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petertingle-yipyip · 2 years

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DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER - MATT MURDOCK

seven- only love can hurt like this

tags: @ironprincessstranger @dusstory @americaarse @johnmurphys-sass // six // eight // masterlist

Pairing: Daredevil x Exodus (Matt Murdock x Reader)

Word Count: 9,239

Summary: Nelson and Murdock finally falls, leaving a cracked friendship in its wake. With a new development from Frank Castle, Y/N and Matt go to visit an old… adversary.

“Sorry I’m late!” Karen burst through the door in a hurry.

You sighed heavily and pushed yourself up, meeting her by her desk. You waved slightly and took a seat on the edge while she brought Foggy out. He offered you a small, sad smile and you returned the gesture.

“I’m glad you guys are both here. I wanna show you something.” She said quickly, rummaging through her bag. “Matt here too?”

“About Matt…” You trailed off sadly. “Karen, we gotta talk.”

“Let’s all take a long lunch today, hmm? There’s a lot we have to talk about.” Foggy added.

“You guys remember John Doe? One of the falsified reports.” She answered, not really hearing what you and Foggy were saying. “I think I found something.”

“Who’s house you break into this time?” You teased as you came around to Foggy’s other side so you could see better.

“No need.” She smiled slightly. “Just press passes and NYPD files and… Anyway, these pictures are all from the day Frank’s family was killed.”

“I’ve seen enough bloody bodies to last me a lifetime. Can we please just-“ Foggy tried again.

“Hang on. Just let her finish.” You said softly, putting a hand on his arm.

Maybe if Karen really was onto something, you’d have something that could distract you.

“Look at these two pictures. See this guy?” She pointed at one of the photos. “Now look.” She slid the photo to reveal a very similar one, only the body was gone.

Your brows furrowed as you reached for the photos. You flipped back and forth, comparing the two photos. You were hoping it was maybe a clear doctoring but the officers in the background were in different positions. What you did notice was that there had been another body, also removed, but the evidence tag number was only there for one.

“Maybe he was bagged and tagged already.” Foggy reasoned.

“That’s what I thought too but I couldn’t find any death certificates or anything. It’s like he was never there.” Karen continued.

“The evidence tag number is gone, too.” You pointed out, dropping the photos on her desk. “The body next to him is gone too but the little card isn’t. I’m pretty sure those don’t get picked up until the entire scene is cleared. Could be something..”

“What if he’s our John Doe?”

“Just… Let it go.” Foggy said, trying to remain calm though you could tell the topic grated his already sensitive nerves. “The trial is over.”

“But-“ She argued, following behind him and grabbing

your wrist to bring you with her. “No. There’s still a conspiracy. This guy could be the key to the cover up!”

“Maybe.” Foggy shrugged. “Somebody else’s problem now.”

You leaned against the doorframe, crossing your arms and fixing your eyes on the ground.

“But- Just like that?” She tried desperately. “I- I don’t get it.”

“We’re lawyers and I have bigger things to worry about.”

“Like what? Like.. like getting Nelson and Murdock back on top? This would do that!”

“Just tell her, Foggy.” You sighed, rubbing your tired eyes.

“Tell me what?” She insisted.

“There is no Nelson and Murdock. Look around.” Foggy explained, gesturing to the empty office space.

“Matt told us he doesn’t want to be a part of this anymore.” You said sadly. “He said Foggy should replace him with me or just close the office completely.”

“And you’re going to? What about helping people?”

“What else am I supposed to do?” You lifted your head. “I can’t make him be somewhere or do something he doesn’t wanna do.”

“But he listens to you!”

“Not anymore… When I talk, he just hears her. And I don’t know when that changed.”

Her eyes widened slightly in realization.

“Okay… Okay. You guys all fought at the courthouse a couple times but, you know, you weren’t your best selves. None of us really have been for a long time so-“

“I was my best self that day.” Foggy shrugged before gesturing to you. “Y/N was her best at the courthouse, covering for him. And so were you. You’re eerily good at this but Matt has-“

“He’s made his choice.” You shrugged. “He picked what he wants to prioritize and it’s not this firm. It’s not us. I’m sorry, Karen. Trust me. I know how you feel about him but…”

“The woman in his bed…” She turned to you. “The other night when we tried to get him to come back. Is this about her?”

“She knows how to get to him…”

“Okay, whatever.” She shook her head. “Whatever is going on with Matt, whether he’s not willing or not capable of making room for anything else in his life, it’s just right now.”

“You weren’t there… You didn’t hear the conviction in his voice when he told us to leave. I did.” You added.

“I should’ve warned you.” Foggy said kindly to Karen.

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Karen shook her head, though you felt that disappointment. “If Matt doesn’t want to share his life with me, that’s between me and him. The same way your friendship with Matt is between you and him. I don’t need to be warned, Foggy. I just cannot be lied to anymore. All I want is the truth about something.”

“I get it…” Foggy nodded. “I’ll give you a call if something changes but for now, I suggest we all start thinking of a life outside this office.”

“Gimme a second and we can work on that together. Maybe we can still find some closure for Frank..” You nodded at Karen as she backed out of the room. You pushed yourself up and shut the door behind you. “Can I ask you something?”

“How did you know?” Foggy asked instead. “About Matt… You called him Red and he said that Castle started calling him that. I heard you say it before we left.”

“The night at the hospital, when I had to leave because the plumbing… Turns out, I don’t even have an upstairs neighbor. Elektra set it all up. She wanted me and Matt to go to some gala, said she needed someone pretty and someone that can throw a punch… I thought I was the one to fight but, turns out I was mainly the pretty one.”

“Did he know you were gonna be there?”

“I doubt it… I didn’t say anything until we were already there. But the way he moved and fought, he didn’t care. The entire way he handled that night wasn’t very Matt Murdock. From there, the pieces kinda fell into place and everything made sense. He’s yet to actually say the words and I haven’t said anything to him yet but I think he knew I would figure it out.”

“You weren’t supposed to find out like that. He was supposed to tell you himself.”

“I never would’ve found out that way though, would I?”

“Y/N… I’m so sorry.”

You shrugged slightly. “I knew he had his secrets. I have mine too so I couldn’t judge him. I can’t even judge him for this but… Foggy, I understand why he never told me. Really, I do. But why do I feel so…”

“Betrayed.” Foggy finished knowingly as he came closer. “Lied to. Because you care about him, even when he doesn’t deserve it. Even when he doesn’t want it. You’ve been there for him in every way you could since we all met… You still love him, don’t you?”

“Only love could hurt like this, I guess.” You shrugged sadly. “I don’t want to feel like this, Foggy.. I don’t want to look at him and see a different person. I- I don’t want everything to change because of a stupid costume. I just want Matt back.”

Foggy was quick to come around from behind the desk and wrap you in a tight hug. That embrace was enough to break every wall you had, allowing every ounce of pain and loss and regret and sadness that you’d been keeping out for weeks crashed into your chest with a force that was enough to buckle your knees. You sunk into his hug and cried quietly, Foggy rubbing your back gently. As you sobbed gently, you realized that it was the first time you could remember crying in front of Foggy. The first time you had shown any sort of vulnerability around him. And that only made you cry more.

Once you managed to pull yourself together, you headed back into the main office. You found Karen was already gone, a text waiting on your phone that told you she went to the Bulletin. You blew out a sigh and told Foggy you’d catch him later before walking out and aimlessly wandered down the street while trying to clear your head. Though nothing was going to be figured out anytime soon.

It was late by the time you got back to your apartment, the sun having gone down while you were out. You were drained by the time you flopped onto your couch. Out of habit - or maybe some twisted sense of desire - you reached for your burner. You checked the calls and found two missed from Matt. You almost smiled when you thought of how he still went to you for help, but it quickly faded as you chopped it up to Elektra being gone.

Ignoring it, you went to sleep. If it was that big of a deal, he would’ve left a voicemail or called more than twice.

All units, suspect Frank Castle, believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.

The words ringing in your brain the next morning made you jolt upright, nearly falling off the couch. You reached for your regular cell phone and found no new messages or calls. You hurried to turn on your TV but there was nothing on the news about it.

Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was your brain trying to piece together something to make you feel anything other than empty. But would Frank be the ticket item?

Before you could think more on it, your phone rang.

Unknown number.

“Hello?” You answered quickly.

“Miss me, Princess?” Frank replied and you felt every muscle in your body tense.

“You’re insane, yknow that?” You chuckled and shook your head. “And I’m still pissed at you for blowing your trial so this better be good.”

“Yeah, I figured.. Listen, I’ll tell you everything, okay?”

“You’re goddamn right you’re gonna tell me! Because you don’t get to go on some bullshit rant - that not only closed your case but practically blew my firm apart - and expect me to just forget about it and be friends again.”

“I know, Y/N. I know, just.. Just gimme a chance to explain, okay?”

You sighed and rubbed your eyes, pushing yourself up to go get ready.

“Cops know you got out.” You said simply. “Heard it on their radios not too long ago… Thought I was hearing things at first but then you called and now it all makes sense.”

“I need you to hear me out.”

“I will… Just not right now. Stay out of sight - somewhere safe - and I’ll meet up with you later tonight.”

“No, it can’t wait that long.” He insisted.

Your phone buzzing in your hand made you pull away and check it, seeing a call from another unknown coming in.

“It’s gonna have to wait a little bit, at least. Something else just came up and I’m betting it has something to do with you. Just hang tight, alright?”

“Alright… Call me back when you can.”

You ended one call and accepted the other.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Y/L/N?”

“Speaking.” Your brows furrowed.

“We need you to report to the courthouse immediately.”

“May I ask what this is about?”

“DA Reyes has requested the presence of the entire Nelson and Murdock firm. That’s all we can say at this time.”

“Hmm… Okay, I’ll be right there.”

You rushed through a shower and got ready before grabbing a taxi and getting to the courthouse. You were met by a federal agent and led through the crowd until you reached Karen and Foggy.

“Hey. You guys alright?” You asked as you joined them.

“Security is nuts.” Karen commented. “Are you-“ She looked back at you. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You just look a little tired, is all..”

“Few rough nights.” You shrugged.

“With Frank Castle on the loose, I wouldn’t expect nights to get any better.” Foggy said as he glanced around, clearly looking for Matt.

“No, it’s too soon, even for Frank.” You shook your head and looked at all the commotion around you. “Something else has to be going on.”

“Guessing that’s what the DA wants to ask us about.”

“Okay but… What if-“ You began, trying to figure out the best way to word it without sounding like you knew something. “What if Matt was right? After the trial, when he said someone got to Frank… What if they did? What if someone helped get him out?”

“But who’d be able to do that in a day?” Karen asked but all you could do was shrug.

“Mr. Nelson, Ms. Page. This way please.” An agent came and ushered your friends away, leaving you on the stairs.

Just in time for Matt to get dropped off.

“Surprised you came.” You commented as he made it to where you were waiting. “After that very moving confession of not needing us anymore.”

“Y/N? You alright?” He asked gently.

“No, I’m not. One of my best friends turned his back on me and now…” You sighed and collected your thoughts. “Now, Frank is out and I’m pretty sure Reyes is gonna blame us.”

“But there’s no way you could’ve-“

“What do you know?” You cut in.

“Excuse me?”

“About this.” You stepped closer so you could speak quieter. “About Frank. You have to know something.”

“I don’t.” He answered with a shake of his head.

“Don’t bullshit me right now, Matt. You always know something.”

“Not this time.”

“Ms. Y/L/N, Mr. Murdock. We’re ready for you.” The same agent that took Foggy and Karen guided you and Matt through security.

Soon, the four of you were being led down the halls to Reyes.

“Y/N, Karen.” Matt called. “You two spent the most time with him. He say anything at all that could help us right now?”

You laughed once and shook your head. Matt knew damn well from the conversation you had just moments before that you didn’t know anything, yet he still felt the need to ask.

“Nothing about an escape.” Karen answered for you.

“Here, take a look at these.” Foggy said as he passed you a folder.

“What am I looking at?” You took the folder and flipped it open.

“Castle’s transfer paperwork. It’s not like he was waltzing into some country club. They were burying him in their highest security unit…”

“With all the other heavy hitters on cell block D.” You commented as you glanced through the pages before handing it off to Karen.

“Matt?” You said quietly.

Glancing to the side, you saw his head tilt but no other acknowledgement. “Frank wasn’t in the same block as Fisk, by chance, was he?”

You turned your head, making the gesture look like you were just reading signs on the hall, but you caught Matt’s reaction. His brows furrowed and jaw tightened. You could see the anger begin to seep off him before he cleared his mind.

That was all the answer you needed. And it let you piece together what Frank wanted to talk to you about.

You had to quickly swallow your anger for the time being. You knew the moment you got ahold of Frank, you were going to make it known just how pissed off you were with him.

“О, черт.” You sighed as you were all ushered into the DA’s office. (Oh shit.)

“Cell block D?” Matt asked as you three were left alone.

“Yeah… Why?” You feigned curiosity.

“That mean something to you?” Foggy piped up.

“Yeah, well I like to keep track of people who want to kill us.”

“The fact there’s a list is startling but go on.” You joked and Karen smacked your arm. “Only other person I could think that has it out for us - other than Reyes - is Fisk.”

“Exactly.” Matt nodded.

“Frank blows his trial and ends up on Fisk’s cell block?” Karen repeated.

“And a day later, he’s back on the street.” Matt finished.

“You were right. Someone got to Frank..” You said through your sigh. “Question now is what did Fisk have that Frank would want.”

“Hold on.” Foggy cut in. “Those are two very different dots. You can’t just connect them.”

“Come on, Foggy.” Matt urged. “I’m right. Fisk made this happen.”

“Look at how everything lines up, right.” You spoke up, knowing it would only come across as Matt’s ego talking if he kept going. “We put away Fisk so he has a vendetta against us. The Punisher case is plastered literally everywhere so he had to have heard about it and who else is on the front page? Nelson and Murdock. He has enough money left over to buy a couple guards, so he buys a guard that can get close to Frank. When Frank came into court that day, something was wrong and that guard was off. They end up in the same cell block and now he’s out. And how much you wanna bet I can request some records and find some sort of a trademark Punisher style brawl not dated that much earlier? As much as I hate him right now-“ You pointed to Matt.

“Hurtful.” Matt nodded.

“But warranted.” You countered. “Regardless, there’s some merit to this theory.”

The door opened and your conversation was as quick to halt. As you were ushered into Reyes’ office, her frazzled state jarred you. You had to take a step back because it hit you so suddenly. It was unexpected from a woman who had a stare so hard it could cut diamonds, so cold it could freeze Hell.

Your group took their seats, Karen and Foggy on the ends with you and Matt in the middle. You let out a deep breath and let it serve to blow the buzzing from the air.

“Let’s not bullshit, hmm?” You spoke up, leaning back in the chair and resting your elbows on the armrests. “You brought us here to try and bully privileged information about our client out of us.”

“Yes… if it helps.” She admitted easily.

“It doesn’t.” You smiled sarcastically.

“We have to get Frank Castle off the street before anyone else gets hurt.”

“We?” You scoffed and shifted to lean forward, causing her to lean back. “You think we’re going to help you after the stunts you’ve pulled against my firm?”

“If you want our cooperation, then we need to know what you know.” Matt interrupted.

Though you didn’t appreciate him cutting in, you could see what he was doing. He was thinking as Daredevil, as someone who promised to keep Fisk away and handle the Punisher. So far, Fisk was only physically away but his influence was still reaching. And Frank was right back, calling you like he hadn’t just escaped prison with multiple capital crimes against him.

“Everything.” You added firmly. “Or we don’t even consider it and we walk out that door.”

“I’ve made mistakes.” She said hesitantly.

You rubbed your fingers together and focused on her doubts, hoping to crumble them and leave her more open to talking. You felt her uncertainty wavering, cracking apart until it finally collapsed. You smirked slightly as she continued the story.

“Central Park.. Castle and his family. I screwed up.”

“Frank Castle’s family being gunned down is not a mistake. It’s a massacre.” Karen insisted and you nodded, pointing to her to show you agreed.

“Wait.” Reyes defended. “I swear to God, if I had any idea that people might get hurt, I wouldn’t have done that!”

“That doesn’t matter!” You said firmly. “Because at the end of the day, rather than make things right with Frank, you wanted to put him in the ground to cover your mistake.. You put the DNR to save your career. You don’t get to trade lives!”

You mentally facepalmed as soon as the words left your mouth. You sounded exactly like Daredevil and Matt knew it. He was practically glowing with pride.

“You don’t get to pass your consequences off on someone else because you’re afraid to own up to them.”

“Why am I not surprised your office was part of it?” Foggy said simply.

“They were more than part of it.” Karen said knowingly. You leaned around Matt to hear her better and she looked to you in return. “It was a sting.”

“How do you know that?” Reyes panicked.

You discreetly waved a hand to wipe the tension away and allow the information to keep flowing.

“I’ve gotten really good at digging up shit people like you wanna keep buried.”

“Probably not a good idea to..” Matt leaned over and whispered to Karen.

You watched as Reyes turned around and let her assistant tell the story. You scoffed quietly at how pathetic it was.

“Last year, the DA’s office learned there was a new player in the drug trade. Calls himself the Blacksmith. He wasn’t gonna flood the market, he was gonna be the market.” He explained. You didn’t have to manipulate anything to keep him talking.

“We were tracking kilos but he was dealing in metric tons. Volume like that should’ve made him easy to find but the guy was a ghost. No sign of how he was getting the product into the country, nothing. Then one of the cops we planted deep undercover got word that the Blacksmith was arranging a meet between three unaffiliated gangs.”

“Let me guess. Kitchen Irish, Mexican Cartel, and Dogs of Hell.” You said sarcastically.

“He wanted to broker a deal, set a meet for midafternoon in Central Park. Our guys were there and ready but the sting just went south.”

“Went south?” You laughed bitterly. “Went south is what you say when your drunk uncle starts a fistfight at the family reunion, not when a mother and her two children are gunned down in broad daylight! When you try to murder their father just to keep it quiet!”

“You didn’t clear the park, did you?” Matt challenged.

“I thought about it.” Reyes nodded, as if that would make it okay. “But I decided an empty park could show our hand. So yes… I greenlit the operation, civilian traffic and all.”

“You put innocent kids at risk.” You emphasized.

“Yes, but-“

“There is no but!” You cut in quickly. “You cannot justify something that hurts kids! You could've had officers in positions posing as civilians. Did you even think about that?”

“And then it all oh-so-predictably went to shit.” Foggy continued.

“Blacksmith didn’t show.” She continued and that time you did scoff.

“The gangs got rattled before we could move in and they opened fire on each other… Our undercover was killed and Castle’s family.. Goddamnit.”

“After that horrendous decision, you tried to make it worse. You tried to kill him and ruin us to save your own political ass.” Foggy shook his head in disbelief.

“Maria Castle. Frank Castle Jr. Lisa Castle. Frank Castle. All of them paid a price just to save your pathetic little career in this office.” You said viciously, venom lacing every syllable.

“You know what, lady, you’re on your own.”

“Wait!” Reyes insisted as you and Foggy began to stand. “This isn’t about me anymore.”

Slowly, you sat back down.

“I found this in my daughter’s backpack before sending her off to school.” Reyes explained and showed Frank’s cranial x-ray.

“Once he gets his sights on a target, he never stops. You know that.”

“So what? You think he’d hurt your daughter?” You asked seriously. You were almost offended that she would insinuate that.

“Where is she?” Matt asked.

“Upstate. Somewhere I can never know about. She’s surrounded by men with guns… Assigned to protect her.”

While you felt sympathy for her in regards to her daughter, you were still irritated since she thought Frank would hurt the girl.

“Frank wouldn’t target your family.” You said simply. “None of you will get this but he’s not heartless, alright? He’s not a monster. He has morals and a- a- a code, I guess, that he operates by. He only hurts people who deserve it.”

“And I’m supposed to trust that?” She scoffed. “What happens if he decides she does?”

“He won’t.”

“Look, I don’t care how much time you spent in an interrogation room with him. He’s coming after my child.”

“You don’t know that!”

“And you do?” She yelled.

“The man lost his own daughter!” You shouted and stood, slamming your hands on her desk. “He knows that kind of pain and grief. You really think he’d want that for anyone else?”

“Didn’t seem to stop him before “ She said, trying to mask her fear with anger.

“What do you want from us?” Matt asked, reaching for your arm but then deciding otherwise. Instead, Foggy reached forward and pulled you back.

“If he contacts you, just let us know.”

“You want us to break privilege?” Foggy asked, clearly insulted.

“I wanna make sure nobody else gets hurt.”

“Only because it’s someone you care about.” You pointed out, scooting forward to the edge of your seat but Foggy and Matt both put arms out to keep you from standing again. “If you weren’t scared for your daughter’s life, we wouldn’t be here. Would we? You’d go on some other crusade to take him down with another shoot to kill in place. And it’s funny that you didn’t mention or take responsibility for the DNR you ordered. You can’t even say their names…”

“I know what I’ve done here but…” Reyes began again but Matt grabbing your forearm distracted you.

He leaned over to speak quietly and you leaned into him to hear him.

“Get down.” He muttered.

You were quick to move to your side and take Foggy down with you while Matt dove to cover Karen. You kept your friend down until the bullets stopped then you slowly got yourself up. The only problem was that when you leaned your weight on your right arm, your arm collapsed and you fell back on the floor.

Frank was right. You don’t hear the ones that get you.

You rolled to your back and glanced down, seeing a bloody line carved into your shoulder and a red soaked bullet on the ground. You cursed softly and scooted up to lean against the wall. You clamped a hand over your wound and dropped your head against the wall, clenching your jaw tightly to keep the groans of pain quiet.

“Foggy.” You managed and tried to reach for him, though moving the arm with the bullet caused you to cry out loud. “Foggy. Foggy, Foggy, Foggy.” You repeated quietly as he knelt by your side.

“I need you to-“ You winced. “I need you to tear the sleeve off, okay? And I need you to tie it so the knot is- Ah! So the knot is over this.”

“Y/N, I can’t..” He tried but you shook your head quickly with your eyes closed.

“I need you to do this.” You whined. “Please.”

“I-“ He sighed and you felt his hands grip your sleeve. “Ready?”

“Just do it.”

You cried out as he pulled the sleeve and it ripped free from your shirt. You bit your bottom lip as he maneuvered your arm and tied the sleeve, squeezing the wound with the knot.

“Я убью Фрэнка, если он это сделает, клянусь Богом!” You muttered through heavy breathes as Matt came over to help you to your feet once he knew Karen was out safely. (I’m gonna kill Frank if he did this, I swear to God!)

Matt held you up as you all were ushered out of the courthouse. You were glad you had Foggy tie it off when you did, otherwise the blood loss would’ve been more catastrophic. Your footing slipped every now and then, but Matt was right there with arm around your waist to catch you.

EMTs were quick to the scene and rushed to check you out. They explained things you already knew. It was a clean shot, in and out. There was no bone damage but the muscle damage was deep, cutting right through your deltoid muscle and narrowly missing the bone of your upper arm. They recommended stitches but you adamantly refused, not wanting to waste anytime getting to Frank. Hesitantly, they told you to avoid strenuous lifting and movements for a few weeks. They cleaned and dressed the wound instead while they offered to take you to a hospital of your choice just to check and offered a few treatments but you refused.

You had to find Frank before the cops did.

“How do you feel?” Matt asked after the EMTs left you.

“I’m angry.” You said honestly, feeling the heat of your anger pulsing in your new wound. “But I don’t think this was Frank. He wouldn’t do that so recklessly when the four of us were in the way.”

“The man just shot you.” Matt scoffed.

“No, he didn’t. He wouldn’t hurt me!”

“Why do you still defend him?” He tried to walk away but you hurried to follow him.

“Why did you always defend Exodus?” You shrugged your good shoulder.

“They’re not the same.”

You thought about how that was a blatant contradiction to what he told Elektra, that all three of you were the same. But you knew better than to make a big deal about. However, it didn’t stop you from pointing it out casually.

“Maybe, maybe not, but that’s not what you told Elektra.”

That earned you a scowl.

“Point is, you saw something good in her at the beginning. You believed in her at one point, right? Well I believe in Frank. He’s not a bad guy, just been through so much trauma and grief and pain. Everyone has failed him but no one wants to make that right. No one wants to fight for him!”

“So what?” He urged. “You gonna pick up a gun and go shoot down people that piss you off, too?”

“Frank Castle isn’t the Punisher by default and no one understands that! Reyes created the Punisher through her own selfish decision. Why don’t you believe there’s some merit to him?”

“Why do you?” He stopped and grabbed your hand to stop you. You felt the heavy pulse of his next question roll through you. “Honestly. Why do you care, Y/N? Do you.. have feelings for him?” He finished carefully, as if he was afraid to hear the answer.

“No.” You laughed slightly. “I’ve only loved three men in my life and Frank Castle is not one of them.”

He let out a small breath of relief.

“I just know what it’s like to be so full of rage and pain and grief and not know what to do with it. He knows where to direct it and all he wants to do is hurt the people who hurt him.”

“That’s not justice, Y/N. It’s vengeance.”

“Sometimes they’re not so different.” You shrugged, which made his jaw drop slightly and his brows furrowed.

“What I’m trying to say is that he’s still a man. He’s a husband and a father. He’s strong in his beliefs and he’s honest. Everyone wants to criminalize him. I know he acts like some idiot with a gun and he’s supposed to be treated like a lost cause and even by the Devil’s rules, he’s a villain. I know what everyone believes and I know what I’m supposed to say but I just don’t see it.”

“I don’t get it.” He said softly. “How can you see so much good in him?”

You shrugged.

“He’s protective and he cares about people. He reminds me of someone else that I kinda know.”

“Don’t say Daredevil.” He scowled and you cracked a small smile.

“In some ways, he does.” You said honestly.

You hadn’t even realized it until your latest rant but it was true. Frank wasn’t all that different from Daredevil. The biggest and most obvious difference was the blood on their hands, or lack thereof. But the similarities were more noticeable now.

They both were protective of you while respecting you completely. They didn’t want you to get hurt but they both knew you could handle yourself. They stood strong in their beliefs, refusing to back down against anyone, and they weren’t afraid to take responsibility for what they did. They weren’t afraid to challenge you either.

At the basest level, the deepest core level of their activities, they were practically the same.

“I need to find him, Matt. I know you can help me.” You admitted.

“Why?” He asked simply.

“Because I want to ask if he shot me. I want to know why he worked with Fisk… And I want to hear it from him.”

Matt waited there for a moment, processing your words. You could tell he wanted to do this alone. He didn’t want you tagging along so you didn’t get hurt. But he also liked that you were going to him for help. He liked the idea of chasing a lead together outside the masks.

“Alright, come on.” He jerked his head for you to follow. “I know where to start.”

“I need a new shirt first.”

You two ended up at the prison after a quick detour to your apartment. It was easy enough to get in to see Fisk, though his own lawyer seemed to hover. He shoved affidavits into each of your hands and Matt signed his easily. You hung back and read it over while Matt was led in to talk to him. You leaned against the wall and tapped your pen against the paper in thought.

“Kinda extensive, huh?” A man asked as he came to your side.

“Yeah.” You laughed slightly. “Makes you wonder who’s really in charge around here…”

“I hate coming to deal with this guy.” He shook his head. “But everyone’s gotta draw the short stick every now and then.”

“You from his legal team?”

“God no.” He laughed. “FBI. You?”

You hummed and turned to face him.

“Part of the firm that got him locked up in the first place.” You smiled.

“Really? I am impressed.” He smiled slightly. “Harvard? No. Princeton?”

“Columbia.”

He clicked his tongue in disappointment. “That was my next guess.”

You laughed.

“So what brings you in?” He asked casually. There was a bit of suspicion in his voice but nothing that you couldn’t talk around, likely just part of his job.

“I got shot earlier and the prime suspect is a guy I think Fisk helped get out. Came to find out what he knows.”

“You got shot and the first thing you do is come pick a fight at a prison?”

“Pretty much.” You shrugged your good shoulder. “Why? Is that not the normal response?”

“You’re one tough cookie, aren’t you?” He smiled lazily.

“Oh yeah.” You nodded and gestured to yourself. “I’m a regular badass.”

“I bet.. I’m Dex, by the way.” He held a hand out for you to shake.

“You always introduce yourself with a nickname?” Your brows lifted as you shook his hand. “Y/N.”

He rolled his eyes in amusement. “Ben Poindexter. That better?”

“Very.” You nodded with a grin. “Think I can get away with signing a fake name?” You shook the papers from Fisk’s lawyer.

“Something tells me you can get away with a lot more than that.” He chuckled.

“Ms. Y/L/N.” His lawyer came to ask. “Have you signed it?”

You glanced between the man and your new friend before pushing off the wall. You shot Dex a quick wink and handed the papers back to Fisk’s lawyer. He skimmed them and scowled when he saw no signature.

“You don’t care about the affidavit.” You said convincingly, waving your hand to dismiss his intent. “You’re not worried about me or what I came for. Fisk is more than happy to talk to me.”

“I think it’ll be fine, just this once.” He nodded before going back, you assumed for Matt.

“Okay.” Dex came to your side with a chuckle. “Now I’m impressed. You ever get bored of this legal stuff, I bet you’d be great at the FBI.”

“Yeah?” You turned to face him.

“Yeah. Something tells me you’d make a kickass special agent.”

“Y’know, that may not be a terrible idea…”

“Here’s my number if you ever wanna try it.” He smiled and handed you a card.

“You just keep these on hand?” You laughed and tucked the card into your pocket.

“It works, doesn’t it?” He defended with a chuckle. Someone called for Dex so he offered a quick apology before taking off. You decided you needed to make a quick call so you weren’t walking in with nothing.

You stared at the contacts in your phone, two numbers shining back at you.

moon man<3

even steven<3

One number would lead you to the man you needed. The other would take you to someone who had no idea. You knew who you should call first, but you found yourself wanting to talk to them both. You let out a small sigh and clicked one at random, letting fate decide who you would talk to first.

“Hello?” He said carefully, a clear accent in his voice.

“Hi Steven.” You said softly. “How are you?”

“Y/N…” He breathed. “Hi.”

You chuckled gently. “Hi.”

“I- Uh. How- How have you been?”

You took a second and thought, drumming your fingers against your lips before answering.

“I’m doing okay.. You?”

“No you’re not.”

“What?”

“That little pause.” He noted. “You do that when you wanna keep something to yourself.”

“Almost forgot how attentive you are.” You smiled to yourself. It was different compared to the way Daredevil was attentive and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t miss it. “I’m struggling a little bit but I’ll figure it out.. I always do.”

“You don’t have to do it alone.. You could always come back. I don’t even really know why you left..”

“To take my Bar exam.” You nodded, leaning against the wall and chipping at the paint slightly. “I told you that.”

“Yeah.. But you didn’t say you weren’t coming back.”

You sighed and closed your eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry, Steven. I never wanted to hurt you. Staying in New York was never the plan. You and M- … You were one of the very few ‘what if’s I wanted to come back to.”

“You still can.” He said softly, so gently that you barely heard him.

“I can’t.”

“Y/N..”

“I’m so sorry…” You sighed. “There‘s too much going on to just up and leave now.”

“I never stopped loving you. I’ve thought about you almost everyday.” He spoke quickly, as if there was a timer ticking down on your conversation and he wouldn’t get another chance to tell you that.

“I don’t deser-“

“Don’t do that.” He cut in quickly. “Don’t even try that. You deserve everything good, Love.”

“I’ve missed you.” You laughed sadly.

“Wait. Why did you call?”

“I don’t know… I just wanted to talk to you, I guess.”

“You’re a terrible liar, yknow that?” He chuckled sadly.

“So I’ve been told.. I’ve gotta go, okay?”

“Right, well, don’t be a stranger then. Laters, gators.”

You ended the call and held the phone against your chin. You felt the tears welling in your eyes and you hadn’t realized just how much you had missed him. Leaning your head against the wall behind you, you closed your eyes and sighed inwardly. As innocent as the conversation with Steven had been, you needed Marc.

You pushed yourself up and were using your phone as a mirror to check your eyes when you received a call back.

moon man<3

You cleared your throat and buried your sadness as you answered.

“What kind of trouble are you in now?” He said quickly, though any hint of an accent was now gone.

“Nice to hear from you too, Marc.” You rolled your eyes slightly.

“Cut the shit, Y/N. Where are you? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

You could hear things rustling around in the background, and you figured he was hurrying to pack a bag and gather together whatever he thought he would need. It was nice to know he still cared.

“I’m not in trouble.”

“Y/N.” He said firmly.

“Marc.” You mocked his tone.

“Seriously?” He scoffed.

“I promise I’m not in trouble.. But I do need your help. I just need you to help me find someone.”

“That’s all you need?”

“Yes.” You chuckled.

“Okay.. But you gotta answer one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why didn’t you come back?”

You sighed. “They found me. There were at least three of them and one of them might’ve been Yelena… I had to get them away from you but I wasn’t going to go after my cousin so I left.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“If I came back covered in blood, how do I explain that?”

Silence.

“I didn’t know if I would come back to you or Steven, but I knew the best way to keep you both safe was to leave. I came back to New York and took my Bar Exam. That wasn’t a lie. Like I told Steven, I didn’t plan on staying here.”

“So why did you?”

“Things got crazy and then Matt-“

“Matt?” He scoffed. “Your ex-boyfriend from college?”

“We never dated.” You corrected.

“Sorry. Should I have said ‘your first love from college’?”

“Are you done?”

“You seriously stayed for Matt, the guy you said picked some other girl over you, when you had me? And Steven?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Then what else kept you there?”

“Y’know, when I’m not talking to you from inside a prison, I’ll gladly answer that.”

“Goddammit, Y/N.” He sighed.

Silence passed over the conversation for a second.

“You ever get the envelopes?” He asked instead.

“Yeah… You’re talking to a fully licensed lawyer.”

“That’s my girl.” You could hear the smirk in his voice. “And I heard about your case, that guy Frank Castle. Hell of an ending.”

“Ha ha.” You said sarcastically. “Can I ask you something now?”

“Yeah.”

The memory flashed in your mind, laying on your back in some abandoned temple. Sand sticking to your body and your blood pooling around you. There was a voice, deep and rumbling and taunting as it tried to get you or Marc to agree. You remembered seeing Marc stand and then you woke up in bed and you almost convinced yourself it was just a dream.

“That night in Egypt, when we both almost died… How did I get out?”

“That’s when I started with Khonshu, remember?”

“Yeah but how did that help me? I remember seeing you get up and the suit but after that… Next thing I know, I woke up in the safe house.”

“I told him I wasn’t leaving you… He showed me that there’s certain instances where the healing from the suit can be used on someone else. Haven’t been able to do it since though. Guess it hasn’t mattered as much as it did with you.”

“You saved me…” You smiled softly.

“Cause I loved you.” He said simply, as if it was obvious.

It was your turn to be quiet for a minute as you thought about the past tense of the word. It stung a bit when compared to Steven’s confession just moments ago.l, but you recognized it was selfish to assume Marc would hold out feelings for you.

“I planned on coming back after my exam. You were the person I wanted to be with when everything came in. I just figured it was safer if I stayed away for a while longer and then I got caught up here…”

“I could’ve handled it.”

“Maybe… But I can’t change what I did. I can just say I’m sorry, which truly I am. You’re the only other ‘what if’ I wanted to chase… I’m not asking you to forgive what I did. I just need you to try and find someone for me, Marc.”

“Yeah, okay.. Give me a name and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Vanessa Marianna. She’s really into art but is probably gonna be somewhere around Europe without extradition. She’s also probably moving around a lot, high security.”

He chuckled. “She a contract for you?”

“I don’t take contracts anymore.. I’m working a case and I need leverage against someone to get information.”

“Just use your little tasers. That usually works.” He joked.

“Oh yeah.” You smiled. “I’ll walk into a courtroom with those and see how far I get.”

“Y’know, I’m proud of you, Y/N/N.” He said softly. “I really am.”

“Thanks, Marc… That means a lot.”

“I’ll see what I can find, alright? And if you’re ever in London again…”

“You’ll be the first person I visit. I promise.”

“Talk soon.” He chuckled.

“Bye.”

You turned back to see Fisk’s lawyer guiding Matt out and you could see the blood on his teeth. You shoved your phone away and hurried to him, tilting his head up and to the side as you checked on him. He gently

pushed your hands away, which was a good thing given how hot they were already getting.

“Let’s go.” Matt told you and you could tell his pride was a bit bruised.

“No, I’m going in there.” You said angrily, trying to push past him but an arm came across your chest. “Don’t do this here.”

“Let’s go.”

“No.”

“Woah, woah.” You heard the familiar voice at your side and you smiled to yourself. “Let the lady go and let’s talk about this.”

“I need to talk to Fisk.” You said simply. “He’s in my way.”

“You won’t get anything out of him.” Matt reasoned.

“I can be very convincing.”

“Y/N, come on.”

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Dex stepped in, patting Matt’s arm while you pushed him away slightly. “I’ll go with her. Nothing’s gonna happen.”

“If Fisk touches her, I swear to God.”

“Scout’s honor, buddy. Nothing she can’t handle, right?”Dex nodded and gestured for you to go ahead.

You waved your hands at the guards, watching white haze cover their eyes as you cleared every feeling they had. They had no loyalty, no sense of purpose. No anger or worry or even interest. They were simply bodies at that point, though you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

You entered the small interrogation room and set your shoulders back as you got close to Fisk. You glanced back and found Dex nodding, gesturing that he’d wait for you in the hall.

“I knew our paths would cross again, though this isn’t how I imagined it.” Fisk said as you reached the table. “How’s business nowadays?”

“Why let Castle out?” You asked simply, pressing your hot palms against the cold table.

“Yes, I heard you were involved with Mr. Castle. The question is if you are involved in all aspects of his endeavors?”

“What do you gain by helping the Punisher?”

“I did no such thing.”

“Bullshit. You two ended up in the same cell block. You telling me that was an accident?”

“Must’ve been. It’s rather interesting the way fate has brought you to Castle, brought Castle to me, and now… It’s has brought you back to me.”

“What about the way no guards stepped in when you beat the shit out of Murdock just now?”

“The guards must’ve-“

You slammed a fist down onto the table, making Fisk flinch just the smallest bit.

“You can talk anyone else in circles but not me. I know your games and they’re pathetic. What. Did you want. Castle for?”

“Nothing…”

“Oh, man.” You stood tall and sighed. “I don’t know what Vanessa saw in you… But I guess I can ask her when I find her.”

“What did you say?” His anger finally sparked.

“I have eyes everywhere, big guy. But I bet you knew that. I have people in every country looking for her, but you were probably counting on that since you have her moving every so often. I’ve taken it upon myself and blasted her name, photo, and basic information to all of my contacts so it’s only a matter of time before she’s found… Do you wanna know what I’ll do to her when I find her?”

“You don’t hurt women.” He tried but his uncertainty only pushed your taunting further. “You protect them.”

“Maybe I’ve changed.” You shrugged. “But I’m sure Matt has already talked about Vanessa, pulling her Visa and all that legal stuff, right?”

Silence.

“You know what the Punisher has done. I guess you’d have to if he caught your attention. His work is gonna look like a children’s cartoon when I’m done with her. Her own mother won’t be able to recognize her… I’d recommend a closed casket.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Maybe letting out the one man who’s just as lethal as I am wasn’t the best idea, was it? Who's gonna stop me, hm? Unless you got Castle on your payroll somehow.”

His jaw clenched but he said nothing.

“Then I guess I’ll have to beat it out of you via Vanessa.”

He stood suddenly and grabbed your shirt front with one hand and locked the other around your throat. You smiled wickedly and grabbed onto his wrist. Your hands grew hot with a fierce heat that you pushed forward and he winced as you locked your fingers together. You hopped up, angling your feet against the edge of the table, before kicking off and tucking your knees so you would fall backwards. His face slammed the table and he dropped his hold, making you hit the concrete ground roughly. You rolled to your back and spun so your feet were at the table again, but when you kicked off, you pushed the table into his stomach and pushed yourself through a tumble. The impact worked in shoving him back into his chair so you stood proudly, rubbing your aching shoulder and feeling your sleeve grow damp with the blood of a reopened wound.

“You think you have power? You think you’re earning anything back?” You laughed as Fisk looked to the door you came in from. “Let me show you power.”

You shot your hand towards the door and closed your fist, picturing you were grabbing the controls of the guards. You twisted your hand over, raising their interest and concerns. Only they weren’t worried or interested in what you would do to Fisk. You made them worried about you.

You felt Fisk begin to panic as the guards turned towards the room and leaned in closely to watch. You flattened both palms again and leaned in. He reared back and threw a fist at you, his broad hand slamming into your jaw and causing a small pop to sound at the joint.

You couldn’t hide the manic laughter as you pressed the other side of your jaw and felt the grinding of your bones back into place.

“You can think you’re in charge here but you need to remember that I can dismantle everything you build.” You smiled wickedly as he slammed your face against the steel table.

“You’re weak.” You spat before you slammed your face again to prove a point.

“You’re insane!” He yelled.

“No, I just play this game better.”

“I should’ve killed you in that alley!”

“But you didn’t!” You shouted before another slam.

One final slam gave you the crack you were hoping to hear. You stood straight and smiled, knowing how unsettling the image would be as the blood poured down your face before you took a couple steps back and feigned panic.

“Help! Help, he broke my nose!” You cried and lifted your hands towards your cheeks shakily. “Please!”

Dex and two guards burst in quickly, slamming Fisk against the table. You leaned over and braced yourself against your knees as you taunted him one last time.

“Why let Castle out? Distraction from what you’re doing here? Or you just need him to do your dirty work?” You asked and he growled at you in answer.

“Second one it is.” You nodded and stood up. “You want him to clear the way so you can get back to the top with as few obstacles as possible. You can hope and plan to get out of this place… But just know, the minute you think you’re safe in your little penthouse, I will find you. And you will regret ever having contacted me in the first place.”

You locked your fingers and placed the heels of your hands against either side of your nose as guards hauled Fisk away. You yanked the cartilage back into place with a groan as Dex came to check on you.

“You really are crazy, aren’t you?” He asked as he gestured to your now bloody face.

“Still think I’d be good for the FBI?” You teased and wiped your sleeve across your face.

“You’d be one hell of a partner.” He chuckled and led you back to Matt.

“It was nice to meet you!” You called over your shoulder as you and Matt were leaving.

“See you ‘round, Y/N.” Dex saluted and you had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last time you’d see him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Matt scolded as he dragged you out of the prison and into the cab that waited for you two.

“What now?” You groaned, using the cuff of your sleeve and your phone’s camera to try and clean the blood off your face.

“You instigated him into putting hands on you.”

“Didn’t you do the same thing?”

“No.”

“The blood still on your teeth says otherwise.” You answered in a singsong voice. “You can’t stand on the high ground when you did the same thing.”

“Difference is, I can handle it.”

“And you think I can’t?”

“Y/N, he broke your nose.” Matt scolded and you scoffed.

“I broke my own nose.”

“Excuse me?”

“I broke my own nose.” You repeated. “He wasn’t gonna hit me hard enough so I did it myself.”

“Why would you- Oh my god!”

“I needed to prove a point. I proved it. Can we move on? I don’t need you to protect me from everything, Matt. You have to understand that.”

“I know.” He sighed, though you knew he didn’t mean it. He knew you weren’t helpless but he didn’t think you could take the bigger, more dangerous situations. “I just-“

“I’m not helpless. I appreciate your concern and I love you for it. But I need you to trust me a little bit more than you do now.”

“I love you too. Y/N… And I do trust you.”

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happy-pencil · 2 years

Text

**For Readers 18+ 😊

You tried so hard to keep the noise down.

And things weren’t suppose to end up like this.

It all started when you were put on the same team as last year’s Beans Day event. Things having stayed the same since last year, you tried finding Cater and Jade to team up. Much to your disappointment, you weren’t able to find the two of them. You did however end up finding Floyd in the deep neck of the woods sleeping in a tree away from the other students.

You called out to Floyd, hoping that he’s at least seen his brother around the area. The only response he gave you was a disgruntled huff in annoyance before he told you to leave him alone.

Before you both knew it, you both were being ambushed by the opposing team -who were watching you and Floyd bicker previously. Luckily, you ended up fleeing the area before the Monster Team could make their move- with a now very annoyed and angry Floyd following behind.

Floyd, as usual, wasn’t in the mood to play these games hence why he was sleeping in the tree to begin with. He would obviously love to get the chance to play with the other guppies and smaller fish but he knew that they wouldn’t stand a chance to him or his brother. There was no real competition to this silly game even if the opposing team had more of a chance to win.

This bummed Floyd out to no end.

And what bummed him out more is that he was put on the same team as last year’s game.

However it seemed that this year would be a little different now that his Koebi-Chan has seemingly decided to team up with him to his amusement. At least they were always fun to hang around with.

But right now he was moodier than ever.

“Koebi-Chan, why are you so adamant on winning this year’s game? If anything, it’ll be like last year’s game...” Floyd asked and gave a frustrated sigh in disapproval of your previous actions.

You had to stop walking and turn to face Floyd behind you, who was looking down at you with annoyance and curiosity. Calmly, you told him that you had a plan to beat the Monster Team but had to find Jade and Cater to have them execute the plan. Floyd argued again that it was going to be futile and the same thing will happen just like last year. And so, you both then started to bicker back and forth with each other.

What then started as bickering turned into playful bantering -to a now heated and steaming session underneath a tree with the tall second year.

One thing lead to another and now you were underneath Floyd -getting pounded to oblivion by his massive cock. Every thrust of his length sinking deeper and deeper into your hole to the point where you were seeing stars beyond that of the cosmos.

You want to cry, sob even from the amount of pleasure Floyd was giving you. But any sound you produced had his hand covered around your mouth, keeping you muted from anyone that could’ve been within hearing distance.

Floyd let out a quiet , child-like giggle which only could’ve been heard by the both of you.

“Koebi-Chan~ You have to keep it down~ The other fishes are gonna hear you from here...~”

His warm, hushed whispers ghosted your ears as the sound of wet skin frantically slaps against your exposed area. Your face flushes a deep red from the sensitivity of his voice and hid your face between the crook of Floyd’s neck. Whimpering and moaning quietly only for him to hear.

Floyd takes this as an opportunity for him to go faster. Without hesitation, he hurriedly took out his cock and flipped your body over. Your face was now pressed against his soft Beans Day Uniform placed underneath you. Your ass on the other hand was in the air, full and plump, giving Floyd a lustful view of your behind.

Without a second thought, Floyd took his girthy dick and aligns it to your wet hole before slamming all of him back in. A loud moan gurgled at the back of his throat as he started to go at a pace even faster than when he fucked you before. You laid underneath Floyd helpless and needy for more.

You were trying so damn hard to not moan as loudly as Floyd.

But anyone within 100 feet would’ve been damn sure to have heard the sinful intimacy between the both of you.

The fucking hypocrite.

It was when you accidently yelped out a loud cry did Floyd smacked your ass hard enough to leave red handprints.

You tensed up from the pain of the slap and sharply turned your head as much as you could behind you to face Floyd. He stares you down cheekily as he rubs the exposed red area where he has slapped.

His other hand pushed your head down to his jacket to muffle any sounds you were making. His other hand takes a hold of your arm and pulls it back for leverage as he thrusts in you at an deeper angle with thoughts of needing more. Having you beg for more.

Your face contorts into ecstasy as you whimper into Floyd’s jacket to go harder. He chuckles into the air as he looks at you taking in his member.

“Hehe~ Koebi-Chan makes the cutest faces when they take my cock in just like this~”

He then takes both of his hands and places them on both sides of your hips. He readjusts his stance before he starts to pounder even harder than a few moments prior. Gritting your teeth, you take in the waves of pleasure Floyd is giving you.

“Ne~ Koebi-chan~ I think I’m gonna- Fuck-”

He moans loudly as he shakily lets out a breath.

That’s sure to have alarmed someone that was within the area.

“I think I’m gonna -fill you all up~ Doesn’t that sound nice?~”

You moaned in response to his question. Floyd huffs in annoyance as he takes his hand and shoves it down onto your head once again to mute your sounds of ecstasy.

“And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do...so you better be prepared ♡ ~”

You felt your body then being lifted off from the ground by Floyd’s strength as you felt your back being pressed against his chest. Your legs being gripped by Floyd’s hands as he realigns his cock to brutally fuck any sense or thought out of you.

It didn’t take long for your legs to start spasming. You let out a few whimpers of pleasure-begging for more from the merman before you unraveled against his chest. Your fluids gushing out of you and onto Floyd. Floyd followed suit as he places his mouth against your neck in an attempt to keep quiet. His razor like teeth biting gently enough to graze your skin to let out a harsh whimper. Floyd’s movements then start to gradually slow down as thick sperm spilled inside of you.

Coming down from his and your high, Floyd gently lays your body onto his jacket before he crashes right down beside your naked body. Dazed, and out of breath, you turned your body to face Floyd to make sure he didn’t pass out from the gratifying session.

To your relief, Floyd calmly looks up at you with flushed cheeks and a small smile on his face -panting from the sexual encounter both of you partaken in. It was rare for you to see Floyd look so at peace. Dare you’d say he looked so ‘in love’ with the dopey sided grin he was giving you.

However, that peace was shattered.

Smirking, Floyd grabs hold of your body with one arm and pulls you close against his chest. His other hand slowly gliding its way down to your stomach to play with your now drenched hole oozing with his love. You gasped from the sudden pleasure he was giving you and whined from the overstimulation.

Floyd giggles sadisticly and hugs you with his arm. This causes you to look up at the boy with confusion. He simply smiled that damned innocent smile.

“Eh? I don’t wanna stop playing with Koebi-Chan. You make funny faces and silly noises when I touch you like this!”

He presses his fingers to your lower half and plays with your genitalia. You grit yourself teeth in the process and tried to free yourself from his grasps. This causes him to squeeze you even tighter. He brings his mouth to your neck and quietly mutters promises only for you to hear.

“Hey~ Since this stupid game is taking forever to play, I can just play with you instead! But I don’t want a~ny little fishies to hear my Koebi-Chan moaning like a slut! ”

His soft expression quickly turns intimidating and aggressive.

“So be a good little Koebi-Chan and stay quiet.”

Oh my.

This would be something you’d remember for a lifetime.

#twst #disney twst #twisted wonderland #floyd leech #floyd leech x reader #citrus #forbidden fruit #late night doodles

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ravennm84 · 3 years

Text

Of Moldy Bread and Cockroaches

I’ve seen a few fics where Lila reports the bakery to the health department and then plants bad pastries and pests just as the inspector arrives and gets the bakery shut down. I started wondering, what would happen if she got caught doing that? Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

Lila kept watch as she waited for the health inspector to finally arrive. She had made multiple fake reports about the bakery over the past week to get someone to come out, but no one had come yet. And she had found the perfect spot to make sure she saw the man arrive, too! She was in disguise in the park, on a bench that had a clear view of the bakery entrance, the side entrance that went to the Dupain-Cheng home, and still let her stay hidden. She didn’t have to worry about school at the moment since her stupid class and teacher thought she was visiting the royal family in Spain, and her gullible mother thought school was out for another akuma attack. Both of which gave her an alibi so no one would suspect her when Maribrat and her goody-goody parents were humiliated and lose everything.

She was almost too distracted by her daydream of Marinette crying and homeless to see a very professional looking man step out of a taxi in front of the bakery. He looked at the display with a very critical eye before writing some things down on his tablet. That had to be the health inspector she had been waiting for. Once she saw him entering the front, Lila hot footed it to the side entrance to sneak in.

The door was locked, but she had come prepared with a lockpick set she had gotten a couple years ago. It was really too easy to get inside. In fact, it had been much harder to get the fake evidence she would need to shut the place down. She discovered while going through the dumpster for old pastries that the bakery didn’t throw away much of anything. They sold out most of the time, and the things that didn’t were donated to a local homeless shelter. It took three days of dumpster diving to find anything, which ended up being a single batch of croissants that had burned in the oven. Heck, collecting some cockroaches from a restaurant dumpster down the street had been easier; albet, a lot more disgusting.

Once inside, Lila crept towards the door as she heard Mme. Cheng speaking to the man. He was, in fact, the health inspector. A malicious grin stretched across her face as she put the first moldy croissant on the counter next to the-

“What are you doing here?” A deep voice growled behind her.

Lila froze for a moment, suddenly realizing that she had heard Mme. Cheng speaking with the inspector, but not M. Dupain. She couldn’t let herself get caught! She was facing away from him and he hadn’t seen her face yet, so there was still a chance. Grabbing the first thing she could, she didn’t even look to see what it was, she swung it around at the towering man before trying to run past him.

Despite hearing him curse in pain, Lila didn’t make it two steps before the man grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and lifted her off of the ground. She swung her object at him again, only for the enraged man to grab her wrist and twist, forcing her to drop it with a shout as it clanged to the floor.

The noise drew Sabine and the inspector to the back where they say Tom holding Lila off the ground. Furious and still trying to escape, she tried kicking at him only for him to release her wrist, grab her ankle, and then release her jacket so she was hanging upside down. More items hit the floor as her hat fell off, a couple of croissants and the tupperware container of cockroaches fell from her pockets, and landed next to a bloody knife…

Uh-oh.

Looking up, she saw that his right arm was bleeding from where she had slashed him with the knife, which had her fingerprints all over it. She was going to be in so much trouble unless she could think of a way out of this!

“What happened, Tom?” Sabine asked, worried when she saw her husband’s bleeding arm and was slightly confused by the girl hanging upside-down in their kitchen. It took a moment before she seemed to recognize Lila as the girl that had gotten her daughter expelled a few weeks before.

“I was coming down to meet Inspector LaStare with you and caught this girl putting bad pastries with the others.”

“That’s not it!” Lila yelled in a panic and she wiggled in his grip, resembling a fish on a hook. “I-I-I was- I was getting rid of them! I was taking them off the counter to throw them away!”

“And your container of cockroaches?” Asked Sabine, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring dubiously at the girl.

“Those aren’t mine! I swear! If you would just let me explain-”

“I’ve already heard enough to recognize your voice, young lady,” the inspector snapped as he stepped closer to glare at Lila. “I bet you weren’t paying attention when you called the health department all those times and the recording told you that your call would be monitored and recorded. And when a single business gets over twenty complaints in less than a week, it gets some attention. But when we listen to the recordings and hear the same voice for every message, we figure it’s someone with a vendetta against the establishment. Still, we do our do-diligence and inspect the establishment, but I had no idea how stupid a person would be to attempt to plant fake evidence while I was here, in full view of the security cameras.”

She couldn’t help her surprised gasp as she, while still hanging upside down in the hulking baker’s grip, looked around the kitchen ceiling until her eyes landed on the cameras. One pointed at the side door she had picked open and the other pointed at the counter where she had put the moldy pastry.

Sabine leaned in close, glaring straight into Lila’s upside-down eyes. “Young lady, what is your mother’s phone number?” It was clear that it was more of a demand than a question, but she was still trying to think of a way out of trouble before Sabine grabbed her face and forced Lila to look at her. “You can either tell me her number now, or you can tell the police so she can go pick you up at the station while they tell her all the crimes you’re being charged with.”

Angry at being caught and forced to call her mother, Lila thought of what she could do as she tried to look and sound pitiful as she recited her mother’s number. Not difficult since she was red-faced from hanging upside-down for so long. She might not be able to get out of trouble, but she’d be damned if they didn’t pay for humiliating her.

After Sabine stepped into the front of the bakery to make the call, Lila tearfully looked up at Tom. “Can you please put me down? I’m getting really dizzy.”

She could tell that the man was tempted to drop her on her head, but he was too much of a goody-goody like his daughter and he eased her gently to the floor. As soon as he let go of her ankle, Lila’s uninjured hand snapped out and grabbed the tupperware of cockroaches, ripped off the lid, and flung the insects across the floor.

Tom and Inspector LaStare yelled in surprise and disgust as Lila attempted to escape, this time running for the front of the bakery. She actually made it out of the kitchen, but ended up face to face with Sabine. Without a word, the woman grabbed Lila’s by the arm, flipped her over her shoulder to the floor, and twisted her arm to where she couldn’t move.

“Are you okay, Tom?” Sabine called, her voice eerily calm to Lila’s ears.

“She flung those cockroaches across the kitchen! They’re everywhere!” Tom yelled as he and the inspector scrambled to try and kill or capture the insects.

“I’ve already called her mother and the police, they’ll be here any minute.”

Lila’s struggles doubled when she heard that. “You said you wouldn’t call the police if I gave you my mom’s number!”

Sabine merely twisted the girl’s arm a little more, halting her struggles rather than letting her arm break. “I said no such thing. I only said you could choose whether to talk to your mother here or at the police station. And I promise you, young lady, your mother is going to hear everything you’ve been up to. Including what you’ve been doing Marinette.”

~oOo~

The fallout had been epic after the police and Lila’s mother arrived at the bakery.

Greta Rossi had been in denial at first, not wanting to think that her daughter was capable of such terrible behavior. But it was hard to argue with the video evidence and eyewitness accounts of Lila attempting to plant moldy pastries, vindictively releasing the cockroaches in the kitchen, or attacking Tom Dupain with a knife, which would require stitches.

It got even worse when school let out for lunch and the majority of Lila’s classmates came rushing over when they saw the police and ambulance at the bakery. Mme. Rossi had asked them why they were all out when there was an akuma on the loose. The class asked her why they were back in Paris since she was supposed to be in a meeting with the royal family of Spain. It became apparent after a few more minutes of back and forth that Lila had been lying for the entire time they’d been in France and Greta would have to meet with M. Damocles and Mme. Bustier soon about her daughter’s absences and failure to contact her.

When the police were placing handcuffs on Lila, she started shrieking. “You can’t do this to me! I have diplomatic immunity! Let me go or I’ll get you fired and Italy will invade France for what you’re doing to me!”

“Wrong!” Greta spoke over Lila as she approached her daughter. “I’m a secretary at the embassy, not a diplomat. Only I have immunity, you don’t. I was lucky to even be able to bring you on assignment rather than leave you with your Zio and Zia in Italy. But I see that was a mistake, and now both of us will have to pay for that mistake!”

Lila continued to shriek and curse as she was forced into the back of the police cruiser and taken to the police station.

In the end; Lila was charged with corporate sabotage, breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and slander by Tom and Sabine. She was also charged for truancy, forgery, bullying, slander, and cyber bullying for what she’d done to Marinette at school. Lila’s mother was forced to pay for an exterminator to take care of the cockroaches, as well as all of the supplies and pastries that had been at the bakery and had to be thrown out due to the infestation that Lila had attempted to cause. But the worst was having to pay restitution for the time the bakery was closed. Turns out, Tom and Sabine’s bakery really was the top bakery in Paris and had the receipts to prove it.

There had been some worry that the temporary shutdown would hurt the bakery’s reputation, but Inspector LaStare, with the help of Nadja Chamack, had seen to it that none of the problems would blow back on the Dupain-Chengs. Inspector LaStare had gone on record stating that it was a rare occasion where an establishment was completely innocent of the accusations brought against it, but this was one of those times. He then showed footage of Lila planting the moldy pastry, assaulting Tom with the knife, and flinging the bugs into the kitchen before attempting to escape. He also stated that he was personally working with the Dupain-Chengs to make sure that the bakery was up to code and open as soon as possible so all of Paris could get back to enjoying their favorite pastries.

Viewers all over Paris were appalled at the actions of the teenage girl,discovering her vendetta was against Marinette since she knew about Lila’s lies. While laughing at her as they watched Tom hold her upside-down by her leg and Sabine flip the fleeing girl over her shoulder via security footage. The footage ended up being shared by people all over YouTube and gained millions of views, showing their support for the Dupain-Chengs and humiliating Lila on a now global level.

There was also sympathy towards Marinette and outrage towards the Francois Dupont administration when Nadja reported how Lila had also been bullying Marinette without receiving any help from the school. This would result in both Damocles and Bustier being suspended from their jobs until they completed training in regards to handling bullies.

With all the publicity against Lila Rossi, Gabriel Agreste had been left in a difficult position since Lila had only recently been named a new spokesmodel for his brand. Adrien, however, offered a solution to save face and help the brand in the future. So, when Nadja was doing a followup on the story the following week, Gabriel did a video interview where he very publicly announced Lila’s termination from the company for her actions and announced that he had offered Marinette an internship and a scholarship to the fashion university of her choice, so long as she was accepted. This caused a slew of universities to scout Marinette themselves, as it wasn’t every day a fashion mogul does a public shout out to a girl in college. And just like that, sales and public opinion of the Agreste brand went up.

Lila watched all of this unfold from her prison cell outside of Paris. She had been tried as an adult and was caught committing perjury during her trial, which prompted the judge to give her the maximum sentence for her crimes. She couldn’t even enjoy the pleasure of being akumatized anymore since she was so far out of the city. All she could do was sit in her cell eating moldy bread with cockroaches as her only friends as she sulked on the fact that she had failed, and the entire world was laughing at her.

Taglist:

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#lila lies #lila karma #lila salt #lila gets exposed #marinette dupain cheng #tom dupain #sabine cheng #badass parents #mlbjustice #ml fic #ml prompt

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 3 years

Text

Bleeding Heart (Part 1)

Whumptober 2021: #10. Hospital, #19. Stabbing, #22. They Made Me Do It, #29. Too Weak to Move, #31. Hurt & Comfort

Fandom: The Suicide Squad (Spoilers for Movie), Rick Flag

Word Count: 4191

Note: The angst in this one may have gotten away from me.....

Part 2

In all the years he had been in command of Task Force X, Rick Flag had thought he had seen everything when it came to new recruits. Every file that crossed his desk provided detailed descriptions of the new members including their relevant skills or abilities, assets to the team, reason for imprisonment in Belle Reve, and remaining time on their sentence. He had grown so numb to the bizarre and impossible material, that he barely glanced at the information as he thumbed through the files anymore. That was, until he came across your file. He made it to the third page before he registered something amiss. Flipping back to the start, he stared at line after line of black stripes that filled the page. And the next page, and the next, and the next, all the way to the end. Excluding the small information box on the front, every line of the file had been redacted. All he was left with was an alias, date of birth, and physical description.

Rick wasn’t sure what to make of it. Sure, other files had contained some information that had been deemed too top secret for his eyes, but it was usually just a name or location. Occasionally, a few lines or even a paragraph may be omitted, but never entire pages. Gathering the file, Rick stormed off to get some answers.

He found his boss in the control room preparing for the next mission. Throwing your file on the table, he demanded, “What the hell is this?”

Amanda Waller didn’t even glance at the file. “Your newest recruit.”

“There’s no information here. I have an alias. That’s it. What am I supposed to do with that? I know nothing about her abilities, her skills. Hell, I don’t even know what she did to get thrown in here or how long she’s going to be staying.”

“Doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that she is very important, so you need to keep her safe. She doesn’t have the training your usual members have, so keep a close eye on her.”

“You expect me to babysit an unskilled, inexperienced inmate while in the middle of a war zone?”

“I expect you to do your job. Keep her alive. At least until she has time to do her job.” Waller walked off towards her office, signaling the end of the discussion.

All Rick could do was scowl at her retreating form. He knew that nothing good came from trying to argue with Waller. He just hoped this new girl didn’t get him killed.

It turned out, Rick was right to worry. From the second the team touched down, you were a trembling mess of nerves and fears. Placing a hand on your shoulder, Rick tried to calm you down. “It’s okay. I’ve got your back.” You nodded frantically, eyes wide as saucers, but you gave Rick a small smile.

However, within minutes, you were cowering behind a burning car, hands pressed firmly over your ears as you rocked back and forth anxiously. Rick had more important things to do, but he was forced to stand by your side and take out any assailant who approached your location. Cursing under his breath as he took down yet another enemy, he heard you cry out in warning. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain sear down his side. Turning, he watched a man smile wickedly as he pulled his knife out of Rick’s side. Rick used his gun to make short work of him, but the damage had already been done. Stumbling slightly, Rick collapsed to the ground. Blood gushed through his fingers as he desperately tried to apply pressure to the wound. But it was of little use, the knife had gone in too deep.

Suddenly, he felt you at his side. As he looked up, he expected to see fear and horror painted across your face. Instead, you had a sweet yet determined smile on your lips, sporting a confidence Rick had not seen in you since the two of you had been introduced. Without a word, you gently placed your hands on his side. Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. Rick felt a strange, warm pulling sensation deep in his wound. Glancing down, he could see the gush of blood slow to a stream then to a trickle. As you fell back with a hiss, Rick watched as blood began staining your shirt in the exact same spot as his wound. As he glanced back and forth between the two identically placed wounds, you smiled weakly up at him, “Don’t worry Colonel, I’ve got your back too.”

Later, once the mission was over and the surviving members of Task Force X were on the plane heading back to Belle Reve, Rick had examined his side. While there was still a small gash, it appeared to be little more than a graze compared to the deep puncture he knew it had been. He glanced over to where you were currently sitting, hunched over and half-asleep.

He had seen when the medics had removed your long sleeved, high collared shirt and gloves to work on your injury. Your torso and arms were covered with hundreds of scars of various sizes and severities, many of which overlapped each other. Scars, Rick had a feeling, that someone else had earned. It had taken five stitches and a pint of blood to stabilize you. And Rick noticed that even though you had been terrified during the mission, you didn’t even bat an eye when the medic pulled out his needle and began sewing you up. Like you had done this a thousand times before. But this time, it was all because you had taken his injury.

Rick walked over to where you were sitting. You smiled up at him through sleepy, half-lidded eyes. “Colonel.”

“Are you going to explain what the hell happened out there?”

You blinked sharply, rousing yourself awake. “Um, I’m not sure what you mean?....Colonel? Sir?”

“I’m talking about the gaping wound in my side that somehow ended up on you.”

“Oh, that. I can absorb an injury from someone to myself, taking as much or as little of it as I want. But however much I heal it, that much is inflicted back onto me. I figured this would all be in my file.”

“Your file contains almost no information about you. Nothing about your powers, why you are in Belle Reve, or how long your sentence is. I’m not even sure of your real name. All I have is your alias, Aceso.”

You shook your head. “I guess I’m not surprised she hid all my information. Oh, and I’ve never gone by that name outside of Belle Reve. That’s just the name Waller assigned me to help her hide me in the system. Apparently, she said Aceso was the Greek Goddess of the healing process, or something like that.” You rolled your eyes. “I never had an alias. I never did anything where I needed one.”

Rick’s brow furrowed in confusion, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Then what did you do to get thrown in here?”

“I was born,” you said sarcastically. When you saw Rick seemed even more confused than before, you elaborated. “I can’t prove any of this. I’m only going off of things I saw, or Waller has said to me, or I’ve overheard. But what I think happened is she got wind of my abilities and what I was capable of, and she wanted that power for herself. So, one night, a bunch of henchmen for various Gotham villains – you know the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, guys like that – broke into my apartment demanding that I heal them. Before I even knew what was happening, the police showed up and arrested everyone. I was charged with being an accessory after the fact to any of their charges, and by association, the villains’ charges as well. I lost count of how many life sentences they finally settled on. I know Waller was behind the whole thing, but she was smart enough and connected enough to hide her tracks extremely well.”

“But why do you think Waller was behind everything?”

“Well, she came to see me three days before I was arrested. She was asking me all kinds of questions about what I could do, how big of an injury I could transfer, how long it took me to heal afterwards, stuff like that. She wasn’t the first person to find and ask me those sorts of things, but she was definitely the most powerful one. I could practically see the gears grinding in her head as I talked, and it scared me. Then, as the police were leading me out to the squad car in handcuffs, I could swear I saw her watching from across the street. That’s when I knew I was screwed.” You shrugged. “And I was right.”

Rick let out a long, slow breath as he sat down in the chair next to you. He knew Waller was ruthless, but this was a whole other level of underhandedness. “Do you have any evidence?” He saw you bristle, and so he clarified. “Don’t misunderstand me, darlin’. I one hundred percent believe that you’re right and she orchestrated that whole situation. I’ve seen her do some pretty shady things in the past, but I had never imagined she could get away with going to this extreme. And I know you said you can’t prove any of this, but if you have any sort of evidence of any kind, I know some people who might be able to help you out.”

You blushed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence and the offer, Colonel. It means a lot to me that someone actually believes me for a change. But no, I don’t have any proof.”

Rick nodded. “You don’t have to call me Colonel when we aren’t on a mission. Rick or Flag is fine. And that’s okay. I can still have some contacts look into it. Maybe they could find out if Waller slipped up anywhere. You never know. They might get lucky.”

Your blush deepened. “You would really do that for me….Rick?”

Rick smiled. “You saved my life out there today. I think making a few phone calls is the least I can do to repay you.”

You waved him off with a smile. “Oh, like you hadn’t saved me from like ten guys before I distracted you. Besides, that’s why I’m here. I might not be able to fight or shoot but I can help those who can!”

Rick chuckled. “So, what do I call you if you don’t go by Aceso?”

“Waller won’t let me use my real name. The one time she found out I had shared it with one of my guards, he was immediately fired. So, I guess I’m stuck with Aceso.” You stuck out your tongue. “Ugh, I just wish she would have picked something cooler or easier to pronounce. And I’m not even Greek! My family was originally from England.”

“Well, what about a nickname? I mean the most obvious would be A, Ace, Eso, something like that. But you can really go for anything. Just pick something that feels a little more you.”

“I kind of like Ace. I know it seems like I should be a pilot in Top Gun or something, but, I don’t know, there’s just something about it….”

“Then Ace it is. Honestly, that’s a relief. I had to google the pronunciation of Aceso like three times and I’m still not sure I said it right.”

“Don’t look at me! I had never heard it before Waller told me it was my new name.”

The two of you laughed, shoulders slightly knocking against each other in the cramped space. Noticing as you stifled a yawn, Rick offered you his arm as a pillow. Shyly, you took him up on his offer and soon you were fast asleep. Looking down at your peaceful form, Rick thought about everything you had just shared with him. He hated the story about how you got here. He hated how Waller basically turned you from a person to her own personal pawn. He hated that someone as sweet and upbeat as you were in a hellhole like Belle Reve for something you hadn’t done. And, most of all, he hated himself for the feeling of happiness he had knowing that you would be by his side once again on the next mission even if it meant you would be in danger.

Rick stood in the doorway of your hospital room. You were curled up in the bed with you back towards him, but he could still see the bandages which covered most of your body. Rick sighed. The last mission had quickly gone from bad to worse. He had only been able to watch helplessly as his team dropped like flies around him. Waller had screamed repeatedly in the coms for you to heal everyone you could reach, but there had been just too many injuries. As you grew weaker, you had begged Waller to let you stop but she had insisted you heal as many wounded as possible. It wasn’t until you had finally collapsed that Waller had reluctantly backed off. Rick had carried your broken body back to the chopper, stopping twice to perform CPR. It was a miracle you had made it back to Belle Reve alive.

This had been their twelfth mission together, and each time you seemed to come back in worse and worse shape. And it killed Rick to see you like that. Your shallow breath hitching in your throat, your eyes fluttering weakly, your skin pale and clammy beneath his fingers. And this last mission... there was a moment when he thought he had lost you for good. And it was in that moment that Rick knew that he loved you. He had tried to fight his feelings for so long. After June, he promised himself he would never let himself get into a personal situation where Waller had that much control ever again. Yet, as he was frantically trying to restart your heart for the second time, he knew that he had broken that promise.

Rick noticed as you shifted slightly in the bed. “How are you doing?” When he didn’t get a response, he sighed and tried again. “Come on Ace, talk to me. I know you’re awake.”

Slowly, you rolled over and Rick felt his heart shatter. Besides what was covered by the bandages, fresh wounds littered your cheeks and your bottom lip had been taped multiple places where it had split open. The slice on your neck that you had received from healing Harkness was currently bleeding through your bandages, staining them a bright crimson. Your eyes were red and puffy with tears still silently streaming down your face.

Rick hurried to the bed and gathered you protectively in his arms. “Oh Darlin’, it’s alright.”

He rubbed your back as you began to sob desperately into his chest. “It was too much! I tried to stop, but she wouldn’t listen! I begged her, and she still made me… I’ve never taken that much before. I thought I was going to….” You don’t even finish the sentence as another heart wrenching sob tore from your lips.

Rick squeezed you tighter in his arms and he gently rocked you back and forth. “I know, I know, baby girl, but you didn’t, okay? You’re still here, and you’re going to be fine. You just need some rest.”

“Yeah, this time. But what about the next mission or the one after that? Waller is going to keep making me get closer and closer to that edge until I just…” You hesitated for a moment before continuing in a voice so soft, Rick had to strain just to hear you. “Since the day I discovered my powers, I knew that it was how I was going to die. That someone would force me to go past my limit or I would heal too many people until my body just couldn’t take it.” You picked your head off of his chest and stared deeply into Rick’s eyes. “I don’t fear dying. But I want it to be on my terms. Not anybody else’s. I would rather her use the bomb in my head than repeat what happened today. If I ever do make the decision to go all the way, it needs to be because I want to, not because I’m forced to.”

Rick ran his finger lightly across your cheek. “Ace, listen to me. I’m not going to let that happen. I’ve been reaching out to some of my contacts in the government. Waller set you up. You should have never been here in the first place. I need a few more months, but I think I might have found a way to get you out. For good.”

Rick watched as your eyes widened in surprise. “Rick! How? Why? If she finds out….”

“I don’t care. You don’t deserve to be here. You’ve never deserved to be here. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you get out.”

You buried your face in his chest once again, muffling the words as you asked, “Why are you doing this for me?”

“Isn’t it obvious, darlin’? It’s because I love you.”

You went still in his arms. “Really? Do you honestly mean that?”

“I do.”

You lifted your misty eyes to meet his. “I love you too. I have for a long time. You’re the only thing in my terrible life that makes it worth living.”

Rick gently placed his finger under your chin and pulled you close to him. Then, mindful of your split lip, he softly kissed you.

Just as you had feared, over the next few months Waller continued to push you far beyond your breaking point. A few times, she had even pulled you directly from your hospital bed, broken bones and all, to join the next mission. Rick tried everything to protect you, but there was only so much he could do when your job was literally to get injured. And they hadn’t nicknamed the team the Suicide Squad for nothing. Grave injuries were more common than not on the missions. But to make matters worse, most of the other members of the squad (with the exception of Harley) had come to see your abilities as something that was owed to them, not as the gift it was. Soon, they were demanding you heal even the smallest scratch or tiniest cut. And being the kind, caring soul that you were, you always obliged. You and your god-damn bleeding heart. You just couldn’t stand seeing others in pain when you knew you could help. Which had just made the members more reckless since they knew they had an easy fix in their back pocket.

So, injuries became more frequent and more severe as time went on. Most missions ended with Rick having to carry you in his arms back to the plane, dripping blood and half-unconscious. Then he would cling to your shattered body as you struggled to survive until they could get you to a hospital. Rick had seen you take on almost every injury known to man, the most common being broken bones, punctured lungs, lacerations, bullet wounds, burns of all degrees, and concussions. And though you healed about 50% faster than the average human, your body could only take so much.

Rick refused to let you heal him unless it was absolutely necessary and, even then, only enough to get him back on his feet. But more often than not, as he laid curled around you in your hospital bed, he would feel a sudden warmth as all his aches and pains disappeared. This would always be followed by his deep disapproving growl to which you would just smile and say, “I’m already hurt this badly. What’s a little more?” And Rick would always pull you into an intensely affectionate kiss. It had happened so often now, it had almost become a ritual between you two, a way to express your feelings for each other without having to say the words.

So when Task Force X was given a mission to Corto Maltese, Rick had been relieved to see you were not assigned to his team. It had only been a few days since you had been released from the hospital wing after your last mission and he knew you still hadn’t fully recovered. He had wanted to find you to say goodbye before he left, but Waller had rushed him through his briefing so quickly he never got the chance. But it was ultimately for the best. If you knew he was going on a mission alone, you would have done everything in your power to force your way onto the team.

Which was why Rick wasn’t really that shocked to see you peeking out from behind Nanaue the next day after Task Force X’s second team came bursting through the tent he had been sitting in with Sol Soria. Rick was furious that Waller would send you here, especially as he noticed your limp as you hurried to his side, but he had to admit he was happy to see you. As you slid into his arms, he immediately felt his side mend back together as you flinched beneath him. Pulling back a little, Rick shot you a dirty look, but you just smiled slyly from under your eyelashes as you stood on your tiptoes to plant a kiss the tip of his nose. Rick couldn’t help but chuckle as he shook his head. God, he loved you. Throwing his arm gently around your shoulder, he steered the two of you back to the group so you could plan your attack on Jötunheim.

Everything had gone according to plan, until it didn’t. Now Rick was laying on his back, the shard of porcelain Peacemaker had stabbed him with protruding from his chest. Ironically, he knew it was the only thing that was keeping him from bleeding out instantly. But as he felt his heart stutter and slow, he knew it wouldn’t matter for much longer. It was just helping to prolong the inevitable.

“Rick! Oh my god! No!”

Ace? Rick’s vision had already begun to blur when you came into view. He silently chuckled to himself, noting how the haze he was seeing just made you look even more like an angel regardless of the tears and dirt smudged across your panicked face. He was just glad he could see you one more time before the end.

But all the happiness drained from his body as he saw you reach for his chest. He recognized that determined look in your eye and realized what you were about to do. He willed his body to move, to stop you before it was too late, but his strength had completely left him. He was barely able to twitch his fingers. So, he tried silently begging you with his eyes, Don’t do this! This isn’t what I want! Please, Ace, stop! But if you understood what he was trying to convey, you paid it no mind. Instead, you smiled lovingly down at him as you ran your hand over his sweat drenched hair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s all going to be okay.”

And you jerked the porcelain out of his chest, immediately replacing it with your hand.

Rick bucked at the violent movement, a groan of pain ripping from his lips. Then he felt the warmth of your power surging into him, felt his heart knitting itself back together. But as he grew stronger, he could only watch in horror as you grew weaker. Blood blossomed across your chest as a fresh wound opened up there. You began wilting before his very eyes, slumping further and further over until you were almost doubled in half. But still, your hand maintained its firm position over his heart.

Finally, just as he regained enough strength to move his arms, your strength gave out and you toppled over. Rick managed to catch you just before your head hit the floor. Pulling you into his lap, Rick watched as a ghost of a smile flickered across your lips. With tears streaming down his face, Rick demanded, “Why, darlin’? Why would you do that?”

You silently moved your lips a few times before finally managing to rasp out, “It was always going to end this way….. I was always going to heal a wound... that was just too big for me to handle….. And if it was going to be for someone, I want it to be for you…..” You lifted your hand, your fingers barely brushing against Rick’s cheek. “Besides, my heart has always been yours.” And with a final smile, your hand slipped from his face and Rick watched as the light softly drained from your eyes.

#whumptober2021 #no.10 #no.22 #no.29 #no.31 #hospital #they made me do it #too weak to move #hurt & comfort #fic #rick flag #rick flag x you #rick flag x reader #the suicide squad #suicide squad #whumptober 2021 #joel kinnaman #dc #dc x reader

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sukunarii · 3 years

Text

Pairing: Yandere! Sukuna x Reader

Warnings: (Sukuna’s Era!) Yandere | Unhealthy relationship | Murder | Blood| This fic is much darker than my usual style! Please beware when you read it.

Synopsis: In the early morning, you would play your koto in your garden. It was a show for one audience: a stranger that refused to step out of the shadows. A stranger that perhaps grew too fond of you.

Wordcount: 3.0K

A/N: A koto is a Japanese instrument kind of like a harp. Also this fic might be very historical inaccurate. This fic is inspired by a poem by William Blake titled “Song: When early morn walks forth in sober grey.”

The sky was gray on the day you first spoke to him. It was early morning, you were in your garden, under the gazebo as usual where you go to practice playing your koto. You enjoyed it, for it was one of the only times where you could feel absorbed in your own world, in your own solitude and tranquility. However, you have noticed that lately, you were not so much alone.

"Behind the willow tree, I know you're there," you called out. You could see the shadow shift, but the person behind did not step out into your view.

"I see you have noticed me," a masculine voice replied. It carried a hint of playfulness.

"Of course I have, you've disturbed my peace for a few mornings now," you replied.

"Am I not welcomed?", he asks.

"What brings you here?", you asked back immediately.

His answer did not come as quick as yours, as if he chose his words carefully "I was captivated by the music you played," he complimented you.

You were flattered, you had to pause and recollect your thoughts for a moment. If he is just here to listen....well there's no harm, right?

You let out an airy laugh, "As my only audience, I supposed you are welcomed to stay."

You resumed to playing your koto. From behind the willow tree, Sukuna stole a few glances at you. Along with the beautiful music you created, you looked so effortless and absorbed in your own world while playing. A world that Sukuna could step a foot into by observing you from afar but felt too delicate for him to disturb. You were like an angel while he was a curse— a monster. He shouldn’t have any business with a girl like you.

Yet you called him, 'My only audience'...he liked the sound of that.

You were playing for him only, and he was glad that he did not even have to capture you for this. After all, a caged bird does not sing the same.

However, the serenity of dawn was disturbed by the loud and abrupt chime of the bell.

With a jolt, you stopped playing.

"Ah, that was the wake up call for the village, I got to go now," you said and got up.

From his shadow, you see him stand up too. You hesitated but decided to ask anyways, "Will you tell me your name?"

He laughs lightheartedly, "A musician does not need to know the name of their audience."

The buds on the dull brown branches were blooming into beautiful flowers that decorated the garden. Summer was approaching. It became routine, he would come to your little concert every morning. It was romantic even. You did not know who he was, but sometimes you would carry little conversations with him. You knew that he was not from the village, he said he travelled up from the valley every morning to visit you.

Knowing that he was not from the village also gave you a sense of security as you could tell him anything and everything without worrying that he would spread rumours. Afterall, you were the daughter of the richest man in the village, from suitors to enemies to your family's reputation, there was so much that you had to keep to yourself. You've learned to express these thoughts into the music you played, but being able to say them out loud in words was relieving.

He was your audience and you were his musician.

Nonetheless, most of the time, very few words were exchanged. It was just you, him, your music in the air and the garden in the surroundings.

You were wearing a purple kimono the day you asked him if you could see him. He gave you the same response as the day you asked him for his name, "A musician does not need to know the appearance of their audience."

You sighed, disappointed, "How about if I ask you as a friend?"

From the flickers of his shadow, you could tell he hesitated. Your heart started racing, in hopes that you will finally see your mysterious friend. But, you were left disappointed, "Not today, my darling. You're still not ready yet."

You looked at his shadow quizzically, what did he mean by not ready? Did he have self-esteem issues? Or a scar? Or was he really ugly...? Not that you would have minded of course, you pouted, "That's not fair. You get to see me all the time."

He chuckles, "I think this is for the better."

The urge to show himself to you or even take you for himself was very strong. However, he had to hold himself back, he didn't want you to be afraid of him. For one, you just called him a 'friend'. And he knew that if he did show himself however, this friendship would be over. You were an angel. He was a curse. Sometimes fate was cruel that way.

The green leaves that fell from the trees were fluttering in the summer breeze. Lately Sukuna has been observing you more and more throughout the day. Instead of rampaging the nearby villages, he would spend more time observing you from the outskirts of your village.

The more he observed, the more he noticed the amount of unsolicited male attention you get when you stroll in the village. Had he not been a curse, he wished he could be strolling by your side and indicating to all of those nuisances that you were his.

The village was not very large, thus, Sukuna has come to recognize most of the faces. However, one time there was a strange man with black hair that appeared in the village. Not that Sukuna cared much as long as he didn't try to flirt with his little darling — except the man did this very thing: he stopped you.

Sukuna could not hear what the man said to you, but he could certainly feel the rage rising in him. The urge to kill this man was very strong. In fact, in the heat of the moment he feels like he could kill everyone in this village to prove his point. Seeing another man try to talk to you so intimately enraged him. He has held himself back multiple times from rampaging your village and taking you home with him. Taking you as his. But for your sake, he has managed to suppress these dark thoughts. But not this time.

He approached you, or specifically the stranger menacingly...with killing intent. But once he was in hearing distance, he heard you tell the man firmly,

"I'm not interested."

The man paused. But insisted again, "Why not? I can treat you right."

"I'm interested in someone else," you told him.

Sukuna paused. Were you talking about him?

"What? No way, who might this be and how come I've never heard of this before! You're just making up lies to turn down my love," he argues back condescendingly.

You shot him a dirty look and you tried to leave but he grabs your arm, “Hold it there girl, I’m not done talking yet.”

That’s it. You slapped him. Not a weak slap, a hard one. The man's face flipped towards the other side.

"That is none of your business. Now if you would excuse me," you said angrily and turned around and left.

Sukuna smiled, 'That's my girl.'

He didn't even have to do anything.

You ran your hand through the calming blue water of the pond in your garden. You have strained your hand from playing on the koto for too much, they were sore and calloused. You tried inviting your friend to come feel the water too but he refused, insisting on remaining well hidden from your view.

"He is from this powerful family, the Zenin clan I believe. And he seems really interested in me."

Sukuna didn't answer.

"But I'll keep rejecting him, I don't like him and don't care for his advances," you rambled on, then sighed, "However I can't say the same for my parents. They are interesting in getting a hold of the powers of the Zenin clans."

"Why don't you leave the village with me?" he finally answered you.

You didn't think he was serious, but you entertained his idea, "They're not just your normal powerful families. They are very powerful as in even if we leave the village, there's nowhere left to run."

"Then I'll just kill them. Everyone of them."

You laughed bittersweetly, what could he possibly do against them when he was too shy to even show himself to you? The Zenin clan was one of the most powerful sorcerers of the eras!

"Haha, yeah that would be nice. But with all of the curses rampaging the nearby villages, we really need the Zenin clan's protection. It really sucks but they're powerful jujutsu sorcerers, it's a miracle that our village is not destroyed yet unlike the our neighbouring villages,” but swiftly, your fake optimism fades. You couldn’t play your koto today, but this stranger was your friend and talking to him gives a sense of comfort. He was listening to you and he was trustworthy.

You say softly, “If only something happened to their third son so that he would stop trying to woo me all of the time...." then, you laughed sheepishly, "Of course I'm just joking haha, I mean it's awful to wish death on someone..."

But Sukuna only heard the first part.

With summer abruptly coming to an end and winter approaching, sunrise came later every day. The sky was still black the morning you broke down crying to him. It was moonless.

"I-I know I said I wished he was d-dead, but I didn't mean it f-for real," you said between your sobs, "I just didn't w-want to marry h-him, but he got killed by a curse and I f-feel like I cursed him."

"Wasn't that what you wanted?", the intonations of his voice came out as cold as the autumn air. However, you were too absorbed in your sadness to pick up these nuances.

"No! I would never truly want anyone to die! That’s awful!”

“Now you won’t have to worry about unsolicited attention anymore,” he answered briskly

You hugged your knees closer to your chest and buried your face into them, “It didn’t make a difference...the Zenin offered their s-second son instead..., so it wasn't cancelled regardless..."

"What wasn't cancelled?", Sukuna asked.

"The wedding...”

Sukuna's jaw tightened. He was upset. Furious. You’ve mentioned that the Zenin family was interested in you but you’ve never mentioned that there was anything official. He didn't like that you didn't mention this to him at all.

"Leave with me."

This time it wasn't a question. It was an order. Yet, you refused it again.

"I can't. I can't leave my family behind like that...if I run away, the Zenin clan would bare a grudge against them, who knows what they’ll do..."

For the first time, Sukuna finally stepped out of the shadows.

But you didn't notice, nor did you see him, the obscurity of the lightless sky hid him from your vision.

"Pathetic, why would you care about family that are selling you off to strangers? This is why you humans are so weak. Being emotional for things that do not matter," he says, words dripping with menace.

Your eyes widened, alerted by the swift change of mood. Tension high in the air. He did not sound like the friend that you knew. It’s as if he was a real stranger.

"That's not true! It's wrong to be selfish, they're my family. I have to listen to them and it's for the best of the village," you tried to reason but you were worried that he could hear the slight fear in your trembling voice.

"Oh yes because the Zenin clan will protect your village from curses. You think too highly of them. When I killed that nuisance, he was crawling and crying, begging for his life. He may be a little stronger than your average jujutsu sorcerer but he was still a weak human." Sukuna was tired of keeping up his calming and human-like demeanour. He topped off his statement with a sadistic laugh.

However, you didn't answer him. Not immediately at least, you were soaking in the words he just said. You gasped.

"Y-You mean you killed him?!"

You took a step back in shock and fear. You were told that he was killed by a curse...if this stranger you've befriended was a curse and one strong enough to kill someone from the Zenin family....you were in deep trouble.

Sukuna continued laughing, "Ah, yes I killed him. I sliced his body into pieces but I preserved the head so he could be recognized. It was a masterpiece, you should of seen the expression of anguish on his decapitated head!"

All of his efforts of wanting to preserve this friendship, fearing to taint your innocence, and scared of not being delicate around you, all thrown away in the heat of the moment. It didn't matter anymore, not when annoying jujutsu sorcerers were going to get in the way and take you away from him.

You screamed, "Get away from me, you monster!"

Your fight or flight instincts kicked in, this man in front of you— no this curse in front of you— was not a friend. You have befriended something much more sinister, he was a killer. A powerful killer and from the enthusiasm in his voice, he was a sadistic one too. You turned to run back to your house.

To your surprise, he didn't follow you. He watched you and even if you can't see him, you can tell that he was smiling.

You didn't dare to leave the house the days before the wedding. You were also too scared to tell anyone about your foolish encounter with a curse. Instead, you urged your parents to push the wedding earlier. The earlier the better, much to their delight.

Luckily, you did not hear about him and it seems that things have returned to normal. But your instincts say otherwise. If you play with fire, you ought to get burned. And you seemed to have attracted the attention of something very ominous.

You were wearing white on the day of the wedding. A veil covering your face. As per tradition, you were patiently waiting for your groom in another room, waiting for him to lift the veil off your face and take you to the main ceremony room to present you to the invited guests and families. Then allow the head of the households to pronounce you as husband and wife.

Maybe it was your nervousness, it seemed that every minute went by slower. Almost as if the ceremony has been delayed. But with your eyes covered by the veil, all you could do was wait.

Then finally, you heard someone approaching you. You feel a hand gently lift the veil off your face. To your surprise, the person who brought you out of the darkness was not the second son of the Zenin family. There he was, the powerful curse that rampaged villages: Sukuna. You might be the only person who has seen all four of his arms and eyes up close and lived to tell the tale. Not that you would have anyone to tell this to.

He was covered in blood. You were not sure who's but from the silence and the lack of wounds on him, you can formulate a pretty good guess. You drew in a sharp breath and jerked away from his touch, hoping to crawl away even.

"Help!", you shouted out hoping that anyone would hear — anyone at all....wasn't half of the Zenin household here? What were they doing?

"Shh, I was late because I had to take care of some trash, but don't worry, I'm here now," Sukuna says to you. You recognized his voice right away.

You were so terrified that you didn't even notice tears started coming out of your eyes. You struggled to get away from him, you clawed at him, tried to push him away, but it didn't work. He didn't even flinch.

"(Name), stop that before you anger me," he warned you.

You didn't listen.

"You're a monster," you spat at him and you tried to slap him but he stops your hand midair, the blood on his hands imprinting onto your white kimono.

"I'm not like those pathetic Zenin, you'll have to try harder if you want to hit me," Sukuna says with a taunting voice.

Despair washes over you. He was right, if even the Zenin couldn’t win against him, then what could you do? There was no way you could win this nor escape him.

When he carried you bridal style out towards the main room of the ceremony, you’ve stopped struggling. The room was plastered with blood. You recognize some of the body limbs on the ground, the remains of the guests, of your family, of the Zenin family. They were barely remains, mostly just little pieces. You had the urge of throwing up. No one was coming to save you.

It was just you and Sukuna.

Sukuna laughs, he can hear the whiplash of the puddles of blood as he steps over them. He was proud of his work, "Just like usual, only you and me. I'm your only audience."

The blood that covered him stains onto your previously white kimono.

Sukuna always compared you to an angel. And he was a curse—a monster. You two were not meant to be, fate was cruel like that. But Sukuna can be even crueler.

You are his bride.

And it was a red wedding.

#sukuna #sukuna x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk #ryomen sukuna #yandere sukuna #yandere sukuna x reader #ryomen sukuna x reader #jjk x reader

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hwascripts · 3 years

Text

Masterlist

WC: Unknown

TW: Swearing, mentions of murder, a bit of angst, I think that’s it!

This is heavily unedited because it’s my Levi simp hours and I need Dad!Levi headcanons. Also your kid and Eren’s kid are gender neutral

Levi as a father

-I honestly don’t picture Levi as someone who planned on having kids but rather someone who ends up having kids by complete accident. Living in the walls during a war is absolute hell and he doesn’t want his kids to suffer the same way he did growing up.

-Whether or not the kid is adopted or his biological kid- it doesn’t matter to him, he couldn’t give less of a shit about the parentage of his kid...if he raises the kid then you better believe it’s his kid.

If your kid is adopted then here’s how I picture you guys becoming their parents

- During one of your expeditions beyond the walls you find (what you think is) an abandoned cabin in the woods. When you point it out Levi just tells you to ignore it and focus on the task Erwin gave you, but you have this weird gut feeling that someone is in there. While Levi is distracted you go off to the cabin and peek inside and to your horror- there is a small child, no older than a few months crying in it’s deceased mothers arms. You run over and pry the crying baby from the mother’s hands and immediately start trying to hush it’s cries

-Levi notices the fact that you’ve left his side after a few minutes of silence and he pinches his nose in frustration- of course you went to check out the cabin he told you to ignore. He flies away from the tree he was perched on and makes his way to the cabin to look for you- upon reaching the cabin his eyes widen from pure shock. Where the hell did you get a crying baby from? he can’t help but be filled with sorrow when he notice’s the child’s dead parents on the ground behind you- bandits had probably murdered them.

-The two of you have a huge argument about what you should do with the orphan child and this results in the two of you not speaking for over a week. But as the week goes on, he realizes that him and that baby are more similar than he thinks. Levi never had a father- the closest father figure in his life being Kenny who abandoned him at a young age, and his dear mother Kuchel who died of sickness when he was just a boy. Both Levi and the child didn’t have parents in their lives, fate cruelly ripping that away from them. He see’s himself in that baby.

-After a week of silence Levi storms into your office only to catch you asleep with the baby on your chest, his heart softens just the slightest bit at the image. He sits next to you and gently shakes you awake- careful to not wake the sleeping baby. Before you can even say anything he quietly states:

-”we’re not abandoning the baby, we can raise them together”

-All the worry and stress you carried melted away after hearing his words.

If your kid was biologically his, this is how I picture it turning out:

-The day Hanji informed you that you were pregnant was quite possibly one of the worst days of your life (sorry to be angsty) how the hell could you have gotten pregnant? the amount of stress, physical strain on your body and sleepless nights is not ideal for fertility- so how the hell did this happen?

-How the hell would you even tell Levi? The topic of children has never once come up and you’re sure he would never want to raise a child in the walls while titans destroy and kill everyone in sight. Besides- the two of you already have enough on your plates as it is.

- You’d tell him straight out that you were pregnant during your nightly tea time before bed, just straight up dropping the news on him. It takes a few seconds for him to fully register what you just told him but once he finally understands he drops his teacup, the boiling hot tea staining his jacket. All he can do is sputter like a fish out of water and aggressively try to clean the stain.

- I’m going to be realistic here- the last thing he would do is jump for joy and kiss you. I hate to be angsty again but realistically he’d probably storm off and go for a walk around the town while he tries to take in the news. I see him unintentionally ignoring you for a few days while he tries to accept the fact that the two of you are bringing a child into this world.

-After about a week he’s finally calmed himself enough to talk to you about the situation and what the best thing for the two of you is. Again, he isn’t happy that you guys are bringing a kid into this- but who the hell would be? but he sure as hell won’t take that out on the kid, he thinks that’s the most pathetic thing you can do as a parent.

-”look, our situation is shitty but I’m not leaving you to raise the brat on your own”

How he is as a father

- I’m not going to lie to you, he is not the type to coddle his kid or show them a lot of affection. To be honest he doesn’t know a single thing about parenting, the only “parent” he had taught him violence and then left Levi to fend for himself- but he does know that most children don’t grow up around violence so he refuses to be even the slightest bit like his uncle Kenny.

- 100% calls his kid brat, ankle-biter, kid...you name it- but he doesn’t mean it in a derogatory way because deep down inside he still has a soft spot for the kid.

-He rarely ever shows physical affection to the kid because he just doesn’t know how, he never knew the affectionate touch of another human until you came along. That’s not to say that he doesn’t love his kid- he would sacrifice his life without second thought to protect them.

-He doesn’t realize how distant and cold he can be to his kid until he overhears them crying to you about how “daddy doesn’t love me” and his heart just shatters into a million pieces because he DOES love them but for the life of him he just can’t find a way to show it.

-Levi ends up sitting down with the kid and having a conversation that was long overdue (for reference the kid is now 7 years old) and he admits that he loves them more than anything for the first time.

-Your kid just stares at him for a second and blinks because this is the VERY FIRST TIME they’re hearing their dad say I love you- Levi nearly has a heart attack when the kid launches themselves into his chest and starts sobbing.

-For the very first time in 7 years this kid is finally experiencing the love from their father (besides awkward headpats) and the feeling is just so foreign to both of them that even Levi sniffles a little bit

-Levi silently rocks them back and forth while he rubs their back, the child’s sobs turning into soft sniffles. But what Levi says next shocks all three of you.

“I’m sorry for being a terrible father. forgive me little one?”

-You don’t know what shocks you more- the fact he apologized or that he called your child “little one” instead of the usual “brat”. The kid looks at him while wiping their tears away.

“you’re not a bad daddy. I love you papa”

-To this day Levi swears he just had watery eyes because of the dust but you know damn well they were fat tears rolling down his face

-After this incident Levi swears to himself that he’ll be a more affectionate father, a father who tells his kid that he’s proud of them, a father who their kid can rely on.

-He’s tough on his kid and never lets them slack off, he scolds them whenever they make bad choices and sometimes your kid says he’s got a stick up his ass (you lightly scold them but the two of you always end up laughing because it’s true) but your husband deeply cares for your child and does it so they can grow into the best version of themselves.

-Did I mention that he absolutely flips the fuck out when your kid brings home Eren’s kid to introduce you to them? You have to sit on him to make sure that he doesn’t strangle the poor bastard.

“If that son of a bitch is anything like his father then they’re going home in a bodybag!” “Levi you can’t threaten them just because they’re Eren’s kid!” “Like hell I can’t! nobody is good enough for our child”

-Your kid quickly learns that they can’t bring their significant other home while Levi is there- unless they have a death wish. The two of you team up to keep Levi distracted for a few hours while the couple chills in your living room

-Your kid swears like a sailor (just like their dad) and Levi swears on his life that he’s not the one that taught them that.

“What the hell do you mean? I didn’t do shit! I don’t fucking know where they picked that up from!” *cue you looking into the camera*

-He’s so damn proud when he see’s his kid graduate at the top of their class. He doesn’t scream at the top of his lungs when your kid walks across the stage but he pulls them to the side after and congratulates them with a small smile on his face

“Good job. I’m proud of you, damn brat”

-Gives them one of his rare Levi hugs and the kid nearly drops the diploma in shock because “wtf dad never hugs me”

-You have to pinch his side multiple times during your kid and Eren’s kids wedding because he won’t shut the hell up with snarky remarks

“Say no goddamnit!” *you pinch him*

“Ow son of a bitch! what the fuck Y/n?”

“Would you shut the hell up and be happy for our child on their wedding day?!”

“I would if our child had taste and picked someone el- OW FUCK!”

“Shut the fuck up already and behave, Levi!”

-He grumbles while the rest of the former cadets and captains laugh at his sour look

Silly headcanons

-God could you imagine Levi and your kid sitting at the dinner table, it’s almost midnight and they’re arguing over a homework question neither of them understand. This is the night both of you hear your kid swear

“What the hell is this shit? Improper fractions are made-up bullshit”

“If you don’t know then how the fuck am I suppose to know?”

-It’s so silent you can hear a pin drop

“Levi come here for a second”

“Shit...finish this while I’m gone, brat”

-Your kid laughs their ass off while you pull Levi’s ear and drag him to your shared room

‘Yeah keep fucking laughing at your dad, brat!”

“LEVI!”

-An absolute nightmare when it comes to cleaning oh my god both you and your kid wanna kill him sometimes

“This shit isn’t clean, you wipe it down six times and then place it at an angle”

“Levi it’s a fucking T.V. Remote”

-The war ended years ago now and he tells your kid about all the titans he killed and the ass he kicked

“And then I sliced that ugly bastard titan’s head clean off!”

“Levi for someone who’s a clean freak your stories sure are gross”

-The noise the toaster makes when it’s done scares the shit out of him. He’ll be in the middle of scolding your kid and then he jumps because the toaster is done and your kid just thinks it’s comedic gold

“I fucking told you not to do that shit but you went and did it anyways, do you know how irresponsi-FUCK! damn toaster- Hey stop laughing brat I’m not done yet!”

That’s all I’ve got for now- stay tuned

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daryl-dixon-daydreams · 3 years

Photo

Words: 5,229 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: Alexandria Warnings: Language, typical TWD stuff A/N: This is Part 7 of a series! Find the previous parts on the Masterlist! Summary: Daryl continues to worry about Y/N and wonder about her past, but they continue to bond inside the safe walls of Alexandria.

Your name: submit What is this?

From that day forward, you and Daryl were almost inseparable. The growing closeness between you was obvious and spending your time together was like a subconscious habit you couldn’t break.

When he wasn’t around you, Daryl felt like something was just missing and it seemed you always ended up together, even if it was just to do nothing.

Not too long after your last bad run-in outside the walls, Deanna insisted on having a town get-together as a morale booster. There would be food and a bonfire and supposed comradery. You were lying on your couch when there was a knock on the front door earlier in the day. You winced from the continued soreness in your ribs as you climbed to your feet and when you rounded the corner into the hall you could see Aaron on the front stoop.

You immediately gave him a look when you pulled open the front door.

“Y/N,” he said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

You nudged your head as a way to say “come in” and Aaron stepped inside. You walked back up the hallway and stood in the kitchen, waiting for him to follow. “I know that isn’t why you came by,” you said.

“It is too!” he argued. “Well… it’s at least one of the reasons…”

“Uh huh.”

“Tonight—”

“No,” you interrupted.

“But just—”

“Aaron, you know I hate this pretend bullshit…”

He sighed heavily. “It’s not pretend. It’s real. This place is real.”

“And so is what’s out there!” you argued back. “Daryl and I just almost died. That just happened! Am I supposed to forget about my busted ribs or this,” you asked, gesturing to the bruising on your neck, which thankfully was starting to fade at last.

Aaron’s face softened and turned apologetic. “No. Of course not. But if we stop trying, if all we do is think about what’s out there… what’s the point of living?”

Goddammit. He had a damn point. You sighed heavily and closed your eyes for a moment. You shook your head. “I hate you,” you said sarcastically.

He smiled. “Love you too. Starts at 7. I’ll wait for you to show up, and if you don’t, I’m going to come get you, okay?” He started to head toward the front door but turned around halfway. “Oh—and hey, maybe think about bringing Daryl with you?”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “…what’s that mean?” you asked suspiciously.

“What? Nothing! Just—you two are kind of alike in some ways. You know he won’t go unless someone drags him,” Aaron said.

“Uh huh…”

Aaron only grinned back at you. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said. You heard him open the front door and returned his shouted goodbye.

“Fuck,” you said aloud. You needed a shower and something to wear that would hopefully cover up worst of the bruising on your neck… At least you could count on dim lighting conditions since it was a bonfire.

That evening, Daryl was sitting on the steps of the house hoping, waiting to see if you would step outside. Finally, he saw you coming out onto the porch, shutting the door behind you. You were wearing a long sleeve thermal, with the sleeves partially pushed up to accommodate your wrist brace and the still balmy evening air. You had a light scarf looped around your neck, and Daryl knew that was purposeful. He got up as you came down the stairs and strode toward you.

You saw the archer and couldn’t help but smile at him as he approached. He had that stride, leading more strongly with one shoulder and foot than the other.

“Hey.” There was something about his deep voice that instantly put you at ease and you paused in the middle of the street.

“Hey,” you returned. You noticed again that his hair was shiny and looked soft, clean. He’d obviously cleaned up. “You going to this thing?” you asked.

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shrugged. “I dunno. Was thinkin’ about it. You’re goin’?” he asked.

You nodded. “Gonna try. I guess,” you said with a laugh. “Aaron talked me into it…”

“Yeah, uhh—yeah, he came by here earlier, too.” Daryl rocked on his feet a little bit. He wished he was better with words because he really wanted to tell you that you looked beautiful, even just in your jeans and thermal, bruises and broken wrist and all. “Well, if you’re headin’ there I’ll walk with ya.”

You nodded and Daryl fell into stride beside you. As you approached the center of Alexandria, you could already hear loud laughter and conversation and there was a warm glow from lanterns and the bonfire. Kids were running around playing the kinds of games you did when the world was free—Ghost in the Graveyard and Hide and Seek. You shook your head as you took in the scene, your feet faltering a bit. “Surreal, isn’t it?” you said vaguely. Daryl couldn’t help glancing at your expression. Far from looking content or like you were enjoying the domestic scene, your brow was furrowed and there was a faraway look in your eyes.

“Mhm,” he acknowledged. “C’mon. Let’s get a drink at least.”

You followed him through the crowd, feeling somewhat more at ease, more okay with him beside you. Daryl handed you a cold beer and grabbed one for himself, nudging his head over toward the reservoir just outside the circle of firelight and bubble of conversation. As you left the refreshment area you snagged a bottle of whiskey too. You collapsed down onto a wooden bench with a sigh and stared toward the water. You took a long drink from your beer and drummed your fingernails against the glass. Daryl was standing nearby, his blue eyes narrowed as he stared out over the water.

“Hey,” you said, drawing his attention. “Come on and sit by me at least. Then they can’t accuse us of being totally anti-social.”

He let out a small snort in place of a laugh and rolled his eyes. His stomach fluttered a little as he complied and took the other seat next to you on the wooden loveseat, spinning his beer anxiously in his hands. The bench was small; your shoulders were almost touching.

“Look what else I got,” you said, reaching down and lifting up the bottle of whiskey. Instead of the reaction you expected, Daryl just gave you a calm but perceptive glance.

“Ya plannin’ on gettin’ drunk?” he asked sharply.

You stared down at the bottle in your hand and your eyes fell again on the brace on your wrist. “Maybe,” you said quietly, not even really sure you had said it aloud.

Daryl’s brow furrowed more deeply. “Why?” he drawled.

You shrugged. “Does there have to be a reason?”

He licked his lips and leaned back in his seat. “Usually is one, whether or not there needs to be.”

He was annoyingly observant. You’d known him a matter of weeks and he always seemed to see right through you. But you simply uncorked the bottle and took a pull. It burned your lips and left a warm trail all the way down into your stomach. You chased it with another sip of your beer and tried to distract yourself by just staring out at the water again, looking at the glowing orbs of porchlights in the distance reflecting there. Every so often you could feel Daryl’s eyes on you.

“What?” you said, finally turning to face him. You were only a few inches apart. You thought you saw his cheeks grow a bit pink for a moment, but in the dim light you couldn’t be sure.

“Nothin’,” he said, turning away and gazing out across the water the way you had been just a moment earlier.

You sat together in silence for quite a while and although it felt tense at first, both of you relaxed into it. You alternately sipped from your beer and took pulls off the whiskey, a dangerous pattern because you weren’t paying any attention to how much you were drinking and you were a lightweight even before alcohol was a rare commodity.

But the longer you sat, the more you felt like there was a bubble in your chest, growing bigger and bigger and waiting to burst. Finally, you couldn’t hold out in the strenuous anticipation any longer and spoke what was on your mind. “You ever wonder how this place is going to fall?”

Your words were quiet and definitely a bit slurred. Daryl’s eyes snapped over to yours which were already on his face, surprising him as they flickered back and forth between his, holding his gaze steadily. He gulped and nodded. “Yeah,” he admitted.

“Or when…” you added.

“Yeah…” he agreed again. “I do.”

You sighed and turned back to look at the water. “I think about it all the time,” you said softly, and Daryl thought he heard your voice break. You stood up abruptly and whipped your empty beer bottle into the water, watching the ripples expanding across the small pond. You wavered a little on your feet and Daryl jumped up, hands extended in case you needed to be steadied.

“I think ya better slow down on that booze,” he growled.

You simply gave him a defiant look and took another pull from the bottle. You held it out to him but he only stared you down.

“Nah. If you’re gonna be stupid, then I’m gonna be sober. And I’m gonna get ya some water,” he said, turning to leave. His momentum stopped when he felt your hand gentle on his arm. He looked back at you in shock and couldn’t help the kneejerk way his body stiffened. But it was only from surprise. A split second later his stomach flipped at the feeling of your hand there and he wished you would never take it off. But you had obviously perceived his tension and you withdrew it quickly.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, sinking back down onto the bench, wanting to kick yourself for grabbing onto him.

The archer was left puzzled and chewed his bottom lip as he considered you a moment. “I’ll be right back.”

You were alone on the bench, waiting for Daryl to return, your head more than a little hazy from the whiskey, when footsteps approached. You knew they weren’t Daryl’s. They didn’t have his cadence and his footsteps were almost silent, even when he wasn’t hunting or tracking. You turned to see Spencer and internally groaned.

“Isn’t right that you’re over here all alone,” he said, walking around and sitting in the seat that was Daryl’s without any invitation.

“I wasn’t,” you snapped, leaning away from him.

“Look pretty alone to me,” he said, downing what was left in his drink glass and actually taking the bottle of whiskey from you to refill it with a healthy share.

“Yeah, well, that seat—the one you’re in—it’s reserved. Already taken,” you said, snatching the bottle back.

He scoffed. “What? By that redneck? Seriously?”

You shot a sharp glare at Spencer, but knew the sting was likely diminished by the glazed look in your eyes on account of the booze. “You know his name. It’s Daryl Dixon. Not ‘that redneck’.”

“Whatever,” Spencer laughed. “Guy’s a nobody. Who cares?”

“I care. Now get the fuck out of his seat,” you growled.

Spencer only smiled back at you. “I think you’re just afraid that if you let me sit here, something might actually happen between us… Come on. You know there’s something here—as much as you fight it. Some spark.”

You stood up abruptly and stepped away from him, scoffing. “What the hell is wrong with you? I feel like I’ve been perfectly clear with you over and over again. Did you forget that I punched you out?” He seemed impervious to your refusal and only stood up too and stepped closer to you.

“Come on, Y/N. You know you want this,” he said, reaching a hand out and trailing his fingers down your arm.

You shrugged him off. “Don’t. touch me. I won’t tell you again.”

He soured somewhat immediately. “What is your problem? Is it seriously something to do with that hick you’re always hanging around? You have something going on with Daryl?” he said, mockingly. “Seriously? What a fucking joke. He’s a mess. Just some—dumb redneck. You deserve way better than him. You deserve someone with their shit together, someone who will string together more than two words at a time. Someone like me.”

You physically recoiled from him again. “You’re a fucking joke. Everything you’ve ever had in life has been handed to you and you’ve turned out to be a spineless, spoiled dick. You have no idea what’s out there and you wouldn’t last a day. You’d be lucky to ever be even a quarter of the man Daryl is.” Your jaw was set. “Now fuck off and go find someone else to bother,” you growled. “Try one of the other sheltered suburbanites. They’d probably fall for your bullshit.”

“I can’t believe this shit,” he muttered angrily, but you heaved a sigh of relief as he stalked off, hopeful that he would finally get the fucking hint for once and leave you alone for good. You turned back to stare at the water in front of you, gentle ripples still bouncing off the shore from when you’d tossed your bottle in. Your uninjured hand went to clasp around your wrist brace absently.

You didn’t know that Daryl was only a few feet away, returning with some water for you, and that he had been watching the entire interaction. And Spencer’s words had stung. Sure, Daryl knew Spencer was an idiot and he certainly had no high opinion of the moron but Spencer had also just verbalized some of Daryl’s own deepest insecurities about himself and even… about you and how you felt about him… and that had stung him deeply. But then came your words… and he felt complete disbelief, sure he had misheard. He felt paralyzed for a long moment as he puzzled over what you had said and how you had said it. But you had been forceful and purposeful. Daryl hadn’t imagined that.

He was so shocked that his boots were rooted in place. He stood there with that cup of water in his hand, dumbfounded, before he finally snapped himself out of it and went around the bench to stand beside you. “Hey,” he said, holding out the water. “I just, uhh—I just saw Spencer stalk off. He looked pretty pissed. Was he botherin’ ya? Are ya alright?”

You accepted the glass and drank deeply from it, suddenly realizing that you actually were pretty thirsty. You rolled your eyes. “I’m fine. And maybe now that fucking asshole will finally leave me alone… Idiot,” you mumbled, looking back at the water.

Daryl shifted awkwardly on his feet. His heart was racing as he thought about what you had said. He watched with concern as you took another drink of whiskey from the bottle, this time grimacing a little at the burn. “Would ya quit that?” he asked, drawing your eyes to him.

You studied him for a moment. “Wanna get out of here?” you asked, glancing back at the crowd around the bonfire. Daryl followed your eyes and then looked back at you. His expression was unsure. He was trying to guess at your meaning. “Just—go for a walk or something. We can at least tell Aaron we came,” you said.

He chewed his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, alright. Somebody oughta babysit ya anyway,” he snarked. You pulled a face at him in response and one corner of his mouth twitched up.

“Alright then, chaperone. C’mon,” you said. Bottle in hand, you started to follow the edge of the reservoir, moving away from the glow of the bonfire and the loud laughter and conversation. Daryl walked next to you, content just to walk quietly. You ended up on the other side of the pond from the party, leaning on the railing of the dock and looking back across the water. Daryl walked past you to stand at the end of the dock. You meandered over to him and took in his broad shoulders and muscular arms. You couldn’t help biting your bottom lip. Oh, fuck You are in trouble… you thought to yourself. “Can you swim, Dixon?” you asked him suddenly. He had just enough time to snap around to look at you before you were grinning at him and pushing him hard, your uninjured hand flat in the center of his chest. He went plummeting into the water backwards and came back up gasping as you laughed hard at his expense.

“Are ya frickin’ kiddin’ me?! The hell is wrong with ya?!” he barked at you, treading water. His long hair was plastered to his face. “Oh, yer dead,” he growled at you.

“I’m dead? What are ya gonna do?” You slowly paced backwards on the dock, a wide, genuine smile crinkling your eyes, and the sight of that was enough to make any real annoyance Daryl had evaporate. He couldn’t resist that megawatt smile. “You made it so easy! You were just standing right there at the end!” you said back. “What, I was supposed to just not take that opportunity?”

Daryl let out a chesty growl and pointed a finger at you. “You and whiskey should not mix.” He pushed his wet hair out of his face and swam back to the edge of the dock. “Well…” he said expectantly, staring at you.

You laughed again and shrugged. “Well?”

“At least come help me get the hell out of here,” he rumbled.

You let out a loud laugh. “How stupid do you think I am? I know you just want me to come over there so you can pull me in or splash me or something! Besides, I can’t pull you out. Wrist? Ribs? Remember?”

Daryl muttered under his breath and pulled himself out on the dock, his wet clothes sticking to him, complete with sopping wet boots. He stared down at the water pouring off him onto the wooden deck.

You pressed your lips together in a pleased attempt to stifle more laughter.

“You’re dead,” he growled again, looking up at you. “I ain’t babysittin’ your ass no more. I dun care if ya do fall in and drown,” he barked, starting to stalk toward you to leave the dock.

“Oh, come on, Daryl. It’s pretty funny. I mean, if it were reversed—”

“My damn boots,” he interrupted, giving you another glare.

You stared down at his feet and grimaced. “Right… well… come on. I’ll walk you back to your house so you can change. It’s the least I can do,” you said, trying hard to stifle more laughter at the glare the archer was giving you.

“I should throw ya in right now,” he said. “Maybe it’d sober ya up,” he said, shaking the water from his arms.

“Hey—I probably shouldn’t be swimming! I’m a cripple, remember?”

“Uh huh. Convenient,” he muttered. He started down the sidewalk, leaving wet footprints. You jogged a little to catch up with him and although he could feel your eyes on him he was determined not to look at you, trying to pretend he was still mad. It didn’t last long and when he next looked up you saw that one corner of his mouth was quirked up in a half-smile. Your grin widened. “Ya are gonna pay for this eventually, ya know,” he said gruffly.

“Worth it.”

You walked with Daryl in a comfortable silence all the way back to the house he was sharing with many of his group members, although some had split up and moved in to the other house by now. You froze suddenly at the bottom of the stairs as Daryl climbed them.

“Woah,” you said. You pressed a hand to your head.

Daryl glanced back at you and rolled his eyes, letting out a sharp exhale. “Whiskey?”

“Yeah, it’s like it all just hit me at once.”

He let out a gruff laugh. “It ain’t hittin’ ya at once. Ya been slurrin’ for over an hour now.” He came back down the steps and gently grasped your elbow, his heart jumping as his fingers made contact with you. “C’mon. Let’s get ya some more water.”

You smiled at him a little abashedly as he led you inside. It was the first time you’d ever been in their house and you looked around, taking in Rick’s spare pair of boots by the front door and Judith’s high chair at the table.

“Here,” he said, shoving a full water glass into your hands. “I’mma get some dry clothes and rinse off this pond smell all over me. Thanks to you…” You laughed again and shrugged.

“You look good all wet though,” you said, the words surprising you even as they slipped out.

Daryl’s blue eyes narrowed and he ducked his head, mumbling a gruff “whatever” before disappearing downstairs to retrieve some clothes, completely baffled and unable to come up with any response to that. He hoped you hadn’t been able to see the warmth he certainly felt in his face. He came back quickly with a towel over his shoulder and some clothes under his arm and pointed at you vehemently. “Now just sit down and quit with the damn whiskey. Don’t go anywhere.”

You saluted him and affected a serious face, resulting in him rolling his eyes at you again. But you left the whiskey bottle on the counter and took your glass of water into the living room with you. As you sunk down on the couch, you heard the shower turn on. You unwound the light scarf from around your neck and tossed it down carelessly. Daryl’s crossbow was sitting on the coffee table and you picked up one of the spare bolts from where it was laying on the table and spun it absently between your fingers. You collapsed back on the couch so you were laying out flat and stared up at the shapes of the shadows on the ceiling. They shifted a little as your vision seemed to spin. You planted a foot on the floor to ground yourself.

You knew it was stupid to get drunk… but sometimes you just wanted to try to forget.

That’s where Daryl found you when he came back out, now in his change of dry clothes. “Y/N?”

“Over here,” you said, still spinning his crossbow bolt between your fingers. He looked over the back of the couch at you, leaning on his forearms.

You smiled up at him, just a small one, but it sent his heart fluttering. He was always amazed that that smile was just for him.

“Well, I think I smell a bit less like pond now,” he drawled.

You leaned up on your elbow a little, ignoring the twinge in your ribs. You dramatically sniffed in his direction and he gave you a look. “Less pond,” you said. “For sure.”

Leaning up closed half the distance to Daryl as he looked down at you and you felt suddenly like the air was charged. Probably just the alcohol, you thought to yourself, gulping at the sudden lump in your throat.

Daryl felt it too and he suddenly couldn’t hold your gaze any longer, running away from the feeling. It was magnetic. But he told himself there was no possible way you were feeling the same thing and he straightened back up and just like that the electricity, the heaviness in the air evaporated.

You glanced down at his crossbow bolt in your hands with a fluttering in your chest. “Probably shouldn’t leave these lying around with a baby in the house, ya know,” you said, waggling the bolt at him.

“She ain’t crawling much yet. But yeah… you’re probably right.”

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” you said. Daryl gave you a questioning look, one eyebrow raised. “Judith.”

Daryl smiled and looked down at his hands on the back of the couch. “Ya. It is.” You liked the way his expression softened at the thought of her.

You strained to sit up straighter, an arm wrapping around your ribs. Daryl watched the tight expression of pain take your face over and then pass and he felt another hot flash of rage about what had been done to you outside the walls. And he had so many questions he wanted to ask you, so many worries… but you were so closed about it…

You spoke again, interrupting his thoughts. “You’re lucky. You have so many people, good people, and—they all obviously care about you. A lot.” Your voice was soft and Daryl finally looked up again and met your eyes with his. He felt a rush of nerves.

“Ya. Don’t make any damn sense, really,” he drawled.

“Makes perfect sense to me.”

Daryl felt those annoying butterflies flit to life in his stomach again. God, you hardly had to say anything, do anything for that to happen. What the hell was wrong with him? “Ya got people, too,” he said. “That care about ya.”

You let out a somewhat wry laugh. “I’ve got Aaron and Eric. Aaaand… that’s about it,” you said. You discarded his bolt back on the table.

“Nah. Ya got more than that.”

Daryl’s response drew your eyes back to his in surprise and you swore that his gaze was flitting between your eyes and your lips. Your lips parted slightly of their own accord. You felt suddenly breathless and the space between the two of you was charged again.

You gulped at the tightness in your throat suddenly and looked away, running scared. “I’m just—I’m not good at letting people in,” you whispered, not meaning it to come out so softly.

“And ya think I am?” Daryl laughed gruffly. “People have a way of gettin’ in anyway. If they want to.”

You were struggling to come up with something to say to that when the front door suddenly opened. Daryl straightened up and you let out a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding. You suddenly remembered you weren’t the only two people in the world.

“Oh, good! Daryl, you’re—oh!” It was Carol. “I didn’t realize we had company!” Her voice had been much more relaxed, much lower when she first spoke, but her tone and face suddenly brightened when she realized you were there.

You climbed to your feet and gave her a tight smile. “I was just heading out actually. It’s late,” you said, shooting a glance over at Daryl. He rubbed a hand awkwardly over the back of his neck.

“Ya, alright. I’ll walk ya out,” he murmured. He could feel Carol watching the two of you all the way across the kitchen and up into the front hall.

You stopped in the entryway to turn and give him a small smile. “Thanks. For tonight,” you said quietly. He gave you a dumbfounded look.

“I didn’t do anything,” he murmured. “’Cept not kill ya after ya pushed me in the damn pond.”

You laughed at his confusion. “Yeah. You did.” You turned to leave but froze once again with your hand on the doorknob. “Oh—and you can tell Carol she can knock off the suburban sweetheart act with me, okay? I’m not buying it. I’ll see ya, Daryl. Goodnight.”

Daryl spun around to see Carol standing at the end of the hall, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the space you had just occupied. “Did ya hear—”

“Huh,” Carol interrupted. “Yeah. She’s the only person to figure that out so far.” She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded before looking back at the archer. “I like her.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “Ya, she’s annoyingly observant. Rick tell ya she knew he was a cop immediately, too?”

“Well, sorry to interrupt your date,” she said with a small smile. “She didn’t have to leave just because I showed up.”

“Would ya quit?” he rasped gruffly. “Wasn’t a ‘date,’ alright? We’re just—” he shrugged and Carol raised her eyebrows at him knowingly.

“Wait—why is your hair all wet?” she asked, moving closer to Daryl.

He groaned and rolled his eyes again. “She fuckin’ pushed me into the damn pond,” he admitted in a low growl. Carol let out a loud guffaw.

“Oh, yeah. I definitely like her,” she said with a grin. “You should bring her around more often. Let everyone get to know her.”

Daryl rolled his eyes again and headed for the living room to collect his bow. “Quit tryin’a meddle, would ya?”

Carol laughed and tried to look affronted. “I haven’t done anything! God, you’re so sensitive,” she teased him. “What’s that?”

Daryl’s hand closed around your scarf, which you had discarded carelessly on the floor. “Y/N’s.”

“Little warm still for scarf weather isn’t it?” Carol asked, peering at it curiously.

“Ya. She was—she was wearin’ it because of the bruises on her neck. One of those assholes was—” he broke off as he remembered turning the corner and seeing the guy on top of you with his hands around your neck. He felt another hot flush of rage. “When we were outside the walls, one of ‘em was choking her. She’s got marks all around her neck. Probably didn’t want anyone else seein’ em.”

“God. I couldn’t see them in here. It’s too dark,” Carol muttered. “That’s horrible,” she said. Daryl nodded, feeling the soft fabric between his fingers.

“Mhm.” He gave one more nod to Carol. “G’night,” he said, heading immediately for his space in the basement, the scarf still dangling from his hand. He flopped down on his back on the bed, running the soft fabric between his fingers. His stomach was turning as he thought of you, that brilliant smile you gave up so rarely staying in his mind’s eye. He squeezed his eyes shut and chewed his bottom lip, trying to banish it. The hell were all these damn feelings? The archer finally let out a frustrated sigh and set your scarf down on his bedside table before putting out the flame of his lantern and rolling onto his side, chasing sleep.

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writertitan · 3 years

Text

Midnight Snacks

pairing: eren x reader

words: 2058

themes: college au, lots of fluff, eren being a little embarrassing with his gas station order

requested by anon

Finals week had both you and Eren on high alert and in high panic. Truth be told, you didn’t need to really worry that much; you had prepared yourself for this all semester and had really kept up with your workload. Mostly, you were just stressed about the finals themselves and how, well, final they were. And so close together. A gift and a curse. You’d be done before finals week was even over.

What really had you in a panic was Eren. The boy, bless his heart, was not apt for cramming. He’d kept up with his work like you had, but you knew him like the back of your hand; he was prone to leaving the harder things until the last minute.

You glanced at your phone to check the time as Eren flipped back and forth between a page in his biology textbook, grumbling to himself under his breath. It was almost 12:30 in the morning and both of you had been at it all night, cramming and rememorizing things just to be prepared, and Eren especially was deep in concentration. You smiled to yourself as you watched his brows furrow even more than they already were, a feat you thought impossible. Just as you set your phone down to continue your own last-minute preparations, Eren sat up straight with a growl and pushed his textbook off your bed with his knee.

“I feel like my head’s about to explode,” he complained, flopping over onto your lap. His eyes found yours immediately and he pouted as he reached up to stroke your cheek, then turned his head to glare at your textbook, as if personally offended by it, and pushed it off your bed to join his own.

“Eren,” you whined, about to push his head off your lap, but he stopped you by reaching both hands up to cup your face.

“C’mon, let’s just take a small break. We’re probably gonna be at this for a few more hours,” he said, fingers lightly caressing your jaw to entice you into going with his plan. You pondered it, then thought about arguing back with him about needing to study, but then realized he was probably right. All of this endless cramming with no break was just going to end up in you not retaining any of it.

“Just a small break,” you relented, giving him a warning stare. He sat up, much brighter now, and pulled you off your bed immediately. He stretched his legs out and then reached his arms up to the ceiling for a full body stretch, already in a better mood.

“Let’s go buy some snacks,” he suggested, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to pull you in. “That’ll help with the brain juice.”

You hated Eren’s term, brain juice, but you knew he had a point. You had to keep up your energy.

“Okay, let’s go to the vending machines and pick something out,” you said, moving to put some shoes on.

“There’s a convenience store just down the street, babe. Please can we go? Your dorm’s vending machines aren’t gonna cut it,” he said, the pout back again. You rolled your eyes playfully but again relented, happy to just get out of your dorm room for a second.

“Okay, fine. But you’re not supposed to be here, remember? It’s way past visiting hours. We have to be so sneaky,” you said, voice already lowering to a whisper. If you’re RA found out you’d been holing Eren up in your dorm well past 10pm, she was going to lose her mind.

Eren made a show of zipping his lips and acting stealthy, which made you snort. You grabbed his hand after putting on shoes and jackets, and carefully slipped out to start your trek to the convenience store.

You had to admit, it was a nice idea. And Eren was right, your vending machines didn’t hold a candle to all the other savory treats you really wanted.

The night was a little breezy, but the impending summer weather kept the spring chill at bay. Eren had your hand engulfed in his, fingers laced as he swung your hands lightly, other hand messing with his loose bun. The night wrapped around him beautifully, streetlights casting glows that defined the most handsome parts of his face.

He caught you staring after a minute of him being deep in thought, and you flashed him a mischievous grin which he returned.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he teased, the lame phrase making you giggle.

“Okay,” you said cheerily, which took him off guard. You pulled your hand from his and giggled again at his confusion, before moving to stand behind him, hands reaching up to grasp his shoulders and give a small tug to make him stop walking. He knew immediately what you were getting at and crouched down enough to let you hop on, catching you easily and gripping your thighs as you wrapped an arm around your shoulders. Your other hand reached into your pocket to pull out your phone and you wasted no time in pulling up the camera app, jutting your arm out so you could capture Eren’s face right next to yours, the two of you flashing cheesy and ridiculous smiles as you snapped the picture. The automatic flash activated due to the low lighting and Eren whined and blinked, squeezing his eyes shut as the flash went off.

When you looked at the end result, you showed Eren with a pleased laugh. You looked fine, all smiles and bright eyes. Eren, on the other hand, had blinked a little too soon. His eyes were shut, eyebrows raised, a dopey grin on his face that matched yours.

“Delete that,” he complained, letting go of one thigh to try to reach for your phone. You were too fast, however, and eased it back into your jacket pocket. “Babe, delete it!”

“Nope! That’s my new favorite picture of us.”

“I’m not buying you any snacks once we get there.”

A lie, completely. If anything, Eren would play the little devil on your shoulder and egg you on in just a few minutes, into making not-so-smart choices. Why choose between the chocolate and the gummies when you can have both?

You moved to hop off once you were in front of the store, but Eren’s grip tightened on your thighs. You angled your head to give him a confused glance, which he ignored, but he turned his head to peck your lips.

“We’ll be quick. You’ll be my hands,” he said, and you rolled your eyes at his words, but hid your big smile into his shoulder. You knew he could feel the way your lips turned up over the thin fabric of his jacket and even thinner shirt.

“Alright, what do you want?” you asked him, letting him lead you where you knew he’d go first: the Lunchables.

“Ham and cheese and crackers, please,” he requested, but you already knew that and were grabbing at it with one hand. He kissed your wrist as a thank you and then asked, “Okay, what are we getting you? The usual?”

“Yes, please,” you hummed, nuzzling into his neck as he made his way over to your preferred snack of choice. And, after grabbing two drinks, your hands absolutely full, you made your way to the counter to pay. The clerk gave you a bored look, not at all interested in the sight in front of him, and rang up your items slowly and announced your total.

A contest as always, you and Eren both reached for your wallets. He somehow managed to be quicker, mostly because you were trying your best not to lose your balance as you held onto him with one arm and fished around for money with the other, and you grumbled as he paid for both of you.

You held onto the bag as you exited the convenience store, again trying to hop off, and again being secured in place by Eren’s tight grip.

“Aren’t you getting tired?” you asked him, genuinely curious, but Eren nearly guffawed at the question.

“Are you joking? I wouldn’t even consider this a warm-up, babe. Carrying Jean’s blacked-out ass home after a party, though... that’ll make me break a sweat. I don’t know how he’s so fucking heavy.”

You giggled, vividly remembering one of those times, and you rested your head on Eren’s shoulder after letting a yawn slip out.

“I wish we didn’t have to go back to studying after this,” you pouted, pressing a pouty kiss into Eren’s shoulder. “I hate finals.”

“Let’s eat our snacks before we get back to it,” Eren compromised. “My brain still feels heavy with knowledge. I gotta let it soak it all up.”

“Always saying the weirdest things,” you teased him, squealing at the pinch on your thigh.

Sneaking up to your dorm room was as easy as sneaking out, and you pulled Eren for a quick kiss as soon as the door locked behind you. You tossed the bag onto your bed and then began fishing your snacks out once your shoes and jacket were off and you were both able to situate more comfortably on your bed. Eren held you in his lap as he leaned back against your wall and browsed through his phone, the two of you watching dumb compliations on YouTube while you snacked. It was nice to turn your brain off just for a while, to rest up and come back to studying rejuvenated.

His hand would occasionally sneak up your neck and grab at your hair, lightly massaging your scalp as he pressed tender kisses to your temple. You shared your snacks and really took your time with finishing, letting yourselves soak in your study break.

“Thanks for making me take a break,” you told him, leaning your head back against his chest. “I forget sometimes.”

“I know you do,” Eren chuckled, squeezing you into a hug and pressing you into his chest even more. He noticed yet another suppressed yawn from you and hummed in acknowledgement, and you knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“I can’t go to sleep, I have to keep studying,” you said, beating him to it.

“You’re studying for your final tomorrow and it’s not even until noon. You know a really important habit before taking a big test is to get enough sleep before it.”

Damn it. You hated when he used logic against you.

“Fine, but just a nap,” you grumbled, sitting up to grab at your trash and discard it in your bin. You set an alarm and gave Eren a tired smile. “I’m gonna drag you down with me, though. You need to sleep too.”

Eren scoffed, his voice a little panicked when he spoke again. “No way. Unlike you, I have to cram. I’m nowhere near ready for my final tomorrow.”

“Yours isn’t until the afternoon,” you pointed out, hitting him back with the logic he’d used on you. “Like you said, a good habit is to get plenty of sleep before a test.”

Eren sighed, but you could tell he wasn’t going to argue with you. He looked just as tired as you and the two of you arranged yourselves in your cramped bed to doze off, if only for a little bit.

His hands found your hair and he played with it softly as you both curled up into one another.

“Love you,” he murmured, drowsy already, and you smiled to yourself, head on his chest with your hand tracing loving circles at his torso.

“Love you too,” you answered, warming at the soft touch of his hand on your chin. He tilted your head up to steal a quick kiss to your lips, then to your nose. You closed your eyes and let yourself relax, about to really drift off when you felt Eren shift under you.

Your ears picked up the quiet sounds of Eren taking your phone from your nightstand. You peeked an eye open, careful to stay quiet lest you arouse suspicion, and resisted the urge to let a huge grin overcome you as you watched him go to your camera roll, tap on the ridiculous picture you’d taken earlier, and send it to himself.

#i had to reveal my random hc of eren liking lunchables i'm so sorry #eren x reader #eren yaeger x you #eren yaeger x reader #eren yaegar #eren #eren fanfiction #eren fluff #aot fanfiction #aot oneshots #eren jaeger #eren jaeger x reader #eren jaeger x you #aot #snk eren #snk fanfiction #snk

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delimeful · 3 years

Text

to taste your beating heart (5)

warnings: blood, miscommunication, imprisonment, arguing

Logan met Virgil-- Anx’s eyes over Patton’s shoulder, and watched as his gaze went from bewildered to guarded in half a second.

In the next moment, Anx had shoved out sharply, pushing Patton away from him hard enough to make him stumble back a few steps-- just far enough to be outside the protective ward, Logan noted.

As though to cover up the fact that he’d just stripped himself of a potential hostage, Anx stiffened up to his full height, fangs bared at them all.

“Careful!” Roman snapped in an eerie parody of Virgil’s normal catchphrase, rising to his feet as Patton narrowly avoided overbalancing.

“No, no,” Patton said, wiping at his eyes without any shame, “it’s my fault, I should have asked first. I always get kind of emotional after thralls break. My apawlegies, Anx.” He accented the words with a flap of his cat hoodie sleeve.

Logan had time to notice the way Anx’s face twisted-- a mix of confusion-amusement-wariness that was familiar from Virgil’s first weeks working with them-- before Roman cut in with a startled shout.

“The thrall is broken?!” he squawked, head whipping back and forth between Patton and Anx. “Since when?”

“None of your business,” snapped Anx.

“Pretty much as soon as I walked in!” cheered Patton, at the exact same time. He paused. “Whoops, sorry, Anx! Did you want that to be... confangdential?”

“Boo,” Roman called, instantly distracted by the bad wordplay, “That was a reach.”

Logan let his audible facepalm speak for itself. “Out of the way, please, Patton.”

Patton obligingly shuffled to the side, and with every step closer Logan took, Anx folded inwards like a snake rearing back to strike. Seeing Virgil’s body bracing for the worst at his approach made something in Logan’s chest pang oddly, but luckily he was well practiced at ignoring such things.

Once at the edge of the circle, he crouched and inspected the activation key. As expected, nothing was out of place. Logan doubted Anx had been awake long enough to even consider tampering with the circle, let alone attempt it.

Now that the ash had cooled, the spell would be vulnerable to outside influence. It wasn’t as big of a concern anymore, seeing as the thrall on Patton had been removed, but Logan wasn’t one to leave things half-done.

… Also, if left unattended, Patton would probably free the vampire without telling anyone even without being under thrall.

Logan set his palm on the activation key and nonverbally cast a warming spell, reactivating the part of the spell that singed any unauthorized fingers messing with his circle. He could add the warming charm into the circle’s layout later, when there wasn’t a twitchy vampire watching his every move.

Despite his efforts to make his spellcasting subtler than usual, Anx still seemed to go still and stiff like hunted prey when the change in the spell sent a mild warmth into the air around them. Those uncanny purple eyes flickered between all three of the hunters for a moment, and then seemed to settle for glaring at nothing.

“So, Draculame, what prompted the sudden change of heart?” Roman asked, arms crossed over his chest.

His tone wasn’t as accusatory as before, but Anx’s bristling only increased, likely at the nickname. It had taken a while for Virgil to realize Roman’s ruder habits weren’t mean-spirited. It seemed like Anx would have to relearn that.

Provided they got that far.

Shaking the rather grim thought away, Logan tilted his head at the vampire. “I’m admittedly curious as well.”

Anx hissed at them, which they probably should have expected. It probably said something about their friend that this had already been standard Virgil behavior before he’d been turned. It was almost nostalgic.

“Now, kiddos, let’s not vamptagonize him!” Patton cut in firmly, ignoring their groans. “It’s almost dawn, so how about we call it close enough to morning and have some breakfast? I’ll make pat-cakes!”

He swanned out of the room without waiting for an answer, nearly hip checking the doorframe as he went. For a moment, Logan half-expected to see Virgil fall in a half-step behind him, like a particularly emo shadow. The absence was jarring.

“He hasn’t slept tonight,” he finally said, capturing Roman’s attention. “Make sure he doesn’t use salt instead of sugar?”

“And meanwhile you will be…?” Roman prompted doubtfully. Logan rolled his eyes.

“Figuring out a way for Anx to safely move to the kitchen, as Patton no doubt wants him there,” he replied, raising a hand to forestall any protests. “I took precautions.”

Roman threw his hands up dramatically, shot Anx a warning glare, and then turned to leave.

“Ugh. There goes my appetite,” he grumbled as he stormed out the door.

Logan allowed himself a sigh and then turned to face Anx. The vampire was still staring at him oddly. “I will be placing a pair of enchanted cuffs on you. They have no chains and they will not hurt you, but if you move against any of us with malicious intent, they will freeze in place.”

“And what am I supposed to do if you move against me?” he challenged automatically, lip curling. “Stand there and take it?”

“The cuffs will not stop you from running or hiding,” Logan told him, “and you’ve proven yourself to be skilled at both of those things in the past 48 hours. None of us are planning on attacking you, but you will have options regardless.”

This wasn’t how he would have reassured Virgil, but this wasn’t the Virgil he knew, the one that trusted him. He couldn’t soothe Anx’s cognitive distortions, not when he was barely more than a stranger.

He retrieved the shiny black cuffs from a nearby cabinet. They hadn’t had a thrall aggressive enough to use them on in months. “If you’ll put your wrists forward, we can proceed. Otherwise, Patton will be bringing breakfast to you, and I’d prefer not to get syrup or blood all over this room.”

Anx eyed him warily for another few moments, but eventually Logan’s patience paid off, and he stuck his wrists out with a growl. Logan reached past the barrier without any trouble and clicked the first one into place. Before he could proceed with the second, Anx’s hand flipped around and grabbed onto Logan’s wrist tightly.

Logan’s head jerked up to meet Anx’s gaze, already shifting his weight to counter a pull, but the vampire didn’t move further, just stared at him intently. “I know what you are.”

He clearly expected some kind of dramatic reaction, but Logan wasn’t in the habit of those, particularly not for such vague accusations. “If you’ll specify?”

“You’re a witch,” Anx said. “I saw you tamper with the circle without any instruments. You have natural magic.”

Logan felt his stomach sink slightly. Logically, he knew that this wasn’t the Virgil he knew, but it still made something in him twist to think of any version of Virgil blackmailing him over his magical heritage. “And what of it?” he asked, as lightly as he could.

“You’re living in the same house as hunters. You’re doing magic right under their noses, you’re going to get yourself killed!” Anx scolded, sounding more like Virgil with every word. “Do you need help getting out?”

Logan wasn’t entirely sure what sort of face he made in response to this endearingly dense offer, but it was apparently enough to make Anx frown with uncertainty. He held a hand out for his other wrist and clicked the cuff on it without any problems, and then deactivated the circle with a simple gesture of his hand over the key.

Anx’s eyes flicked to the door, and Logan tried not to think about him darting out into the early morning sun. He turned and headed to the door.

“Follow me, and you’ll get your answer.”

While traversing the halls, Logan resisted the persistent urge to check behind him. Gone were the slight shuffled footsteps that had previously accompanied Virgil’s presence, replaced by Anx’s supernatural silence, as though he was gliding over the floor without even touching it.

He entered the kitchen, where Patton had evidently wrangled Roman into setting the table. Whether the four plates set out were out of habit or Roman reluctantly accepting Anx’s presence at the table, Logan wasn’t sure.

He cleared his throat, making both of them look up from attempting to draw funny faces with the pancake batter.

“Observe,” he instructed, and then drew a sigil in the air and lit a simple flame in his hand. Behind him, he could practically hear Anx go as stiff as a board.

“Are we showing off?” Roman asked, a bit excited but completely unsurprised. “Should I perform a monologue?”

“Great spell, Lo! No arson in the house, though,” Patton added in a bright chirp. “After all, I have enough ar-sons here already!”

Logan doused the flame by clenching a fist, giving Patton a Look that went blithely ignored. “You two are incorrigible. That was a simple demonstration.”

He turned to Anx, who looked a little shell shocked.

“As we’ve informed you, ‘hunter’ is a title that we use mostly for convenience and ease of access to jobs. We help magical beings just as often as average humans, if not more frequently.”

“We tried out ‘Protectors of the Innocent’ for a while, but it never really caught on for some reason,” Roman added, subtly sneaking a piece of bacon from the serving plate while Patton’s back was turned.

“Perhaps it would have worked better if someone hadn’t only put P.I. on all the business cards, resulting in us being mistaken for Private Investigators and all of our calls being about spousal infidelity for a solid two months,” Logan snarked back, moving past them to retrieve the orange juice from the fridge.

“The printing office charged by the letter!” Roman protested, and then recoiled from the countertop as his next attempt at sneaking ended with his fingers smacked mercilessly. “Augh! Forsaken by those dearest to me! What cruelty!”

“No sympathy for bacon thieves,” Patton chided, wielding his spatula like an instrument of mass destruction. “Go sit!”

Logan seated himself as well, and turned to Anx, who had been watching the banter play out from the doorway with a somewhat dazed expression. “You’re welcome to sit. Patton will likely insist on it, actually.”

“You people,” he enunciated slowly, “are crazy.”

“You get used to it,” Logan assured him with the certainty of someone who had heard this exact phrase from Virgil before. He checked his watch. “It has been some time since you last ate. I can retrieve some stored blood from our refrigerator.”

“Actually,” Patton set a plate stacked high with pancakes in the center of the table with a plonk, “I figured I could just be Anx’s donor for a while!”

Roman, who had just stolen a sip of Logan’s orange juice, did a movie-perfect spit take, and Patton slid the pancake stack swiftly out of range of the spray.

“It will be 55 days before you are viable for another blood donation,” Logan recited the fact automatically, but he was just as thrown off as Roman.

“Not if he drinks from me directly!” Patton retorted, a beacon of cheerful composure.

“What?” All three of them replied, at varying levels of screech.

Anx shot a wild-eyed look at the room at large and took a step back, as though physically distancing himself from the idea.

“Patton, you can’t be serious!” Roman pushed his chair back and stood, looking distraught. “Fangs For The Memories over here might look like Virgil, but he’s proven quite thoroughly that he’s not! We just got you un-thralled, clearly he can’t be trusted not to take advantage of you!”

Logan noticed Anx wince, though he couldn’t tell whether it was from the harsh assessment or Virgil’s name being spoken.

“Me not being thralled anymore is exactly why we can trust him not to hurt me,” Patton said, chin tilted up stubbornly. “He doesn’t know what he did wrong, but he fixed it anyway! That’s more than good enough in my book.”

“Well, maybe your book needs some copyediting!” Roman snapped back, exasperated. “So his unbeating heart isn’t as completely shriveled up as it originally seemed! So what? That doesn’t change the fact that he was the one who thralled you in the first place!”

Logan cut in, physically moving between them to break up the beginnings of a shouting match.

“I have to agree that this is a bad idea, for a multitude of reasons,” he started, raising a quelling hand before Patton could protest. “The matter of Anx’s trustworthiness aside, you shouldn’t be directly donating blood to any vampire. It is an unnecessary risk to your mental and emotional well being.”

“Thank you,” Roman said, apparently keen to seize allies where he could. He gestured expansively, looking at Patton with earnest eyes. “You’ve come so far, Pat. We don’t want to see any of your hard work undone. Virgil wouldn’t want that either; you know he’d fight this harder than any of us.”

Patton’s face had softened at their-- Roman’s sentimental worrying, but even bringing Virgil into it couldn’t sway his determined course.

“I know you guys just want me safe, but this is something I need to do. Even if it is a risk, I can’t be held down by this fear forever. And who better to help me than Anx!”

“Literally anyone who hasn’t threatened to kill everyone here in the last 48 hours,” Roman moaned, dragging his hands down his face.

“Besides,” Patton continued, undeterred, “this way we don’t have to worry about our emergency transfusion supply going low! It just makes sense.”

Logan had to begrudgingly agree. Between the hassle of trying to explain why they suddenly needed significantly more blood and the fact that a vampire drinking directly would replenish blood cells at a much higher rate than drawing blood, the best option really was to have a direct donor. He simply didn't want it to be Patton.

Unfortunately, his odds of actually being able to stop Patton were quite low.

“Nothing about any of this makes sense,” Anx grumbled, having retreated to the hall like a skittish feral cat.

The vampire seemed almost more unsettled by the idea than either of the other objecting parties, despite being the only one who directly benefited from the hypothetical arrangement. Nervous about their responses if he agreed, perhaps?

“We can at least give it a shot!” Patton insisted, coming a little closer to Anx and reaching out to gently pat his shoulder. It spoke volumes that the touch wasn't brushed off or rejected. “It could end up helping us both! And if it doesn’t, we’ll just find another way! You won’t be in trouble for messing up, okay?”

Anx blinked, slowly, still looking somewhat unconvinced that this was reality. Still, after a few moments of exposure to Patton’s encouraging smile, he dipped his head in a nod.

“Okay.”

#sanders sides #ts virgil #ts patton #ts logan #ts roman #vampire au #ttybh #to taste your beating heart #writing #my writing #well. hope this is good.

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inyourwildestdreamslove · 3 years

Text

Tell Me No Secrets: Chapter 9

Pairing: Steve Harrington X Reader X Billy Hargrove

Begins in Season 2.

Summary: You thought you escaped the world of science experiments and torture when you walk out of that lab. However, high school has other plans, somehow you end up as unlikely friends and love interests to the two most desired boys in school. Not to mention monsters from another dimension and a little girl named El from your past that just won’t seem to leave you alone. Maybe that lab wasn’t as bad as you thought, at least there people left you alone.

Masterlist

Chapter 9: The Captured

The trees are a blur as the car roars forward. The bewildered and angry faces of Dustin and Steve in the rearview mirror sparks a twinge of guilt. It’s better this way though, they don’t need to be involved. It’s bad enough that Max and Billy are involved. Groaning as the two men in the car pull out behind Billy but in front of Steve. You can feel how startled Steve is and his growing panic as he realizes what’s happening.

Billy glances behind him and growls out, “Friends of yours?”

“Something like that…” you say absentmindedly as you assess the situation behind you.

Realizing that they have far more information than you would like punches you in the gut as town quickly approaches.

You make a decision.

“Pull over.”

The order hangs in the air.

“Are you crazy?!” Max yells, pulling herself forward in the seat, “They’ll catch you!”

“That’s the point,” you say emotionlessly as you regard her.

“No!”

“What is going on here!?” Billy yells angrily beside you.

“They’re going to take her!” Max screams turning to Billy, “You can’t stop! She’s going to give herself up to save us!”

“Fuck that,” Billy says as he revs the engine and makes an abrupt turn to the right. The car behind you all skids but makes the turn at the last minute.

“You need to let me do this,” you say calmly.

“Like Hell I do!” he says rage in his voice.

You huff in annoyance, “They will succeed, if not today, someday.”

“Then it’s not going to be today,” Billy says, taking another abrupt turn trying to throw them off your trail.

“You need to let me do this,” you say matter of factly.

The alleyway you find yourselves in is a dead end. Billy curses and slams his hands on the steering wheel as you get out of the car.

“No!” Max yells as you exit the car, Billy reaching for you a moment too late.

You turn to the men, each of them pointing a gun at you. Steve pulls up behind them a moment later and grabs his bat from the back seat.

“Steve… Don’t…” you murmur tiredly.

“They can’t have you!” Steve yells.

“It’s okay…” you soothe them.

“So you’re coming quietly?” questions one of the men.

“Yes.”

“Good choice,” the other murmurs as he pulls the trigger.

The panic from those around you is palpable as you fall to the floor the dart sticking out of your neck. Steve and Billy make to run towards you before they turn to the men and to rush them.

With the last of your strength your message echoes in their minds, “Don’t forget…”

***

Horror fills them as they watch her fall to the ground. Her eyes roll back into her head and everything goes silent before the rush of rage brings everyone snapping back to reality. Billy pulls back and punches the nearest man as a tranquilizer dart flies towards him. Steve falls next his bat rolling uselessly to the side. Max and Dustin panic and scream as they rush to Steve and Billy.

Max whips around in just enough time to see the two men haul her up and throw her limp body in the back seat of the car. Methodically, as if kidnapping is second nature to these monsters, they move Steve’s car. Dustin is struggling to pull Steve out of the way.

Max cries out in sadness, feeling helpless, as her friend vanished from sight around the bend. She’s left with her unconscious brother and a panicking Dustin.

“What do we do!?” Yells Dustin snapping Max from her shock.

“I don’t know!” She yells back, anger masking her fear.

“We have to do something!” Dustin yells as he paces back and forth. He would periodically rake his fingers through his hair.

“Like what!?” Max screeches back fists flying to her side in rage and frustration.

With no small amount of effort the two preteens drag their older and heavier brother figures into Billy’s car. The two young men are slumped together unceremoniously in the back seat as Max takes the wheel of Billy’s car.

“Are you sure about this?” Dustin asks, hesitation clear in his voice. The memory of the last time Max drove clear in his mind.

“Zoomer. Remember?,” She says pointing at herself in confidence, “Besides, you didn’t die last time,” she says flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“It was dark last time! No one was on the road! It’s the middle of the morning!” Dustin argues crossing his arms.

“Stop being such a baby! It’ll be fine!” She exclaims, frustration seeping into her voice.

With that, she starts up the car and nervously pulls out onto the road. Slowly the preteens make their way to the police station. Not without many near misses and loud honks of other drivers.

The preteens jump from the vehicle and rush into the police station yelling for Hopper as they do so.

“What are you two doing here? Why aren’t you in school?” Hopper asks in bewilderment coming out of his office. The receptionist unable to control the duo before her.

“They took (Name)!” Both Max and Dustin yell in a panic turning towards the confused chief of police.

***

When you wake up you are strapped to a chair with a helmet over your head. Your head is completely silent for the first time in your life, and if you weren’t concerned with figuring a way out of this, you would be enjoying it more. The room is dark save for the single fluorescent light in the very center of the room. There are one-way windows on one side of the room and you can practically feel the eyes of the people on the other side.

A man that you recognize from your childhood enters the room and regards you as a science experiment. He’s wearing a brown suit with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He hasn’t changed much except for the now graying hair on his balding head.

“Three… How have you been? You are quite the sneaky little thing aren’t you?” he asks conversationally as he sits down across from you at the table.

Your answer is an emotionless gaze. You can feel yourself retreating back into your mind as the man in front of you regards you the same way as so many years ago. Like an experiment, as if you are less than him.

“Where have you been hiding all this time, hmmm? With Melanie Snow perhaps?” he quips pulling the cigarette from his lips. The smell burns your nostrils as he releases a puff of smoke.

You feel your chest constrict as he mentions her name.

“I see you’ve made friends with a Steve Harrington? A Dustin Henderson? A Maxine Mayfield? A William Hargrove?”

“They aren’t my friends, they are annoyances,” you answer monotonously.

“Annoyances?” he sounds almost amused.

“Yes… If it wasn’t for them your lackeys would be dead,” you spit the words at the man fire in your eyes as you regard him coolly.

“Dead, you say? You would do that?” he asks leaning forward on his elbows.

“I’m not a child anymore,” your voice is ice.

“No… I suppose not… However, we will be picking up where we left off. Perhaps we will see the results that we want after all this time.”

With that, he gets up and leaves the room. You keep your mind calm and clear as you access the situation you are in.

It’s not long before a couple of men in white come into the room and push you from the chair. Their handling is far rougher than it should be as you walk down the hallway. You can hear the cries of a few children, but you keep your face void of any emotion. The room they take you to is the same one from your childhood. You see the number three on the wall and suppress a shudder. You are shoved inside, but before the door is shut you turn to the man behind you and lock eyes with him.

“You know… cheating on your wife when she’s pregnant with your child is disgusting.”

The look on his face as the door closes is priceless.

***

“We have to help her!” yells Dustin as he paces the living room floor of (Name)’s house.

“Can Elle find her?” questions Steve his hand in his hair as he sits on the couch.

“Damnit!” curses Billy as he punches the arm of the chair he’s in, “What good is this?”

Steve and Billy had woken up in a panic upon realizing what happened. They had given their statement to Hopper, who had been very displeased that Max had driven to the police station while the boys were unconscious, but that’s a talk for another day. They went to break the news to Melanie which is how they found themselves setting up camp in the Snow living room.

“Hey just calm down man! We’re going to figure something out!” Clenching his teeth against the pain in his head. The tranquilizer making his head pound with the leftover drugs still coursing through him.

“Well, what can this Elle girl do?” he rounds on him anger radiating off of his person.

“More than you!” yells Dustin.

“Hey! Yelling about everything isn’t going to solve this!” yells Max.

“She’s right…” laments Melanie, “She’s going to have to get herself out of this.”

“But Elle can-” Dustin begins.

“She would be putting herself in danger!” Hopper interrupts, “You don’t know how they found her, they could do the same to Elle.”

“We can’t just do nothing!” yells Billy as he stands up from his seat and takes a step towards Hopper.

“I’m not risking Elle being found. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do anything.” Hopper holds his stare until Billy backs down.

“Why do you care anyway?” Dustin asks looking over at Billy in confusion.

“Why do I-?” he looks angrily at Dustin, “Because-” He trails off looking unsure of himself for just a moment before his anger covers it up. “None of your business twerp!”

“Will everyone just calm down?” Yells Hopper trying to maintain peace.

“How?! How are we supposed to do that?” Asks Dustin shaking his head in frustration.

“Can someone just do something?!” screeches Melanie before she collapses to the floor crying.

Everyone is silent as they regard her, each of them thinking the same thing...

‘But what can we do?’

***

The next few days you sit quietly in your old room listening. Your powers while not entirely snuffed out are muffled and it isn’t long until the helmet is replaced with another stronger one. You don’t mind as much they think you do as you feign sleep all the while listening.

It’s in sleep that you feel him though. He’s frantic and angry and feels very alone.

You can’t blame yourself for this. You say calmly regarding him.

His eyes widen when he sees you sitting there on his bed.

“You got out?!” he says getting up and coming towards you.

No… I am still there…

“How are you able to…?”

We have a connection Billy… Perhaps it’s our emotions that bind us… We understand hurt better than most…

“You let them take you!” he explodes, “You could have fought them! We could have fought them! Max is… Max is really upset! And damn Harrington! He- Damn it!” He yells angrily picking up a can of hairspray and throwing it against the wall.

It had to happen…

“No, it didn’t! I could have… done something... protected you…” He sits down on the bed defeated, his elbows resting on his knees.

You’re silent for a moment, ‘There are bigger things at play than you understand. They would not stop and I had to think of more than just myself…’

“Bullshit.”

Tell them not to worry…

“Not to worry?!” he yells, “You’ve been captured by some freak show scientists, and no one is supposed to worry?!” he jumps up from the bed and towers over you breathing heavily in his rage.

You regard him silently with the same patience that you always have.

Trust me…

With that, you vanish from his mind. Blinking you are abruptly woken up by the sound of a little metal flap swinging as food is shoved into your cell. You sigh as you glare at the hard bread and porridge that is sitting in the bowl. It’s important that you keep your strength up though it’s imperative to your plan. You pick up the tray and begin to eat.

***

“What do you mean you saw her?” Steve asks, disbelief clear in his voice. He hadn’t been sure what to think when Billy asked to meet him behind the school, but this wasn’t what he expected.

“I told you! I saw her okay?! I don’t get it either!” Billy yells all while trying to keep his voice down. He doesn’t need anyone seeing him and Harrington talking behind the school, too many questions.

“But why did you see her and not me? I’m her friend!” Steve says defensively and maybe a little jealously. Why were you talking to Billy and not him?

“I’m her friend too! You aren’t the only one!”

“Yeah right! What have you ever done for her huh?”

“She-” Billy looks away from Steve. He can’t know…

“She what?” Steve presses, voice going lower in a warning.

“None of your business! Look, I just wanted to know if that makes any sense to you!”

“I mean… she’s special… you know…” Steve says uncertainty clear in his voice.

“Yeah, I know she is…” Billy says remembering the day you casually told him you were going to help him.

“So what do we do?” Steve asks.

“She said to trust her…” Billy says trailing off in thought.

“If she contacts you again see if she knows where she is. We’re going to get her back,” Steve says with finality. “Truce?” he asks holding his hand out to Billy.

Billy regards it for a moment before he nods, “Truce.”

The two young men clasp hands in a firm handshake, both trying to have a tighter grip as they shake on it.

“What are you trying to do? Break my hand?!” Steve yells.

“You’re such a wuss Harrington!” Billy laughs as he pulls back.

“Wuss?! You face a Demogorgon and tell me who the wuss is!”

“What the fuck is a Demogorgon?”

“You have a lot to learn Hargrove. A lot.”

***

You feel yourself growing stronger every day. And among the quiet in your mind, you’ve noticed something else. You can tap into emotions and you spend the next few days wreaking havoc on the workers of the lab. You cause anger outbursts, crying spells, and lust to run rampant. Papers are thrown to the floor in a rage and balled up in fits of uncertainty. You plant lies in their minds with the simplest of sentences. If you didn’t know any better you would say you’re having fun.

“It seems we’ve underestimated you…” Carl Watt says from his position in front of you. He adjusts the button on his ugly suit jacket as he sits down before you.

You just regard him blankly as silence rings throughout the room.

“You have caused quite a few problems for us. Are you having fun?” he asks patiently as if speaking to his six-year-old daughter who made a mess in the kitchen.

You gaze down at the steel table in front of you, eyes unseeing as you creep in his mind.

“If you don’t cooperate there will be consequences.”

Again you are silent at his threat.

“After all we wouldn’t want anything to happen to your friends would we?”

You fight the reaction. The flinch. The twitch. The way your mind screams at the man before you in rage. You give him nothing as you continue to gaze down at the table, the silence stretching long and cold in the sterile room.

“You think you’re fooling anyone? Teenage girls are so easy. You all have the same weakness. Emotions. Boys. Attention. You are not nearly as complex as you believe you are.”

You finally raise your head to look squarely in his eyes, your own void of any emotion as you regard him.

“You think you’re fooling anyone?” You mimic, “Men are so easy. You all have the same weakness. Power. Lust. Control. You are not nearly as complex as you believe you are.”

Carl looks enraged as his fist flies onto the table. Instead of flinching as he wanted, you merely tilt your head to one side and regard him in boredom.

“And you said teenage girls are emotional. You should really have better control than that,” you say calmly.

“Get her out of here,” he says through clenched teeth.

Walking back to your cell you sense it suddenly. A tickle in your mind. You snap your head to the side and hear it plain as day.

They know.

They found it.

The door. The door. The door!

There is panic in the words and in the mind.

He’s fourteen with dark hair and wild green eyes. You remember him vaguely from when you were here before.

Show!

You collapse as the boy enters your mind and you are thrown into a dream.

Billy is in a car accident. He’s pulled into a void. The screams are too much.

You try to pull away from him. To break away from his hold on you.

Bait.

The creature that fills the sky is terrifying. Black and everywhere. It fills your mind and you know in your heart that this isn’t over. That the Upside Down is beating at the door.

Wait…

You gasp as you are thrown back into your head. The haunted green eyes of the boy down the hall filling your vision.

“Get up!” yells the guard.

You are kicked roughly in the side as you double over again. The other reaches down and grabs your hair dragging you up to your feet.

“Not so tough without your powers are you?” spits the guard.

You blink and reorient yourself before you wipe the blood from your nose. You can feel him at the edge of your conscience.

Bad men… bad…

‘Yes…’ you think to him, ‘Bad men…’

Out?

He pauses for a breath as you are thrown back into your cell.

Out out out???

‘Soon.’

The thought seems to soothe him as his mind quiets and he drifts off to sleep. Vaguely, you wonder if he even knows how to talk. His mind is less fragmented than you originally thought though. You can use that to your advantage.

***

Billy opens his eyes to see you standing before him.

I need you to be ready.

“For what?” he asks instantly alert and sitting up, “Ready for what?”

The moment I expose them…

“What do you need us to do?”

The old base is where I’m being kept. Elle knows where. I will need a distraction in precisely three days’ time. You need to listen very carefully to my instructions. In a glass bottle mix carbon disulfide, phosphorus, and sulfur with a metal lid. This solution is highly flammable if exposed to air.

“What do you want us to do with that?”

I want to burn this place to the ground.

Notes:

I know! Such a long time coming! Concentrating has been difficult even with inspiration for this story! The next chapter will probably be the final chapter for this story, but never fear! I'll begin work on "I'll Tell You No Lies" the sequel to this story set in S3 of Stranger Things! There may be a little short in between this story and that one because I have such affection for this weird triangle between MC, Billy, and Steve. Please drop a comment to tell me your thoughts!

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove fanfiction #steve harrington x reader x billy hargrove #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x you #steve harington imagine #steve harrington x reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things series #stranger things reader insert #stranger things fandom #love triangle #healing #i'm fixing this #you're welcome

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moldisgoodforyou · 3 years

Text

home again

wordcount: 7.9k

warnings: brief smut moment, mentions of sexual content

________

Rafe double, triple-checked their plane tickets when they went back home from Rome. They’d bought them separately but somehow he was convinced he’d screwed it up again - when he reached for his phone a fourth time on the train to the airport, Sophie reached over and took it with a shake of her head.

After making it through security and buying two breakfast sandwiches for them, Rafe tucked his backpack under her feet. “Can you watch this for a second?”

“Yeah, where are you going?” Sophie asked curiously.

“I’ll be right back.” He answered vaguely, kissing her forehead. When he returned, he had an entire bag full of Italian snacks and candies, all indecipherable except for a small bag of dark chocolate M&Ms that he tossed at Sophie. Her face lit up as she caught it and realized. “Oh my god, I missed these.”

He grinned and slid into the seat next to her, dumping the snacks into his backpack. “I know you did. I figured we could try these on the plane, for some entertainment.”

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep.” She tore open the packet and poured some into her hand before offering it to him.

He accepted a few, but not too much more. “Good, you said we weren’t supposed to sleep. We’ll be all jetlagged.”

“But I’m tired.” She whined, dropping her head to his shoulder.

Rafe pressed a kiss to the top of her head, lowering his voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t have convinced me to sleep with you last night then. Until 3am.”

She blushed and shot him an indignant glare. “You started it in the shower.”

“You dropped to your knees in the shower first.” He smirked. “This is your fault.”

“Nothing is ever my fault.” She declared. “You’re just too hot, that’s all.”

“Uh huh.” The airport called for boarding over the speakers and he hauled her up, pulling out their passports and walked with her to the line. He paused when she moved forward. “Wait, Sophie, aren’t we sitting together?”

“No, I’m 23A.”

“And I’m 23B - wait, no, shit, I’m not.” He frowned and glanced down at his ticket. “I’ll fix this.”

“Rafe, you don’t have to -”

Her argument fell on deaf ears as he went forward, glancing at people’s tickets. She held back a smile as he put on his best southern drawl and his most charming grin as he talked with the woman in 23B, convincing her eventually - with twenty dollars - to trade seats once they were on the plane. Once they boarded, he gave her a smug smile as he sat next to her, putting up the arm rest so she could lean into him.

“How much did you bribe her with?”

“Bribe? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never bribed anyone in my life.”

_____

The entire ride home, he didn’t sleep at all. Sophie fell asleep on him within minutes, curled into him comfortably, and he didn’t dare move and wake her up. When they made it back to Columbus and James and Colin picked them up - with a ‘welcome back from federal prison’ sign. Sophie just grinned and greeted them both with a big hug, giggling when James kissed her cheek and Rafe socked him in the arm. The whole drive back, she chattered excitedly, filling the boys in on all her adventures while Rafe barely stayed awake, his head slumped onto her shoulder.

They went straight to Rafe’s senior house to relax and she gave herself a tour right away, impressed by the clean house and lack of lewd decor. (It was going up next week, anyways.)

She wasn’t tired at all as she strolled into his room, making a big deal of the newly painted walls and a few plants scattered around on shelves. “Check it out! This looks so good, Rafe!”

He yawned - again - and flopped onto his bed. “Shh.”

“Didn’t you sleep?” She did the same, sprawling out on his bed. “I can’t believe you have a king-sized bed, I’m never staying at my place.”

“No. Couldn’t sleep.” He stretched his neck uncomfortably, groaning. She nudged him over, tugging at the hem of his shirt, and he shook his head. “Nooo. I’m too tired for sex.”

She giggled and tugged again. “It’s not that. Sit up, I’ll rub your back.”

He sat up just enough to tug his shirt over his head and flopped back down to the mattress on his stomach. She crawled onto him and straddled him to massage his shoulders, digging her thumbs into the base of his neck. He groaned, twisting a little. “Lotion. In my nightstand drawer.”

“Ew, is that for -”

“My hands get dry, dummy, get your head out of the gutter.”

She flicked his neck. “Be nice or I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, baby, stay.” He whined, flexing his back a little as she stretched. She smiled to herself, appreciating his muscles and traced a finger down his spine. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

“Watch your hands.”

“I’m just touching your back.” She dug in a little harder into his shoulders, grinning when he groaned in appreciation.

“Yeah, and I know how touchy you can get.” He quipped, closing his eyes and letting her continue the massage. “Handsy.”

She teased his fingertips under the waistband of his shorts. “You’re gonna have to shower anyways.”

It took about two seconds for him to change his mind. “Hmm….fine. But I’m not gonna do any work if you start something.” He yawned. “And you’re not done on my back.”

She rolled her eyes and got back to work, pleased by his little satisfied noises. She was just about to roll him back over and tug down his shorts when James slammed his palm on the door. “Shut the fuck up, Rafe, we don’t want to hear you jacking off!”

“Jesus Christ, James, come in!” Rafe yelled back with annoyance lacing his tone. James came in to see their (mainly) innocent position. “Oh. It sounded like you were doing something else. Hi Sophie, I didn’t know you were still here.”

She giggled, crawling off of Rafe. “Hey. We weren’t -”

“Yeah, I can see that. My bad.” He went to leave and paused, sticking his head back in the door. “You should know, though, my room’s right below his. And we all share that bathroom, so I’d prefer things to be cleaned. Regularly.”

“Get out, James.” Rafe pointed with a glare. James nodded with a grin and left, the door clicking shut behind him. Sophie gave him an apologetic smile. “He’s really just below us?”

“Yeah. I don’t fucking care, I told him I’d buy him a white noise machine. C’mere.” He flipped over and pulled her up to his hips, groaning obnoxiously loud when his hard cock brushed against her core.

She giggled, rocking back and forth on him. “Now you’re just being annoying.”

“Good. He’s been worse, bringing home a different girl every weekend for a straight month before I left. Colin says he’s going through his hoe phase.” He yawned, tugging at her shirt. “You have about ten minutes to fuck me before I pass out in this bed.”

Sophie rolled her eyes, pulling off her shirt. “That’s it? Sure it’s worth it?”

“Angel, please.” He nearly begged, pulling her down to kiss her desperately, grinding his hips against hers.

“Okay, okay, you’re so needy.” She teased. “Let me just take care of you.”

“No, I want -” He started, cutting himself off when she pulled out his hard cock from his shorts and stroked down his length, making him hiss. “Okay. That’s fine.”

She rolled her eyes and ducked down to take him into her mouth, not giving any warning. He nearly groaned again until she reached up and slapped her free hand over his mouth. “Shh. Stay quiet or I’ll stop.”

He let his head fall back so she couldn’t see him and fisted the sheets, bucking up into her mouth. “So good. So fucking good, baby.” He mumbled against her hand, just loud enough that Sophie could hardly hear.

It didn’t take long for him to come, especially with the way she sucked on him and twisted her wrist at the same time. When he did, her hand still clapped against his mouth, he let out a satisfied sigh and grinned down at her. “You’re incredible.”

She removed her hand and gave him a quick kiss. “You’re too easy. I think that was four minutes.”

“Can’t help it. You were all touchy, you know what that does to me.” He tried pulling her close, all sleepy, and she gently swatted her hands away.

“No, baby. I gotta go home and shower, then unpack. And I want to get dinner with Allie and Jules.”

He frowned. “What about me?”

“I’ve been with you nonstop for three whole weeks.” She grinned and gave him another short kiss. “You’ll be okay. We’re gonna have to go back to sleeping apart sometimes.”

“Noooo.” He grumbled, reaching for her as she stood and tugged her shoes back on.

“Welcome back to reality, Cameron.”

“But you - you need your turn -” He tried arguing helplessly and she just grinned.

“I own a vibrator, remember?”

“Fuck. That thing.”

“Don’t worry.” She leaned against the wall with a smirk, arms crossed. “I’ll let you borrow it sometime. Can you drive me?”

Rafe sighed but ambled out of bed, tugging his shorts back up and pulling his shirt on. “This is not how I expected the night to go.”

“We both know you’re gonna pass out in bed the second you get back. Hopefully after a shower.”

“Yeah, probably.” He yawned, stretching. “If I’m not texting you by one in the afternoon tomorrow please check on me.”

She nodded seriously and shook his hand, making him laugh. “You have a deal. Don’t forget you have to pack though, we’re going home in two days.”

“We are home…?”

“Home home. Remember? We booked the flights yesterday in Rome?”

He nodded in recognition, casting a glance at his stuffed suitcase on the ground. “Right. Remind me why I couldn’t just ask for the plane?”

She scowled before she could catch herself. “I thought you didn’t want to see your dad when you were home.”

“Touché.” Rafe noticed her scowl but didn’t mention it, not having the energy to persist. He grabbed his keys and took her hand, bringing her out to the car. “C’mon, my chariot awaits.”

____

The two of them spent their two days before going home very differently - Rafe slept nearly the entire time, woke up at night to go get tacos with the boys, then went back to bed. Sophie decorated her entire room within four hours, set up her senior architecture studio, and had meetings with a professor, an advisor, and the co-president of the alumni mentorship program. (Rafe was exhausted just from seeing her texts about her schedule.)

The girls dropped them off at the airport only forty five minutes before their flight, despite Rafe’s protests that it wasn’t nearly enough time and Sophie’s argument that she’d made a flight with less time on a tiny airline in Spain. Their flight was inconvenient, as always - they had to fly into Virginia and take a 2.5 hour ferry to get back home. When they finally arrived, greeted by the familiar summer humidity and the smell of the sea, her brother picked them up to bring them to Sophie’s.

“Soph!” He yelled out the window from the pickup line. Rafe noticed immediately and straightened up, grabbing her bag as well as his to walk to the car.

She beamed, waving as they came closer, and slid into the front seat while Rafe put their suitcases in the back. “Carter! Hi! I thought you were moving this weekend?”

“I pushed it back a couple weeks, wanted to see you before I left. How was Barcelona?” He glanced back and nodded at Rafe briefly in the backseat. “Rafe.”

“Hey. Thanks for picking us up.” Rafe smiled politely, nearly crammed into the backseat because of how far back Sophie’s seat was. He assumed Carter had moved it before he came to pick them up, but didn’t dare say a word.

“Yeah, no problem.” The rest of the ride was just the two siblings talking, mainly Sophie telling him about her study abroad and the trips she’d taken with Rafe. Carter kept his eye on Rafe in the backseat at a few parties of her story, especially when she stuttered over talking about swimming in Nice and Rafe’s birthday. (Rafe very pointedly looked out the window to avoid his eyes.)

They were greeted by Sophie’s dad when Carter pulled the car up in the driveway. He wrapped Sophie in a tight, smothering hug when she jumped out of the car, the two of them sharing matching grins. “Hey, Sophie girl.”

“Hi Dad.” She mumbled against his shirt, hugging him tight. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too.” He finally let her go and welcomed Rafe in for a hug too, ignoring his handshake. “Nice to see you too, kiddo.”

“You too, Mr. Flint.” He beamed and excused himself from the hug quickly to get both his and Sophie’s suitcases, ever the gentleman in his presence. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here, I really appreciate it.”

Her dad nodded with a smile, taking Sophie’s bag from him. “Of course. Come on, I’ll show you to your spot in the guest room. Soph, your mom’s out running errands, I thought we could all head out to the course for a round if you’re not too tired?”

“Sure, that sounds fine. Dad, did you forward that study I emailed you about using filtered stormwater for the course to the groundskeeper? So it’s more eco-friendly?” Sophie asked over her shoulder, leading the way inside and upstairs.

Jeff sent Rafe a knowing smile behind her back, shaking his head. Ever since Sophie really got into eco conservation in high school, she’d been pushing more and more for the entire family to make small changes. Her efforts got more and more involved as she learned more in college, and she’d had meetings with the groundskeeper at the country club no less than five times - he listened politely as a favor to her dad, but that was all. “I sent it, yes. I’m not sure how well it was received.”

“Oh, well, I can send you some more resources. It’s good to at least provide the options, you know?” She turned back and took her bag into her room, automatically going for Rafe’s as well.

Rafe smiled, subtly pulling it away and tried to redirect her dad’s attention. “Um, which one’s the guest room?”

“Other end of the hallway, just opposite Carter’s room.” Jeff gave him a pointed look and he nodded quickly. “Great, thank you.”

“Dad, you’re not seriously making him stay in there.” Sophie argued, giving her dad a pleading look.

“No, it’s fine! I’m sure it’s perfect, I’ll go make myself at home.” Rafe quickly excused himself, heading down the hall and just barely stayed in earshot of the two.

Her dad regarded her carefully. “Sophie, you can’t really expect me to believe you two had been in separate dorms that entire trip like you’ve been telling your mother, can you?”

She grew embarrassed, leaning against her doorway. “Dad...”

“I’m not oblivious, honey, I just hope you’re being safe -”

“Dad! Please. I don’t want to talk about this with you. Ever.” She told him with wide eyes and red cheeks, backing into her room slowly.

“Alright, just. Be careful. Both of you.” He warned her, patting her shoulder before heading back down the stairs, calling out loudly over his shoulder. “Be ready in fifteen!”

She just groaned and flopped back onto her bed.

“Ready, kids?” Jeff called up the stairs, exactly fifteen minutes later. Sophie was in the guest room with Rafe, sporting a golf tank from high school and a matching skort. The tank was a little tight across the chest and she’d flaunted into his room with it unbuttoned to completely show off her boobs, showing him exactly what was underneath.

“Yes sir!” Rafe called back, a little higher pitched than normal, and shoved Sophie’s shoulder lightly. “Button that up,” he hissed.

“You’re a prude.” She rolled her eyes, buttoning it back up to her neck but adjusted her skort to sit a little higher. (Nothing too inappropriate, but it was just enough to drive Rafe crazy.)

“I’m not - we are going golfing with your father, baby, and you look like several dreams I’ve had in high school. Do not pull something. Fix your skirt.”

She perked up, taking a step closer. “You dreamed about me in high school? What kind of dreams?”

“No. We’re not doing this.” He told her, but she didn’t miss the way he reached in his pocket and grimaced for a moment. “Behave.”

She grinned and practically skipped downstairs, with Rafe following close behind. “We’re ready! Dad, can we just play 9 today? I wanted to go hang out on the beach with Rafe later.”

“Our reservation’s for the full 18. What, you don’t want to play a full round with your old man?” Her dad teased, but she could hear the tiny tone of hurt underneath.

“We can go to the beach another time, the full 18’s perfect.” Rafe interjected. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with you though, Mr. Flint, I haven’t really played since last year.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine, I saw your form earlier this summer.” Her dad replied cheerfully, not noticing as Sophie mouthed “suck up” to Rafe behind his back.

They all drove to the course and split into carts, her dad in one and Rafe and Sophie in the other. As they rode to the second hole, Sophie kicked her feet up on the dash, ignoring the golf etiquette standard. “Hey, Rafe.”

He instantly reached over and shoved her feet off, casting a glance toward her dad to make sure he didn’t see. “Yes ma’am.”

“You think we could pull off a quickie tonight?”

He fixed her with a glare, unamused. “Sophie. Do not.”

She just smirked as she skipped off the cart to the hole, club in hand. She didn’t quit the entire rest of the game, murmuring little dirty things into his ear on the cart or pretending like she was going to flash him, bursting into giggles as he nearly wrecked the cart trying to lunge across the seat to keep her shirt down. Rafe was entirely distracted the whole game, trying to stay as civil as possible around her dad while also keeping Sophie in check.

Her competitive streak kicked in around the sixth hole, when she was losing by just enough. Jeff kept pointing out little imperfections in her form - her arms were bent too far, her hips didn’t rotate enough, her head wasn’t down for long enough - and Rafe winced nearly every time. Sophie took it all in stride though, and he had to remind himself that criticism from a parent was fine when it was paired with constant encouragement after she improved.

Her dad was a little more sensitive to how Rafe responded to criticism, starting everything with a compliment first and then phrasing the critique as a suggestion. At the end of the game - despite Rafe barely losing to Sophie, Jeff coming in first - he nudged Rafe and gave him an encouraging grin. “You’re looking good, kid. Might beat this one if she wasn’t so annoying.”

“Dad!” Sophie exclaimed. “I didn’t do a thing -”

“I raised you better than to whistle on the golf course, Soph.” Her dad pointed out as he poked her in the leg with his club. “Breaking every single etiquette rule out there.”

“It’s a simple distraction technique.” She protested with a sheepish grin. She had whistled at Rafe when he bent over to place his ball on the tee - twice - and thought her dad hadn’t noticed either time.

“If you’re using distraction to win the game, maybe you aren’t good enough.” Her dad retorted, laughing as Rafe’s eyebrows shot up at the same time as Sophie’s. “Go drive the carts back, I’ll meet you two at the car.” As Sophie grinned and started toward her dad’s cart, he called after her again. “No racing! Not again!”

She just ignored him and Jeff turned to Rafe with an exasperated grin. “I’m not sure how you kept up with her for that long in Europe.”

“I’m not entirely sure either, sir.” Rafe told him with a smile.

____

When they came back to the house, all a little sweaty, her mom had a tray of lemonade and snacks set out for all of them. “Mrs. Flint, hi. Thank you for this.” Rafe thanked her immediately, wiping the sweat off his brow.

“Rafe, it’s good to see you, thank you for keeping an eye on my child the past few weeks.” Her mom greeted with a teasing grin. “Sophie, Angie is coming over with the twins any second now, can you two watch them for a couple hours?”

Sophie scowled, flopping back into her chair and only straightened up instinctively when her mom tapped her shoulders. “Rafe and I were going to -”

“No, that’s fine, we don’t have plans.” Rafe cut her off quickly, nudging Sophie’s foot with his. “Who’s Angie?”

“Angie’s my older cousin, she just had her babies around February.” Sophie informed him. “They’re kind of cute, I guess.”

“They’re very cute, and it’s just so Angie and your aunt and I can go shopping for more baby clothes. You haven’t met them yet, you should be excited to see them.” Her mom chastised with a shake of her head. “You’ll have your own soon enough, so this’ll be a learning experience.”

Sophie nearly spat out her lemonade, affronted. “Mom!”

“Don’t be dramatic, Sophie.” She tutted and went back inside.

Sophie gaped after her, shaking her head. “Ignore her. Go shower, I’ll shower when you’re done.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that exchange, always a little confused by her mom’s well-intentioned insults. “I thought the kids were coming…?”

“Yeah, I can handle them and then we’ll swap.” She grinned, lowering her voice. “Or we could shower together and it’ll be faster.”

Rafe practically scrambled out of his chair to go shower, pointing accusingly at her. “Stop that.”

“Stop what.”

“You know - that.” He gestured wildly at the way she’d leaned forward, undone a button and bit her bottom lip. “You’re teasing. Just wait until we’re back in Ohio, please.”

She just smirked and leaned forward to kick his ass lightly. “Go.”

____

When she came back down after her slightly-too-long shower with damp hair, she stopped in her tracks at the base of the stairs. Rafe had one of the babies napping in the play crib and the other asleep on his chest, tiny fingers curled around his pinky as he carefully rubbed her back. Sophie took a quick photo before he could notice and approached quietly, combing her fingers through his hair affectionately.

He lifted his head to smile at her, whispering. “She fell asleep like this, isn’t she sweet? I think this one is baby Ava.”

She laughed quietly, shaking her head. “That’s Amelia. Ava’s in the crib, she has more hair.”

“Oh. Look at her tiny fingers, Sophie.” He murmured, so proud that he was able to get them to stay asleep. When Angie had arrived, she’d brought in both car seats and set up the crib, then handed off both still-sleeping babies to him with only a short introduction. She’d nestled Amelia on his chest, telling him she slept better that way, and thanked him profusely before leaving with Sophie’s mom.

“Babies are so weird.” Sophie replied, a little too loud. “At least they’re starting to get cute.”

He shushed her immediately with a glare. “They’re not weird.”

“How are you so good at this?” She cocked her head, considering picking up Ava from the crib but not trusting her skills.

“Dunno. I like kids.” He traced small circles on Amelia’s back, quietly shushing her when she cooed a little. After a few moments, he glanced up at Sophie with a smile. “How many do you want?”

“I’m not giving you a baby any time soon.” She told him pointedly, leaning into him a little. “But I guess if you really want, I could start calling you daddy…”

He shuddered, his whole face scrunching up into a scowl. “I hope that’s not a kink of yours because I’m really not sure I could entertain it.”

She giggled, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’m just kidding. Um, I don’t know that I’ve thought about it. I’ve only ever thought as far as my job.”

“Wait, really? Never?”

She shrugged. “Nah. I liked having Carter growing up though. You’ve thought about it?”

He nodded confidently. “Yeah. Two or three’s perfect, I think. Not too much of an age gap in between. A good mix of girls and boys. I want to...yeah.”

Sophie furrowed her brow, turning to face him. “You want what?”

“I want to be a good dad. To do it right.” He told her, a little shy. “I’m not sure I could, but -”

“You will.” She interrupted him, firmly. “I know you will.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, baby. You’re going to love our kids so well -”

“Our kids?” He interjected with a small grin, making her blush as a matching blush crept up on his cheeks.

“Sorry, did you plan on having kids with someone else?” She raised her eyebrows.

“No. ‘Course not. Just didn’t know you planned on having them with me.” His grin grew to split across his cheeks, beaming.

She shook her head, feeling herself grow bright red. “Well, yeah. Later, but yeah. You’re it for me, Rafe.” She told him, her voice going a little soft.

He nodded, reaching out to grab her hand and kiss the back of it, the most movement he could make without disturbing the baby. “Good. My favorite.”

“My favorite.” She echoed softly, leaning back into him. As the garage door opened and both babies startled, Ava starting to wail, she scowled and stood to pick her up, holding her out at arm’s length as she began to scream. Amelia began to wake but stayed quiet, her little fist tightening around Rafe’s finger.

“Actually hold her, Soph.” He told her with a skeptical glance at the way she was clearly uncomfortable around the baby. She moved her grip to be able to rock the baby but Ava kept screaming, sensing Sophie’s lack of experience.

Just as Sophie was about to place her hand over Ava’s mouth, Angie came in with an exasperated sigh. “Oh, baby, it’s okay, did the garage wake you?” She cooed, immediately soothing her daughter.

Sophie’s mom followed, smiling at the sight of Rafe completely comfortable with Amelia quietly on his chest still. “Look at that, you’ve got the natural instinct.”

“Oh my god, can I take you home with me? Sophie, I’m stealing your boyfriend.” Angie joked, winking at Rafe.

He laughed, getting up carefully so he didn’t shift Amelia too much and carefully placed her back into the crib. “I wouldn’t mind a little babysitting, but I’ve got to go back to Ohio for our senior year at the end of the weekend.”

“Right, of course.” Angie nodded, giving him a grateful smile.

Sophie rolled her eyes at Rafe behind Angie’s back. “Thanks for letting us watch them for a bit, Ang, they’re adorable, but we kind of have plans…”

“But you'll be back after dinner?” Her mom asked. Sophie resisted a scowl while Rafe just gave her an eager smile. “We’ll be back for dinner, no worries.”

“Okay, see you later!” Sophie practically dragged him upstairs, pulling him into her room and shutting the door before he could protest. He immediately reached for the doorknob, but she grabbed his hand and leaned up to kiss him, hard.

Rafe kissed her back for a few moments before he was reminded where he was and pulled back quickly. “Soph, we can’t.”

“I just want to kiss you.” She argued with a pleading tone, pouting a little.

“I thought we were leaving? Going to the beach?” He dodged another attempted kiss from her, easily slipping out from where she had him pinned against the door and stepped away from her.

“Right. I have to change.” She pulled off her shirt and bralette in one fell swoop, then kicked off her shorts too before he could blink.

He gaped for a moment when he realized she was completely naked, his voice lowering a little. “Baby.”

“Yeah?” She strolled over to her dresser, pretending to rifle through her drawer of old swimsuits, and settled on a hot pink string bikini. She’d bought it in high school and kept it in her car to change into for pool parties, because if her mom ever caught her in it she was sure she’d be transferred to a Catholic boarding school immediately. She knew for a fact Rafe had seen it before, even complimented her in it back in high school, and was hoping he’d recognize it.

He did.

Right away.

“Soph, not - not that one.” He implored, voice cracking. He could feel his throat going dry as he fought every urge in his body telling him to go over to her and have his way with her right that instant, trying to remind himself that her parents were literally right downstairs.

She held back a grin as she shimmied into the bikini, tying it up behind her neck. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“I’m getting you back for this. All this teasing today. I swear. I - I -” He couldn’t even come up with a decent half-hearted threat as she strode closer, letting her hair down from her claw clip, and a big whiff of her shampoo overloaded his senses.

“You’ll what.”

“You’re going to regret this.” He told her, and she swore she could hear the way his voice was shaking.

“What are you gonna do? Punish me? Tie me up?” She teased, and the hint of a laugh in her voice was enough to break his spell.

“Sophie, please. No more. I’ll do whatever you want the second we’re back in Ohio, but I am really trying to make a good impression on your family.” He pleaded, eyes trained intensely on hers - though she was pretty sure it was just so he wouldn’t be able to look down at her tits.

“Okay, okay.” She grabbed her shirt from the bed and pulled it on over the swimsuit, her shorts following. “You don’t have to try so hard though, you know?”

“I know, I just. I want to do this right.” He relaxed a little once she got dressed, but was still mainly tense. “Can I, uh, use your bathroom?”

Sophie sat back on the bed, sending him a confused glance. “No one uses the one out in the hall by the guest room, just use that.”

“That one doesn’t have a shower.”

“You just showered - oh.” She realized as soon as Rafe’s slightly pained expression set in and she noticed the bulge in his shorts. Sophie grinned, satisfied. “I could take care of that faster, y’know.”

“I think I’d still be hard after.” He confessed with a shake of his head, quickly letting himself into the bathroom and ignoring her giggles as he locked the door.

____

They were only out at the beach for a couple hours before they had to return home, but it was like she could see the tension literally unraveling from Rafe’s body when he wasn’t under the pressure of impressing her parents. They laid out their towels with a little overlap and she had her head on Rafe’s arm as they sprawled out on the beach, uninterrupted. When his phone chimed, he nudged her a little. “Can you grab that?”

Sophie sat up to get his phone from her bag at their feet. “Your dad texted.”

“What does it say?”

“I don’t know your password.”

“You did the Face ID thing for it in France, remember?” He didn’t move a muscle, halfway to falling asleep out in the sun.

She cocked her head, surprised when the phone unlocked. “I thought you would have taken it off, thought it was just for traveling.”

“Nope. I have nothing to hide.” He nudged his sunglasses down and squinted up at her. “What does it say?”

“Oh, right.” She opened his text, frowning a little. “Um, he said he saw you leaving the country club the other day and wants you over for lunch tomorrow.”

“Fuck.” He muttered, sitting up with a sigh and took the phone from her to read over the text to see if there were any undertones of him being in trouble. “Okay. You’ll come, right?”

“What - me? I don’t know if that’s really necessary -”

“I’ve been with your family all weekend.”

She frowned more, tucking her knees up to her chest. “I thought you wanted to stay with my family.”

“I do, I do!” He backtracked quickly, reaching out and skimming his hand over her arm. “But I want you to come with me.”

“Rafe…” She started, hesitant, but gave in once she saw his pleading look. “Alright. I’ll go, but I doubt he’ll want me there.”

“He’ll be fine.” Rafe shot off a quick reply to his dad, satisfied when Ward liked the message in response. “It’ll be fine. It’s just lunch.”

“Mmhmm.” She didn’t bring up how he sounded like he was reassuring himself more than anything. She stood, offering her hand. “Come on, swim with me.”

He kissed the back of it before taking it and hauling himself up. “I love you. You know that?”

“I know, baby. I always know.”

_____

Later that night, Sophie sat across from her dad as they got dinner ready. She’d informed him she and Rafe were going to Ward’s house tomorrow for lunch and her dad had merely replied with a noncommittal hum, asked her how she felt, and nodded again when she replied with a wary shrug.

“I never liked the idea of you dating.” Jeff told her as he sliced up watermelon for their dinner that night. Rafe paused around the corner, sent to the garage to grab charcoal for the grill, not wanting to interrupt.

“Dad.” She whined a little, embarrassed, but didn’t move from her spot across the kitchen counter.

“I didn’t, you’re my little girl. But I like Rafe, a lot. He’s a good kid, Sophie, keep him around.”

“I’m planning on it.” She murmured.

“You love him?” Jeff inquired, pausing his cutting of the watermelon for a moment. She merely nodded to respond with a blush and a smile and Rafe nearly walked out then just so he could see the look on her face, desperately craving the confirmation.

“He makes me...I just…” Sophie tripped over her words a little, tugging at the loose threads on her jean shorts. “I feel safe with him. With Luke, or Peter, you know, I -”

“I try not to remember them.” Her dad quipped with a smile, making her roll her eyes. “Go on.”

“Just, with them I didn’t really see much past what we had. But with Rafe, it’s different. Like, I know he’ll stick by my side. For...a while.” She decided, giving her dad a shy but eager smile.

“Well, when that time comes, I’ll be happy to have him in the family.” Jeff told her decisively.

“Me too.” She murmured, then hopped up from her chair. “I’m gonna go find him, he’s probably still rooting around the garage for the charcoal.”

Rafe carefully stepped back a few steps, just enough to quickly shut the door to the garage loudly and stroll in with a sense of purpose like he hadn’t just overheard the whole conversation. “Found it! Sorry, took me a second.”

“I thought you got lost.” She beamed at him, seeming to regard him in a different light for a moment.

He stood taller under her adoring gaze, smiling back. “Nope. Where do you want this, Mr. Flint?”

“Backyard’s fine. Know how to work the grill, Rafe?” Jeff set down the knife and pushed the watermelon toward Sophie so she could take over.

“Uh, not sure, I’ve only ever used electric.”

“C’mon then, let me show you how it’s done.” He clapped a hand on Rafe’s shoulder as he passed to lead the way out to the backyard.

____

Sophie was hardly able to sleep all night, so she crept into Rafe’s room around 1am, careful to only open the door just enough so it wouldn’t creak. “Rafe?”

He was awake too, just barely, and rolled over to greet her, whispering. “Hey. Why are you still up?”

“Can’t sleep.” She mumbled and crawled into his bed without invitation, laying on top of him and placed her head over his heart. He hesitated for a moment but eventually wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “Me either.”

“Are you nervous?” She asked.

“For lunch? A little, yeah. But I don’t sleep well without you anyways.” He confessed, playing with the ends of her hair.

“That’s no good.” She traced little patterns on his chest. “Your dad hates me. Right?”

“I don’t think so.” He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, not bothering to add that he wasn’t sure she was even enough on his radar for Ward to consider hating her. “You need to sleep, sweet girl.”

“So do you.”

“You’re not supposed to be in here.”

She raised her arm with her watch aimlessly. “I set an alarm for six. I’ll go back to my room then.”

“Okay. Sweet dreams, angel.” He kept playing with her hair until he heard her breathing slow and deepen, and only let himself fall asleep an hour after, once he was sure they wouldn’t be caught.

_______

Later that day, after anxiously pacing the house all morning, Sophie was squeezing the life out of his hand as they walked up to his front door. He pressed a kiss to her temple before letting them in. “Soph. It’s okay.”

“Your dad hates me.” She told him with a straight face.

“He - I don’t think that’s true.” He faltered, punching in the code to the front door and toed it open when it unlocked. “This isn’t fun for me either, can you please help me out and not break my hand?”

“Right! Right, sorry.” She let go of him right away, letting him shake out his hand. “Here, let me -” She reached up to fix his hair and he jerked away, startled.

“He says it looks better gelled, don’t -”

“I’m not, I’m just fixing -” She carefully pushed a stray strand back into place and he gave her a grateful smile when he felt it. “Okay. We’re okay?”

“We’re good. Go ahead.” She nodded and followed him in, taking his hand when he reached out for hers.

Ward spotted them first, coming in from the kitchen with two wine glasses in his hands. “Rafe! Do you want wine? Um...Savannah…?”

Rafe’s face fell and his shoulders dropped as he clutched her hand a little tighter. “Her name is Sophie, Dad. I’ve only told you that at least ten times.”

“It’s okay.” She excused quickly with an overly polite smile. “We’ve only met once, at your Christmas party.”

“Right, right, I remember.” Ward nodded and set the glasses down at the table. “I’ll get you both a glass, hold on. Rose!” He called out, going back into the kitchen.

Rafe gave her an apologetic glance and she shook her head quickly. “It’s fine. Doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter.”

“Yes, well, it’s fine. Are Sarah and Wheezie here?”

“I already asked, Sarah’s back at school and Wheezie got out of this to hang out with some friends.” He had texted them the night before for support, but had no luck.

“Okay.” She reached up and stroked her thumb over his cheek, whispering. “Relax your shoulders for me, baby.”

“Right.” He nodded, but stayed tense. Rose returned with Ward a few moments later, with the whole bottle in hand and two empty glasses. “Rafe, you’re here. Sophie, hello, are you still jetlagged from your trip?”

“Um, no.” Sophie replied curtly. “We’ve been back for a few days now.”

“Oh, you just looked a little tired. Maybe it’s the lighting.” Rose gave her a sweet smile and gestured around, although the entire dining room was filled with natural light.

“Maybe.” Sophie forced herself to agree, sitting after Rafe pulled out her chair for her. All their plates were already set out with individual portions, and she noticed there was more salad on her plate than anyone else’s, but didn’t dare say a thing.

“Tell me about your internship, Rafe. You didn’t leave early for the trip, did you?” Ward asked, starting to eat and Sophie took that as an invitation to start as well. When she reached for the wrong fork, Rafe tried to subtly reach out and push the other one toward her.

“No, I finished it then went out to Spain. The internship was good, I learned a lot. I have a job offer from them.”

“You’re not accepting, of course.” Rose replied, then raised her eyebrows at his pause to answer. “Right? Aren’t you coming home after graduation to work with your father?”

“I have a couple options.” Rafe replied vaguely, taking a larger sip of wine than what was considered polite.

To his surprise, Ward nodded in agreement. “You can explore a few things before you come home, it’ll give you more experience for joining the board. A year or so after graduation, that’s fine.”

“You’ll let him swan around instead of doing his job?”

“A couple years won’t hurt anything. He’s in supply chain, Rose, it’s relevant work.”

Rafe had a small smile as he picked at his food with the fork, then lifted his head. “What if I didn’t get a job in supply chain? To start?”

Ward fixed him with a stern gaze. “If this is about your minor, I don’t want to hear it.”

His smile dropped as quickly as he’d found it. “No, yeah, supply chain is smart.”

Rose glanced between the two of them, then cocked her head at Sophie. “What are you studying?”

“I’m in architecture.” Sophie replied, tensing a little.

“Oh. That’s cute. I’ve been looking to hire someone to help decorate our parlor, actually -”

“It’s, um, designing buildings, not interior decorating. It requires a master’s.” Sophie cut her off, with a little more edge to her voice than necessary.

Rose nodded. “Right. What’s the starting salary, around 30k? It’s a good thing you’re with Rafe, you won’t have to sacrifice for a tiny apartment once you graduate.”

Sophie flinched, stabbing her fork into the salad harder than necessary. “It depends on the firm.”

Rafe stayed silent, staring at his wine glass. They all sat there quietly as the clinks of their forks and their glasses echoed in the room for a few moments as they all ate, or pushed around the food on their plates.

“Rafe.”

His head snapped up at Ward. “Yes sir.”

“Are you still wanting the plane and the house for your fall break?”

Sophie didn’t dare look up to show the surprise flash across her face.

“Yes, sir, if that’s alright. It’s just a small group.” Rafe replied, nodding quickly. “I’ll do that remote work like you asked, call into the meetings if you need me to.”

“That’ll work.” Ward nodded. “You haven’t taken Sophie down there, just Brooklyn, right?”

“Mm. Yeah. That was a while ago.” Rafe sighed. “I haven’t dated her in over a year.”

“You’ll love it, Sophie,” Rose smiled at her. “It’s the best, so luxurious. You’re probably not used to it so it’ll be a treat.”

She bit the inside of her cheek, hard. “Right.”

Rafe glanced down at his watch as he briefly squeezed her knee under the table. “Thank you for having us over for lunch, Dad, Rose, but we have to catch our flight tonight and haven’t packed up yet. Sophie’s dad is driving us to the airport.”

“Alright.” Ward rose from his chair at the same time as his son, nodding. “Call me, okay? Check in once in a while?”

“Yeah, Dad, of course.” Rafe relaxed into the hug with his dad, pulling away with a broad smile. “Maybe you could come up for parent’s weekend this year.”

“I’ll check the calendar. Sophie, it was nice to see you again.” Ward walked them both out and she was unbelievably stiff as she shook his hand, her jaw set. When they walked out hand in hand again to her dad’s car, parked at the very end of the drive, she stayed quiet.

Rafe slid into the car with her and gave her a grin, like the weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “That wasn’t bad, right? I expected much worse!”

“Yeah.” She nodded weakly, staring ahead at his house out the window. “Can we go?”

He started the car with a frown, reaching out to place his hand on her thigh but she shifted away. “Sophie. What’s up?”

“Let’s just get home.” She offered a fake smile that he saw through right away, but he didn’t press it.

The rest of the drive was quiet as Rafe turned the radio up and tried to ignore her leg jittering anxiously and how she kept switching her ring from finger to finger, a constant nervous habit of hers. When he pulled into the driveway at her house, he reached out again and stilled her leg. “Sophie.”

“You didn’t say a thing.” She murmured to herself, not looking at him.

“What do you mean?” He frowned and reached out to take her hand.

Sophie pulled back a little, but turned to look at him. “Nothing, it’s fine. I’m glad it went well with your dad.”

“But…”

She leaned forward and gave him a short kiss and a smile to match, shaking her head. “You said it yourself, we have to go pack. Come on.” She got out of the car and didn’t give him a second glance backward as she strode into the house.

Rafe sat there and watched, dumbfounded and unsure of what he’d done.

taglist: @whoeveniskendall @kkmaybank @karsinner @outerbanksbro @outerbankspreferences @randomficsandshit @jailcalledlife @tovvaa @moniamaybank @illbesafeforyou @dontjinx-it @freddymaybank @jjmaybankzz @g4bster @oopsiedoopsie23 @babygal-babygal @thecuthoney @babeyglo

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron fanfic #obx fanfic #outer banks fanfic #rafe x sophie #college rafe #frat rafe #mine #ok rlly needed to get this out but i need to concentrate more on the big conversation so cliffhanger sry!!!!#actually no i'm giving you almost eight thousand words i'm not sorry. i take it back

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iwaslut · 3 years

Text

— silence

synopsis: the aftermath of an assassin’s bullet.

note: acts as a sequel to “a moment,” but it’s not necessary to read it beforehand.

ft. jean kirschtein, mikasa ackerman, and connie springer.

warning: season four, episode eight spoilers, angst, referenced character death, blood.

the quiet is deafening.

the solemn atmosphere that’s now replaced the once jovial celebration of the scouts is nearly suffocating. it’s difficult for you to believe that only a little while ago, your comrades were reveling in paradis’ supposed victory. this doesn’t feel like one.

the soft whirring of the aircraft’s engine and the slight shuffling of soldiers around are all muted to you as you sit alone in a darkened corner on the harsh wooden planks of the floor.

your knees are drawn up close to your chest as you blankly stare at your hands outstretched in front of you. with your palms turned up, you can’t tear your eyes away from the redness that stains them. you can’t look away from the blood that once belonged to your sister.

you ball them into fists and let them drop onto your kneecaps, and lean your forehead against your knees.

when will it end?

a warm hand gently lands on your shoulder and without even looking, you already know who it is. with your head still firmly pressed against your knees, you allow jean to slowly unfurl your clenched fists. dark crescents mar your palms and you feel a trickle of cool liquid drip onto them before jean drags a damp washcloth over them, cleansing your hands of the dried blood that coats them.

he works slowly, dragging the cloth over every crevice of your palm and in between each of your fingers. he pretends to not notice the way your shoulders begin to shake or the muffled sobs that escape pass your sealed lips. once he’s sure that your hands are entirely clean, jean takes a seat down beside you and tiredly sighs.

after taking a few deep ragged breaths, a futile attempt to regain some composure, you turn your head to the side to look at the man you’ve loved since you were trainees.

his knees rest against his chest, similar to you, and his hands are firmly pressed over his ears as strands of his grown out hair are harshly entangled in between his fingers. his stare is directed towards the ground, but you can make out the tear-stains that are still in the process of drying on his cheeks. you reach out, gently tugging jean’s hand away from his face and forcing him to loosen his grip on his hair.

“who’s going to steal food off of my plate now?” you blurt out. you rub your thumb over the backside of jean’s hand, an action that brings comfort to the both of you. tears blur the corners of your vision once more as you focus your attention on the action of moving your thumb back and forth over and over again.

jean lets out a watery chuckle and leans his head against yours. he flips his palm upward and folds his fingers over yours before sighing heavily.

“i don’t know,” he admits.

the silence that fills the room is unsettling.

ever since your first encounter with a titan all those years ago, you’ve suffered from nightmares and insomnia, but that’s not what’s keeping you away from sleep tonight. no, the distinct lack of a certain sound is what’s causing sleep to elude you this evening.

you don’t know whether you want to laugh or cry at the fact you can’t fall asleep without sasha’s obnoxious snoring.

turning onto your side, you pull the thread-barren blanket that’s pooled around your chest back up to your chin and look out the window. your eyes follow the thin trail of moonlight that seeps through the glass of the window. the faint light dully illuminates the interior of the room, and your eyes fall upon your remaining roommate.

you know mikasa can’t sleep either.

if one were to just briefly look over at mikasa, they’d think she was fully asleep. lying flat on her back and completely still on top of her cot, one might even mistaken her for dead. but after being roommates for so long, you’ve come to know the subtleties that distinguish whether she’s awake or not.

it’s almost unnoticeable and you have to strain your ears to even hear it, but mikasa’s breathing pattern is off. if she were asleep, her breaths would be nice and deep and there’d be a certain rhythm to it. right now, her breathing is erratic, a mesh of shallow inhales and deep exhales as if she’s trying to catch her breath.

neither of you can fall asleep without the cacophony known as sasha’s snoring.

it’s something that worsened as sasha aged. when you were kids, you used to threaten that you’d smother sasha with a pillow if she continued to make so much noise at night.

but now as you lie awake in the middle of the night, you miss it more than anything.

you sit up straight in your bunk and toss your legs over the side. the ground is cool against your bare feet, but you pay it no mind. curling your blanket around your body, you patter over to where mikasa is.

“c’mon,” you whisper, placing a hand on her bare arm. her gaze shifts from the bottom of the empty bunk above her to you. “i’ll make us some tea right now.”

mikasa doesn’t reply, but gives you a small nod before hoisting herself out of bed as well.

you both will have to learn how to become accustomed to the quiet.

out of all of your friends, there is nobody who can really understand how you feel right now besides connie.

sasha was family to the both of you - your other half.

although you loved your sister with all your heart, you were overjoyed that she managed to find someone like connie to stick by her side.

you fully believe that connie and your sister were soulmates if such a thing were true. whether platonic or romantic, there’s no arguing that the two complemented one another like no other. you couldn’t have connie without sasha, just like how you couldn’t have sasha without connie.

they brought out the best in each other and never failed to lighten the mood amongst your friends whenever things got too dreary.

god, you miss your sister.

it doesn’t go unnoticed by you how connie will turn to the side while your friends are walking around town with some remark on the tip of his tongue just to clamp his mouth shut once he realizes no one’s there. or how his eyes linger on the spot to your left for a few seconds longer than necessary before flickering back up to meet your gaze when he greets you and jean.

mealtimes are the worst.

you used to look forward to them; you may not have had the same appetite as sasha did, but you appreciated the opportunity to eat as well as the time to spend with those closest to you.

now, you nearly dread them.

an effort at minimal small talk is made at the table before it quickly dies off as you all push around the food that’s been prepared for your meal. the quality of your meals has improved since the days you were cadets, but not by much.

“sasha would’ve loved this.” the sound of connie’s voice breaks the silence. with his elbow lying on top of the table, connie’s head rests in his hand as he spoons through the porridge in his bowl.

“yeah,” you agree quietly, looking down at your own meal, “she would’ve.”

jean places a hand over yours, and you shoot a grateful smile his way. another gap of silence fills the air once more as you all soak in connie’s words.

“i think we should enjoy every meal we’re able to spend together.” the firmness in your voice startles both jean and connie who turn to look your way. “and once this damn war is over, we’re going to travel all over the world and taste all the food there is.”

tilting your head up, you look at connie sitting across from you. his eyes are still filled with weariness, but he gives you a small, but genuine smile in return.

“okay,” he says while nodding. jean squeezes your hand in agreement and you all go back to eating your food.

mealtimes will forever remind you of sasha, but the quietness that proceeds isn’t as stifling as it once was.

#aot x reader #aot x you #aot x y/n #attack on titan imagine #attack on titan x you #attack on titan x reader #jean kirstein x reader #jean kirschtein x reader #connie springer x reader #mikasa x reader #connie x reader #jean x reader #mikasa ackerman x reader #celeste.scribs

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stillebesat · 3 years

Text

Demon Comfort (3/3)

DECEMBER DRABBLES DAY 14 Sanders Sides: Logan, Virgil Blurb: Lurking under a Human’s bed should be downright dull for a Demon of Logan’s rank. And yet…he can’t help but be intrigued by his human charge. Fic Type: Demon!AU, Demon!Logan Overall Fic Warnings: Near Death Experiences, Freezing, Burning, Hazing Talk, Manipulation Taglist in reblog. To Catch Up: Part 1 Part 2

He’d been staring at the pages of the book Virgil had brought for him for hours now, not taking in a single word written there.

How could he when his charge was late.

Logan tsked, tail tapping a staccato against the bed frame as he flipped the book shut, turning his head to glare at the door, doing his best to ignore the twisting in his chest the--the worry that he was feeling.

Virgil could take care of himself. He knew that.

But after having to rescue his charge twice from life or death situations. It was...stressful, far more stressful than it should ever be, to wait for him to come back home from class. Especially since it was easily becoming clear that despite his craving for a fresh start, despite the fact that Logan had gone out and handily taken care of the six people responsible for nearly cooking his human in the boiler room, that Virgil still was not happy here.

Logan paused, tilting his head as he felt the first threads of the familiar thundercloud approaching. Finally. He relaxed when the bedroom door swung open, a black and purple backpack dropping to the floor a second later with a muted thud.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was trying to stick to the very last shreds of the rules of conduct between demon and human where he wouldn’t reveal himself unless Virgil called for him, Logan would have been out from under the bed in a flash demanding to know where in the world his charge had been and why he was only getting home now when Logan knew the boy had finished classes before lunch and had a mountain of unfinished final term papers to complete and--

Virgil dropped to his knees next to the bed, a purple blanket pooling at his feet. “Scoot over.” He said, not giving Logan a chance to react before shoving his way under the bed.

“Wha--WHY?!” He choked out in surprise. This wasn’t---Virgil had never indicated an interest in visiting him under here before.

Yet as soon as he caught sight of his tear streaked face, Logan found himself automatically lifting one wing and shifting his position to hold out an arm so he could slip underneath, a hot spike of anger rising in his chest. Virgil didn’t cry. He didn’t--What had happened to his dark and broody charge?

Virgil didn’t hesitate, ducking under both wing and arm to curl up into his chest, his soft hair tickling Logan’s chin as the boy choked back a sob, clinging to him. “Ju--just hold me for a minute, okay?” He whispered.

Logan lowered his wing, easily hiding him from view as he tightened his grip around him, holding Virgil close as he ran gentle claws through his hair. “Of course.” He said, careful to keep his voice from echoing.

He frowned up at the pitch black cloud that hung like an anvil over Virgil’s head, catching only glimpses of the past four hours of torture his charge had been through. Glimpses because Virgil’s thoughts were being slippery, his human not wanting him to know exactly what had gone wrong. Annoying that. He shouldn’t have admitted to being able to see and influence the boy’s thoughts. “You’re safe here.” He whispered, fighting the fury rising within him as Virgil broke down, hot tears dripping onto his chest.

“I-I know. I ju-just--” He shuddered. “I hate this place.”

Logan blinked. Huh? How was that--just this morning his charge had once again shrugged off the light meddling that he’d done to the tangle of thoughts over his head to try and convince him to leave! Yet Virgil had been firm in stating that he was fine here.

Obviously he wasn’t doing so fine if he hated being here.

Logan ran his claws through Virgil’s hair, observing those twisting thoughts with no intention of meddling at the moment.

No, he was seeking to understand why the sudden change of heart when nothing he had suggested had worked. “We both do. Why do you think I’ve been trying to convince you to leave?” The cold for one was getting tiresome. Spring should be bringing warmer temperatures and yet up here in the north it hardly felt like they’d come out of winter at all.

“I just--” The dark cloud over his head seemed to grow darker. “I just...wanted it to change you know? How can I be a thousand miles away from my old life, and yet everyone here still treats me like I’m the scum of the earth? I just--I just...wish someone here besides you would like me. You know? Where I could just--relax and not constantly be worrying if I’m secretly hated and they’re gonna try and--and--”

“Lock you in the janitor’s closet?” Logan asked, his chest rumbling with a suppressed growl as he finally found the thread leading to the event that Virgil had been trying to hide from him.

Even with him drastically reducing his meddling with Virgil’s thoughts, it seemed like his charge really couldn’t catch a break here. Especially if this--this freshman hazing kept up. Even if Virgil kept insisting that it was nothing and that his...peers’…antics should stay unreported to the police--not that that hadn’t stopped Logan from going off and enacting his own little revenge on the people that had threatened his human’s life--it would only be a matter of time before he would need to guard his charge twenty-four seven to keep him safe. To keep him alive.

That was no way for a human to live. A demon’s guardianship was hardly a good guardianship after all.

Virgil gave a bitter laugh, thoughts swirling, giving Logan glimpses of the faces of the new people torturing his charge.

It was a bittersweet realization that. Sure he was proud his ability to terrorize others hadn’t been dulled with this...softening towards this one particular human, but if getting rid of the one batch of rotten eggs only encouraged another group to take up the calling to make Virgil’s life miserable---

“They took my backpack this time.” He whispered, resting his head against Logan’s chest. “I had to MacGyver a way to melt the hinges off the door with chemicals from the closet before I could escape. Then it took me another hour to track down where they’d thrown my bag--at least I found it.”

Was that supposed to be reassuring? That this time, he’d managed to get free by himself? If it was...it didn’t make Logan feel any better. Not when it left his charge in tears.

Not when it left him wondering what would have happened if Virgil hadn’t managed to MacGyver-whatever that meant- his way out of his predicament. Just how long would it have been before Logan would have realized he wasn’t coming back? That he needed help? It just--that ache that--that worry in his chest only grew stronger at the thought.

Honestly, he didn’t understand most human devices, but if he needed to obtain a freaking cell phone and enchant it so that Virgil would always be able to contact him he would. The hassle would be worth it if it meant his charge would remain safe. That at the first sign of trouble Virgil could call for help and immediately receive it.

Better than leaving him wondering if Logan would find him in time. If he’d--- He exhaled. “I know it won’t mean much coming from me.” He whispered, committing to memory the faces of the people he needed to go take care of next, all too aware of how much he, himself, had contributed to his charge’s woes while here. “But you don’t deserve this.”

Virgil let out a shaky breath, the dark cloud swirling over his head shifting to a lighter grey as he looked up meeting Logan’s slitted eyes. “I want to make a deal.”

He blinked, ignoring how his hearts leapt at the words every demon craved to hear at the unexpected phrase. “No you don’t.”

Virgil set his jaw, eyes unwavering. “I do.”

Logan frowned, fighting the desire to break eye contact to see what the twisting threads of thought were leading to. To find out why Virgil was requesting this now. No, it was best to hear it straight from the human himself.

He let out a slow breath. Knowing his charge, his reasoning would be convoluted and yet still make perfect sense. “I’m willing to hear you out, but I do not agree to agree to anything beyond that. You’ve already dealt with enough trouble in your life without adding a demonic deal to it.”

Virgil gave a wobbly smirk, hardly fazed as he tapped Logan’s chest with a single finger. “Your side.” He said. “You want me to move elsewhere. Want me to go to a different school. Someplace warmer. Safer.”

Logan gave a slow nod. “Yes?” Though wasn’t this deal supposed to be about what the human wanted to get instead of the demon?

“Then I’ll agree to moving. Even let you pick the school and the place I’ll stay at IF.” He stressed the word again tapping Logan’s chest. “You agree to three things first.”

Three things in exchange for one of safety? Typical human. He narrowed his eyes, tail tapping against the floorboards. “And those are?”

“One. You stop hiding under my bed like an overgrown dust bunny. Two. You become my roommate and go to the school you’ve chosen with me--don’t give me that look.”

Logan growled, tail dancing back and forth against the wall. He would give out all the looks he wanted thank you very much. Because that was---okay being out from under the bed would be wonderful but be a roommate?! “I can’t replace your need for human interaction and companionship, Virgil.”

Sure, it did make a nice loophole that his superiors couldn’t argue against because the human had requested his near-constant presence in this deal. But it couldn’t work. Demons and Humans weren’t meant to be roommates. It was hardly a healthy relationship when Logan had the ability to manipulate Virgil’s thoughts! Plus! Figuring out an adequate human disguise to uphold all hours of the day in order to go to school would be a nightmare and a half with the rituals and the charm work involved to hide his demonic looks.

“Three.” Virgil continued, ignoring Logan’s outburst, the cloud above his head shifting closer to white as he grew more fond of how this deal was turning out. “You pick out our other roommate or roommates. Ones who know you are a demon so you won’t have to disguise yourself when you’re home.”

That was---huh. So he’d only have to look human while in public? Logan tsked, claws carefully brushing Virgil’s tear streaked cheeks, his wings quivering with the urge to agree to this--this foolhardiness as his mind raced to find any downsides for his end of this deal. For any loopholes to exploit despite him not wanting to do anything of the sort to Virgil. Not when his charge was finally finally willing to move away from this awful place.

Except there was one problem. The humans.

“Most humans who willingly interact with demons are not the sort of individuals I would trust to room with you.” He said, shaking his head. His goal was to keep Virgil safe. Not set him up for further attempts on his life.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, eyes glinting. “I specifically said those who know you are a demon, Lo. That doesn’t have to mean they’ve interacted with others.”

Clever. “But I don’t interact with other humans!” If he hadn’t broken the rules, Virgil would never be having this conversation with him in the first place because he wouldn’t know Logan existed. “Demons don’t interact with humans unless they are summoned. How am I--!”

“I never summoned you though. And yet here we are.”

Logan had to look away at that. Avoid staring at the positively smug face his charge was giving him. “That’s different.” He finally muttered. Most demons didn’t care what happened to the humans they dealt with. Logan was an outlier in that sense. Sent to lurk under a bed as punishment and instead found that he liked it even if Virgil’s stubborn nature drove him up the wall most of the time.

“Different because you were hiding under my bed for who knows how long?”

He grimaced. It hadn’t even been a year yet. Not that long at all in human terms. “In a way.”

He flinched as Virgil placed a palm against his cheek, turning his head back to face him. “You were the monster under my bed until you decided I needed a Guardian instead.” He said softly. “Why can’t you go find another human whose needs are similar to mine? Find someone we both can get along with. And once you do, I’ll move wherever you want me to for school. Those are my terms.”

Logan hardly cared if another human liked him. He was a demon. Humans were supposed to fear his kind. But Virgil? His human needed a good roommate. One that would want to be around him, unlike Virgil’s current set that barely acknowledged his existence unless it was his turn to take out the trash. However, if he was out hunting for this good roommate…that would mean--

“I can hardly be considered a Guardian if you’re left defenseless while I’m off searching who knows where for who knows how long for this hypothetical person!” Logan retorted. “You would have to allow me to establish a means to ensure you’re safe while I am gone or that you could summon me if you find yourself in danger before I would even consider--”

“What sort of thing?”

Logan frowned. Was the stress of three near death attempts addling his charge’s mind? Perhaps the air underneath the bed was’t flowing properly--he shifted, teleporting them both onto Virgil’s bed where he could have this conversation in a more proper format. After all, humans didn’t usually make deals under their beds. Though it probably was too much to expect his charge to draw a sigil on the floor. Not if he wanted his deposit back.

He kept a wing securely around Virgil as the human adjusted his position to rest more comfortably against him, a move that should be more counter-intuitive despite Logan’s proclamations of keeping him safe. There was too much trust here. Virgil had hardly done more than sharply inhale at them suddenly appearing on top of his bed.

“So?” He asked once he was comfortable, fingers brushing against the inside of Logan’s wing. “What sort of thing were you thinking?”

Logan shrugged a shoulder, trying to not focus on how relaxed Virgil was with him. “...I was considering a cell phone.”

The laugh his charge let out shouldn’t make his hearts flutter so.

Virgil grinned, shaking his head, the storm cloud above him glittering brightly despite it’s shifting state. “That’s so...human, Lo. But what if it dies? What if I get mine taken away? They’re hardly reliable despite how much I use mine. Isn’t there a sort of…” He waved a hand around. “Sigil or spell or mark? Something that you can place on me?”

Yes. But--

Before he could speak his charge ducked out from under his wing, grabbing at his backpack on the floor and digging into it. “I could draw something on me.” He offered, pulling out a pen. “And then you enchant it or whatever to--are you okay?”

That was---ha. Logan swallowed, wings shifting back as he looked his human in the eyes. “That is...it’s not a light commitment to make, Virgil.” He finally answered. “You shouldn’t allow any demon, let alone me--” Despite how much he desperately wanted it. It would be so much easier to ensure he could protect Virgil than using a cell phone. “--to mark you so. I doubt you want a permanent connection to me and a sigil once placed on living flesh cannot easily be removed.”

Virgil tapped his pen against his lips, tilting his head as he silently studied Logan.

His tail twisted at the scrutiny. “It’s too much of a risk.” He repeated, holding his hands palm up. “You have no guarantee that I will remain a...Guardian to you.” Though at this point he couldn’t see him being anything else. “I am a Demon. It’s not in our nature to--”

He cut off as Virgil reached out, resting his hands in Logan’s clawed ones, gently squeezing them. “Lo.”

His hearts skipped a beat at the nickname. Gah. If Virgil ever figured out how being called Lo truly affected him, far more than any deal would, he would be completely done for--he flinched, inhaling sharply as a purplish glow appeared, covering both of their hands as his charge gave a small smirk.

“You’ve saved my life twice now.” He said softly, leaning forward, unfazed by the glow.

Though of course Virgil would have no idea that this wasn’t normal, not when Logan hadn’t done anything!

“That’s hardly a demon’s nature now is it? To save someone? Someone who made no deal to gain such protection?”

….No. It wasn’t normal. He knew that. He-- Logan made a sound in his throat as the purplish glow shifted between them winding like a ribbon around their wrists. He eyed it warily, it was a sign, despite the fact that the glowing ribbon should be red instead of purple, that a deal was being struck though Logan had made no active attempt to initiate one. Hadn’t wanted--

“You’re no ordinary demon, Lo.”

No...he wasn’t much like the others was he? Interacting with humans...a human...with Virgil willingly without being compelled to. To want to protect his charge, seeking to help him instead of...well...continuing to make him suffer.

“If you don’t want the mark on me to be permanent then make it temporary.” Virgil said, maintaining eye contact. “Make it last as long as you need it to. But I know you know you want to know I’m okay. Is this not a good way to go about it?”

His breath caught in his throat. There was too much trust in him here. Far too much. Virgil didn’t know what he was getting into. He couldn’t--it wasn’t safe. “I don’t--” Logan swallowed, fingers trembling in Virgil’s hands as the ribbon pulsed around them. “A demonic deal is never safe.” He couldn’t risk his charge like this. Something would go wrong. It wasn’t worth it. “I don’t want to make this type of deal. Any deal with you.” He whispered, wings fluttering with heat as he broke eye contact, bowing his head to his charge.

“Lo?” Virgil adjusted his grip, squeezing his hands.

He shuddered, eyes burning despite his inability to shed tears, his hearts pounding like the drums of war as he clung to those hands, careful always careful so that his claws wouldn’t pierce his delicate flesh, wouldn’t draw blood to seal whatever deal this purple ribbon was trying to instigate. He couldn’t hurt him.

“It’s not proper.” He said softly. “A demon shouldn’t care about this. A demon would just say yes. But I can’t. Because I do. I care. I just want you safe, Virgil. Protected. Happy. A deal won’t-- I can’t---a demon can’t--”

“Perhaps.” Virgil tilted his head, peering up into Logan’s slitted eyes. “You should stop thinking of yourself as a demon then.”

He blinked, wings drawing back as the purple ribbon pulsed. “What?” But that--that’s what he was. Sure, he wasn’t acting like one currently, but no one would look at him and think he was anything else.

“Well...you’ve already said it yourself, haven’t you? Starting back when I nearly froze to death. What you really are.”

He’d said a lot of--Wait. Logan looked up, barely able to breathe from how tight his chest felt. “You...remember that time?”

Virgil shook his head. “Not all of it. But I do remember one thing, Lo.” He grinned, eyes glittering as the purple ribbon flashed a brilliant indigo, the bright warm light washing over Logan before he could blink.

“You’re a Guardian. My Guardian.” End.

#Demon Comfort #December Drabbles #stillebesat #Sanders Sides #Logan #Virgil #Logic #Anxiety #Demon!Logan #Near Death experience tw #Hazing tw #Manipulation tw #December Day 14

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mercurysstars · 3 years

Text

All That Glitters Is Not Gold (part 3)

Summary: Y/n gets hired to be the avengers chief physician and also happens to be an ex assassin.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: blood

𝘛𝘰𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺,

𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺.

Peter nods his head along to the beats of his music. He moves his hands around pretending to play the air drums. The ding of the elevator signals him to get off. He pulls out his headphones and stuffs them in his pocket. The moment his headphones are off he hears two muffled voices.

"Tony you know why I can't, we've gone over this." A feminine-sounding voice said.

"It's doesn't make sense! You're the best combat fighter I know!" A voice that sounded like Tony's exclaimed.

That sparked Peter's interest, he tiptoed closer to the med bay trying to stay quiet. He peaked only his head into the room. He watched as Tony and some girl argue.

"If you won't join will you at least move in? I just want to know that you're safe and I can't do that when you're in Hell's Kitchen." Tony pinches the bridge of his nose.

"I'll think about it." The woman says as she organized papers on the desk in front of her.

Peter clears his throat and walks into the room. Tony and the woman both looked at him and she smiled.

"Hey, Mr. Stark you asked me to come?." Peter stammers nervously.

"Oh yeah come here kid, Peter this is Y/n our new doctor, Y/n this is Peter Parker." Tony introduced them.

Y/n stands up and straightens out her pants. She walked over to Peter "Nice to meet you, Mr. Parker." She gives a friendly smile.

"It's nice to meet you too Dr. Y/n."

Peter wiped his hand on his shirt and stuck it out, Y/n grabbed his hand and shook it.

"If you ever need anything or have any questions, come talk to me anytime." She grinned.

Peter felt his phone vibrate, he grabbed it out and checked it.

"Thank you I will, I have to go tho there's a store getting robbed and people that need saving." Peter turned while waving.

Y/n waved back and chuckled. She turned back over to Tony "He's a sweet kid."

"Yeah, he is." Tony breathed.

Y/n twirls her pen between her fingers, she was bored out of her mind filling out paperwork. After Tony left earlier she decided to tackle the piles of forms left in the closet in her office. Bouncing her leg up and down, checking yes and no, she was sure she was going to go crazy.

Being a doctor for the Avengers was not was what she expected. Y/n expected to be running all over the place with no moment of rest, but in reality, she did PT, gave a couple of people refills for painkillers, and filled out paperwork like an underpaid secretary. Sure this was her first real physician position unless you could count stitching up your own gun wounds, or other shady people as a job.

A knock at the door startled Y/n out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Bucky leaning against the door, arms crossed with a light friendly expression on his face. Her face lit up and she dropped her pen.

"Hey doc you look busy there, we can always cancel for the day," Bucky remarked.

"We wouldn't want to do that Buck, who else would work you out?" Y/n grinned while she wiggled her eyebrows suggesting.

"I have an idea or two," Bucky smirked back.

"I don't know if Sam or Steve would particularly enjoy that."

Bucky scrunched up his face in distaste and immediately shook his head to get rid of the thought. Y/n chuckled and got up from where she once sat.

Y/n grabbed a plastic container off the shelf full of equipment labeled 'shoulder'. She also grabbed the athletic tape and her iPad. She nodded toward Bucky and they walked to the training room.

They walked into a room that was filled with treadmills, weights, mirrors, and other training equipment. Sunlight from the window bounced off the white walls that weren't filled with posters. She gestured Bucky over to a bench and pressed down on his left shoulder.

"Sit." She demanded and he was obligated.

Y/n rolled up his sleeve and began to tape his shoulder. "Why are you doing that?" He questioned.

"Since today is your last day, we are going to work with weights, and taping your shoulder should help with the pressure." Bucky gave an understanding look and she fixed his sleeve.

"Alright, we're going to start off light." She grabbed a 20lb weight and handed it to Bucky.

His eyebrow arched and he looked at Y/n "That's starting off light?"

"Oh come on, with all the chemicals running through those veins you won't even break a sweat." She teased.

"I don't know why I come to these sessions if you're just going to bully me." Bucky huffed.

Y/n threw her hands up in mock surrender "Sorry."

She grabbed her iPad and began to type, Y/n looked up to see Bucky eyeing her. "What are you looking at big boy, start lifting."

She lifted her hand to her chest and back down as an example. He rolled his eyes but then did what he was told.

"I had a sister Rebecca, you would have liked her sweet girl, fiery spirit. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on Stevie at one point. She used to say we were the most intolerable boys on the planet." Bucky had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Oh yeah?" Y/n asked with a smile. She liked seeing Bucky like this, happy, playful, she had only known him for a handful of days but they have been spending a lot of time together with PT, and usually, after they spend time laughing and joking around. Tho she liked him dark and brooding nothing compares to his smile.

Nothing compares to his smil- what the hell am I thinking? She asks herself in a reprimanding tone. This is her patient, one that she's supposed to be helping. Not to mention that he's old enough to be her grandfather. Well, mentally he's probably around 29-30. Another voice says in her head.

"Yeah." He grinned fondly.

"Alright now roll your shoulder forward-"

The sound of the window opening caused her to stop mid-sentence. She gripped the metal water bottle in her hand a little tighter, ready to swing it at the intruder.

She whipped her head around to see a bloody Peter Parker swaying back and forth in a Spider-Man suit with his mask in his hand. She rushed over to him, she grabbed him by his shoulders to steady him.

"Peter are you okay? What happened?" She questioned scanning his face for other injuries.

"I'm fine, just a little light-headed." As soon as the words left his mouth he collapsed into her arms. Y/n looked over to Bucky for assistance.

Together they dragged Peter to the main part of the med-bag and laid him on a bed. She began to hook him up to an IV and heart monitor. She glanced over to Bucky to see him looking over at her helplessly.

"Can you tell Tony he's in here with me?" Y/ n asked Bucky while filling the IV with liquid. He looked back at Peter and nodded.

Peter groaned and sat up rubbing his head. He looked over to see Y/n scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"What happened." He asked in a groggy voice.

Y/n's eyes shot over to him, she smiled and fully turned. She clicked her pen, attached it to the clipboard, set it down, and walked over to him.

"Good you're awake, you came in through the window like a couple of hours ago and just passed out. Tony came in not too long ago to see you."

"Oh yeah sorry about that I saw you and Mr. Barnes through the window and thought that I might as well go through there." He breathed.

"Don't worry about it." That was all she said in response.

Y/n looked at his arm to see blood bleeding through the bandages. She took them off and trashed them. She cleaned them off and rewrapped them. Peter watched as she repeated those steps several times for his other cuts.

"You can ask you know." She wrapped the last stitch and rubbed her forehead with her arm.

Peter instantly flushed "ask what?"

She chuckled "I heard you out there, in the hallway." That was the truth. Y/n did hear him in the hallway, she also heard the elevator open and the music he was listening to on the way up.

"I'm sorry?" His statement sounded more as though it was a question.

She once again laughed and shook her head at the boy's antics. He was too young and too pure for this terrible world. He hands hopeful eyes, and there is nothing like a child's hope. Hope is the companion of power, mother of success, hope is seeing the light despite being surrounded by darkness. Hope is the last thing ever lost, and without hope, you can't live.

"What did Tony mean when he said the best fighter he knows." Peter hesitantly asked.

"Oh, he probably meant because I was an assassin." Y/n shrugged nonchalantly.

"WHAT?! ASSASSIN?! Why didn't you tell everyone?" He stammers over his sentence. Who knew? Did Tony know? Is she better than Natasha? Is she better than the Winter Soldier? He had so many questions running through his head.

"Don't ask don't tell." She smiled at Peter getting frustrated at her vague answers.

"That's so cool! How good of a fighter are you? Can you do a flip? Do you have any more cool deadly fighter friends? Can you speak different languages?" Words were shooting out of his mouth like rapid fire.

"Thank, I'm decent, yes, lots of them, a few." She answered his questions as they came, amused to no end. Peter looked at her as though she was a gift from the gods themselves.

Part 4

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x female reader

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glitterge1pen · 3 years

Text

Put A Basket On My Bike

Kyōtani Kentarou x reader, sfw, fluff, word count 3,039

Your apartment complex was composed of seven buildings. Each building was made of two towers that went ten floors up. The two towers were connected by big concrete stairs that had green iron railing. A large platform would connect two apartments before the stairs took you to another floor.

Since the only thing that concealed the stairs from the outside was the railing most of the building was exposed. The sun shone endlessly and lots of people kept plants out on the space outside their doors. You had made a good choice moving here. But when you first moved in you had made one crucial mistake.

You were nice to the neighborhood kids.

You had been moving the last of your boxes into the front hall of your new apartment when three kids came bounding up the stairs. Their footsteps echoed in the labyrinth of stairs.

“Hey! Are you the one who just moved in? The new person?”

“It's rude to just say stuff, you to have to introduce us”

“Right!”

The most enthusiastic of the bunch was Flowerpot. The other stated their name was Poprocks and Flowerpot pointed to Sleep, who said nothing.

“Are those your real names?”

You asked with a sly smile.

“No! Of course not, what are you stupid?”

“Thats rude”

“Right, sorry”

Flowerpot explained that their nicknames were two summers old and that they had chosen names based on their absolute favorite things. You laughed.

“Your favorite thing ever is a flowerpot?”

“Not a flower pot, all flower pots!”

“You can't yell it makes you sound mean”

Flowerpot and Poprocks bickered and argued like this some more. They only stopped when the quiet Sleep spoke up.

“Can we play here?”

“Yeah can we?”

Poprocks reiterated.

“The lady that lived here before you was so mean, she never let us play up here! No one lets us play anywhere, Mad Dog is the only person who doesn't care! And he's mean to!”

You figured that Mad Dog was your across the hall neighbor.

“Does everyone who lives here have nicknames?”

“Mad Dog came with the nickname it's different.”

Flowerpot said, his tiny arms flinging up in the air as he ranted.

“If he lets you guys play out here why did you call him mean?”

Poprocks jumped onto Flowerpots shoulders, excited to speak.

“Because he uses bad words, he never says good morning or smiles at anyone and he always plays his music too late at night!”

She seemed pleased with the list of your neighbors' atrocities and once again you could only laugh.

“Okay, if my neighbor over there doesn't care that you guys mess around out here neither do I”

That first spring in your apartment was filled with various elementary school kids shooting nerf guns, fighting with pinecones, petty arguements and a rare homework session. Other kids from different buildings would often flock to your floor as well. You didn't know most of these ones, but occasionally when Flowerpot, Poprocks, and Sleep would speak to you and talk about apartment complex drama. You were able to differentiate with ‘the kid who always wants to be Mikey when you guys play Ninja turtles’ or ‘the kid who brings over water guns’ and so on.

You left out a bowl of candy for the kids and on your way out for the day you usually ran into Sleep’s mom, who would thank you for letting the kids “make a mess in front of your house” before waving you off.

Besides the pleasant atmosphere of your new home, there was also Kyotani.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　

The first time you saw Kyotnai was two days after being officially moved in. He was bringing up his groceries and looked tired so you only waved to him before heading inside your own place. You found that Poprocks was right. Sometime around 11:30 Kyotnai started listening to music. Loud. So loud. You were across the hall and could feel the vibrations of the music. The people below him must be pissed. You were pissed actually.

The next morning when you saw him pulling a bike over his shoulders on his way down the stairs you stopped him.

“Hi, I just moved in a couple days ago,”

You trailed off, he was staring so intensely. You turned away, forgetting where you were going with this conversation beyond the simple introduction. After telling him your name you expected him to introduce himself. He just kept looking at you, eyebrows creased, head tilted up to look at you as you were two steps above him. A panic settled in over you. Your mind scrambled for anything to grasp to make this less awkward.

“Those kids who play out here called you Mad Dog-”

“My name is Kyotani.”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　

After the terrible first meeting you had with your neighbor you did your best to avoid him. You didn't want to deal with whatever it was that had transpired between you two. Well actually, nothing had transpired between you. Much to your surprise that was just how Kyotani was.

When he went to pick up his mail from the front office, he would shoulder check anyone who was standing too close to his mailbox. When he left to go somewhere on his bike he rode in the middle of the parking lot, once you had watched him turn onto the street and when a car almost hit him he just flipped them off.

You couldn't decide if he was arrogant, always running late and that's why he came off as rude, or if he just didn't care. Maybe it was all three. For about two weeks you waited for him to leave first in the mornings and put your headphones on when the music from across the hall got too loud.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　

You had gotten home unexpectedly early. When you came up the stairs you stopped and watched the scene before you in slight amazement. Poprocks and some of the girls from another building were all huddled around Kyotani. One of them had brought their bike over.

“I’m sorry, I know you fixed it that one time but it came off again and I tired to do it but I didn't do it right”

The girl was almost crying and Poprocks patted her back soothingly.

“You're like nine its a miracle you even kinda knew how to fix this”

Kyotani said, his voice still had that gruff edge but you thought it wasn't too bad when he wasn't being horridly awkward.

“Look,”

He said pointing down to a part of the bike by the pedals.

“The chain works because it's tight, when you switch gears that changes how tight the chain is. When it fell off you put it on the wrong ring”

Now he moved his hands to the back of the bike and pushed on another part.

“Because the chain isn't tight, you can just pick it up, and put it where it's supposed to go, put it around the ring, then you just let go of this back here, and done”

Kyotani removed his hands from the bike. The girls cheered and spun the back wheel of the bike to test it.

“It's that easy?”

The girl said with a smile.

“That easy. I can break it again and you can try to fix it”

“No!”

All three girls shouted at once before hurrying away past you down the rest of the stairs. It was now that Kyotani saw you. There was a brief moment of eye contact before you pretended to look for your keys and he went inside his apartment.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　

A couple days later you found yourself headed down to the pool. It had been a mostly shitty week and then you remembered the hot tub. There was only about an hour or so until the pool area that stood in the middle of the complex closed. But you were going to make sure it was an hour well spent. You got yourself ready, grabbing head phones, something to look at while you sat in the hot tub.

It had been cloudy all day so you doubted that anyone was down there. It hadn't rained and the sky had thrown no lightning so you felt safe heading down. Covering your swim wear with a t-shirt and grabbing some sandals you headed down.

You were walking along the cement path to the pool when you spotted a familiar blonde head already in the hot tub. Your steps faltered and you almost stopped. But you lived here, this was your home. You didn't want to feel uncomfortable around anyone here.

Opening the gate with your key three people turned to look at you. You ignored the note of your presence and took off your t-shirt, tossed your belongings onto a beach chair, and did your best to feel confident.

“Mind if I get in?”

“Sure!”

It wasn't Kyotani who answered, but one of the guys he was with. He had brown hair that swopped in front of his eyes a bit.

“This is Iwaizumi,”

Kyotani said pointing to the other person in the hot tub with you guys.

“And this is someone who wasn't supposed to come today but wouldn't stop calling me”

Mentioned person ignored Kyotani and focused only on you.

“My name is Oikawa, nice to meet you,”

After saying this Oikawa turned away from you to face Kyotani.

“You know you if you wanted me to leave you could have just asked”

Oikawa’s voice was double dipped in sarcasm and his face was so dramatic.

“I did actually tell you to leave”

Oikawa and Kyotani went back and forth like this. It eased your nerves, made you feel welcomed. You watched the lap of small waves and bubbles in the stream of warm water. You wished you could stay out in the relaxing water longer.

“Are you a friend of his”

Iwaizumi asked motioning his head to Kyotani, he sat across from you but the other two boys were too engrossed in arguing to pay attention to what he was saying. You sure weren't close to Kyotani, you were barely aqutinaces, but it would spoil the mood if you said otherwise. So only responded with a playful,

“Maybe”

Iwaizumi nodded before asking another question.

“You live here too?”

“Yeah, I actually live across from Kyotani”

Oikawa saw an opportunity to jump in here.

“What's that like? Terrible?”

“Shut up Oikawa”

Kyotani said quickly, flicking droplets of water at the other with his fingers.

“Besides the loud music it's not too bad”

You said with a shrug of your shoulders. Kyotani turned to you, a puzzled look adorning him.

“The music is loud?”

“Are you kidding? Has no one ever said anything to you before?”

The words came out as a stifled laugh as you watched Kyotani try to process this information.

“Why didn't you say anything before?”

You were about to answer when a crack of thunder cut you off.

“Shit”

Kyotani said before hosting himself out of the hot tub. The other boys followed suit and you all headed up to the building together.

“What are your plans for the rest of the night?”

Oikawa said, pulling you to him by the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

“You should ask someone if it's okay to touch them before you touch them dumbass”

“Oh he's actually right about something, sorry about that”

Oikawa apologized and pulled his arm off you.

“Apology accepted, and I was planning on watching a movie maybe getting some take out, nothing extragevent”

“Let us come over!”

“Really?”

You said, surprised that your rather normal plans excited Oikawa.

“I can use a movie night where I don't have to watch a Godzilla movie. By the way did you know there are a lot of Godzilla movies?”

“It’s not every time, okay? I let you pick movies too!"

Iwaizumi said, suddenly getting defensive. The two were in their own heated conversation now as Kyotnai and you trailed behind them up the stairs.

“Are you sure it's okay if we come over?”

“I’m sure”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"Oh, sorry I can come back another time,"

You said to Kyotani, propping open the swinging door with your foot. Usually you did laundry on a different day but the week had been busier than expected.

"It's okay. I'm leaving-"

He was cut off by the sound of Sleep and Flowerpot jumping down the stairs. There were laundry rooms on every other floor, they sat on platforms in-between the sets of stairs. They only had a washer and dryer, and enough room for one person to come sit watch over their clothes.

"Hey let me help!"

Flowerpot dipped underneath your laundry basket and pushed it up from your grasp. Sleep rushed to help his friend before the basket had chance to fall over. They placed it onto the washing machine with a thunk.

"How come you little shits are so nice to them and not to me?"

"Because they're nice to us!"

Flowerpot said pointing at you.

Kyotani made a sound somewhere between a growl and a gruff laugh.

"What and I'm not?"

Flowerpot crossed their arms, not backing down to Kyotani.

"Just because you fix our bikes and toys and stuff doesn't count"

"I don't know, sounds pretty nice to me"

You said teasingly.

“The parents of the building hanging out!”

“Huh?”

You said as Poprocks bounded into the cramped room and pulled herself up on top of the dryer. Her swinging legs shut the hatch that Kyotani had just opened. The kids laughed at his annoyed expression.

“You guys always do stuff for us, and even though it's not a yard you let us play in your yard”

You were able to laugh but Kyotani said nothing, his head buried too far into the dryer for you to see his face.

“Speaking of parents dont you kids have other adults to go bother?” You asked them.

“Woah, Mad Dog, how hot is it in there?”

Flowerpot asked curiously when Kyotani pulled his head and the last of his clothes from the dryer.

“What?”

Kyotani said.

“Your face is so red it has to be really hot-”

“Hey don't do that!”

Both you and Kyotani said at the same time as Flowerpot attempted to stick his head in the dryer. Kyotani yanked at the kids shirt pulling him out.

“I’m fine! I’m fine! It's not even that hot!”

“It's rude to yell like that”

“I know!”

“Then why are you still yelling?”

With that Flowerpot chased Poprocks out of the room, Sleep and Kyotani following them out. Leaving you alone to do your laundry in quiet.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

“That's weird”

You said looking at the banking app on your phone. Your paycheck hadn't deposited yet. Most Fridays the money just showed up in your account. You closed the app and then opened it again only to get an error message. You tried on your laptop. Then you googled your bank's name and found a couple articles talking about how your bank was updating their app, website, and other internal servers. Something hadn't gone correctly though. A lot of people couldn't access their accounts online.

You decided you would deal with this issue tomorrow. You opened up the fridge trying to piece together a meal with what you had when pure fear raced up your spine. It was the first of the month. Rent was due. You ran to your room putting your shoes back on, checking what time the bank closed, grabbing your wallet and then running outside.

You were halfway down the stairs when you saw the bus you were supposed to be getting on pull off down the street. The one time the bus was there when it should be and you weren't there to get on it. The bank was going to close soon, it was about four miles away you wouldn't be able to walk there in time. You turned back up the stairs and knocked on Kyotanis door.

“How fast are you on your bike?”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Riding on the pegs of Kyotanis bike was a church like experience. You leaned over him, arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders. At turns and stop lights you closed your eyes, or buried your head into him. Everything was just blurs of sound and color. The two of you left behind whistles of speed as Kyotani continued to pedal faster and faster.

“I have the-”

The person in the car couldn't even finish before Kyotani spat out his own retort.

“I’m on a fucking bike!”

This was true. He was on a bike and somehow both very good and very bad at riding it. When he turned into the parking lot of the bank you two spun as he braked. You felt disoriented and didn't want to let go of him just yet.

“Do you have rent to pay or not?”

“Okay, okay, I’m going!”

You jumped down from the pegs and jogged into the bank. Kyotani had managed to get you there with only ten minutes before the bank closed. You weren't the only one in line to speak to a teller though. Your fingers tapped on your arm, your foot bounced worrying that you wouldn't be able to speak to anyone in time. But another teller opened their station and you were saved.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

The ride home was much less stressful. You didn't feel nervous about being flung into oncoming traffic because Kyotani had also seemed to calm down. There was no aggressive speed or sharp turns. The wind felt gracious on your skin, the sun orange and cool in the dusk. It felt like you were gliding over the concrete.

“We should do stuff like this”

You said.

“What? Go to the bank again?”

“No, we should like hang out”

“Hm”

You slapped his shoulder.

“Don't just say hm”

“Fine, I agree we should,”

The words fumbled around in his mouth and it was the closet you'd ever see him stutter.

“Hang out”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

A/N: No editing , no planning, just the usual late night word vomit.

#kyotani x reader #kyotani kentaro #Kyōtani Kentarō #kyoutani kentarou #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x gender neutral reader

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