"Walkies on. Split up, north, west. We'll take east. Capture! Do not kill!"

"Yeah, because why the hell would we wanna do that?" Natalia snarked.

"Let's go." Michonne gritted through her teeth.

"Way ahead of you."

The four walked staggeredly apart, all with things on their mind but no time to delve into it, instead, they focused on the task at hand, but there was nothing to find.

"No sign of them anywhere" Michonne shared, after speaking to Laura on the walkie. "No traces, no tracks, nothing. You're sure you saw three?" She asked Carol.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Carol... how long you been taking those pills for?" She looked down at the bottle in Carol's hand.

"Since I got back. It's fine. They're like coffee. We can't stay out here."

"Alright. Find a place with walls, hole up for a little while." Daryl suggested. "Get some sleep."

Natalia scoffed, turning away.

"Something you'd like to say, Nat?" Michonne called her out.

"What's the point in wasting my breath, clearly whatever I think wouldn't matter to you, cause oh right, I'm out here, aren't I." She stomped forward.

They had reached an academy High school, meeting up with the others there.

Michonne was the first to enter, waiting a moment before going further, letting the others spread out to look around.

"Its clear." Daryl whispered, stepping away from a broken door.

Carol had walked towards it, accidently kicking a book on the floor, Natalia jumped at the sound but ultimately ignored it, moving on, whilst Daryl waited back for his friend.

"You two, get down here." She told Griffin and Laura.

"Gotcha." He nodded.

"Keep watch on the east end."

They stepped away, Carol and Daryl had wandered somewhere else, hopefully to talk about Carols new pill fascination.

"I'm sorry." Michonne muttered so lowly, that Natalia almost missed it.

"Mhm." She hummed, as she looked around, seeing no signs of walkers.

"Nat, I mean it, okay."

"What for?"

Michonne let out a sigh, thinking about her words carefully.

"For dragging you out here, for... for grassing on you, I don't know."

She was quiet for a moment.

"Then I'm sorry, too, for everything, I'm.. I, I'm just so scared." Natalia's voice wobbled, as she admitted this.

Michonne was thrown off, Natalia Dixon wasn't scared, she was never scared, that wasn't her, it just wasn't.

"Y'know, Carol left Henry's care in my hands, and... whilst he and Enid were fighting for their lives, with Tara and the others, I was watching a fucking movie, with my kids, I didn't keep him safe-"

"Nat, that wasn't your fault." Michonne tried to soothe her.

"But- but it was, it was my job to keep him safe, and I failed, and Carol- Evie, what they had to see... what it did to them. What if I can't keep my own kids safe, Mich, what- what if she goes after them, because of what I did."

"Natalia, stop it." Michonne placed her hands on her friends shoulders. "They are fine, okay, they're safe in Alexandria, we have patrols, protocols and lots of people who would risk their own lives to keep them safe, besides, you turned the twins and Evie into fine little fighters, they can protect their own if it ever came down to it. And when we get back, you can continue hovering over them, watching their every move, because you're a damn good mother."

Natalia bowed her head, as she hugged her friend, holding her tightly as she allowed a few tears to slip, she'd blame it on the exhaustion.

Michonne hugged her, resting her chin on her shoulder as she rubbed her back.

"You're an fucking amazing mom, too." Natalia pulled away, wiping at her eyes.

"Thank you." She chuckled.

The two woman moved to sit on the floor, leaning against each other as they rested, sharing anecdotes about the weird or funny things their kids have done, whilst sharing their milestones and achievements, Michonne didn't bother calling Natalia out when she had stared talking about Lydia, as if the girl was her own.

Screaming and what sounded like struggle, alerted them.

They ran towards the Gymnasium, meeting the others there, as they found Carol, badly injured, glass was stuck in her arm, they had to get back to Alexandria.

Michonne, Daryl and Natalia waited outside the infirmary whilst Siddiq and Dante worked to fix Carol up, and eventually they had come outside.

"She alright?" Daryl eagerly asked.

"I-..." Siddiq looked for words, but was soon cut off.

"He got it out." Dante grinned widely, walking out behind him. "She's all patched up and out like a light."

"Great." Daryl responded, as the three walked into the place.

Once they were positive she was okay, Natalia had convinced Daryl to go home and get some sleep.

What they weren't expecting to see, when they got home was Evie and Lydia layed down on the couches, knocked out, dozing away, Lydia's stick was leaned beside her, whilst Evie held a knife in her fist, a gun was tucked under the cushion she was resting her head on.

"We should wake them." Natalia sighed, carefully slipping the weapons away from her daughter.

"You think this was their idea of keeping watch?" Daryl asked, looking at them unimpressed.

"Daryl, they're kids, they obviously tried, I think." She moved back, tiptoeing towards the big bookshelf beside the mantle, picking up one of the heavy books. "One... two..." She mouthed to Daryl, before dropping it hard, alerting the girls a good distance out of reach.

Just as she predicted, they both shot out of their seats, reaching for their desired weapons sporadically.

"That was mean." Daryl hummed.

"Hey, its us, 'kay, it's just us." As the two girls eyes settled on the pair, realising there was no real danger. "What were you two doing?"

"Mom?" Evie asked, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palm, as Lydia stifled a yawn.

"Dad's here, too." She replied.

"Why ain't you both in bed?" Daryl asked them.

"Wanted to make sure nothing happened whilst you were gone, protect the kids, and Lydia refused to go to the room."

"Seems like you were both doing a great job." He sassed.

"What, Lydia, you said you would be on watch." Evie pointed at her.

"No, it was your turn, you were supposed to."

"Liar, you were."

"Hey, hey. doesn't matter, alright, we're home now, and nothing happened." Natalia assured them, brushing Evie's blonde hair out of her face, kissing her head.

"What happened to your hand?" Lydia asked, inspecting her bruised knuckles.

Evie grabbed her mothers hand, looking at her fist with her own eyes.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"Nothing, I didn't do anything." She rolled her eyes.

"Dad, who did she hit?" Evie looked at the man.

"Evie!" Natalia looked at her, feeling betrayed.

"Yer mom just lost her cool, alright, don' matter." He couldn't help as his eyes wandered to the dark haired girl.

But Evie hadn't missed this.

"Her mother?" She asked, as if she were about to give an lecture. "You totally punched her Mom, didn't you?"

"You what?" Lydia stood up. "What happened?" She demanded to know.

"Hey, the kids are asleep, keep your voices down." Natalia tried to shush them.

"Mom, what happened out there?"

She shared a look with her husband, a look of question or a look of help, neither of them were sure.

"She's demanding more land, for them crossing into her land, she's cutting off our hunting grounds, made a comment about Henry, so Carol tried to shoot her, Michonne stopped her..."

"So you punched her." Evie finished.

Lydia stormed out of the room, towards the basement, not bothering to say a word to anyone.

Evie shook her head.

"I'm disappointed." Evie looked down. 

"Excuse me?" Natalia laughed.

"Look, I get she's an evil, evil person, believe me, I know." The girl shivered. "But that's still her mom, she still misses her, sometimes, late at night, I have to convince her not to leave, to not run back to her. Would have thought that you of all people would understand."

She then followed the girl to their room.

"Fuck sake." Natalia groaned, sitting down on the couch, her head in her hands.

Daryl came and sat down with her, his hand holding her thigh, as his thumb rubbed circles over her skin.

"They'll get over it, you done worse things." He said, his idea of making her feel better.

"Yeah, like what?" She asked rhetorically.

"Like keeping the secret that my kids almost died, when I weren't here, from me."

"And what would you have done with the information if I had told you?" She challenged.

He thought about it for a second, clearly frustrated by the question, as his jaw clenched, his nostril flared slightly, before his ears perked, and he looked towards the stairs.

"You hear that?" He asked.

And then she did, a slight thudding, then tiny whispers of assurance.

"There you go, nearly there." A voice came from the stairs before more thuds.

"Almost there, buddy, you're such a big boy, now."

"Girls? What are you doing with your brother?" Natalia called, as she got up from the couch, to go look what was going on, Daryl followed.

They found their three youngest all sat on the stairs, Archie was squished between the twins, as they seemed to be "bumping" down the stairs.

"He's too little to walk down them, and we're too little to carry him down, so we're pretending it's a slide." Bambi explained.

The corners of Natalia's mouth twitched up as she looked at her babies, how pure they were.

"Momma. Dada." Archie called, his hands waving in the air, Daisy was quick to grab a hold of his middle, making sure he didn't topple down the four stairs.

"I got ya, lil man." Daryl picked up his son, running his hand over the blond curls, that were starting to fade into a strawberry blond colour.

"What are the three of you even doing up?" Natalia asked them.

"We were asleep, but all your big mouths woke us up." Daisy rolled her eyes, as she wrapped her arms around Natalia's neck, leaning her head on her Mothers shoulder.

"Sorry, sweetheart, was yer mom arguing with the girls." Daryl told her, taking Bambi's hand and walking up the stairs.

"We were not arguing, we were just having a conversation about grown up stuff." Natalia corrected, scooping Daisy up in her arms, squeezing her tight as she followed her husband.

"Daddy, did Lydia's Mommy hurt anyone, again?" Bambi asked.

"Uncle Aaron said that she was an evil lady." Daisy chimed in. "I don't want her to hurt you guys."

"Well, yer Mom got her own back, she got her good." Daryl smirked.

"What did you do?" Bambi looked over her shoulder.

"Did you kill her?"

"No, No I didn't kill her, I just... hit her, hard." She admitted. "Y'know, like how Aunt Ro taught you."

"Mommy! That's so cool!" Daisy grinned. "I want to punch her, too!"

"Nah, It ain't cool, you don' needa be punching up anyone" Daryl told her, which was hypocritical.

"Daddy, have you ever punched anyone?" Bambi asked.

Natalia snorted at this.

"He's done a lot worse than that, darling."

"Cool." Daisy smiled. "They all deserved it, right?"

"Always." He answered.

It had turned out, that the kids had been sleeping in their beds, whilst they were away, Dog was still in there, layed out on his back, in his own little bed of blankets, hadn't even bothered to come greet them, that's how tired he was.

"Daddy, can you tell us a story about your brothers, Uncle Merle and Uncle Rick?" Daisy asked.

"Ooh, tell them about how I first met your brother, that's a good one." Natalia chimed in, as they all climbed into bed.

"Yeah, that's uh... that was an exhausting day for all of us, mainly cause yer uncle Merle's an huge dumbass who don' know when ta keep his trap shut." He chuckled.

"That's like you." Bambi told Daisy.

"It is not!" She resented, holding her bunny tightly, twirling her hair around her finger as she snuggled into Natalia.

"'Kay, so, yer mom had just broke into this place we were held up... where the main prick, a pirate, yer mom liked ta call him, if you wanna know why, yer gonna have to ask yer aunt Michonne that." Daryl started. "Anyway, she come's in, guns blazing with yer uncle Rick..." The kids listened eagerly whilst Daryl told the story, not wanting to miss an single detail, as they fought sleep to hear what happened next, and that's how the rest of the night went, until everyone was soundly asleep, cosied together.

They were given one peaceful day, one day where they were able to just live inside the walls, it even gave Natalia, Michonne and Daryl to organise a family dinner with all the kids, Evie had turned the offer down, instead to stay at the infirmary and help out, and Lydia wanted to practise, instead, Carol stayed in her room, Daryl took her food up to her on a tray.

It was fun, and happy, and well deserved, full of laughter, jokes and catch ups on the good things that were going on.

But that was until news of an incident in Hilltop came over the radio.

A tree had fallen down in the middle of the night, knocking over a wall and leaving nine injured, Michonne had taken Evie and Judith over, leaving the rest at home.

Evie was eager to get away from not only her parents, but her roommate, and she was happy to put her healing skills to good use, considering with having two doctors now, she felt mostly useless around them.

RJ was in the temporary care of the Dixons, which was good, because the twins seemed to have taken a keen liking to the boy, and they had started schooling together, though, Amelia, the teacher, had already reported back about the mischief the three were causing in the class, which they discovered to mostly be Daisy's mastermind plans.

Lydia had been creative on the bullying she'd received by Gage and two of his friends, Daryl had been running around all day getting her out of trouble, and away from Negan, who he was blaming her behaviour on.

Her latest stunt was catching a squirrel and dissecting it on their lunch table, Gabriel had been the one to report to them, but he had also sat and watched by as it happened.

Natalia had been busy repainting their front door, that someone had wrote the words "Silence the Whisperers" All over.

They had no idea who it was, but it was obvious who the message was intended for, she had raised her voice with obvious threats to passingbyers not only about the vandalism, but the harassment of Lydia, she wouldn't have it, the girl had suffered enough, and it was about damn time everyone backed off.

At dinner time, Lydia had refused to come out of the basement for food.

"What the hell is she doing down there?" Natalia grumbled, putting down her fork.

"Just leave it, I'll take her food down later, her problem if its cold." Daryl told her, cutting up RJ's deer steak. "Dais, don' throw pea's at yer brother."

"He was giving me funny looks." She defended herself.

"He's a baby." RJ replied.

"You're a baby." She told him.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes you are." Bambi joined in. "You're only five, that's such a baby age."

"You were five last month!"

"Yeah, but we're not now, we're six, and you're not a big kid until you're six." Daisy made up.

"So, by that logic, the two of you are cutting up yer own food, an' doing yer chores after dinner." Daryl told them.

"No, no we're just babies, babies can't do chores, Daddy, duh" Daisy switched up.

"Yeah! We're so little, we can't possibly do that." Bambi shook her head, her pigtails flying around.

"I'm gonna go see what she's up to." Natalia decided, getting up from her chair, after ignoring everyone at the table, too focused on the girl.

"Nat... why do I bother." Daryl sighed to himself, dropping his opinion.

Natalia went down the stairs, hesitating at the girls door, before pushing herself to knock.

"Lydia?" She called. "We're all having dinner upstairs, and we would really like you to join in, don' want the food going to waste.... And you don' wanna eat it later, when it's all cold and mushy... Lydia?" When she received no answer, she finally opened the door, letting it swing open. "Lydia."

But low and behold, the room was completely empty.

"Lydia!" She called, but the girl still had not appeared. "Oh my god! Daryl!" Natalia ran back up the stairs. "Daryl!"

"What?" He caught her before she could run him over.

"She's gone, Lydia's not in her room."

"Okay, so maybe she just went on a walk." He shrugged.

"Yeah, right, sure, in a town full of people who hate her, this is your fault, after giving her such a hard time about fitting in!"

"Hey, don' spin this on me, she likes walking, burning off steam, sure she's fine."

"I'm gonna go look for her, stay with the kids." Natalia told him, grabbing her belt of knifes and placing them around her waist.

"Yeah, no, you don' need that."

"You don't know what could've happened, cause you're the one who scared her off."

"I was trying to help her." The man was getting visibly frustrated. "Least take Dog."

"Fine, Dog! Come on." She called.

"Mommy, where are you going?" Daisy called from the kitchen.

"Mommy's just gonna take a lil walk, okay? Daddy's gonna stay with you."

"I wanna come!" Bambi piped up.

"Aunt Nat, can I come?" RJ asked.

"No, you're all gonna stay here, whilst Daddy/Uncle Daryl do pudding."

"Awe." The kids groaned.

"Go on, at least keep an eye on them, make sure they don't sneak out." Natalia tested, opening up the door, and leaving.

"How the hell is this my fault, we've been together the whole night." Daryl growled to himself, shaking his head as he shuffled back to the kitchen.

"Lydia?" Natalia called, wrapping her arms around herself, in the cool spring evening.

"You lost the girl?" Marigold, an elder lady, asked, sat comfortably in a rocking chair, on her front porch.

"No, Mari, she just went on a walk, but it's dinner time now." She smiled politely.

"Should keep that girl on a leash, you seen what she's been doing to this place, causing chaos, we've suffered enough." She added. "Whilst your at it, put those twins of yours on one, too, don' need them meddling in anyone's business anymore, do better to mind their own and concentrate in school."

"Okay, Marigold, have a good evening." She turned away, dropping the kind expression instantly. "And choke to death." Natalia muttered lowly.

"What was that, dear?" The old bat called.

"Nothing." She replied, walking at a faster pace to get away.

Her calls for Lydia, soon turned into a hiss.

That was until someone grabbed her tightly, covering her mouth before she could scream.

She panted heavily as she stared wide eyed at the one person she never thought would over power her like this, again. Negan Smith.

He held a finger to his lips as he waited for her to attack.

"Follow, they got her." He murmured lowly, before letting go, moving towards the hanging clothes, Natalia followed right behind, and that's when she let her ears listen.

Lydia was crying, as  people were attacking her?

Negan pushed through an bedsheet, that was hung like a curtain, throwing a woman as he pulled a man off the girl, pointing at another boy, Gage.

Natalia didn't give them much attention, as she ran towards the girl in her care, collapsing to the ground beside her, placing her head in her lap as she hyperventilated.

"Hye, it's okay, you're okay, you're gonna be okay, kid." She repeated over and over, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"We were just trying to scare her." Gage stammered, as Lydia wrapped her arms around Natalia's waist, holding her for dear life, as she tried to slow down her breathing.

"Yo, Negan!" Brandon shouted, emerging through the bedsheet. "What the hell's going on back here?"

"Hey, hey, focus on me, ignore them, okay, just take deep breathes." Natalia coached, wiping at the blood spewing from her upper lip and nose.

"Holy shit. Margo." The other man, gasped, running towards the woman. "Margo!"

They all looked round, to find the woman very clearly dead, her head was bleeding profusely, as her limp body layed against the wall Negan threw her at.

"Shit." Negan sighed, as he stood up away from Natalia and Lydia, realising his actions, and what he had done.

More people had appeared, and people were angry.

Siddiq dealt with the body as Daryl had joined Natalia's side, in trying to keep Lydia calm and stable.

"Freak, this is your fault!" Gage spat at the girl.

"It was Negan! Negan killed her!" Matthew spoke up, talking to the growing crowd.

"No, he didn't do anything wrong!" Lydia denied. "No, it wasn't... He didn't do anything."

"I know, hey, I know, it's okay." Natalia spoke in a soft quiet voice, only to her, continuing to brush her hair with her fingers.

"Now get him out of here!" Daryl ordered Brandon.

"Please!" Lydia started kicking as she cried, again.

"Move!"

"No, he didn't do anything wrong!" She screamed.

"I know. I know. I know." Daryl repeated.

"He didn't do anything wrong." She continued.

"I was there, I saw it, I know he didn't." Natalia defended the man, only for the girls sake. "Hey, everyone, shows over, those waves still ain't over, scram!" She demanded.

"No, please! No." Lydia's voice broke as the couple tried to soothe her, as the others took Negan back to his cell. "Please. Please."

"Lydia, just breathe, okay, before you throw up, just... look at me, breathe." Natalia took a deep breath in, holding it before letting go, encouraging the girl to copy. "You deal with this. I'll take her to Dante." Natalia told her husband, helping the girl up. "They attacked her, Daryl, they were going to beat her to death if he didn't stop them."

"I'll handle it." He nodded.

"It's alright, I got you, sweet girl." Natalia let Lydia hold onto her tightly, as they walked together to the infirmary.

"My arm, my arm hurts." She whimpered.

"Okay, that's okay, we can let Dante know, and he'll make it better, alright?"

Natalia didn't flinch from her side the whole time Dante fixed her up, placing an ice pack under her injured arm, also to help with her ribs.

Eventually Daryl joined them, too.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." He spoke to her, carefully.

She gave no response, staying curled up, as if he was never there.

"Lydia." He touched her arm.

"He was so sweaty." She said, after a second. "Never liked deodorant. Said it... it made his armpits itchy. So I got used to it. Sometimes he smelled like garlic and onions. I miss him."

"Who's that?" Daryl asked.

"My dad." She started to cry, again. "My dad would've protected me."

Daryl sat down on the other side of the girl.

"Tell me what happened." He said.

"I'll give you guys some space." Natalia breathed, going to stand up, so that they could talk in private.

"No, don't go." Lydia latched onto her arm, "Please, stay with me."

"Okay, okay, yeah, if you want me to." She settled back down, placing her own hand over the girls, rubbing lazy circles over the back of it, something Daryl did with her, to calm her down, or just to calm himself.

She looked towards him, but he only nodded.

Then, Lydia sniffled, looking up between the pair, her eyes were still wild as she tried to focus.

"Negan saved my life. Just like he saved the twins."

Daryl wrapped an arm around her, as she burst into sobs at the reality of the situation, Natalia kept her hold on the girls hand, planning what she was going to say to the council, to defend the person she hated the most in the world.

Next

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

[ridiasfangirlings]

misaki's mom gives misaki and saruhiko very cheesy, matching shirts/sweaters/scarfs. saruhiko does his very best to pretend he loves it

Imagine her sewing them each some kind of very festive ‘Best Friend’ sweaters for the holidays, like she thought it might be cute to make them matching clothes. Maybe Yata’s mom takes up knitting for something to do in between watching the kids and she decides that for Christmas she’s going to make everyone personalized sweaters. She starts with Minoru and Megumi’s, since those will be smaller, and right as she’s working on them Yata comes home from school one day and begs her to let Saruhiko come over for Christmas. Yata’s mom is a little wary, like it’s the holidays sweetie he’ll probably want to spend it with his family and Yata suddenly gets shy and evasive, mumbling that Saruhiko’s family….won’t be home that day. Yata’s mom takes that in and then gets this gentle smile as she’s says it’s fine then, Yata can bring Saruhiko over. Yata cheers and his mom decides that she’d better get to work, she needs to make an extra sweater. 

So then on Christmas Yata’s all excited having Fushimi there, Fushimi keeps complaining that who cares about Christmas but of course this is the first time he hasn’t spent it alone. Yata’s bought him a present but he’s surprised when Yata’s mom adds that she made him something too. She presents everyone with their sweaters, the kids are all excited while Yata’s kinda complaining like mom this is so uncool. She tells him to hush as she hands Fushimi his gift, Fushimi is a little dumbfounded as he opens it. Seeing that theirs match makes Yata suddenly happier about it, imagine these are like the most garish sweaters ever and Fushimi’s is kinda lumpy and big since she didn’t know his measurements. Yata pulls it on over Fushimi’s head and Fushimi clicks his tongue, about to say something acid, but then he sees Yata’s mom smiling at him and he looks away and mumbles ‘…thanks.’

Unfortunately for Fushimi he now has to wear this sweater all day, imagine Yata’s family likes to go out to like the movies or the park or something on the holidays so now Fushimi has to be seen in public with his awful sweater. Yata keeps grinning at him and grabbing his hand, not letting him sneak away or change, like you gotta wear your cute sweater Saruhiko. Fushimi grumbles that Yata looks like an idiot and Yata’s like yeah well so do you. Yata’s mom looks over and asks if anything’s wrong and Fushimi sulks a little as he says ‘nothing.’ (But then eventually he has to go home, and Yata’s mom tells him to take his sweater. He gets to the house and stands there, pulling off the sweater and staring at it. It’s so obviously homemade, something that guy will immediately notice, no matter where Fushimi hides it. It’s okay though, because the sweater is stupid and ugly and doesn’t fit — and matches Misaki’s, and was a present for him — so it’s fine that he has to throw it away, he doesn’t mind at all.)

#sarumi #Talking K #did I just make it sad #I made it sad didn't I #I'm just saying though #he can't keep it bc Niki will find it #the ext year Yata excitedly says let's wear our sweaters together #and Fushimi has to pretend he hated it and that's why he threw it away #bc he can't admit that it was important to him so he had to destroy it before Niki could

[pomegranate-pen]

Stranded. Chapter 6. The Game's Championship.

“so you got injured?!” Jason gasped.

“yep.” It's been about three days since Eggman's attack at the pet shop. After the whole ordeal, the place got crowded again and you were busy helping everyone out. Your body felt sore, yet your heart felt quite content. You were glad to finally show your veterinary skills and helping out all those adorable animals always felt nice.

A ringtone rose in Jason’s room, taking a glance, Jacob immediately grumbled and declined it. “who was that?” you rose a brow. Jason suddenly tensed up and avoided your gaze, scratching his neck awkwardly. “No one! No one at all!” he stressed out a laugh.

There was only one person Jason would avoid talking about with you these days. Heart feeling heavy and a bitter frown evident on your face, you sighed. “was it Louis?”

Jason huffed, gulping down some guilt and nodding. “Y-yeah..it was him. He keeps calling me, I think he noticed you’re missing here.” You hummed at that. “You know…Mom called too.”

“Oh? Really? Cool. Anyway-“ the last thing you wanted was to speak to your mother again. You’d rather jump in the lava beneath you instead. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, you bring up another question. “how's Brianna? Is she doing well?”

“she’s fine. Also, she said hi.” Jason quickly answered, going back to the main topic in his mind. “Y/n, you have to tell mom.” You clicked your tongue. A grumble came out of your throat as you looked away. “Why should I? It's not like she cares about anything I do.”

“yes she does!”

“no she doesn’t and you know it!” Jason scowled a bit. “ she might’ve cared for you, Jason. But barely ever for me. Whenever she even tried acting like she cared she just ended up making things worse!” your shoulder slouched and your throat felt like its passage was blocked. “don’t tell me you forgot about the Cecilia book.”

Jason falls silent, murmuring to himself a bit in confusion. Racking through the library of memories stacked in his brain. Suddenly, he jolts up a bit in satisfied realization but soon enough, that satisfaction becomes bitter as he grimaces over the memory. “Yeah…” he nervously laughed, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “I-I remember that…you cried a lot after it.”

Taking a sharp breath, you bit back your tongue from saying anything harsh. Knuckles balling up into fists and tongue feeling like sandpaper, you tried your best to calm down. Feeling annoyed and awkward from the situation now and knowing how stubborn Jason can be, you immediately brought up an excuse to leave. “A-anyway, Jason, I gotta go now. Amy’s probably waiting for me.” Jason nodded in understanding. Though a disappointed frown was evident on his face. “alright then, see ya!”

“Yeah, see ya.”

With a few clicks and taps, your computer was turned off and closed.

Getting up, you put the computer back in your backpack and took out a rope from it. The item belonged to Tails at first, but now that you have to go up and down the summit at times, he let you borrow it.

Still, it was so tense. You were not a professional at this nor was it a normal daily thing for you. Climbing up and down the rope hoping for the best was sure to kill you at some point. But at the same time, you don’t want to bother anyone to help with this. Not Sonic with helping you climb up there, not Tails with using his helicopter for it or even Stciks to give you pro tips. You feel like you’ve just suddenly waltzed into their life wanting help. And even now, you feel like a bother to Amy. Sure your relationship is much better with her than it was before, yet you can’t help but feel guilt over it. The house barely has room for one person, let alone two.

Shaking your head, you gulped and set your feet down. Feeling relief from surviving that deadly situation, you walked down the mountain while trying to maintain your speed and not fall off. You hear a sigh a few feet away from you and turn your head to its source.

You see a small wolf kid, walking down the place and looking around in an urgent matter. Soon, the boy stops and his shoulders slouched. He groans in frustration. He suddenly notices your glance and brightens up. “Hey, Miss!” he walks up to you. “Have you perhaps seen a walrus walking around here?” you thought for a bit and shook your head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Could you please help me find him?”

“Well…I..” you really weren’t in the mood. Not to mention, your legs felt like jelly from your whole climb mere seconds ago. Yet, as the wolf looked at you with those common puppy dog eyes children use to manipulate adults with, you sigh in defeat. “Alright…I’ll help you I guess.” The boy grins.

The kid, named Kaden, explained the situation while you were both walking around the mountain in search of his friend. Apparently, the two were playing hide and seek, and now it was Kaden’s turn to seek. Yet, no matter where he looks, he can’t find him.

“did you check the other parts of the forest?” you asked. Kaden shook his head and spoke again. “We both agreed on only hiding around this area. If he’s hiding somewhere else then that’s cheating!”

A few minutes passed and there was still no sign of the walrus kid. You’ve checked all the bushes, behind all of the rocks around the place, and even climbed the tallest and biggest trees to see if he was hiding up there. still, nothing. Now you were getting worried. What if the kid got kidnapped or something? Looking back at Kaden, who was walking beside you with a determined face, you tapped his shoulder to get his attention. “hey kid, I think it's best if you admit you lost.” The boy’s eyes widen. “what? Why?!”

“well, if he’s still here, he’d hear you and get out of his hiding spot, if not, then we have to go and tell the other adults so we could all try to find him.” Honestly, who let these kids wander off to the forest with no one looking after them?! Aren't there some pretty dangerous animals here?

Kaden looked disappointed, sighing and walking a few feet away from you. “Alright! I give up.” He yells out, rolling his eyes. “Where are you?!”

Suddenly, a giggle could be heard, yet looking around, you don’t see the kid at all either. Soon, the walrus’ hand pops out of nowhere from the mountain’s walls, and in a second, he comes out with a grin.

Kaden looked at the scene with pure shock. You, on the other hand, felt relief wash over you at the sight. The kid’s safe and sound and seems completely unscathed. for a moment, you thought the kid was injured somewhere deep within the forest with no one to help him out.

“Ta-da!”

“How did you…w-what-“

“Look! Look!” the walrus grabs the wolf’s arm and motions for you to follow him as well. Getting back at the spot he was, you find an entrance to it at its left. “behold! The best hiding spot in the world!” the kid goes in and gets engulfed in its darkness. “you can’t see me at this view because of the darkness!” the kid suddenly comes out and goes back to the spot you and Kaden were in moments before. “and you can't see me from here because it looks like its apart of the mountain!”

“a small cave…” Kaden mumbles and brings out a small notebook and pen from his pocket. “hold on,” the other kid looks at Kaden amusingly shocked. “you’re taking notes?” he scoffs.

“Well, yeah!” he pouts. Now angrily scribbling the info. “if we’re going to play hide n’ seek here, I’d like to remember all the cool hiding spots!”

“Actually,” you finally spoke, making the two kids jolt and look back at you. They seemed to have forgotten your presence. “I think it’s best if you don’t play here again. It’s pretty dangerous. You could’ve gotten attacked by a bear or something.”

“hey…wait a minute..” the walrus tilts his head a bit in curiosity, then his expression brightens up in realization. “you’re the vet lady everyone in class keeps talking about!”

“She is?!”

“I am?”

the whole swarm of customers could’ve been a sign of being the talk of the town. But you just thought that was solely because of Stacy’s posts about you. Have you gotten this big that you’re even being spoken about in schools? In school kids only talk about stressing over homework and exams, some funny or weird things that happened over the weekend or their favorite shows and media. Or at least, that’s what you talked about in there. But then again, your only friend there for most of the time was only Louis. There probably was more to talk about in school other than those things.

“I need your help! Can you heal hamsters?” asked the walrus kid.

“yeah, I can.” You hummed.” But I first need to know what's up with them.”

“her tail is constantly wet! I don’t know how it even got wet in the first place! At first I thought maybe she went for a swim,” the kid continued. “But then I was like- well that’s impossible! She’s in a cage right now and its door isn't open! So for a while, I’ve been thinking that maybe she’s a spy and she was working undercover and her hideout was in the water so she might’ve forgotten to dry her tail all this time and thought we didn’t notice so I started-“

“Stratford,” Kaden grumbled. “Please just get to the point.”

“ok, ok fine.” The walrus kid, who you now know is named Stratford, rolled his eyes. “so yeah, she has a wet tail.”

“I can actually do something to help with that.” You smiled. “just come to the pet shop with your parents and hamster tomorrow.” Stratford grinned happily and nodded his head. “Thank you, miss!”

A sudden scream made you all jolt. You all moved your heads left and right to find the source, only to hear some shuffling within the forest. The kids held on to you in fear, thinking that it might be a wild animal that finally caught them. Thankfully, it was no wild animal, yet a person, a cat it seemed so, who looked like he ran a hundred miles to get here. As his gaze went to the children, who were still right behind you and using you like a shield, a relieved sigh escaped him. “oh, thank god.” he started coughing a bit, now catching his breath. “I thought you guys were lost!-“ he coughs again.

“Mr.Fetcher!” the kids gasped. Now letting go of you and whispering amongst each other. They both nod in unison and turn back to the man who was still trying to regain his breath. “where were you kids?! I told you guys to not stray away from the group!”

“We- we just got lost!”

“y-yeah. A giant bear was attacking us all of a sudden!”

“and he had laser arms!”

“…” Mr.Fetcher looked at them speechless. A scolding expression crossed his face as the last line was spoken. You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle while Stratford and Kaden face-palmed.

As your chuckle was let out, you felt uneased all of a sudden. Glancing back at the two kids’ teacher, your heart dropped upon seeing his scowl right at you. He looked at you with seething hatred while you tried to look anywhere but his eyes. You noticed that he was fairly young, most likely around your age. His attire was filled with pastel colors from peachy pink to sunshine yellow. A small necklace was around his neck, one with small little cubes with different letters on them spelling ‘best teecher’.

If one could ignore that deepening frown and judgy eyes of his, they could presume he was a nice guy. The kids, now noticing your stares but being ignorant towards the hateful nature of it, spoke up. “Mr.Fetcher! the human said she can help Cheese Puff!” Stratford’s movements became a bit hyper from excitement. Mr.Fetcher, now zoned out from his scowl, gave a kind smile to the boy and acted surprised. “Really? That’s great!”

Kaden nodded. “she also helped me find Stratford. Without her, we definitely would’ve gotten lost.” Suddenly, the boy’s eyes lighten up. “hey! The field trip is about the animals in the lake, right? Maybe she can help!” the cat’s expression faltered. “w-well uh…we can’t really do that. I mean- miss uh…”

“L/n. it’s L/n.”

“right, L/n-” you noticed a small frown coming up to his face for a split second before shifting back. “-might have a lot of work to do right now! Right?” his stare, now widened up and looking at you warningly, made you tense up a bit from newfound stress in the matter. As much as teaching kids all the cool facts about animals and seeing their shocked, impressed, or even grossed-out reaction to it all seemed fun, you’d rather not feel the venomous gaze the teacher would send you during the whole time.

“y-yeah! I uh…” come on, think!!! Give them a good reason! “…I have some…” there it was again, those puppy dog eyes of theirs. Now doubled the power since Stratford joined forces with Kaden. No no no nooo do not let them get to you! “vet work to do! Uh- yeah- vet work!” you nervously laugh. Now walking away before they could utter another word.

“welp, goodbye now! Have fun on your trip and-” your foot hits a rock and you fumble a bit. after a solid five seconds of trying to regain your posture, you straighten up and look at them with a strained smile. “make sure to not get lost again! Hehe…”

You immediately leave the scene. Grimacing the whole embarrassing, awkward and now dreadful last ten minutes of your interaction with them. With your mind now mocking you for being so bad at this, you walk away from the forest.

----

Jason was losing his mind.

He regrets making his ringtone a favorite song of his, because now the song makes his stomach churn in annoyance and his eyes roll. Every second of the day, the same old song kept playing on his phone on a loop. Never-ending this catastrophic torture.

Most times it was all from Louis. He’d easily just silence his phone, if it wasn’t for the fact that the buzzing sound and vibration his phone kept sending him was also extremely annoying. Not to mention, he had a job and friends that would call him at times as well. He couldn’t ignore his phone now, albeit really wanting to do that sort of action.

Even now while he closed his computer, ending another weekly call with you, the phone suddenly started chanting its song. Leaving him groaning in exhaustion and almost close to crying. ‘When will this end?’ was the question coursing through his head. Grabbing the phone, he shrugs at the obvious intruder of his peace. Louis doesn’t give up, does he?

Maybe if he answered this time, and told him to fuck off, he’d finally leave him alone. He’d probably get fired from his job after that interaction, but it’d be so worth it. He’s been waiting for a good chance to cuss him out ever since y/n told him everything.

Clicking respond, he heard Louis’ voice.

“Jason,” Louis frowned, annoyed by the thousands of calls he had to make to reach him. “where is she?”

“fuck you.” Jason quickly hung up.

While snickering to himself, another call blew up his phone and he clicked respond with an amused grin.”I’m not telling you a single thing Louis, give up!”

The annoyed groan Louis let out only made him feel more prideful than before. “just..at least tell me if she’s safe or not! Is she doing well?”

Jason scowled. “a little too late to worry about her safety and well-being buddy.” With all the actions Louis pulled at her, it felt like he didn’t care for her one bit. Jason felt mad, saddened. All this time Louis was using Y/n like she was his favorite toy. One he saw as a best friend throughout the world. Only to throw her away when she didn’t do as he pleased. With that thought in mind, he hung up.

Like hell he’d ever tell him anything. Besides, y/n is technically safe. If you ignore the crazy guy who makes robots and swore revenge on her once, the citizens of the island who were not human and the fact that the Island is barely on any map.

Yeah..she’s probably safe.

He hopes so at least.

----

Walking down the sandy beach, you traced a thumb over the bandages on your arms. It was healing up, but the process was a little too slow for your taste. As you gazed down at your arm with annoyance, you remembered something that happened today and reached down to your pocket. Now within your palm, was a small toy figure. It seemed to be a puppy, a Dobermann one. You traced your hand over it a bit, noticing that its quality is quite good for a toy. During your work, Stratford, the kid you met yesterday, came in with his pet hamster. After healing her up, the kid was filled with pure joy at his healthy hamster and gave you this toy as thanks.

You chuckle a bit, putting the toy back in your pocket and continuing on your way. If you ignore the small pain you feel at times from your injuries and the whole attack thing that happened a few days ago, you had quite a good busy week. Now, nothing can beat a good week's worth of work rather than a good weekend.

You sigh at that, feeling yourself smile at the word. Weekends. Although it's only one and a half day of a break, it’s a much-needed one. Finally reaching Amy’s house, you opened the door and were greeted by the smell of paint.

Paint always had a unique sort of smell. One that was a mix of various chemicals jumbled up together and creating a sense of familiarity with it. For you, paint’s smell was always a scent that was mixed between metal, oil, and other various chemicals. Although it's probably definitely not mixed with them, its smell always resembled theirs. Yet, it also strangely had its own uniqueness to it. One that with one sniff, you could immediately guess what it was. The smell also brought back memories. Ones where you would paint your whole hand in different colors and smash it up on the paper, or those times when your whole family would start re-painting a room for a new decor or style. Bittersweetness laced your mouth as you waved at Amy, who was sitting on a small stool with a painting in front of her. She seemed to not notice you wave, too enamored by her work, so you decided to speak instead.

“Hey Amy! I’m back.” Your voice made the hedgehog stop her work and greet you back. “how was your day?” the girl asked, busying herself with cleaning up the brushes while waiting for your answer.

You shrugged. “nothing much.” Nothing really interesting comes to mind, to be honest. You took out the toy the child gave you and held it up with your palm, waving it around a bit to set Amy’s attention on it. “a kid did give me this toy, though.” You huffed a laugh. “I think its really cu-“

An extremely loud gasp makes you jolt. You look back at Amy and see her look at you in disbelief. Mouth agape and her brush on the floor. In a blink of an eye, Amy rushed up to you at such speed that it could almost rival Sonic’s. swiftly grabbing the toy from you, she looks at it with admiration and excitement. “Oh my god!!” the girl squeals. “this is Dirk Doberman! It's so rare! And a great attacker too! Once you give it the ice tiara he becomes super powerful and-“

“H-hold on a minute!” you stop her rambling, your head trying to process what she’s talking about. Amy gives a sheepish smile. “Sorry.” She puts the figure on the counter with the utmost care. “ I just got a little too excited-“

“It's fine, Amy. Don’t worry about it.” You quickly replied. “I’m just a bit confused, what is this?” a grin got back into her face with that question. She walks around the house and makes a bee-line to her room. In a few seconds, she comes out with a briefcase with paws on it. She opens it up, revealing a bunch more of those puppy figurings and accessories and a pink board neatly placed in it.

“it's called Fuzzy Puppies! It’s a strategic game challenging one’s intelligence and strategic thinking!” Amy excitedly explains everything. “I can teach you how to play if you want.” Well, you don’t have much to do anyway. This game does sound fun…you nod at her and she soon motioned you to go sit down on the pink chair and you do as obliged. Once there, she places the pink hexagon board next to you and a few puppies were placed on her side of the board. On the other side that was yours, ‘Dirk Doberman' was placed right in the middle. Amy also puts in a few dogs of her own there. “you only have one puppy, so I’ll let you borrow some of mine.”

The game Fuzzy Puppies is in short, a tabletop battle game with puppies. Each puppy has their own unique power and way to eliminate the other player’s puppies. Just like Amy said, it's all about strategy. In order to win the game, you must be cunning and know all your figures' abilities and the pros and cons of it.

For the cutesy look it has, it's surprisingly quite serious. It felt like you were playing an amalgamation of chess and trading card games. Trying to understand what the other is thinking about, what their next move is and how they want to win. Amy was incredible at it. She kept making you surprised with all the tactics she seemed to know like the back of her hand. The rules of the game were stuck in her mind in a tight grip. Every single one of them was deemed important in her eyes for a good strategy. Many of them looked like just a bore to know about, but benefited her greatly during the match. It was fun. incredibly fun.

Time went by quickly with the board taking away your attention. Amy won most rounds, but there were two rounds where you won instead. Albeit you're pretty sure Amy just went easy on those.

Amy rolls the dice, the dice shows 2 and she grins in confidence. She moves Sharleen Sharpay, a dog that can make smaller puppies get removed from the other player’s board by a bark. “since I got two, I can activate Sharleen’s skill, so..”

You sigh in playful defeat, taking out your last small dog. Amy puffs her chest in pride. “I win!”

“you’re way too good at this.” You mumbled out, pretty neutral about your defeat. “ how did you do it?” Amy shrugs. “I’ve been playing for a long time. I’m actually surprised you haven't heard of this game before. It's pretty big here.”

She starts cleaning up the table, first taking the board then looking back at you again. “is it that unpopular there?”

“Well…” you picked up the puppies in your corner of the table and started setting them in the briefcase. “ I mean- I’ve never heard of it. But I’m not really into gameboards, so there could be a chance that this exists.” Louis was more of a fan of them than you were. He’d bring a new board game every once a week to your house, using it as an excuse to hang out with you on school days while also showing off the new game he thought you’d both like. You don’t remember most of them now, only playing them once. But there are ones that become classics for you two.

With the fuzzy puppies now in the suitcase and your Doberman one sitting on the table, Amy looked at the clock and gave a shocked huff. “have we been playing for that long?” she chuckled. Glancing at the time, you were just as shocked as she was. 10 p.m.

“Well, I’m not that sleepy right now, are you?” she asked. “nope, I feel pretty energetic, actually.” Her eyes seemed to brighten up at that and she got up from the couch and went to the TV. “then let’s have a sleepover! We can start by watching a movie.” She excitedly opens a drawer and brings out a small box filled with CDs. Shuffling the neatly placed disks around a bit, she picks one out and immediately puts it in.

Oh well, sleepover it is.

----

“how thy voice is like a songbird. Let my eyes feast upon your beauty and my soul will be nourished by your love! A thousand roses would not dare to smell as sweet as you!”

The movie that Amy picked was a cheesy romantic one. It was quite the slow burn too. The number of trials and tribulations the two characters had to go through to reach this one confession was a total rollercoaster of emotions.

The male character was a secret hero. Being a normal baker in the day and a hero when danger erupts. The female character was a princess who was always curious about whom the hero was. She had a strong will and wanted to find out the truth no matter what. Much to the hero’s dismay. During it all, an S-tier villain plans to kidnap the princess and rule over the kingdom. Crazy shenanigans ensue as the princess keeps meeting the baker in the day and hero in the night, sweet talks shared with the civilian, and bickering with the knight. Completely oblivious to them being the same person.

At first, you weren’t interested in their relationship in the movie one bit. but now, even you feel relief from seeing them finally confess.

“Oh, even if thy face is hidden beneath a mask, your heart is visible to me, now and forever!”

Amy shed a tear from those words as you screeched “Yes!” as if your favorite team has won something.” took them long enough!” you sighed. Amy chuckled beside you and wiped her tears with a tissue. “Oh to have a love like theirs.” She huffed out.

As the two characters in the scene finally started dating, the movie ends. “so, what did you think? Did you like it?”

“it was pretty good.” You replied. Snacks of all sorts laid on the table and you didn’t stop yourself from taking one and munching on it. “that comedic character was too annoying though. Didn’t even make me laugh once.”

Amy nodded and stood up to take out the CD. “yeah, everyone hates him.” She chuckled.

Thinking for a bit, you noticed how you still weren’t tired at all. The night still felt young and even though your body was exhausted, your brain ignored their pleas for sleep and kept on working. Yet, the thought of watching another movie bored you.

“you wanna play truth or dare?”

From hearing that question, you visibly stiffened up a bit. Any huffed and rolled her eyes. “oh come on! It's not that bad.” You beg to differ. The most horrid game out there is truth or dare. If played with the wrong people, it could be the most traumatizing experience of your life. then again, you never really played it yourself. You’ve only heard your classmates talk about playing it. Hair getting shaved off, ice being put in one’s clothes, forced to embarrass yourself in public…any stories they gave sounded more like a nightmare than a fun night out.

“eh…I don’t really like that game.” You shrugged. “too many risks for my taste. You could literally make me do anything- and I’d have to comply.” Amy hummed. “I guess you’re right, that would be a problem…”

“then how about this!” her face brightened up, coming up with a new idea to make you agree. “we’ll put some ground rules on what we can’t ask and dare! I’ll start. I say that none of us should dare the other to physically change our appearance! For example, shaving off eyebrows, cutting hair, getting a tattoo…” she suddenly shivered in fear. “…dying your hair a color that doesn’t match you at all..”

You hummed, feeling more comfortable with that proposal in mind. “alright then.” You took a breath. Hands fidgeting a bit with what you were about to say, you physically prepared yourself for any reaction Amy might give to your kind of suspicious rule. “I say…that we do not ask too many questions about our lives before the Island.” You’d wish to say not to ask any question about it in general, but knowing how the ‘truth’ part of the game would be boring with that sort of rule and how you wished to know a bit more about Amy yourself, you merely prayed that she wouldn’t ask a heavy question that would be impossible to answer without mentioning him at least once.

“I’m not comfortable talking much about mine yet.” You quickly added. Amy gave you a worried glance, but hummed in understanding. “Alrighty then! So, shall we start?”

-----

“and then…BOOM! Just like that, Tails’ machine was destroyed and gross green slime covered everyone. It took me a week to get it all off!” you snorted at the story as she grumbled at your reaction. “oh come on! It’s not funny!”

“you’re right.” You grinned. “it's hilarious.”

“to you!” she couldn’t help but laugh with you a bit. “for me it was the most embarrassing thing in the world! People wouldn’t stop staring at my green goe sticking hair!” you held back a laugh and Amy punched your shoulders playfully. Soon she went back to her task at hand, painting your nails in your favorite color. “my turn now,” she hummed, still focused on not plastering the small brush messily on your fingers. “truth or dare?”

“truth.”

“what was the most romantic moment of your life?” she looked at you with bright stars in her eyes. It was an interesting question. one that took you a few moments to answer. What was the most romantic moment of your life? What could be considered romantic? Love? Happiness? Peace? All of them together?

That was a tough one. You didn't have much moments in your life you’d consider ‘romantic’. Quite frankly, the closest thing you ever had to a ‘romantic moment’ was when you ate falafels with Louis as he sobbed in the dark. His father and he had a big fight that led to him leaving and coming to your house at eleven p.m. you were lucky the shop was still open and the lights still lit up the sidewalks. His eyes were brimming with tears as he munched down on the sandwich like he hasn’t eaten for days. Your hands were on his back, letting him cry for as much as he wanted. After the food he’d hug you tight, crying on your shoulder for another hour as he explained what had happened between his waterfall of tears. You let him stay at your house for the night. As the sun for the next morning shined up, you remember him quietly thanking you and practically being glued to you the whole day. Hell, you don’t even consider that ‘romantic’ one bit. it was more sad than anything.

Your friendship might’ve been first started because of your parents, but it was still real.

You truly cared for him. You truly wanted to be his friend. You had fun with him, you laughed with him. Yet, Sometimes you wished you’d opened up to him more, let him see your true emotions rather than a relaxed smile and nod to everything being fine. But you couldn’t. you weren't allowed to. ‘If you show one sign of weakness it would seem like the whole family is weak and troubled!’ your mother reminded you. ‘ don’t tell them anything about our family. We don’t want gossipers.’

You don’t know where she’s gotten this behavior from. Trauma, experience, seeing it happening to someone else, whatever it was, it was strong in her. You never showed your feelings to anyone, because you were told not to. You never spoke about what happened at home, because you were told not to. You were desperate to follow the rules now. After the many scoldings and punishments, you got for breaking rules you didn’t know about, you were desperate to appeal to their standards. Follow the rules. Don’t talk back.

Maybe that’s why you never felt anything romantic for Louis. You were never yourself around him. You were perfect friend Y/n. always ready to give you a shoulder to cry on. Always there for you and always does what you want to do! Never fights with you and always laughs at your jokes!

Never speaks about herself. Never says a damn thing about her day. She was taught to be quiet, to behave. What a perfect kid!

“well...I don’t think I had a romantic moment.” You finally spoke. Amy looked at you shocked. “seriously?! Not even one?”

“nope.” You hummed. “did you have one?”

She paused for a bit, letting the nail polish dry off while she put the brush back in the small container. “…yeah I did. It was when Sonic got me a scarf as a gift.”

“oh, Sonic?” you gave a cocky smile. “do you perhaps…have a crush on him?” Amy’s eyes widened and a blush spread over her face. She looked away and mumbled up some denials of that claim.

“pfft, crush, on him? In his dreams!” she nervously laughed it off. “Amy,” you looked at her bluntly. “you have a picture of him with hearts around it.” Her face became even redder than before, yelping and looking away from your gaze. “you saw that?!”

“yeah, on accident though. It fell right out of your bag.” She sighed in defeat. “I knew I should’ve put it in the back pocket!”

You giggled, getting up from your laid-down position and grabbing a nail polish yourself. You grab her palm gently and start working on her nails. Amy’s blushing mad at the moment, head coursing with different thoughts and her expression turns from an embarrassed one to a one of annoyance. “I can’t believe how dense he is.” She grumbles.

“Maybe you should be more forward in your approach?” you suggested. She thinks for a bit and shakes her head. “I could do that, but it might make things awkward for the others. And anyway- I don’t want it to seem like I’m head over heels for him!” she snorted.

“Alright then, that’s all I got.”

“Seriously? That’s all the advice you have?”

“ehh..well..” your shoulders tense a bit. “I’m not…really the best at these love stuff. I’m like-“ you hiss in embarrassment. “horrible at it. As in ‘I never get the hints and think it's all platonic’ horrible.”

She chuckles. “So, just like Sonic huh?”

“Sadly yes.” You sighed.

A comfortable silence overtook the room for a moment. Your small little game of truth and dare is completely forgotten. Probably for the best, since you didn’t want to be dared to put ice cubes in your shirt or eat a whole glass worth of milk and hot sauce mixed together. Jacob was dared that once, he came back sick for two days.

“ Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow?”

“No, not really.” You replied. “why do you ask?”

Her face seemed to brighten up at your response. “well…yesterday, me and the gang were just talking and decided to play a bunch of games to see who’s the best player among us. Do you wanna join us?”

“you sure you want me to join?” you smiled. “I’m not that good in sports.” You huffed.

“I’d be really happy if you did!” she insisted. “it's not really about who wins, we all just wanna have fun.” Her face suddenly scrunched up into a frown. “Well…all of us..except…” she gives out a grumble.

Your movements with the small brush had gone still, curious to hear who she was mentioning. Hearing no answer, your eagerness to know increased and you rose your head up. “except who?”

She groans. “Sonic.”

---

You thought she was joking.

You honestly thought she was just joking. Yet, here you are on the beach, the sun blazing up on your skin and the sand feeling soft on your sandals, looking at Sonic who was warming up for the games. He was looking excentric. Excited, even. He was doing all sorts of stretches. From basic ones that are learned in P.E. to absolute bonkers pro moves that you just knew you’d break your back if you tried it. He had the cockiest of grins on his face, so stretched out that you almost thought that he was going to be in some sort of dental product advertisement. After his warm-ups he just kept running. His striking blue color kept making hoops of circles around the whole island and a strong gush of wind kept being left every time he passed by. He didn’t even greet you properly, only giving a wave with a ‘Hey Y/n!’ while running ten laps simultaneously.

“Sonic, don’t you think you’ll wear yourself out?” you screamed at the hoop of blue, hoping that your worry would somehow reach his ears. In the quickly blurred figure you could see of him, you noticed his head turning around in your direction. “Huh?” his voice was more strained than normal. “oh don’t worry! I’m totally fine! Just

a little excited!” he chuckled.

Excited enough to leave trails of lightning with every step, it seems. You quickly try to stay away from the path he was running from, not wanting to be electrocuted by his powerful speed. How many laps has he run by now? Fifty? Hundred? You weren't sure. You tried to keep count, but it got too quick at his fifth one and you merely became speechless in the end.

What was more surprising was how early he came. Amy said that she’d have to go there earlier than the time the others will to prepare for the challenges and you offered to help. So going to the destination and seeing Sonic already there was quite the shocker.

It's been an hour, yet he still goes on warming up. Amy seemed to have enough of it and huffed. She puts a basket full of fruits down. “Can’t you just help us instead?” Sonic’s head seemed to tilt from that question. he glances at the ground, noticing the amount of equipment still left to organize.

“eh…..I don’t know, it seems pretty boring.” He comments. Amy’s eyes furrow. “and anyway, I gotta prepare myself for my victory stance right after I win.” As he says that gloatful comment, he quickly zooms out and back to where he was, but now a mirror right in his hands and standing on an egotistical pose.

“How are you so sure you’re going to win?” you smirked. Sonic looks at you with a smug smile. “because I’m super awesome?” he says in a matter-of-factly tone.

“is that going to take you far though?” you teased. “I mean- it’s a challenge mainly full of sports games, right? Knuckles and Sticks are pretty great at that.” Sonic thinks for a moment, then gives out a huff. “I’m sure I can handle them.”

“Alright then, what if there was a puzzle game then? Pretty sure Tails would figure it out in an instant. “ he stilled, eyes a bit widened up but soon he covered his realization with another overly confident comment. “oh please! I’m pretty smart too you know!” that’s a lie. “I’m sure I can beat him if I try hard enough.” He grabs a box full of nets and walks with you to the small railing he had to attach them in. “besides,” he suddenly speaks up. “ the rules are that you have to win most of the games, not all.” His shoulders straighten up. “if I win all the games and just lose that one, I’m still going to win.”

“if. That is.” You joked. “good luck, Sonic. Let’s see if you can beat me in the game I chose.”

As you walked away, you left a shocked Sonic behind you.

“Wait- you’re joining this too?!”

---

The rules were quite simple.

The ‘Games Championship’ as Knuckles called it, is a series of games that one must participate in and try to win. There’s a leaderboard that indicates who has the most wins and the one that does become the ‘Grand Champion of all games.’ Each game is chosen by each player.

The first game was chosen by Amy. A simple card game that needs an even number of people to play it. You’ll all be separated into teams of two and will be given some cards.

the rules for this game are a bit challenging and fun. Each card has an animal with a silly expression on them. On the table, there will be six circles with each one drawn one of the animals on it, and a seventh in the middle with the logo of your game. Get all your six cards to be the same animal, then, try to hint to your teammate that you have all the cards, whether it's by imitating the animal’s expression or something else, you must hint at them before the other team realizes and takes the win instead. How can you take the win? By touching either the circle you know your teammate has all the cards of or touching the logo if you don’t know which animal it is. If your opponent does that instead they win. The winner gets four plastic coins, in the end the team with the most coins wins.

You teamed up with Amy, Sonic with Tails, and Knuckles with Sticks. The game began and tension was already high. Amy threw a bunch of cards on the table and you all hurriedly tried to find matching sets, suddenly, in one whip second, you saw a hand take a tornado card.

Lo and behold in the next round Sonic quickly took a few cards then shouted “Tornado!” as he slammed the card down. Everyone groaned, now unable to take any of the cards as the ‘tornado’ swoops them away.

“oh come on!” Sticks grumbled. “there were three cards with the animal I was hunting for on it! I could’ve won!” Sonic snickers.

“the game hasn’t even started yet!” Knuckles added.

Sonic grinned. “sorry guys, better luck next round.” The two grumbled at that.

You looked at your own cards. Seems like you’re collecting the cat one with a grumpy face the most, so best to stick with that from now on. Looking at Amy, you try to see if she’s giving you any hints. Nope, none yet.

The next round begins and everyone starts taking cards again. You take two, yet you still need one more card till you can hint at Amy. Looking back at her, you notice how she keeps breathing and…puffing her cheeks?

Oh, wait- oh shit oh wait- that’s one of the expressions! But hold on- how can you be so sure she’s hinting at you- there must be some other sign-

She glances at you with a hurried look. Within a blink, you immediately touch the circle with a pufferfish on it and she screams with joy. “YES!” you both high-five while the others grumble.

“That's four coins for us! We’re in the lead now!” Amy grins and starts up the round.

Game two, round one, and the battle started once more. This time, you were planning on searching for the sad turtle cards. Before you can snatch up any Sticks throws a tornado down and laughs.

“What?!” Sonic shrieked. “oh come on! those cards were a gold mine!”

“ah, sweet revenge. “ she grins and Sonic’s annoyed face.

Tails pats Sonic on the shoulder. “well Sonic, that’s karma for you.” He chuckled. Sonic huffed.

Round two, now with no tornados. Everything was going fine, you needed three more cards, Amy didn’t seem to give any clues and everyone else seemed calm too.

It was at round three when everything started to change. You needed just one more card and were waiting for round four to start up, yet everyone was stilled quiet. They were glancing at each other, seeing if anyone has finished up yet. The air became a bit thicker than usual. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tails slams his hand on the snake circle, and Sonic slams his cards down with a grin. His cards were all the green snake one with his tongue sticking out.

“heck yeah! Good job buddy!” Sonic smiles.

A few games later and in the end, all teams won two times, which makes this round the last one. The all-or-nothing.

Tension was high and the drinks next to you were long forgotten. The beach waves didn’t waver your concentration one bit as you glared at your cards and opponents. You’re going to win this. You want to win this.

The cards are set on the table and the trading begins. This time you wanted to search for winking owls. Round one was fine, round two you gave a tornado, and round three went on for a small amount of time.

It was when you reached round four and took the last card you needed that made things feel a bit more tense. You hid your excitement and small stress and gave a small glance to Amy. She didn’t seem to notice it. Shit.

You glance one more time.

She’s still deep in thought on her cards.

Oh my god, for the love of god please just glance back for a second!

Alright, one more time.

You glance at her, she glances back. you give a quick wink.

She jolts, hand frantically reaching out and touching the owl circle and you both scream in victory.

“team Amy and Y/n for the win!” Amy laughs. She smirks down at the others. “that’s one win for me and one win for Y/n. onto the next games!”

--

It has now become noon, the sun was unwavering in its presence and right in the middle of the sky, the waves kept their unbreakable rhythm of back and forth and the sand was feeling hotter than ever.

This was the worst goddamn time for a sports game, you groaned with that thought.

Your feet were aching, begging for you to stop moving for even one second. Your body has become too warm for your liking and you felt like you were walking on lava. Not to mention, your lungs were so out of breath that you couldn’t even think straight.

It’s only been ten minutes.

Were you always this bad at sports? You never had much of a liking to it, except for the good old parkour that your child self saw as a necessity for her adventuring life in the future. Yet as much as you wanted those parkour lessons, your mother insisted that those are fake and useless and you should have no interest in such a thing. She’d rather want you to go to some volleyball or basketball classes. You know, normal stuff.

Perhaps you should’ve taken her up on that offer, because then you’d have much more stamina during this game.

“pass the ball!” Sticks screamed to Amy, running alongside her and waving her hands up in a fit of hurry. Amy raises her hand and throws the ball. the badger clutches it with the utmost strength and three steps in, left right left, and jumps! She quickly throws the ball to the goal and it hits. Well shit. That’s a point lost for you.

“Damnit!” Tails grumbled a little disappointed that he couldn’t catch the ball in time. Knuckles, who was next to him and trying to defend, came up and patted his shoulder. “It’s alright dude, you’ll get him next time.” He smiled.

You walked over to the two and frowned. “sorry,” you mumbled. “If I wasn’t so slow, I would’ve caught up to them in time.” Tails shrugged. “it’s alright Y/n, it wouldn’t have stopped them much anyway.”

Right. Handball’s rules were that you can’t take the ball away from their hand, but you can defend them when they try to reach the ring before the goal 'area', or as you know it, the six-meter area that surrounds the goalie. No one is allowed inside the six meters except them.

You wondered why of all the games, Knuckles chose this one. It's a game usually meant to be played by two teams with seven members, but, you guessed it could be played by teams of four too. Albeit it’s a little more complicated to go back and forth between the defense and attack positions like this.

“We should just change our roles,” Tails commented, his brain already racking for a solution. Knuckles nodded. “yeah, I’ll have to be on the front instead, since Y/n’s speed can’t match theirs.”

“I can’t defend though.” You felt embarrassed by your lack of sportiness, now hands crossed together and a pout apparent on your face. “I’m not much of a sporty person in general, I don’t think I can be this helpful here…”

“Hey, Don’t say that!” Knuckles punched your shoulder softly. “sure, you might not be able to play like a pro,” he shrugged. “but you can play it right. Here, let me teach you how to defend.” He pulls you to the six-meter line and stays one inch away from it.

“Alright, what you have to do is first, arms up.” He puts his arms up in a wide range and you copy. “ its best for your legs to be apart and you have to walk in this style,” he starts slowly walking left and right with the ball of his legs," it makes it easier to catch the ball or defend the goalie“

“Now you try,” you nodded and did as you were told. Hands up, stand on the ball of your feet, and walk around the six meters.

You could’ve guessed that Knuckles would be into sports, after all, he is the strength and power of the team. Yet, you never really expected him to be such a great coach in it.

But that’s probably because you haven't really ever spoken to him much. Your first conversations with him were the ones at Meh Burger.

He was mostly quiet during your first and only a small handful of meet-ups and let the others do the talking instead. So seeing him this excited and social for the first time was a nice change of pace. It made you wonder how much you don’t know about these guys yet.

Knuckles hummed and nodded. “ yeah, that’s pretty good. Just make sure to focus on the corners in the six meters. Sticks will always try to sneak up there and goal.” You nodded at that, thanking him for his help. A few seconds later and Knuckles’ eyes wandered to your bandaged-up arm.

“ How are you holding up with the injuries?”

You shrugged, fingers unconsciously touching the bandages. The fabric felt a bit old since you’ve been wearing it for hours now and sweating profusely. The scars beneath it didn’t give you the sizzling pain anymore, yet you could feel small pangs of it here and there. “it's fine, really. The laser obviously hurt but the pain isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought the wounds would be deeper than this.”

“you know, I don’t think this will be the last time Eggman pulls a stunt like that against you.” Knuckles frowned a bit. “since you’re our friend, he’ll try to take advantage of that as much as he can.” He’s right, Eggman most certainly will do that. But you have to wonder, what is all this for? What’s his goal in attacking the village and wanting to defeat Sonic? “you should learn some self-defense. It’ll help you hold out long enough till we come in and stop him.”

Huh, he’s right. Self-defense will certainly be helpful for next time around when the evil scientist attacks. “tell you what,” Knuckles grins. “if you ever need some tips or lessons, just come to my house and I’ll help you out.”

“Seriously?” you smiled, grateful for everything the team has done for you these days. “Thanks! I’ll take you up on that offer someday then.”

“next game of handball begins in five minutes!” Amy shouted, Sticks standing right next to her and drinking some water. “We’re definitely gonna win this! We’ve got the best team! With our great dynamic in there and Sonic’s super speed catching the ball perfectly, no one can stop us!” she suddenly puts a finger on her chin. “maybe we should go pro…”

“That would be nice, but I don’t think we’ll make it to all the competitions when there’s so much butt-kicking to do here.” Amy adds. “ the village’s safety comes first.”

“While we’re on the topic,” Tails suddenly speaks up again. “don’t you guys think you’re being a little unfair?”

“What?!”

“what do you mean? “ Amy looked at Tails in confusion. “what's so unfair about us?”

“it's obviously Sonic.” Knuckles joined in and Tails nodded.

“ he has super speed! It’s always impossible for us to goal!” Tails grumbled a bit. “ the whole match he could easily catch the ball from every corner! All of my strategies were impossible to succeed. Heck, even when he is distracted and on a whole other section of the base, he still super speeds and gets to the side we’re in and catches the ball!” Amy hums at that, now in deep thought.

“I guess his super speed is a little unfair here…” she mumbled. “but we can't do anything about it now, we’ll have to do something for the next game instead.”

“how are you gonna make it fair anyway?” Sticks asked. “it's not like we can just stop him from playing the games. That would be unfair to him.”

Tails suddenly smiled. “ I think I have an idea,” Tails looks at Amy.

----

“WEIGHTS?!” Sonic screamed.”YOU’RE GONNA MAKE ME PUT WEIGHTS ON MY ANKLES?!”

“yep!” Amy simply nodded.

A normal five-minute break has become a fifteen-minute one since Amy wanted to try out her idea. And with the way it's going, a few ten more minutes might be taken up by convincing Sonic to try them.

“B-but- that’s way too unfair for me! It’s gonna make me way too slow!” he hurriedly spoke. Amy looked at him with a judged look. “Sonic, I had to wear weights on my hands for years. “ she huffed. “It’s really not that heavy. Stop whining so much about it!”

Sonic grumbled, now defeated and begrudgingly agreeing to the new game rules. It does make the game fair after all.

“you know, we can do a test run right now to see if they make you too slow.” Tails suggested. “if they are then we’ll have to give you smaller weights or think of a new idea.”

Sonic didn’t reply, he merely started getting into position. With no second to waste, he starts super-speeding around the island. It's noticeably a little less quick than before, yet it was still fast enough to be considered super speed. Despite that, Sonic seemed quite annoyed when he stopped his sprints.

“do you feel uncomfortable in them?” you asked, a bit worried about the idea. Sure, his super speed was unfair, but Sonic’s point was also fairly right. It could get unfair for him. “if they’re hurting or bothering you, then that’s fine. You don’t need to wear them.”

Sonic’s eyes softened up a bit and he looked away, a bit embarrassed now. “what- pfft No! why would they hurt at all? I’m way stronger than I look you know.” He proudly

smirks. “fine fine I’ll wear them,” he rolls his eyes. “if that’s what makes you guys feel a little less outshined and beaten. But,” his tone gets more confident, a tinge of slyness could be sensed in it. “I’m still obviously going to be the winner. Hope you don’t mind that.” He winks, and the others grumble and roll their eyes. You couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. well, if he’s not bothered by it then all is well.

Suddenly, Amy’s tech-watch (that’s what you decided to call them for now) started beeping and the five minutes were up. You all talked for a little bit and then went back to your spots in the game, only this time, your team switched places.

As the defender, your goal is to stop the players from reaching the six meters and shooting or, stopping them from shooting well. Somehow blocking their view or hand so that the ball would go the opposite of what they wanted or even better, making the ball fall out of their hands completely and into the grasp of your teammates.

But before you could do all that, you’ll first need to stand in the middle of the court and pass the ball to each other continuously until you reach the enemy's goal and try to shoot. All while the other team is defending the goal and goalie.

Amy Sticks stand in the middle, cautious and focusing on your every move. You look back at Knuckles as you pass the ball for the fifth time. He gives you a small nod. The ball gets passed to you once again. You quickly pass it back and block Amy’s way. Knuckles tries dodging and ignoring Sticks’ defense and shoots. The ball gets caught by Sonic.

Sonic passes the ball to Sticks. You sprint back to your goal. Knuckles tries to distract Sticks by blocking her way. She passes the ball to Amy. Amy starts to dribble with the ball and keeps getting closer to you with each second passing. You recite what Knuckles taught you in your head and get in position. She doesn’t falter.

Left, right, left and she jumps and shoots!

Hands up, eyes on the ball, watch your step and-

You got the ball!

You quickly dribble with the ball and ignore Amy’s attack to get it back. you see Knuckles is close to the goal. You throw the ball in his direction. Within a second, he catches the ball and throws it to the top area of the net. Sonic tries to jump and get it, but he failed! Goal!!!

As your team scream in victory, you all gather up and high-five. One point ahead. That’s a good start to the round for sure.

“told you you could do it!” Knuckles pats your back. you smile in response.

---

Even with the good start, your team losing seemed inevitable. Sticks was right, With her and Sonic’s competitiveness combined with Amy’s strategizing, nothing could stop them from winning this sort of game. One could say that with Knuckles added, they would be a team to fear.

Each member of the winning team gained one point. Which puts Amy in the lead for now. After a small break for some drinks, you all started walking down to the beach, right at the section where if you walk any further, you could find yourself in the forests soon enough.

Two long sticks of red with a line drawn between the two caught your attention. Orange-colored traffic cones engulfed a pathway that leads straight to the forest, but it immediately ends there. no traces of glaring orange can be seen within the forest at all.

Sonic grinned at the sight. “Finally!” he gives out a sigh of relief, but it quickly became a small panic as he realized something.

He looks down to his ankles and then looks back up to the already smirking Amy. “uh Amy…” he gives a worried snicker. “do I still have to wear these?...”

“Duh. How else would we make this fair?”

“oh come on!” he huffed. “I was the one who picked this race! It's only fair that I get to not wear weights in it!” Sonic’s foot tapped impatiently on the ground, eyes annoyed by the rule and fists clenched up from the idea of possibly losing.

Amy and the others thought for a bit. “Alright then,” Tails replied. “But, you’ll have to still wear these weights for any other games we have if the picker wanted you to.” Everyone nodded and hummed in agreement.

A newfound confident smirk was now on Sonic’s face. “Deal!”

The race’s idea was a simple one. Whoever gets outside of the forest the quickest wins. You can use any path you want, the only rule was that it has to be inside the forest. To make things a little harder, each person would be paired up with the other and have to work together to find a way out.

Sonic got paired with Tails, Knuckles with Amy, and last but not least, you with Sticks.

It was decided that five minutes will be given to talk to your teammate and plan your route. As the count started, you walked up to the badger.

“So,” you briefly smiled. “you got any plans? Since you are a forest expert.” Amy often talks about the others at the dinner table. You heard lots about Sticks’ incredible survival skills in the wild.

It took a few silent seconds before her reply, her eyes trained on the forest and her mind ticking with solutions. “I know a few shortcuts. But there’ll be lots of animals and hiking involved.” She turns back to you. “you up for it?”

“well…I never really hiked before-“ your father never really bothered to teach you anything interesting. Even though he was quite skillful in such areas. Usually, he’d leave for a few days to camp in the forest and doesn’t come back till the sun is finally up. You always did want to go with him, but it always got canceled by your mother. Something about ‘spending more time with Louis’ and ‘not wanting to get ruined by your father’ was always rambled on as the excuse. And anyway, he never really seemed to care about spending quality time. “but I will try my best.” You sigh.

She hums, eyes again getting glued to the greenery before her. “don’t worry, I’ll teach you a few tips.”

After a few talks about which way you’ll head, it was now time for the game to start.

You all stand on the red line. Everyone gets in position. You take a small glance at Sonic and you could already tell he knows he’s going to win. The machine cheers up a loud noise and you all instantly start to sprint.

You go to your left with Sticks, immediately stirring away from the rest of the gang and reach a small mountain.

Despite being labeled as ‘small’ by Sticks, you were sure it was quite the trail to hike. Bushes and rocks run over the place, some trees can be seen growing at the top of the mountain. The wild colors of green, grey and browns of different shades all mixed up together in harmony. a few pretty little plants with different monotone colors laid across the path. It was beautiful. Something you could see being on a painting.

As you took your first steps on the mountain, you felt someone hold your wrist. “hold on,” she walks a few feet ahead of you and motioned you to watch. You observe her and realize that she’s walking a bit differently than how you did. Rather than a normal straight-ahead walk, it was one where you’ll have to walk left and right in half circles continuously. “Imagine that you’re a snake of some sort. Then, when you gather enough stamina and…” she gets ready and jumps in such height that you know you could never achieve and falls a few feet high up. Your jaw drops.

She looks at you critically. “what's wrong? You look like I told you the truth about this world. This is easy! That’s something you’ll have to learn when you’re ready.”

“uh…” you look around awkwardly. “I mean- I can do the first part but I’m definitely not ready for the jump part at all.” Sticks rolls her eyes at that.

“Fine then, just do that part. But be quick! We’re wasting time like this!” and so you did, you did your best to hike up the mountain as quickly as possible. But a loud grumble from Sticks proved for it to be useless. She comes down from the hundreds of heights she was up and stands right next to you. “fine then, I guess we just have to do this instead.”

Before you could even question what she meant, you felt yourself getting lifted up and put on her shoulders. “What the- “

“hold on tight if you don’t wanna get your bones broken.”

“what do you even mean by ThAT- OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT—“

It was almost like she was flying. Going so high up and climbing the mountain as if it was nothing. You followed her tip and held on so tight on her shoulders, the fear of falling down and possibly dying by your skull getting smashed up into bits coursing through you.

“It's not that scary!” Sticks huffed. “ya don’t need to shake like a leaf right now. Jeez, how are you ever going to survive an alien attack?!”

“I’d probably be the first one to die.” You laughed out, trying to distract yourself with this conversation.

“you’d definitely be mind-controlled first.”

“and then what would happen?”

“well…” her eyes brightened up a bit, excited to finally talk about all this to someone. ” they’ll first try to use you as bait to control others and after that—“ Sticks kept rambling on, yet her skills in literally jumping around from vine to vine, tree to tree, never ceased to stop. “and then after all that, they’ll move on to another planet.”

“so, am I doomed then?”

“Nah, don’t worry.” She reassured. “I’ll be there to protect ya. Honestly, if I wasn’t alive here and now all of you would have been doomed a long time ago.”

You were about to reply back, until you heard a screeching sound to your left. With her movement stopping, Sticks seemed to hear it as well.

“What was that?” you frantically looked around in worry. “it sounded like an animal. You think they got injured?” you try your best to look at Sticks in your position. But you can only see a small bit of her expression. She seemed on high alert, but also nonchalant.

“wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.” She mumbles. “stuff like this happens a lot. Rules of the jungle.”

“…can we go check though?”

“What?! Why?!” her gaze shifts to you with confusion and a bit of annoyance. “we’re gonna lose if we do that!”

“oh please,” you huffed. “you and I both know Sonic already won this the second we started moving.”

Sticks became speechless. But her eyes showed obvious conflict. With a groan, she facepalms and puts you down, grabs your hand and helps you slide off a tree.

“…so we’re going to help it, right?”

“no, I was planning on killing it, roasting it, and then eating it in front of you.” She looked at you with a sarcastic expression, one that soon shifts into annoyance. “of course we’re going to help it now! If we didn’t then you’d give me those sad puppy eyes you gave the first time we met.”

“sad puppy eyes-“ you gasped. “I looked like that?!” oh god, oh no. this is extremely embarrassing to hear. You couldn’t even look at her gaze when she obviously wasn’t joking about it.

“yup.” She gave a short reply, then continued. “ super scared and confused all while having some kindness or honesty to it. For a moment I thought you were faking it.”

“…oh man, this is so embarrassing.” You were at a complete loss for words. You knew you looked pathetic at that moment, but you never knew it was that pathetic.

Sticks stared at you with an alert look. “you’re doing it again— are you trying to trick me with that look?” she huffed out. “ you should really start learning some survival skills. You’re lucky we found you first. You could’ve been killed and eaten by the animals the minute you stepped in here.” With a motion using her head, she silently told you to follow.

While walking down to the source, you try to continue the conversation. “come on, cut me some slack.” You smirked. “I’m sure I could at least survive a few days. I’m pretty knowledgable in animal behaviors too, you know.” You didn’t go nose-deep into thousands of books and got graduated from that vet school for nothing.

Sticks took one more glance at you and hummed. “alright then, three days, tops.”

“I think it’d be more than two weeks, at best.”

“keep dreamin’.” She snorted.

After a short while of overthinking about the ‘what if’ situation, you spoke up again.“how long would Sonic last, then?” you curiously brought up. “I mean- what if he suddenly didn’t have super speed and was stuck in a forest? How long would he survive?”

That question seemed to intrigue Sticks as well, as she hummed and put a finger under her chin in thought. “ well, he’ll obviously last longer, but he’ll most likely die doing something extremely stupid.”

You snorted. “ and the rest?”

“well, Tails would survive the longest, Knuckles second and Amy…well— I’m not really sure. For now, she doesn’t have much of the skills for it, but she did talk about wanting to learn.”

You hummed, mind now moving up to other questions. The forest around you is in a silent harmony as the crunching of bushes and leaves beneath your feet can only be heard.

“…is it fun?”

“Hm?”

“is adventuring fun?” you couldn’t help but ask. “you know- the ruins..the secrets…the history..the fights…the mystery and all the people you meet along the way…is it fun?”

Sticks stayed silent for a bit, contemplating your question with a stern gaze. “I’m not the adventurous one in the group. That title goes to Sonic.” She replied. “but if you had to ask me, then…well— its fun, sure. But it has its dangers. Which is why you either need a professional there with you or learn it yourself. Either way has its huge chances of getting you killed by a dangerous ruin puzzle or mauled by a beast.”

She turned her head to you. “why are you asking anyway?”

You sheepishly look away and give an awkward shrug. “meh. Just curious.”

The suspicion on you must’ve grown a little bit bigger with that reply of yours. Yet you didn’t feel much bad about it. You’d rather die than talk about your feelings. Anytime you ever did, the one you told would always find ways to use it to manipulate you or win an argument. Better safe than opening up about your traumatic childhood, you thought.

You heard a small, yet still audible pained whimper and your head immediately shifted its way. Sticks grabbed your wrist and you both sprinted to your left and stopped until you finally found the injured animal.

The first thing you saw was some signs such as twigs and sticks that showed enough evidence that a tree’s branch must’ve fallen. The next thing you noticed was a fox, laying down injured up.

judging by its average height and thin body, you could guess it was in its middle years. Still quite young, but not a cub.

Slowly walking closer to it, you scan over his body and notice its injury being on his back left leg, given how it was hovering up rather than laying down like the rest of the legs, as if it hurt to move it. “is he gonna be okay?” Sticks asked, crossing her arms behind you.

You nodded. “he can heal by himself,” you frowned a bit, a concerned look on your face. “but I’m not sure if he can stay here…lots of predators out here that can kill him.” A grumble leaves your throat. “But I also can't bring him to the pet shop now— it's already closed and the animals there will freak out by seeing a fox inside, especially the rabbits. There’s also the fact that his hunter instincts and hunger could get to him and hurt the animals there and—“

“alright alright I get it!” Sticks rolled her eyes. “I’ll take him then. He can stay in my backyard for now.” Her eyes became stern, looking at the fox as if she was talking to him at this point. “but as soon as he’s healed, he’s heading out.” she scoffed. “I don’t want any animals in my home.”

“you..hate animals?”

“I don’t hate them,” she reasoned. “I just don’t trust ‘em. Trust me, if you’ve lived in the forest, you’d understand. In here, it's kill or be killed.”

You shrug, leaving the conversation at that and now gently trying to coax the fox to let you patch him up enough so he could at least stand and walk. As your hands get close, he growls, showing his sharp teeth and you flinch away. Sticks walks closer and growls louder than him, a sharp glare set on him as she did so. The fox closed his mouth and hid his teeth behind his muzzle. Soon enough, he lays his body down, only the injured leg being lifted a bit.

“thanks big guy.” You muttered, not noticing the confused look Sticks gave you in response. you gave it a quick patch using the sticks and giant leaves around you and he was able to stand again, albeit limping along the way. Soon, Sticks quickly hunted for some berries and tried to coax him into following you two to the finish line then her house.

As you two finally reached the end of the race, you were met with the group all waiting for you to come back, bored out of their mind with how long it took for you two to finally get here.

“what took so long?!” Amy huffed.

“did you guys get attacked on the way?” Tails questioned.

“miss vet over here wouldn’t let us leave until we found some injured fox we heard whimpering a few minutes into the race.” Sticks summarized your journey. “safe to say we were busy.”

Amy's eyes brightened up in excitement and she cooed, trying to get a good look at the fox and giving an affectionate smile. “he’s so cute!!”

“and best part is, you took out my biggest threat in the race!” Sonic grinned, his face quickly shifting into worry then faked up confidence. “not that I was afraid of losing- no no. heh. I knew I’d win, I mean- it’s a race. Of course I’d win.”

“I beg to differ!” Sticks smirked. “the forest is my territory, if Y/n and I weren’t caught up with the foxes, I would've beaten you for sure.”

“but didn’t we first—“

“shush.” Sticks quickly cut you off.

Amy seemed to want to join in as well, as she turned around to Sonic and gave a confident smile of her own. “don’t act so tough right now Sonic. You might’ve won this round, but the next game, oh, I wish you luck on that one.”

He stood still for a moment, his pride completely ripped away from his expression as he looked back at Amy confused. “what do you mean? Isn't the next one Sticks’? its something

doing with the forest again..something sporty-…right?”

Sticks’ smile widened. “Nope.” She chirped out. “it's puzzles.”

----

Ah yes, puzzles. The old weights for a brain’s exercise. Who didn’t like puzzles? Well- many people didn’t- but there were many out there who also did like it. and you? Well, just like everything else, you had the chance to be good at it and you were quite into the ones laid within the media you consumed concerning adventuring, but you slowly discarded any interest you had in it.

Sonic, on the other hand, seemed to have zero interest or skills in it. So much so that he’s been looking really stressed and frustrated the whole time they were setting up the puzzles on the table. He seemed so relieved to hear that everyone would be working in pairs. Yet, he still seemed a little tense.

He was paired up with Amy

You were paired up with Tails

And last but not least, Sticks was paired up with Knuckles.

Since Sticks was the one who picked the puzzles, to make things fair she was given another puzzle made by Tails.

The fox you found a bit earlier sat silently next to a tree, taking nap until you and Sticks get the time to take him to her house later, a few feet away from him, there was you and the others sitting across the picnic table from earlier breaks. there was a basket in front of your team and the others (except Sticks and Knuckles’ of course.) and each team was given a sheet of paper with riddles.

“Sticks, these aren’t puzzles” Tails perked up. Sticks looked at him confused. “what do you mean? Riddles are a part of puzzles.”

“no, they’re not. Riddles work in a way that it has to tell you a story of sorts for you to think about and solve and most of them are based on logic. You could always win those by quick thinking. puzzles, on the other hand, can require much more thinking no matter how much of a genius you are and involve putting things together so they could make sense. Also, puzzles can have their own logic while riddles must always be stuck in just one form of logic.”

“well I don’t agree!” her face scrunches up. “ A riddle is a kind of puzzle that someone asks questions that the other must find an answer to. Rather than doing physical things like shifting through wires or turning around tablets of stones or attaching some boring two pieces together- your left with giving firm verbal responses!”

“ok, first of all, “ Sonic finally speaks after half an hour of silence and grabs everyone’s attention. “you two nerds need to calm down.” He sighed. “second, Sticks, how do you even know so much about puzzles?!”

The badger shrugs. “there’s plenty of them in the forest left by the ancients. I don’t get most of them, but I didn’t manage to understand the easy ones and open its ruins here and there.”

“I knew it!” Amy joins in. “that’s why this seemed so familiar!” she lifts up the paper and looks at it in satisfied realization.

“Alright, enough chit-chat!” Sticks clicks her tech watch and sets up a timer. “you all have nine minutes to finish this up, so the game begins now!”

Soon, all eyes were on these papers. “This is a type of fruit, on which you can dine, to get another fruit, put it after pine” Tails reads the first riddle out loud and hums. “oh! Easy! It's apple.” Only a few seconds later and he’s already got the answer.

“What Am I? I’m small but I’m not a hamster. I’m found on a golf course but I’m not a golf ball. I’m a natural material but I’m not a blade of grass. I can be made into a castle but I’m not a brick. I’m grainy but I’m not an old photograph.” You hummed the question. “alright, well that’s obviously sand.”

Soon, more riddles have been answered. Yet, you didn’t feel like it was right- at least, not fully right. Looking around, your eyes land once again on the basket. Soon, everything clicks. You gave a small punch to Tails’ shoulder and grab his attention. Without uttering a word, just to make sure you were quietly ahead in the game since the other team hasn’t seemed to figure it out yet, you grab the basket and motion to the forest and beach a few feet away from you.

Tails’ eyes widen and he nods eagerly, and with that, you sprint and grab a handful of sand, put it in your basket, and quickly go inside the forest and scan the area for apples.

Luckily, the apples were found quickly a few feet away from you, most likely ones that have fallen from the tall trees all around you. You grab one and sprint back, already agreeing with Tails to finish up all the riddles then look for the rest of the items together.

‘This is a type of fruit. But it is not a lime. There are no other words. With which this word can rhyme.’ Orange.

‘Even though I have blades, I’m the one that gets cut' grass.

‘What Am I? I have eyes but I can’t see. I have skin but I can’t feel anything. I can be sweet but I’m not a piece of candy. I can be baked but I’m not a cake. I can be peeled but I’m not a carrot’ Potato.

With twenty more of these solved and nineteen items gathered up. you only needed one more thing before you win this game. The other team, however, was just starting their item-collecting part of the game. All with Sonic also being forced to put on weights for it.

So in conclusion, you and Tails didn’t rush things with the last item. It was a simple one, you just needed to look around a bit to find it. A sunflower, which Tails said he knows a place where they usually grow. So you set your sights there and followed the yellow fox.

“you know,” Tails suddenly spoke up during your walk. “you were pretty good at those riddles. And it’s a good thing you noticed the basket being important.” He gives a sheepish scoff. “I was way into the riddle solving to notice that.”

“Thanks, Tails,” you smiled. “but you did way more than I did, honestly I’d probably lose real bad without you.”

He shook his head in disagreement. “no, it was a team effort. I’d lose without you too since you were the ones who fetched the items and all. Without you, I’d be way too slow to complete all of this.” He looks at you with a small smile of his own. “we can make a pretty good team.”

Does teamwork affect things to be this much better? Does it really give more meaning or fun to a task or does it make it just more tedious? You weren't sure. But you liked this team. Team Sonic was a team full of friends. A team that must bring much great moments like this one.

“yeah, I guess we do.”

---

“Annddd Tails and Y/n won!!! That makes Amy, Tails, Y/n and Sonic all lead up to a tie! “ Amy announced. “which is great considering the next game is our last one! And it's Y/n’s pick!”

Sonic glanced at his genius friend confused, then looked back at Amy. “hold on, what about Tails? Didn’t he pick any games?” Tails gave an awkward laugh to that.

“well…I may or may not have stayed completely focused on my latest project and completely forgotten about picking a game— and there was the puzzle that I had to make for Sticks so…”

“which by the way,” Sticks looked at Tails with a bit of anger. “it was a completely unfair puzzle! I give you all easy stuff and you gave Knuckles and I some of the hardest math puzzles I ever saw.”

“Well, I heard you were going to base your puzzles on the ancients so I thought you must be going for its difficult puzzles, didn’t know there were easy ones around. Sorry.” He gives an apologetic look.

Sticks’ expression loosens up and she huffs. “forgiven, but you owe me one for rigging my own game.”Tails nods to that.

“ok, since that’s settled,” Amy speaks up again, looking at her T-watch. “it's time for the final game!”

Sonic tilts his head in curiosity. “So, what did you choose doc?” Everyone looks at you, curious about what game you’d pick as the finals, the last game that will finally prove who is the best champion out there between the six of you.

You give a small smile. “hide and seek.”

---

The rules of your game were simple. A list of names would be put in a jar, the one name that gets picked out is the seeker. The seeker has to close their eyes for ten minutes so the others could hide in the woods and they have two hours to check all of the woods for the ones who hid. If they find everyone before the time is up, they win. If they don’t, everyone else gets a point.

Before the game, you also set the rule of Sonic wearing weights, because if he becomes a hider it'd be extremely easy for him to switch up his positions when the seeker is nearby. And if he was the seeker, well, he’ll find everyone in less than thirty minutes.

It’s a rule which he groaned at, but complied with anyway.

The ball full of your names gets rolled around, shaken a few times and then, you finally lift out a number from it. You open it up and say the seeker’s name.

“Sonic.”

With that, everyone gets in position and as Sonic closes his eyes, you were all running to the forest like there was no tomorrow.

With the help of the multiple times you walked here to the mountains and the help of the two kids you met a few days before, you were able to find the best hiding spot. The good old small cave that gave the illusion of being a part of the mountain itself. You could thankfully fit in, but you did feel a bit claustrophobic with the tightness it surrounded you with. You crouched down, making the space easier for you to hide in and breathe. Now all you had to do is not speak a sound and wait for the timer on your phone to strike. Piece of cake.

You wondered how long it’d get Sonic to find all of you.

---

Even with the weights on, Sonic was a force not to be challenged. A speedster with energy always coursing through him. A competitive being that always wants to win. From fighting Eggman to winning rounds after rounds of tomato potamos against his friends, he was always the winner. Losing was never really his thing.

Maybe that’s why he feels so determined to win this game now. His skills sharpened up to the max so that he can get the last point and finally get that satisfactory victory that he always gets. Maybe that’s why he found all of his teammates in less than forty minutes.

And maybe that’s why he’s panicking a bit now, looking everywhere yet unable to find you at all.

He’s searched everywhere ten times already. From the biggest of lakes to the longest of trees, he’s searched it all. Yet, he still couldn’t find you. Not even traces of where you went. You must’ve been careful not to make any twigs snap or footsteps be framed on the mud while you were hiding.

He was getting frustrated. He was getting annoyed. Where in the world were you right now?

As he reaches the summit yet again, he felt his ankles ache. Damn, the number of times he’d have to lift this while walking must be hitting him now. Great, another problem added to his path.

he slowly walks down the summit and with each step, he gets faster and faster. To the point where his speed becomes enough for him to look like he’s sliding down the mountain. as if the giant thing was just an accessory for a park.

A sturdy rock hits his feet. Before he could even react and stop, he falls head first down the mountain and hits the grassy ground. A loud ‘thud’ accompanied with it all. With the thud, seemed to also come a very worried human.

“oh my god— are you okay?!” the loud noise of his fall even worried you to the point of coming out of your hiding spot, it seemed.

“mhmm.” His muffled voice, which was still planted on the ground, answered. He slowly raises one of his fists up to give a shakey little thumps up. “totally fine, doc.”

“Can you move your legs?” you felt worry seep into your heart as you check his legs. He moves one up carefully, yet you could see his ankle was shaking due to the weights. You felt horribly guilty.

“new rule, to hell with these weights! You can take them off now.” He gave a sigh of relief from that sentence. With your help, the weights were taken off and Sonic sat still for a few moments to get his energy back.

You look at him with worry and guilt. You were the one who caused this, weren't you?

“Sonic…I’m so sorry— I didn’t know they were causing you this much pain— you seemed to relaxed during it all and—“

“oh come on Doc, why are you blaming yourself?” he looks at you confused. “you’re not the one who caused this, it's all my fault, really. I should’ve known it could get super uncomfortable at some point.”

“But— if I didn’t give that rule out then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt!” you sighed. Dread now chewing off any confidence you had. “ I should’ve known that you could’ve gotten tired at this point. Anyone would with this much weight on for the first time.”

“Well, technically, you did warn me.” He shrugged. “ I was the one who didn’t listen.”

Silence overtook the conversation. You weren't sure what to do now. But as you looked at your phone and notice how you still got time to get out and show that he’s found you, you figured you could make it up to him by doing just that.

“Can you walk, Sonic?”

He gets up a bit, only for his feet to wobble up and he collapses on the ground once more. “Nope. “ he sighs. you get up, and he looks at you confused. " what are you doing-“

Within a blink, you pick him up, just like he did when he first took you to the summit, and slowly start your walk back to the beach, making sure he doesn’t fall from your arms along the way. He seemed silent. No snarky comeback nor sarcastic joke came out of him for a solid five minutes. As you glanced back at him, you noticed how he was staring at you with widened up eyes. Still shocked by the whole situation.

“…I feel guilty for this.” You answer whatever question he has in his mind. “so I’m going to repay you by carrying you there and declaring you the winner.”

It took a few moments until he answered. “…whatever you say, doc.”

“why were you so eager to win the whole thing anyway?” you suddenly questioned. Curiosity getting the better of you. He shrugs in response. “I just…really like winning, I guess.” He looks up at the sky, it was almost sunset. The orange and purple hues made blurry memories appear in his mind. “I was put in so many win-or-die situations that it just became a regular thing for me to win, you know? I’ve always been known as the best, the hero. Losing is just… isn't really the most heroic-looking thing. And it messes up my whole personality. I feel..annoyed when I lose. I feel like I lost something important with it.”

“what about you doc?” he suddenly asked. “how do you feel about losing?”

You went into deep thought. Head now up in the same old memory lane as you try to give a good answer to that question. “well…I never really cared unless…” you weren't sure if you could say much about your family yet. It just didn’t feel right. You weren't ready. But..a little wouldn’t hurt, right? They wouldn’t use it against you somehow, they weren't like that. They weren't like them. “…unless my family wanted me to win. If they wanted me to win at something or pass an exam, then I’d do anything for it, no matter what. Because I knew I’d be in deep trouble if I didn’t. winning never felt good either. it felt the same as losing, just less worrisome. it was dull.”

You looked back at Sonic and saw his concerned stare. Shit, oh shit. Nope— change the subject now.

Before he could speak, you give out another question. one you were curious about for quite a while now. “why do you call me doc?”

His eyes remain a bit concerned, but he seems to have moved on from that subject with the question you gave him. “…well, you are a doctor— even thoughts it's for animals, still a doctor so,” he smiles. “yeah, doc seemed to fit.”

“Are you sure you didn’t get that nickname from a certain cartoon bunny saying it?”

He looks at you perplexed.

“you know, bugs bunny?”

“Who bunny??”

“you don’t know bugs bunny?!” you giggled a bit. “no,” he scoffs. “what, is he famous or something?”

“he’s sort of an icon in animation. His iconic line is ‘what’s up doc?’”

“well, he obviously copied me.”

“ah yes, the more than eighty-year-old cartoon character stole that line from you.”

“Obviously!” he smirked. “I’m just that cool.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, giving him a teasing glare as he looked at you with a casual smile of his own.

A few seconds passed with peace. While thinking of all the things you’ve been through today, another question pops into your mind.

“Sonic,”

“yeah?”

“what's adventuring like?”

His eyes shift from the skies to you, now looking at you with a complicated, yet soft expression. You didn’t know how to describe it. It felt like he went through thousand of adventures, yet also went through none.

It took a while for him to answer.

“it's…fun.” He shrugs. “but it's not just fun because it's supposed to be- it's fun because you make it fun.”

He continued. “it was fun for me because I got to meet the most amazing people and form the best friendships. It's fun for others because of the treasures they find. And for some people, it's no fun at all. “ he looks up at the sunset once more. The orange hue is slowly becoming more purple with each passing second. “ for me, adventuring is fun because I get to meet the most amazing people. Like you, for example.”

You looked at him with shock. “you think I’m…amazing?”

“yeah. I mean— you handled everything super well when you came here, you're kind to everyone around you..you forgot all about the race just to help the injured fox in the forest and now you’re literally carrying me so I can win, and you’re doing that because you feel guilty for something you’re not even at fault at. You asked me if it hurt, I was the one who stupidly thought the slight throb was nothing.”

You couldn’t help but give a bashful smile. “I’m still technically at fault though. I’m the doctor, I should’ve warned you better.”

He rolled his eyes. “whatever you say, doc.”

“for the record,” you continued on. “I think you’re pretty amazing too.” You were too caught up looking at the path in front of you, beautifully covered by the fading orange and the lush greens in front. You didn’t notice how his eyes lit up a bit. “and- I’d like for us to hang out more and you know- be friends.”

“aren't we already friends?”

“ I mean— yeah? We are I guess- or I hope so- I don’t wanna pressure any of you to be friends with me if you don’t want to and it's fine if—“

“Relax, doc.” He laughed. “yeah, we’re friends. You know what- how about this, you and me, next weekend, chili dogs. Sounds good?”

You smiled. “it sounds fantastic.”

Sonic looks at you in deep thought as you keep your eyes on the path. his eyes shift to himself, then the path left ahead of you. soon, he speaks again.

“hey, Y/n?”

“yeah?”

“can you not move for a few seconds?”

You looked at him with furruwed brows.

“why?...”

“Because I want you to win.”

Suddenly, before anything else could be uttered out from your mouth, explosions and fireworks erupted and you looked up at the now darkened sky that the fireworks themed with your face lit up in. a firework of ‘winner!’ next to it. Screams of cheers can be heard only a few feet and bushes away, yet you couldn’t celebrate yet. You were still too flabbergasted by the whole ordeal. Only flinching away from your mind as you hear the hedgehog in your arms chuckle.

“how…why did you—“ you really couldn’t fathom this at all. “but— but I thought you hated losing!” you looked at him completely shocked and out of answers.

He smiles and merely shrugs in response. “ well, maybe losing sometimes isn't bad at all.”

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________A/N_____________________

FUCKING FINALLY MY FUCKING GOD THIS TOOK SO LONG IM SO SORRY-

ahhh hi everyone!!!!! so so- yes, I'm alive ! and yep, your eyes don't deceive you, this chapter is 16K WORDS LONG SDKCNMNMNGNRE

this is a part of the reason why this chapter took so long to make. it just- had a lot of plot points and stories I needed to write. the reason I didn't split this was because I thought that if I just published it halfway then it'd make the whole fanfic pretty boring given how the last chapters didn't have much sonic x reader interactions as one might expect. I thought I should maybe tone down the slow burn a bit fkjnkerjngekgr

anyways, as always, finals are coming up and also, I have another fanfic I need to update, but after that I'll come back to this and write up the next chapter!!

alright alright- here's your new question given with the new chapter!!

which sonic boom episode was your favourite? for me its really hard to choose. but in terms of writing for a fanfic, I think that awardy awards episode would be a blast to write about. outside of that, I really enjoyed that one episode where Amy and Sticks get hypnotized by the totally not Justin Beiber beaver. the episode reminds me of one of bo burnham's songs lmaooo

alright, I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter. tell me if you like it being long chapters like this one or if you like the average 7 to 9 k chapters better!!

thank you all for reading!!! <333333

#sonic #x reader #reader insert #fanfiction #sonic x reader #sonic the hedgehog #sonic boom #sonic boom x reader #sonic the hedgehog x reader #tails #amy rose #knuckles #tails the fox #im so tired oml #this was fun to write tho especially the ending #Sticks the Badger

[sunnyie-eve]

Kitty Hawk(Pt.24)

Series: Never Leave You | OBX

Paring: (JJ Maybank x OFC! Rafe Cameron x OFC!)

Word Count: 1938

Warnings: fluff, taken

Last | Next

The next morning Callie wakes up to see she was alone and nothing from the group yet. Getting dressed for the day Callie walks out to see the yard was still a mess from the party a couple of days ago. To pass time she heads out to clean up till she gets a call or text from one of the Pogues.

"Hey, Callie." A random man walks into view so she stops picking up trash slowly walking back towards the house.

"I just want to talk to you." He slowly follows her.

"I'm good, thanks. I'm not interested in anything. Rafe will be back soon." She speeds up some, "Stranger danger." She tells herself going to open the door and Rafe pops up. "Help me."

"Can I help you?" He asks the man as another shows up.

"They're here to take Callie to Kitty Hawk." Will walks into view. "And I have the right." He pulls out a piece of paper.

"I'm 18! You have no right!" Callie shouts at him.

"My word against my daughter whose not right in the mind according to a doctor." Will smiles.

"You paid someone to say she has mental health issues?" Rafe moves Callie behind him to protect her.

"You know what a lot of money can do for you. People will do whatever depending on the price." Will says so one of the men grabs Callie's arm tugging her away. "Don't Rafe. Or I'll tell the truth because I know you did it." Will says as Callie fights the men as they force her around to the van.

"Rafe tell my aunt!" Callie screams as she's shoved into the van and he felt helpless.

"You're a terrible father." Rafe glares at Will.

"I care about her, Rafe. I want her to have a good future. I prefer her to be with a Kook over a Pogue... You may be a Kook but you're not good enough for her. Don't know what she suddenly sees in you." Will walks off.

Rafe didn't waste anytime going over to Callie's house to tell Tess. Once she opened the door Rafe walks inside, "They took her. They took her to Kitty Hawk. Will found out where she was. Take this and go to the doctor that Will paid to lie. Get him to tell the truth." Rafe gives Tess a bag of money. "I don't care how much but get her back."

Tess just stares at the bag of money, "Rafe, I can't take this."

"Yes, you can. You love your niece and you're the only one who has ever cared about her." Rafe tells her so she nods her head.

"Thank you, Rafe." She gives him a hug and he hugs her back.

Meanwhile with Callie, she just sits in the van and they tell her they have another kid to pick up. As they pull up to Kie's place Callie sees her so she bangs on the window warning her to go.

Kiara ends up getting shoved into the van as well begging her parents no banging on the window, "Well, we aren't making it to the plane." Callie looks over at her.

"How did you get caught?"

Callie thinks back trying to figure out where she went wrong, "I went to the country club to talk to Rafe and I guess someone saw me and told Will." Callie sighs.

"Quiet you two." The man in the passenger seat tells the girls.

Back with John B, Sarah, and JJ they wait for they others and Pope and Cleo show up but still no Callie or Kie.

"Where's Kie and Cal?" Pope asks.

"I done know. It's gotta be Kie's parents and who knows... Rafe probably won't let her leave the house." Sarah says so Pope says they'll just have to do it without them but JJ won't do it.

He takes the keys to the Twinkie asking for an hour to get the two. He learns for Kie's parents they sent Kie away but didn't say where she was so he rushes to Rafe's house.

"Rafe!" JJ bangs on the door, "Where's Callie!" He keeps banging so Rafe opens the door.

"Kitty Hawk took her. Will found out where she was. I already told Tess. She trying everything to get her back legally. I even gave Tess some money to bribe the doctor to admit he lied for Will." Rafe explains to him.

"I don't believe you for some reason." JJ scoffs making Rafe tilt his head.

"What you think I told Will she was here? Tell me Maybank, why would I do that to Callie? She told you what's going on between us and our relationship. I care about her. Ask Tess about the money and she will tell you I'm telling the truth." Rafe explains annoyed.

"I'm getting her back." JJ walks towards the Twinkie letting John B know what's going on.

The girls they finally arrive to Kitty Hawk and change into different clothes not really have a choice. Each are give a shitty take with a lady before being put in a cabin alone before going to the main one.

"So what's the story with Rafe now?" Kie tries to make conversation as they just sit around.

"Don't know. I'm falling for Rafe being around him but I still love JJ deep down. But I'm gonna do what my aunt said best bet is just stay single and let things happen till I 100% know my feelings. Don't worry about others for once in my life."

Kiara nods her head, "JJ still loves you too. When we got back after you broke up with him, I went to visit him. He told me I missed my chance. Yeah, he liked me in the past but he loves you. You were his everything and  he don't have that anymore. He doesn't have parents, and he doesn't have a house. He doesn't have shit. Then he add, No Morgan stays with a Maybank... before riding off." Kie says making Callie sad but that's not her fault really. He did it to himself.

A little time passes before a lady calls the girls to talk to them, "I'm sorry, but at Kitty Hawk, we feel you have the strength to hear all the news, including bad news." The lady says confusing them.

"What happened?" Kie asks.

"Well, Callie's cousin was here a minute ago."

"What cousin?" Callie asks confused because she didn't know any.

"A young man, blonde. He asked me to tell you both that Marley, well, he passed away."

"Like Bob Marley? Cause..." Kie didn't catch on but Callie did so she starts to act said.

"No. Your Siamese mix, Marley." Kie was taking a minute to Callie makes herself cry.

"I gifted him to you. I love him just like you did." Callie has tears in her eyes so Kie acts as well so the lady hugs them before leaving them.

"Fucking JJ..." Callie laughs as they sit down.

"I know." Kie chuckles.

As more time passes the girls are relocked so Kie leaves a message for a JJ to see. "Girls, this is Kiara and Callie. They've had some tough family news. Let's show them some empathy and love, okay?" The other woman says as they are walled to they bunk as all the girls look at them.

"Friendly, huh." Callie stand next to the bunk looking up at Kie on top who nods her head.

All the way back to the other four waiting for JJ and the girls a bike shows up but it was Rafe and Ward. Ward extremely injured.

Sarah helps Rafe with her dad getting Ward on the plane. The others say no way they're going on with Ward but John B says it's their only shot getting to his dad.

"JJ's not back with Callie yet?" Rafe gets off the plane Pope stops him saying they aren't done for what he did to the cross. Rafe says nothing to him walking down the rest of the step's looking at Sarah.

"No, he's not back with Callie or Kie." She turns to walk onto the plane.

"Please take care of him." Rafe tells her before she gets on but she say's nothing back. "You do anything to him, anything, I swear to God I'll find you." Rafe says as John B walks up.

"How Will Callie feel about that? Since you apparently care about her." John B looks at his as they hear police sirens.

"If they somehow find a way to you tell her I said be careful." Rafe walks pass him.

Ward ends up talking to Rafe telling him thank you, "Don't thank me." Rafe tells him.

"Yep, yep, you're a good boy."

"I'm not." Rafe tell him.

"Yes, you are. Look. Doesn't matter what happens in the middle. It how you come out in the end. Look at me! Look at me! I know what you did, okay? I don't care, cause you came back for me, right? You're in control now. You're the man. All of it is yours, everything here. It's yours, son. You're the man now. You proved yourself, okay? You're the man. I love you, buddy." Ward hugs his son before gets up to go back in.

"You good?"

"Rafe, you are a good boy because Callie sees something in you and cares for you. I saw it in her eyes and I saw she can help you. Goodbye son." Ward says before the door shuts and everyone inside heard Ward say that.

Now at night at Kitty Hawk JJ sneaks into cabin six looking for the girls walking up all the girls in the cabin. "JJ." They say his names.

"Cals... Rafe told me where to find you." JJ smiles so she rushes over to him hugging him. "I just wanna let you know take all the time you need. I'll be waiting on the line of friend zone till you're ready to know how you feel." JJ tells her.

"I love you but I'm just staying single for awhile and let things happen till I 100% know my feelings but thank you." She kisses him sweetly making JJ smile.

"I love seeing you two make up in someway but we gotta get out of here." Kie walks up to the two as the cabin cheers.

"Let's go." JJ hugs Kie fast before they all bolt out of the cabin getting their ride for JJs pal to get on the plane JJ had ready for them to get to South America.

On the plane Kie sits thinking about her parents while JJ and Callie talk, "Even if you do pick Rafe in the end just know as your best friend I hate the idea because he jumped me."

Callie chuckles, "I still remind him of that and give him shit but I can say he's getting slightly better."

"Because of you. You're this miracle worker and you have this charm to make people fall for you."

"But Pope." Callie laughs.

"That's true. Wonder why?"

"Because we see each other as brother and sister." Callie explains to him, "Not like how John B saw me for you."

"Yeah..." JJ chuckles, "Rafe gave Tess some money to convince the doctor who lied for Will to tell the truth so Will can't have any right over you." JJ lets her know. Originally he wasn't going to tell her but he has to.

"He actually did that for me?"

JJ hated the look in her eyes, "Yes, he did. I didn't want to believe him but I know deep down he wouldn't lie about you."

Callie smiles, "Wonder how much he gave her because Will is loaded."

"I'm sure it's a good amount since he melted Pope's cross." Kie speaks up.

#obx #outer banks #obx ff #obx jj #obx john b #obx kiara #obx sarah #obx pope #obx rafe #jj maybank #john b routledge #kiara carrera #pope hayward #rafe cameron #sarah cameron #jj mayback imagine #obx jj maybank #rudy pankow #rafe cameron imagine

[writingwhimsey]

Lady of Azuchi Ch. 17

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Can you please slow down?” Suki asked, looking at Masamune as he dragged her farther and farther away from the tea house.

Masamune looked back at her, grinning. “Come on lass, you gotta keep up.” 

“Yeah, well it’s kinda hard to move super fast in this kimono.” Suki replied. “I wish I were wearing pants.”

“Next time we’ll have to get you set up with hakama then.” Masamune replied, beginning to slow his pace, though his hand still remained firmly on Suki’s wrist.

“So, just what exactly are you up to?” She asked. “I mean why the sudden interest in me?”

“Just helping out my ally who wanted some time alone with his wife.” Masamune answered.

“I KNEW Nobunaga wanted me out of the way.” Suki said, yanking her arm from Masamune’s grip so she could cross them over her chest.

Masamune chuckled. “I also hear you’re not a fan of your sister being here…and you want her to come back home with you when you leave in a few months.”

“We have better medical care and she’d be a million times safer.” Suki replied. “I mean I heard she’s been poisoned, been to battle, been kidnapped. I mean how would you feel if your little sister were in constant danger like that?”

Masamune shrugged. “Don’t have any so, I wouldn’t know. Though if they were living a life without regrets and that made them happy, I’d be happy for them.”

“You’re trying to tell me that I should back off because my sister claims that she’s happy and this is what she wants?”

“That’s between you and your sister.” Masmune replied. “But, since I’d hate to see the lass leave and not get the chance to see Nobunaga as a father, I’d like to open your mind to some possibilities.”

“What do you mean?” Suki inquired.

“You’re worried about all of the danger, which I guess I can understand…but there’s a lot of good about life here, too.” Masamune explained. He was then gesturing to the market place around them. “Look at all of the life that is here to enjoy.”

Suki let her eyes wander over the market. The streets were bustling with activity. People were buying, selling, trading, working their crafts. Parents were running around and playing, some getting into mischief. It honestly didn’t look too different from the streets of her time.

Masamune smiled at her knowingly. “Come on.” He said, reaching for her hand once again.

Suki followed Masamune’s lead and went with him all over the market place. They went to food stalls, Masamune making sure she stuffed her face with all the different foods. Then he took her to see different crafts, Suki being amazed at being able to see some traditional techniques that had been lost to time in the future.

“What do you think?” Masamune asked her.

“Well…it is a lovely place here.” She admitted. “And the people seem…really happy.”

“They are.” Masamune agreed.

“Thriving even.” She admitted.

Masamune was smiling. “Now that your mind is a little more open, let’s go take a look at something else.” He said. “But you need to be quiet.”

“What?” Suki asked, furrowing her brow.

Masamune pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh.” He whispered, before taking her hand and leading her until they were ducking into a side street, out of the view of anyone. He was then gesturing to the street out in front of them.

Suki followed his directions. She was surprised when she saw Ava and Nobunaga come into view. They were walking through the street, Nobunaga with an arm around Ava’s waist. “What should we do next?” Ava asked, looking up at Nobunaga, a happy smile on her face.

Nobunaga looked down at her, a surprisingly tender look on his face. “Whatever you would like.” He answered.

“Well…I wouldn’t say no to getting a snack.” Ava replied, almost sheepishly.

Nobunaga let out a warm chuckle. “What are you and our little fireball in the mood for?” He asked, placing his free hand over her swollen belly.

“Hmm…I think something sweet.” Ava answered.

“I may have something then.” He said, reaching into his robes and pulling out a small cloth pouch.

Suki furrowed her brow as she watched the pair. She couldn’t think of what Nobunaga could have in that pouch, though apparently Ava knew what it was and she seemed excited.

“Oh? When did you even get that?” Ava asked.

“Before I came to you.” Nobunaga answered. “I had to get it while Hideyoshi was distracted.”

Ava giggled. “I promise I won’t tell him anything about it…and you better not tell Asuna.”

Nobunaga nodded his agreement. “It is a deal.” He was then opening the pouch and pulling a small almost star-shaped ball. Suki recognized it as konpeito. “We should share this before returning to the castle.” 

Ava grinned and nodded. She parted her lips as Nobunaga lifted the candy to them, accepting it with blushing cheeks. She was then reaching for the pouch and pulling one out.

Nobunaga gave her a slightly disgruntled look, but it quickly faded as she was pressing the candy to his lips. He smiled as he accepted the candy.

After a few moments, the couple continued their walk, sharing the candy as they did. Masamune was pulling Suki along and they began to follow Nobunaga and Ava. They watched as Nobunaga and Ava went to different stalls and shops, the merchants interacting with Nobunaga and Ava. Showing respect and appreciation to them both. There were even a few who seemed to be asking Ava about commissioning pieces from her.

Suki couldn’t help but to notice the happy smile Ava wore as she interacted with the citizens of Azuchi. There was no way Ava was faking that look. She didn’t have it in her to lie about anything and was a terrible actress.

After a bit, Nobunaga and Ava were taking a break outside of another tea house. They were sitting on the bench, sipping tea. Nobunaga had his arm around Ava and she was resting her head on his shoulder. Masamune and Suki were hidden in the shadows a little ways away, but still close enough to hear and see their faces.

“Hmm…this has been a nice day.” Ava said, letting out a contented sigh.

“That it has.” Nobunaga agreed, kissing the top of her head.

It was then that Ava let out a little gasp.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Nobunaga asked, worry instantly creasing his brow.

Ava smiled. “No, nothing is wrong. The baby is just kicking again.” She was then reaching for his hand and placing it on a spot on her belly.

Nobunaga smiled as he felt the kick. “Getting stronger in there. Definitely a fireball like your mother.” He spoke to her belly.

Ava seemed to be holding back a squeal of delight. “I love it when you talk to the baby.”

Nobunaga looked at her, a gentle look in his eyes. He was then leaning in and kissing Ava tenderly on the lips. “I love you…both of you.”

Ava was smiling, so happy and content. “And we both love you.”

Suki felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach as she watched the scene in front of her. She swallowed around a lump that was beginning to form in her throat. Dammit. She thought. How…how could I not see it? She thought. 

Masamune was then tugging on her arm and soon leading her away. They were returning to the castle. “So, what did you think about everything you saw today?” Masamune asked.

Suki sighed. “That I’ve been an idiot.”

“Nah, you just really care about your sister.” Masamune assured her, reaching a hand to ruffle her hair. 

Suki was soon bidding Masamune a goodnight and then heading to her room. She asked a maid to send a message to the tenshu so it would be waiting for Ava when she and Nobunaga returned. She wasn’t sure how long she waited before there was a knock on her door.

Ava…

After my day out with Nobunaga, we returned to the castle. When we arrived at the tenshu, there was a message waiting for me from Suki asking me to come see her. She said she had something important she wanted to say to me.

“You should go see her.” Nobunaga told me, kissing the top of my head,

“I hope nothing bad happened while she was out with Masamune.” I said.

Nobunaga chuckled. “I am sure she is fine. I believe being tough and capable women seems to run in your family.”

I smiled. “I’ll be back in a bit then.”

We shared a kiss before I was heading to my old room. I knocked on the door and Suki was calling for me to come in. “You wanted to see me?” I asked her. “You didn’t get hurt or anything while you were out with Masamune?”

Suki chuckled. “No, nothing like that.” She was then gesturing for me to sit beside her.

I walked over and sat down. “So, what is it?”

Suki sighed. “Just that…I owe you an apology.”

I blinked a couple of times. I was then reaching my hand up to my ear and sticking a finger inside and turning it. “I’m sorry I think I heard wrong. My big sister just mentioned wanting to apologize to me. She would never.” 

Suki rolled her eyes and playfully batted at my arm. “I’m serious, Ava.”

I smiled and put my hand back down. “So, what is it you want to apologize for?”

“For being an ass.” Suki answered. “And also for spying on you and Nobunaga for a bit today.”

“What?” I asked.

“So…Masamune took me all over Azuchi, showing me around. Showing me everything that’s good about this place…and then once my mind was opened to that…we were spying on you and Nobunaga on your date.” Suki explained. “And…I saw…I saw how happy you were. I could see how in love with Nobunaga you are and…how in love with you he is.”

“Well…that’s not what I was expecting to hear.” I said.

“You’re a terrible actress and a terrible liar. What I saw when I was watching you two…there was no faking that. Hell, I don’t even think that husband of yours could fake emotions. The way he was looking at you…that was a man who is truly in love. A man who would do anything to protect you.” Suki went on to explain.

“I’m glad you can see it.” I said, smiling, though my cheeks were reddening at the thought of her having witnessed my date with Nobunaga.

“And that is why, I will back off about trying to get you to come back home with me.” Suki said. “You have this happy glow about you. I could see it. It’s not just the pregnancy glow either. You’re in love. You’re happy…and you’re thriving. I can see that here really is your home.”

I could feel happy tears stinging at my eyes. I was then flinging my arms around my sister. “Thank you.”

Suki hugged me back, tightly. “I’m really sorry that I tried to get in the way of your happiness. I was blinded by my own desires and what I thought was best for you. Ever since Mom died…well you know I always promised to look out for you…and maybe I just took it a bit too far.”

“It’s okay. I know it’s only because you love me so much.” I replied. “Besides, I can’t be mad at you forever. You’re the only big sister I’ve got.”

“Thank you.” Suki replied, and I could hear the tears in her voice.

We were soon breaking our hug, both of us pulling out handkerchiefs and dabbing at our eyes. “So, you ready to just enjoy this time with me?” I asked her.

Suki nodded. “Yeah.”

“And who knows, maybe you’ll find a reason to stay here, too.” I said. 

“I don’t know about that.”

“Whether you stay or go, I’m really happy for whatever time we have together.” I told her.

“Me, too.” Suki agreed.

I couldn’t describe how happy this all made me. It felt like I had my sister’s blessing. No matter her decision or whatever else was to come, I was super happy that we had made up and that she finally understood. Things were starting to look up.

Tomonoura…

“When will your plan be taking place? I have already been from Kyoto too long.” A degrading voice rang out over the hall filled with sniveling vassals.

“Stirring up the Uesugi-Takeda against the Oda has been harder than anticipated, my lord.” A cool impassive voice replied.

Shark-like eyes glared over a sake cup at the figure clad in white, bowed low before him. “The Mouri have been playing their part, have they not?”

“Our agent of chaos has been working his best.” The man in white replied. “Things have seemed a bit..more complicated than initially thought.”

A sound of displeasure left the other man’s throat. “You and that battered sword had better prove your worth to me. That fool can’t gain any more power nor can we allow his heir to be born. That will only solidify him more.”

“We are doing what we can, my lord. We already have another plan.”

“This one had better not fail.” 

“It won’t, Lord Yoshiaki.”

#ikesen #ikesen nobunaga #nobunaga oda #ikemen sengoku nobunaga #ikemen sengoku #ikemen nobunaga #cybird nobunaga #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #ikemen series #otome boys #cybird #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff #romance #family #chapter 17

[not-alien-girl-v]

Vampires Will Never Hurt You (Harry Styles)

Chapter 11

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆  

After a large dinner - much larger than any of us should have eaten - we were stuffed. And bored. So we decided to whip out the world's best board game: Life. I sat on the couch next to Donna, as Harry and Louis sat parallel to us on the other side of the coffee table as Eleanor and Charlie sat on opposite sides of the far ends of the table.

"Louis I swear to god if you sue me one more fucking time I will stop your paychecks. I don't care anymore, this is a personal offense!" I screamed at Louis, who had now landed on every single lawsuit spot and sued me every single time.

"This is why we don't let her play bank," Charlie muttered to Harry, who had supported my decision in being the bank manager.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" Harry exclaimed, amused.

Meanwhile, Donna was making major bank beside me, with a couple million dollars, 4 kids, and almost at retirement. Of course I could have been winning if it wasn't for that Louis somehow landing on every lawsuit spot and targeting me, goddamn that little bastard.

"Ok, why don't we take a break?" Louis suggested, taking note of how fired up I was getting.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd like to take a break Mr. Big Bucks," I muttered quietly before Donna elbowed my ribs.

I was going to continue voicing my complaints, but before I could, my brother bounded into the room. "Guys guys! I'm going to a party!"

"That's cool Leo, who's?" Eleanor asked, packing up the board game.

"I don't know. But I'm going. I heard it's gonna be like super crazy do you guys wanna come with?" Leonard breathed out in one fluid motion.

"You don't know who's - never mind. No thanks, I was just about to pull out Jenga, and you know how we love our Jenga," Donna assisted Eleanor with cleaning as she spoke. I continued to pout in the corner of the L-shaped couch.

Harry came and sat next to me. "Are you any good at Jenga?"

I dropped a bit of my pouty demeanor, not wanting to overdo it, "meh, I'm alright."

"Yeah, I'm not too good at it either," I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them as he continued. "How about that party Leo was talking about?"

"Maybe later."

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

After about an hour of a comically boring game of Jenga, Eleanor received a call.

"Dude! You guys totally gotta get down here! Something crazy just happened! I gotta tell you all about- What? Oh shit! Shit!," Leonard spoke to someone in the background then hung up.

"What do you think happened? Jane asked.

"No idea. But I don't trust that asshat alone at a party like that. I'm gonna head to the party to check on him." Eleanor got up from the couch, nearly knocking over the Jenga tower in the meantime. She grabbed a jacket from a chair in the kitchen and put it on.

"Ooh! I wanna come!" I exclaimed, jumping up and scrambling to the kitchen to get my shoes on.

"I guess if she's going, I'll go too," Donna added, joining us in the kitchen.

"I'll go too," Harry chimed in, Louis following close behind him.

"Well, we might as well all go, then, come on, Jane," Charlie added, pulling Jane into the plans. Once we all gathered our belongings, we went outside.

Harry leaned toward me, "how is everyone going to fit into one car?"

"You're right, we should probably take two cars," I replied, fishing my keys out of my pocket. I glanced over at the rest of the group, seeing Louis and Charlie engaged in a conversation. "He'll be fine with them, right?" I asked Harry in regards to his friend.

"Oh yeah, he's super friendly, he could become friends with anyone. Plus, our job practically is to keep people entertained," he replied. Harry followed me to my car, parked just around the corner of the house. I nodded, deciding it wouldn't be cruel of us to take my car alone.

"Alright, hop in then."

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

Once we had figured out the location of this crazy party (it wasn't hard, Leonard posted about it on his Instagram), word was spread between both cars and we all started our journey to the address in Hollywood Hills

I parked the car after driving in circles and circles trying to find a parking spot. You'd think by now I'd have some spell to make parking easier.

It was cold, since it was late September, and even the sweltering city of Los Angeles had began to cool down at night. I was wearing a light jacket , although it was more of a vintage button down shirt that I layered unbuttoned over my black tank top and jean shorts. I had some sheer black tights on but I was still freezing cold. I didn't let it bother me though, because I wanted to talk.

"Harry, can I ask you something?" I broke our silence, as we walked side by side down the sidewalk. He took a quick glance at me.

"Sure, what's up?" I crossed my arms to conserve body heat.

"What are we?" He side-eyed me for a moment before I rephrased. "I mean, I mean like are we friends, are we best friends? Like where do we draw the line here?"

The stars weren't visible in the night sky, but the moon was out, glowing down on us and providing a sliver of light, along with the street lights that had turned on hours ago. It must have been around midnight by now. The witching hour. Haha, get it?

"Hmm," he started. I hope I didn't deter him with my previous question. Not that I don't like him, I mean I don't, but I do like him, but not like that. All I did know was that whatever conversation that would have started was one we didn't need to be having right now.

"Well, I think we're friends. I mean, you know my biggest secret and I'm pretty sure... well, actually, I don't think I know any of yours. Tell me a secret right now, and we can be friends." He grinned down at me.

I thought long and hard. Sure, I had a number of secrets to share, some too personal to just blurt out right now, so I decided to go with a lighthearted one. "One time when I was 6 I ate a coin and it never came out and I think it may still be in there."

"What?"

"I mean, I was 6 a really long time ago, I could probably hand that coin over to a museum and make some major bucks off it. I just don't know where it is inside me, exactly. Not that I would die trying to remove it myself but it sure would hurt."

"I-" He started but we already approached the raging house party and I sped up in front of him to find my sisters and Charlie.

I walked around, seeing many unfamiliar faces before running into Louis.

"Hey, have you seen the group?" It was loud and crowded and hot, but I didn't mind very much since I was so cold before.

"Oh yeah, they're right outside, some guy in the pool said something about Leonard," Louis informed me before walking off and talking to some random group of people. I forget that he's a popular celebrity who probably knows a lot of people.

I find my way to the sliding glass back door and squeeze myself through a small gap in it. I find Charlie and Donna talking to a guy on a huge inflatable swan in the pool as they crouched down beside it.

"Wait, so what did he say?" Donna asked.

"He was all like, yeah man I need a drink and so I was all like then get one bro, and he was all like nah I need some, like weird drink or something that I had never even heard of..." The drunk man trailed off, nearly falling asleep.

"But where did he go?" I shouted and he jerked awake.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know something about a bar a couple miles from here, said he needed a, I don't know, a deep end from some dive bar, or something, I don't know."

"Ugh, he's no help. Did you guys hear anything else?" I asked them.

"No, no, nothing yet," Donna sighed. She sat down and kicked off her sandals - a pair of beaten up Birkenstocks - and dipped her legs in the pool. Charlie wandered off, not wanting to take a break.

"How come we like never go to the beach anymore. I miss the beach," Donna spoke to me. I sat beside her.

"I don't know. I guess we've been really busy lately. Ironic, since we haven't been this busy since we rushed that coed fraternity," I say with a giggle.

"That was so stupid, why did we even want to do that?" We fell silent after that. I glanced around me and saw Harry being bombarded by a swarm of fans. I decided to let him deal with that by himself.

"Well, since we're here already, wanna do some shots?" I half-jokingly suggested but Donna agreed with me for some reason, so I pulled her up and we both walked inside.

It was disgustingly sweaty in the actual house. There were dozens of drunks dancing sloppily to music blasting so loudly I couldn't hear myself think. I'm surprised Leo left this party, this is so his style.

"Hey! You two ladies doing shots?" A young man approached us, holding three cups of jello shots. He was tall, likely around my age, with dirty blond hair and dark eyes.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed and grabbed one out of his hand and took it. Donna did the same but with less enthusiasm. She put the empty cup on the counter and wandered off once more.

I motioned at the third shot the man had in his hand. "You gonna take that?" He put his hand up in surrender.

"All yours." With that, I took the second shot. He chuckled at me. He smiled wide, flashing his perfectly white teeth. Dude could totally be a model if he wanted to. Actually, this is LA, he may very well be.

"Are you a model?" I shifted my weight on one foot and leaned my head to the side, my crispy black hair falling into my face. I say crispy because I straighten it everyday. Also, I'm known to be a hair dye addict.

He copied my actions slightly, leaning to one side, but he leaned against a wall instead. "Oh yes absolutely, I'm just so ruggedly handsome, you should see me on the cover of Vogue," he laughed a breathy laugh, like he was exhaling.

"No I'm serious you're, like, super good-looking you could totally be a model," I kept my eyes wide, not wanting to break eye contact. Sweat dripped from his neck as the humidity of the party trapped us in an atmosphere of heat, sweltering, surrounding us like an uncomfortably sweaty hug.

"Thank you, thank you, my mom says I look just like Chris Hemsworth," he looked down for a moment and met my grinning eyes once more. "I'm sorry, I just made it weird, I'm... sorry about that." He brushed off his sentence.

"No, no it's fine it's just funny that you bring up your mom to a girl you flirt with at a party," I picked at my nail polish.

"Yeah, uh, I don't usually do parties, flirting."

"You're not from around here, are you?" I nodded my head at him.

"It was that obvious, huh? Yeah, I'm from Detroit, but I got accepted to UCLA, so I guess I'm gonna be around for a while", he paused, "I'm Kyle."

"Faye," I smiled sweetly at him.

"Tell me Faye, you wanna get out of here, and, I don't know, do something?" He tense his teeth together, eagerly awaiting my reply.

Now don't look at me like that. I'm no slut. No loose woman. But when a cute guy asks me out and is completely up front about his feelings and intentions and isn't playing some weird long game, I'm not turning him down. This means nothing. This is nothing. Just a blip on my little immortal grid. Just a guy.

"Well, I gotta find my dumbass brother, Leo, but if you want, you can stick around a bit and we can hang after?" I suggested to him, hoping I'm not laying down too many hoops for him to jump through.

"That would be great," he grinned.

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #louis tomlinson #louis tomlinson fanfic #louis tomlinson fanfiction #louis tomlinson x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff #2014 aesthetic #2014 vibes #2014 core #2014 grunge #2014 girl #tumblr grunge #dark grunge #pale grunge #pink blog #vampire #vampires #mcr #my chemical romance #gerard way

[casspurrjoybell-17]

Hart and Hunter - Chapter 31 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Julian Hart

I stare into the darkness where Dane had vanished, warring emotions making my chest ache.

"What do we do now?" I ask, not trusting myself to make a rational decision.

At my side, Freya shrugs and sighs.

"Not much we can do, other than go home, like he said."

"No way. I'm not leaving him out here alone," I say.

"Wolf or not... I'm his mate. My place is with him."

Spurred into sudden, impulsive action by my own words, I start forward, intent on following Dane but Freya catches up to me in a few strides and grabs my arm, forcing me to stop.

"Whoa. Hold up, Jules. Mate or not, it's not safe out here. You do not want to run across a newly made Alpha, especially if the land-bond goes wrong."

"Dane would never hurt me."

I shake her off and keep walking but she catches and stops me again.

"The brace on your wrist says otherwise. Listen... I get it," she says, softening her tone.

"That's my big brother out there, and my little sister gone missing. But I know Dane, too, and when he's made up his mind on something, it's no good trying to stop him. I'm a woman of action, and being told to sit and wait don't sit well with me. But if he's determined to make a mistake, we gotta let him make it. Meanwhile, the best thing we can do is to leave him to it, and keep him from making any worse mistakes while he's at it."

I frown at her but she shakes her head and takes my shoulders in a firm grasp, as if worried I'll bolt away into the dark if she lets go.

"Julian, you're his heart and soul," she says.

"I know he'd never hurt you on purpose but he knocked you over like a cardboard cutout just now. After he takes the Alpha, he'll be more wolf than man, for a time. It's an accident waiting to happen. Trust me."

"What about the ritual? Doesn't he still need you as his witness?"

"Ritual's out the window, honey," she says softly.

"Dane's gone solo."

I shake my head.

"We can't just leave him out here. We're a half-hour outside of town. What if something happens to him?"

Freya sighs.

"He's a big wolf, Juju. He can take care of himself... if he can't then he doesn't deserve the Alpha. Besides, we're only about ten or twelve miles from your house, as the crow flies or as the wolf runs. He'll be fine."

Scowling, I weigh the options in my mind but at last I'm forced to admit that she's probably right.

Dane is long gone by now and I have little chance of finding him in the dark... not without Freya's help, anyway.

I hold still and listen, scanning the moonlit landscape with eyes adjusted to the dark well beyond human ability but everything is silent and still.

Wherever Dane went, he's long gone already... without me.

"Fine," I say, defeated at last.

"Let's go home."

********

As I had suspected it would, sleep eludes me.

I pass the night pacing restlessly from room to room, while Freya reads on her cell-phone or naps on the couch.

Dawn finds me, red-eyed and dazed, staring out the window as color gradually returns to the world.

"Julian?"

I startle at Freya's touch, not having heard her approach.

"Sorry."

She winces.

"I thought you were asleep on your feet or something. I made some coffee."

She holds out a mug.

I take it gratefully, though she hasn't added nearly enough cream for my taste.

"Thanks. How much longer do you think it will be?"

She runs a hand through her tumble of long, thick curls.

"Hard to say. Usually, not more than the span of the night but that's when everything goes to plan. I honestly don't know."

"Great," I sigh and take a gulp of coffee, then half choke on it as my phone vibrates in my back pocket.

Extracting it, I see Grace's number on the screen and tap to answer it.

"Gracie? What's up?"

"You, I hope. I didn't wake you, did I?"

I snort a laugh.

"Wake me from the sleep I didn't get? No, you didn't."

"Is everything okay?" her tone turns concerned and I bite back another sigh as I weigh what and how much to tell her.

For a long time, Grace was my primary confidant and she's still my go-to girlfriend.

The urge to spill all my drama to her sympathetic ear is hard to resist but she clearly called me for a reason.

On the other hand, she's a family friend and she cares about Dane and Ingrid, too.

She deserves the truth.

"Not really. Some shit went down last night," I say.

"Ingrid's been kidnapped."

"What?"

Briefly, I fill her in and she puts me on speaker-phone so Chloe can hear, too.

"How can we help?" she asks, when I conclude my tale.

I smile at her dauntlessness.

A year ago, Grace knew as much about the world of Wolves and Shifters as I did... which is to say nothing... and had gone through a rather traumatic education at my side.

That she still wants anything to do with me at all speaks of her character and courage.

"Nothing, at the moment," I say.

"But I'll let you know as soon as that changes. Anyway, why did you call?"

"Oh, right. I found something interesting but I don't know if it even matters, now."

"Tell me," I say and beckon Freya over so she can listen, too.

"Well, I was working on the database, looking for connections to the case but no luck. Then it occurred to me that we might not be looking in the wrong place so much as in the wrong time."

"You mean the past?" I ask.

"Exactly. I was thinking about the old buildings and the tunnels under the shops and the fact that whoever built them must have known about the cave. You don't build over a cave like that and not know it."

"You're right," I say, glancing up to meet Freya's eyes.

"You think it has something to do with the portal?"

"I do now," Grace says.

"And I think it has something to do with your family, too, Julian."

"The Fae?"

Grace hesitates.

"No. The Harts."

[xbloodandteax]

I think I’m gonna do it. It’s time. I gotta break up with him ;-; ⚠️long post⚠️

I talked with mom. We even looked at a house we could buy together. She said I’m 23 and a relationship shouldn’t stress me out so bad.

Current issues include: I pay for EVERYTHING. I didn’t mind buying groceries because he spends like $500 a month towards he car, right. But I spend like $200 every week to support us ;-; I’m not struggling but aaaaaa. It’s hard. I gave him opportunity to work where I do making $17 but he doesn’t wanna do it. Of course he gave me a bit of money this week ;-; he fixed up some of his bills but ah. Also, I just regret moving in, a year of struggles beyond my comprehension. He’s not a great father, I had to parent his daughter which was hard when I also worked thirds and we had her every other week. I’m not gonna ask for the $3000 back even though I could really use it. He’s a bum y’all 😭 he doesn’t find anything I do bother some and I think it’s cuz I cook, clean, and support him. He has a short temper with his daughter but not me????? I don’t like kissing and my libido has disappeared off the face of the earth. This only happened with my last ex when I fell out of love with him :/ he was easier to break up with doe 😭

J is very caring and has always supported me. We’ve had good times, but the stress and loneliness out ways that. He never gets off his game when I wanna spend time with him but if I wanna do something alone and he wants me to spend time with him, he gets pouty. He got pouty when I asked him to stuff picking and tickling me. I can never set boundaries without him taking it as I hate him. I faked every orgasm and he thinks he knows my body so well. I felt bad for him ;-; I have to set up everything around us just so he can have it easy. I’ve had to stage him like he’s a good father and I believed it myself, he’s not, never really was. He loves her but puts no effort, AND I DID, I don’t even really like kids but I loved her enough to make an effort.

Now I resent both of them, not to her fault at all but to his. I see her as something I have to care for in place of him and it’s ruined it.

Hanging out with him before I moved in was so fun and careless now I’m insane and mean. I wanna be free god I want to be free. And happy. And soft and kind. I was doing so good and I’ve lived for a man. And I’m riddled with guilt.

I’m even guilt cleaning his old matress so it’ll be clean when I leave. When…not if….

Mom said I can keep my girl kitties, I hope he’ll care for the boys. I’ll miss my Loki :< he was his anyways right before I moved in. We were gonna be a happy family….

It was so right the first month then shit hit the fan. Shit I never thought I’d deal with. Now I’m $3000 down the drain 😔🫡 I’ll miss everything but I havnt even shed that many tears talking about it. Havnt had good memories in at least a year. Plus we’re not married or have kids and only dated for 2 years. The first year was great ;-; damn. Him and his babymama dated 5 and had a kid and it still didn’t work. I just have to tell him…

#JA

[devils-dares]

Based on this request and influenced by @galaxysgal

i hope you enjoy this!

dad!matt murdock x frank castle

You could smell her perfume before she even walked through the door. You were sitting on the table, doing your homework and having a great day before she came. Hearing the key being inserted in the door, you wondered why your dad always went running back to her when hit with even the slightest inconvenience. Your dad comes in first, heavy dress shoes clunking on the floor, followed by her barely-there footsteps, even with the sharpest heels known to man.

“Hey, bug!” Your dad says, walking over to you to kiss you on the forehead. “I know you don’t mind, but I brought Elektra over for dinner.”

‘Actually I do mind.’ You thought to yourself, but you bite your tongue, continuing to do your homework.

“I suppose greetings aren’t… customary any longer?” Her voice spits out, laced with venom and greed. How your dad never saw through her with his built-in polygraph test amazed you.

“They’ve probably just had a long day, El.” She laughs and just the sound alone makes you want to clock her in the face. She walks over to him in the kitchen, laying loud kisses all over his face.

“Okay. Dad? I’m going to go over to… literally anywhere else but here where I can study.” You don’t give him a chance to reply before packing your bag with a change of clothes and heading out.

“Well that gives us some uninterrupted time together, don’t you think, Matthew?” is the last thing you hear before you slam the door shut a little too hard and cringe for half a second before continuing on your path.

There’s only one person you could call who’d firstly keep you safe, and secondly, you could rant to and they wouldn’t care. You pull out your phone and text his number.

“Come pick me up?”

“Daddy run you out the house?”

“I hate you.”

“On my way.” You sigh, putting the phone away, and make your way down to the front of the building.

He pulls up in a van about ten minutes later, smelling like gunpowder and sweat.

“When was the last time you showered?” You ask, covering your nose.

“Yesterday, now shut up and decide on what you want to eat.” Frank says, waiting for you to buckle up before driving away.

The two of you get to his safe house, the van beginning to fill with the smell of some burgers and fries. Setting up the dinky little table under the buzzing light, you and Frank take your seats before sinking your teeth into your meals.

“So why’d he kick you out? The Red I know has a lot more patience than some kid gnawing at him all day.”

“Very funny, Frank. I walked out on my own, he brought his ex-girlfriend home with him… again, and I couldn’t deal with it.” He laughed.

“So? Set him up with someone else. He’s always eyeing that blonde.”

“Karen? Nah. He eyes you more than he looks at Karen- wait, oh my god!”

“Oh no, no, don’t even think about it.”

“You gotta admit, Frank. You chaining him up like that was pretty fruity indeed.”

“I did it because he wouldn’t stop and listen.”

“Or did you do it because you wanted to try shibari with chains?”

“Christ, kid.”

“Come on, don’t you care about me?”

“I’m not sleeping with your dad.”

“Just a little? Maybe a little smooch with some grab-ass and he can finally stop going back to Elektra.”

“What if I just put a bullet in her?”

“She won’t let you. The universe killed her before and I’m positive she’s surviving off of pure spite and pettiness.”

“Yikes.” He takes another bite of his burger.

“It doesn’t take much for him to get confused, y’know. Even just a little flirting would throw him off his rhythm.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” You shove a few fries in your mouth, making the saddest face you could.

“Why- how are you sulking while cramming your face with food? Come on, kid. I’m not flirting or kissing your dad, and that’s that. Stop frowning, stop it.”

“Okay. Anyways, I told my dad I was going to spend the night here and study so he could have his time with her… ew. So if you don’t mind, you can take the couch.”

“This is my house, and you’re making me take the couch?”

“Yeah, so get comfy.”

After spending a few hours studying, you get some rest in Frank’s bed after asking him to drop you off tomorrow morning. His bed was surprisingly comfortable, considering the fact that it looked like it had massive lumps and the quilt had two huge holes.

“Ready to go?” Frank asks after the both of you eat breakfast.

“Yeah, I guess.” You sigh, throwing your bag into the van.

After the two of you arrive at the apartment complex, you say your goodbye to Frank and head up the stairs to your home. When you walk in, you spot her hanging off of him in the living room.

“I’m home.” You state simply.

“Oh, bug! Where’d you go?” Matt asks, clearly concentrating on something, or rather someone else.

“Frank’s.”

“How is he? I haven’t seen him in so long.”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” You finally escape the conversation, and escape Elektra by heading out to the roof to catch some fresh air.

Finally, after what felt like hours, you saw her get into her chauffeured car and drive off. Heading down to the apartment, you find him nose-deep in work. Grabbing a snack, you sit across from him and start on your work yet again.

“Can I ask you a question?” You ask and he hums.

“What do you see in her? In Elektra? What’s so special about her that you keep going back to the one person who ruined your life?” He looks shocked by your question and stumbles for an answer.

“Well, y’know, she- uh. She’s been with me for a long time. She feels like a constant.”

“She’s a pretty shitty constant.

“She is just fine, and I think if you gave her an opportunity, you’d enjoy her company too.”

“I’m not entertaining her presence in the slightest.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that.” Some time passes after your conversation as you and Matt get lost in your work, respectively. The silence breaks when his stomach growls and he chuckles.

“Guess it’s dinner time already. What can I make you?”

“I’m not fussy.” You keep your eyes on your work, listening to him rummage around in the kitchen. Whatever he’s cooking smells delicious, but you don’t give him the satisfaction of commenting on it. He finally puts a bowl down in front of you, steaming hot pasta sitting in the center.

“I’m sorry if our conversation earlier upset you, I really didn’t mean for it to go that way.”

“It’s okay, I just never understood why you’d continue to go back to her after she’s lied and hurt you more times than I can count.”

“Like I said, she’s a constant. Whether that be a good constant or bad, she’s been there with me since my life was normal, and throughout whatever rollercoaster this is.” You nod, creating a semblance of a truce between the two of you.

While you’re washing the dishes, you see him come out in his red suit, getting ready for patrol.

“Ready to go?” You ask, wiping your hands on the kitchen towel. He nods and you walk over, giving him a hug, your nightly routine.

“Be safe, she may be your constant but you’re mine, Dad.” He smiles and presses a kiss to your forehead. Once he leaves, you continue tidying up a bit more before putting your pajamas on and getting into bed.

You’d been asleep for a while when you heard the struggling on the roof. You hear a thud and a groan that sounds eerily like your dad’s, and you’re out of bed and up the roof access stairs in a flash, your weapon of choice being a baseball bat. As you peek through the door, you see a flash of red and another groan. Finally getting the courage to open the door fully, you’re met by the scene of Daredevil pressed against an air conditioning unit by none other than Frank Castle, who had his tongue in your dad’s mouth. If it hadn’t been your dad, you’d probably congratulate Frank for getting some, but in hindsight, dropping the bat and screaming was a pretty good choice too.

The two men break apart lightning fast, both turned to you now.

“Bubbs, I’m sorry, I-“

“Calm down, Altar Boy, they’re the one that wanted it in the first place,” Then he turns his attention to you. “So yeah, maybe you were right, maybe I got the hots for your dad, but he’s got the hots for me too.” You groan and cover your eyes, heading back downstairs.

——-

You can tell your dad came into the building with someone, but her perfume doesn’t force its way into your nostrils and you can’t hear the barely there taps of her high heels against the floor. Instead, the smell is replaced with gunpowder and the steps are replaced with heavy thudding from combat boots. The sounds of lips smacking together and chuckles invade your ears and you poke your head up from the table to see Frank holding your dad. You sigh, grabbing your already packed bag.

“I’m going to Karen’s, and just so you know, if this works out, I’m not calling you Dad.” You tell Frank, who laughs against your dad’s lips and carries him to the bedroom.

#matt murdock #matt murdock fluff #matt murdock fanfic #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x female reader #matt murdock x fem!reader #matt murdock x gn!reader #matt murdock x male!reader #matt murdock x male reader #dad!matt murdock #daredevil #daredevil fluff #daredevil fanfic #daredevil x reader #daredevil x you #daredevil x fem!reader #daredevil x female reader #daredevil x gn!reader #daredevil x male!reader #daredevil x male reader #frank castle #frank castle x matt murdock #matt murdock x frank castle #marvel #marvel fanfic #marvel x you #dev writes

[talesofesther]

Safe and sound

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Bucky has a little calm after a storm.

A/N: I suck at summaries, oh my god, I'm sorry. Anyway, this is set at the beginning of ep 5 of tfatws right after their fight with Walker.

Masterlist

Bucky's body felt heavy, he moved his feet through the streets like it pained him to walk, and in a certain way, it did.

He knew that there were countless bruises already forming all over his body, all his limbs ached with the slightest of movements. The people on the street threw him a curious glare every now and then given the cuts and red and purple bruises on his face.

But he tried to keep his mind off of it, and off the pain he was feeling. Bucky tried to think of the person that waited for him back at Zemo's safe house.

Y/N paced back and forth in the living room, she was nervous. She had obviously already seen the videos of what John Walker did, the sight of the bloody shield made her sick.

She heard the door opening and her eyes shot straight to it. When she recognized Bucky walking in, a huge breath of relief left her lungs. But a concerned and disapproving look made its way to her face as soon as she saw the damn state that Bucky was in.

"I knew it, I knew you guys would go after him." Y/N walked up to the man, one of her hands coming straight up to his cheek to hold his face in place as she examined his injuries from up close.

Bucky opened his mouth to answer her, but her unexpected touch made his words get stuck in his throat. So tender.

"I saw what happened, there are videos all over the internet. Where's Sam?" Her worried eyes roamed all over Bucky's face, and after slightly shaking her head in a way that clearly stated she didn't like what she saw, Y/N made her way to the fridge to grab some cubes of ice.

"He left already. I... Came to get you" Bucky's voice held an uncharacteristic shyness to it, he took small steps in the same direction Y/N walked to.

After wrapping a couple of ice cubes in a piece of cloth, Y/N motioned for Bucky to sit on the couch. He quietly obliged and she sat close beside him.

"Did you guys get it? The shield I mean," her words were soft as she brought the ice up to his bruised cheek and held it there. Looking at Bucky with an emotion he couldn't quite read.

"We did," Bucky let out a sigh and lowered his eyes, all that happened in the last few days finally taking its toll on him. He was tired.

Y/N was silent for a moment before she put aside the ice on her hands. "You did the right thing. And, I'm sorry for what he did..." She looked at the way Bucky pursed his lips slightly at her words but still refused to look up. "... For the way he tainted the shield's legacy like that. But Bucky, look at the state of you"

The frustrated way those last words left Y/N's mouth made Bucky finally raise his eyes to look at her. And oh, her eyes held such emotion it almost made him choke.

"You're hurt. And I can tell there are bruises all over you because you're walking like you've been hit by a truck. You've gotta stop getting into fights without caring about how you're getting out of them..." Y/N rambled on and on about her concerns and Bucky's recklessness.

And Bucky listened, he did. Well, partially. Because he was looking into those bright eyes of hers, and they were so captivating. He was feeling the way that Y/N absentmindedly clutched the fabric of his shirt near his hand, keeping him there with her. He was blown away by the genuine concern on her features.

He listened, but the only words that Bucky really took in were:

'I care'

'I was worried'

'About you'

Those words made him feel warm. Important. Like, if he died, she would feel it. Like he wasn't alone in this world. They made him feel loved.

And he couldn't remember the last time he felt that, the thought of it made tears pool in his eyes, throat closing as if barbed wire were wrapped around it.

A sudden silence made Bucky snap out of his thoughts. His eyes focused again and he sat up straighter.

"Are you even listening? You look like you're miles away," Y/N sighed and moved the hand that was holding onto Bucky's shirt up to his face, she tenderly traced the line of his jaw, smiling a little when his eyes closed at her touch.

A gentle smile appeared on his lips as well. "You care." He knew his words were unsure and even if he said it like a statement, it sounded more like a desperate question.

Y/N's hand found its way up to Bucky's hair, she gingerly ran her fingers through his locks and automatically pulled his head towards her. "Of course I do." He gravitated towards her eagerly, like he always did. His head rested on her shoulder as she encircled her arms securely around him for a hug.

"You know that," her words were just a whisper in his ear now, sending a shiver down his spine.

Bucky buried his head on her neck, drowning in her scent as he hugged her back just as tight. She had that gift, he realized, to calm him, to make him feel safe and better after the worst of days.

To make him feel loved.

"I can't lose you, you know. Promise you'll be careful?"

Y/N's quiet words were the last straw for a tear to escape Bucky's eyes. He kissed the soft spot between her shoulder and her neck. "Promise".

He loved her too.

#bucky barnes x reader #marveledit #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x female reader #mcu #marvel #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes x reader #fluff #angst #imagine #fanfic #buckybarnesedit #tfatwsedit #bucky barnes imagine #my story