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pairing: oscar piastri x fewtrell!reader, lando norris x fewtrell!reader
summary: the triple header brings y/n closer to a breaking point
warnings: SMAU (no written parts), swearing, mature themes, emotional distress, light angst, use of y/n
previous part | masterlist | next part
a/n: chapter 33, so of course, i had to sneak in a little max cameo!!!

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previous part | masterlist | next part
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TAGLIST: @harrysdimple05 @milkysoop @charlesgirl16 @wosof1 @illicitverstappen @back-on-my-bullsh @revrse @skepvids @screamingwines @a-beaverhausen @l-vroom4 @wildflowerhuggy @meglouise00 @formulaal @smithieandy @sltwins @awritingtree @colmathgames2 @org12 @alice-went-away @grovelingmen @taasgirl @anotherapollokid @d3kstar @gnarlycore @leclercdream @skeleton-elly @verstappensrealwife @seonghwaexile @hellowgoodbye @samantha-chicago @delululeclerc @5sospenguinqueen @riverxsq @s0meth1ngs @silentreader128 @cheer-bear-go-vroom @sarahsobsession @raweceekk @willowsnook @nxlx96 @saythename-sm @lesliiieeeee @landopoet @blushmimi @neferaskingdom @oikarma @mayax2o07 @obxstiles @speeedybaby
TAGLIST IS CLOSED!
credits for the pics used in this chapter go to lissiemackintosh on instagram
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Not your Burden Pt. 5
Idea | Previous Part
tw: future dom-sub relationship, sexually explicit content, pet names, age gap (early twenties - late thirties)
The house was huge. Huge enough for you to be confused after just walking for a few minutes and rounding only three corners. There were doors everywhere, but barely any of them were labeled. And during the few minutes you had walked, you had counted three different staircases. Simon quickly noticed and chuckled lowly. “You’ll get used to it. And if you get lost, either ask someone you see for help or stay where you are and call me, and I’ll pick you up.” You nodded, a blush forming on your cheeks, as his eyes were trained on you. Especially when you noticed how his eyes darkened as they flickered from yours to your lips.
But he shook it off, turning back around and continuing the tour. You just managed to remember the most important spots: the kitchen, the indoor gym and pool, the way to the garden, where there was another pool, his office, the library, and your room. Maybe you’d make your own little map at some point.
“And this is the gun range.” Your eyes widened as you glanced past Simon’s massive frame. It looked just like in the movies and you couldn’t help but wonder if you were allowed to try out shooting here as well. “Ah, Boss, bonnie.” Johnny grinned as you spun around to look at him. The scott nodded at Simon before gently pushing past you, stopping once he was through the door. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he turned to you. “You wanna try?”
Before you could stop yourself, you nodded enthusiastically and pushed past Simon, never noticing the glare he had fixed on you and Johnny.
The left-hand man was nice enough, getting you some safety glasses and hearing protection, before getting a Glock. He led you to one of the booths and started to show you how the gun worked, but before he could get very far, Simon stepped in. “I think someone’s looking for you upstairs, mate.” It could’ve sounded perfectly polite, but the deep grumble in Simon’s voice conveyed a silent threat. Johnny quickly stepped back, his hands raised and with a smirk on his face. “Got it, boss.” Then he turned to you. “Have fun, beautiful.”
Another low growl escaped Simon’s lips before he could stop himself, his eyes fixed on his best friend until he disappeared around a corner. Then he turned back to you. “W-We really don’t have to do this now, if you don’t have time or something.” He chuckled and shook his head, picking up the gun. “It’s alright, love.”
Within a few minutes, he explained everything about the gun to you, that you had to know. After putting it into safe mode again, he handed it to you, so you could get used to the weight and feel. It was heavy and cold, but somehow…felt good in your hands.
While you were studying the piece of metal, he gently slit on the safety glasses, before popping on the hearing protection, making sure that it was sitting correctly. Gently, he hooked his finger under your chin and tilted your head until you were looking up at him. His eyes jumped to your lips, lingering there for a few moments, before he looked up again, smiling gently. “Ready?” You could barely hear him, but you nodded.
After putting on his own protection, he spun you around so you were facing the range. With gentle touches, he corrected your posture, giving you tips, but all that you could focus on was the feeling of his chest pressed to your back. Your breath hitched, as his hands traced your curves, giving your hips a gentle squeeze when you positioned yourself correctly. His body still pressed against yours, he lifted the left shell covering your ear. “Good. When you’re ready shoot.” He put the shell down again, his breath wafting over the side of your face and neck.
You tried to focus on the silhouette of a human, not too far away, before you took a deep breath and shot. The recoil and noise made you jump, but Simon was steady behind you, holding you close, while your heartbeat slowly calmed down. After a few moments, Simon gently took the gun from you and put it on safety before placing it on the table in front of you. Then he pulled off your protection, a proud smile on his face. “What do you think?”
You stayed quiet for a few moments, before grinning back at him. “That was amazing! How did I do?” He chuckled at your enthusiasm, pressing a button, to pull in the silhouette. “Your form was good and with time you’ll get used to the recoil and noise.” He glanced at the piece of paper, a surprised grin lighting up his face. “And your aim…is pretty good.” When you glanced at it, you saw that, while it wasn’t a bullseye, it was pretty close. You chuckled, looking back at him. “Beginner’s luck.” Simon shrugged, pressing the other button and you watched the paper go back to its earlier position. “May be beginner’s luck, but it’s good all the same.” When you turned back to him, you noticed that his eyes were still on you, he never looked away.
You swallowed thickly, averting your eyes, blushing when you heard him chuckle, a quiet ‘cute’ leaving his lips.
For the next hour or so, he continued to teach you. He let you test different guns, showed you how to aim, and also explained what to aim for if you only want to wound and slow someone down, instead of killing them. By the time Simon decided that it was enough for the day, your arms ached from the weight, and your hands burned from the friction.
“If you want to come back and shoot, let me know. I’ll come with you.” You frowned at Simon’s massive back. “Aren’t you like…busy?” He glanced at you over his shoulder, a smirk on his face. “I’ll make time for you, love.” Then he focused back on putting everything away. Once he was done, he gently grabbed your hand and led you through the building, until you were back in his office. There, waiting for the two of you, was a tray with two plates filled with pure deliciousness. You watched as Simon, with practiced ease, pulled off his suit jacket and rolled up his dress shirt’s sleeves, until they were snug just above his elbow. You almost drooled as you watched the muscles and veins in his arms shift whenever he moved.
“Come, eat.”
Next Part
A/N: Another part. I hope you enjoy it so far. And to everyone who comments: thank you so much! I always get really excited to read them! I love you! 💕
@alilstressyandlotdepressy @brickwall035 @trampondemand @inarabee @blinca @rileys3dworld @msjaeger @oreojenni @starlightmoon2020 @piconico17 @l1lpip @originalsoulcollector @ig-you-idiot @corvusmorte @ohdrey89 @dreamland08 @dprmoon @lilynotdilly @blinca @weirdducky17 @hidden-treasures21 @scaryplanetdestroyer @aikeia @kurochan3 @thriving-n-jiving @justdamnpeachy @tessakate @midnightgrimoire @awkwardalie
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Mafia!141 x Showgirl/Law Student!Reader
Synopsis: You’re a law student who performs shows at night, and you catch the eyes of a group of dangerous man.
CW: May contain mature content, poly relationship, afab!reader, very suggestive themes. ( It might have plot now, I don't know )
Part 1 , Part 2
The Charmer
Two days off work might have been a breather to some, but you had spent yours buried in assignments. You couldn’t complain, you’d brought it on yourself.
Between relentless teachers. Mr. Price and his men showed up to the club again, you felt like you couldn’t catch a break.
One of them had been a constant presence throughout the week: the man who stood guard at the door that day.
You never interacted with him. You didn’t have time for it, you came for work, and as soon as it was over, you left.
He did seem content with just watching, a smile always plastered on his lips, clearly enjoying himself. By now, he probably knew your routines by heart. But since they didn’t cause trouble, you told yourself it didn’t matter.
Today, with no classes on your schedule, your morning was free for rehearsal. Taking a deep breath, you composed yourself. You needed to stay grounded, not lunge at Stan for the next comment he’d throw your way.
Walking through the back door, and into the fitting room, familiar giggles reached your ears.
“What’s the gossip?” you asked, putting your bag down.
“Oh, girl, we have eye candy,” Coco said. You raised a brow, a smile forming on your lips.
That was typical Coco. She was the type to swoon over a man who gave the slightest attention. You enjoyed attention too, but teasing was your weapon of choice. It was about power, not interest.
“New sound tech guys?” You asked, removing your jacket.
“New owners,” she said.
You froze, stomach dropping as you turned to her. That’s what you get for disconnecting on your days off.
“Wait, what happened? Did James screw up again?” Your voice betrayed your creeping dread. James had a knack for poor decisions, gambling, and bad partnerships. It wouldn’t surprise you if he’d lost the club. But this place was yours, your escape, you couldn’t lose it.
Coco grabbed your arm. Her eyes wide with delight. “Right, you were off for two days! Let me catch you up, Stan’s gone.”
“What?” This couldn’t be happening. Stan might have been an ass, but he was predictable. You knew his rules, his triggers. Starting over with someone new would be exhausting, and you didn’t have the energy for it.
“You’re gonna love this,” Coco said, dragging you toward the main stage.
A group of girls was already gathered chatting with someone. As you stepped into view, your stomach dropped. It was one of Price’s men, the blue-eyed one, leaning casually against the stage.
His grin widened when he spotted you.
“Hey, Bonnie!” he said.
“You gotta be kidding me,” you muttered under your breath. Coco squeezed your arm in excitement.
“Bliss, this is Soap. Soap, meet Bliss.” she said with a satisfied smile.
“We’ve met. Well, not officially,” you said, “You’re the new owners? What happened to James?”
“Did ye enjoy yer day off?” he asked, completely ignoring your question. His tone wasn’t hostile, but it was sure he wasn’t going to answer.
“Could have been better,” you replied simply. You looked around and he seemed to be alone. You turned back to him. “So, the girls have been hovering around you, huh?” you asked, shooting a glance at Coco, who only shrugged.
“Excuse me, we have to collect ourselves.” Coco quipped. “Not used to having such a charming man around.” She was doing a bit too much, you thought.
“Charming?” Soap repeated, turning to you with a smug grin.
“Yeah…” you chuckled. “Watch out. She’s like an untrained dog. she’ll bite and won’t let go.”
Coco shoved you playfully. “Shut up! But, uh, it’s true,” she said, winking at Soap. “I’m very…playful.”
Soap raised an eyebrow and turned back to you, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Told you,” You said with a shrug as you walked back to the center stage to warm up.
Rehearsal was routine, yet your mind wasn’t fully in it. You moved through the steps on autopilot, your body swaying to the music. It was just practice. No reason to put too much into it.
At first, Soap seemed distracted by blueprints spread across the table where he was sitting. But as the rehearsal went on, his attention shifted. He was watching now, his gaze lingering even when you paused to let another girl explain her vision.
It was probably a different show than he was used to. You were in sweatpants and a simple shirt, without the extravagant makeup or costume. For the first time, you felt self-conscious under his gaze.
At the end of your part, you headed to the edge of the stage for a break. Lowering yourself, you grabbed your water bottle and took a swig. He watched as you gulped it down.
“Ah, I’d let ye ruin me,” Soap said, shaking his head with a grin
You snorted, nearly choking on your water. “What?” you coughed out.
“An absolute delight, you are” he said, grinning, Coco might have been right, there was something oddly charming about him.
“There are other girls you could watch too, you know,” you said, gesturing toward the stage.
“There are?” he replied, his eyes still fixed on you.
“Ah, you’re the funny one?” You asked, raising a brow.
“Nah just the pretty face, Ghost’s the comedian,” he said as you tilted your head knitting your brow.
“The one with the mask?” you asked, recalling the night in the VIP room. He nodded.
He means the scary guy?
The thought made you chuckle at the absurdity. “Yeah, he looks like he’s just full of one-liners,” you teased, also nodding.
“You have no idea, lassie,” he answered, his grin widening.
There was a slight pause. You chewed on the inside of your cheek, studying him. He looked more talkative than the others, and you wanted answers. This one already seemed smitten by you, getting him to talk shouldn’t be hard, right?
Sliding down to the edge of the stage, you let your legs dangle over the side. He took the hint and stepped closer, leaning on the edge of the stage just a small distance from you.
“You really bought the place?” You asked.
“Price did, technically speaking,” he answered,
“Didn’t he say, it was a shithole?”
"Yeah, and it’s got our name on it now. We’ve gotta start renovations as soon as possible," he said, gesturing around the room with his finger. "Might even close down for a while. We’ve already talked to the staff, and now you." Close down? Renovation? That was fast.
You frowned, and your textbook answers spilling out faster than your thoughts.
“The transfer of ownership for a business like this isn’t immediate. It’s a formal process. In your case, you’d need permits for renovations. It can take weeks, even months, to finalize. Starting changes now could potentially be a legal violation.”
His eyes scanned you before a smile pulled at his lips.
“Big words, eh?”
“I’m a smart girl,” you shot back.
“Aye, no argument here,” he said, smirking and shifting his position. “But don’t worry, everything’s above board. We just happen to know the right people.”
“And James? He just let you? That’s his livelihood”
This time, he didn’t answer, tilting his head instead. You’d hit a wall again. You look down at your hands.
“Look, I don’t like him—I really don’t—but I care about this place. If he made a stupid decision or pissed you off, and you decide to take it out on him, fine. It’s just–” you look up.
His blue eyes were so intense, you wondered if he was even listening after you mentioned James. It was like that man was the least of his concerns, and your face was far more interesting to him. You tried, and failed, to will away the thrill tingling across your skin.
“I’d just hate to see some gangsters ruin the club for some pissing contest,” you said.
Soap chuckled, taking a step closer. “Gangsters? Ach, now ye’ve hurt me. We’re businessmen, love. Persuasive ones.”
“Yeah, because businessmen always have code names like Soap and Ghost.” you retorted, rolling your eyes.
“We all have our little fake names, now don’t we, Bliss?” He teased.
“But if it would make you less worried, how about we exchange ours?” He leaned closer. “I’ll give mine, you'll give me yours.”
You looked at him, realizing that sometime during the conversation, he’d gotten closer, so close his arm was only inches away from your thigh. Sneaky
You chuckled lightly, not breaking eye contact. “I don’t think so.”
“Now why’s that?”
“I have a reputation around here. What would come of me if they found out I gave a name I've been keeping so secret for a pretty smile?”
“How about if I ask you out for a drink? Does that count?”
You wondered if he was always like this, flirting as effortlessly as he breathed. Whatever it was, you weren’t about to let him win so easily
“Not a chance,” you said, firm, though your smile gave you away.
“C’mon, I’m good at keeping secrets,” He was so close now, his voice was low, as he looked up to meet yours. His hand grazed your knee, his smile widening when you didn’t immediately pull away. You leaned forward, ignoring the way your pulse quickened.
“Even from your boss?” you asked, tilting your head.
He bit his lip guiltily. “You got me there. We’re good at keeping secrets,” he corrected himself.
You click your tongue, shaking your head. “I like my privacy, thank you.”
“Is that right?”
“What, you think just because I sometimes dance in a bunny costume and cuffs, that I don’t have boundaries?”
A faint glint appeared in his eyes, his lips curling upward. “Wait, I’ve never seen that. Is that a new one? Nah, must be an old show.” He asked, “D’ye do re-runs?”
You licked your teeth, suppressing a laugh as you nudged him back. “Time to get back to work.” you said, rising to your feet.
“Oi, lass, no, seriously, do ye?” he called out a voice full of amusement with a mix of genuine curiosity.
You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as you walked away.
—
The club was now empty, Soap was sitting behind the bar. He stared at the blueprint but his mind kept wandering back to you. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the door opened, revealing a very tired Gaz.
“Did I miss her?” he asked, walking in scanning the room, it was so quiet, you could hear the buzzing of the bar fridge below the bar.
“By a long shot,” Soap replied, his voice echoing in the empty room. “Laswell and Price have you busy.”
“Can’t catch a break, mate,” Gaz sighed, loosening his collar, dropping on the bar stool. “ They work me like I’m on double duty,” he said, rubbing his forehead.
“Tough being daddy’s favorite, eh?” Soap chuckled.
Ghost appeared from the hallway, his cadence relaxed as usual. “So, what’d you find?” Soap asked, leaning casually against the counter.
“Nothing. Not a bloody thing,” Ghost said flatly. “Whatever her name is, she’s good at hiding it.”
“What if we just tail her?” Soap offered, raising a brow looking around at the two men.
“We’re not stalkers, mate.” Gaz interjected without missing a beat.
“But poking about her things is classy, is it?” Soap shot back.
“Well if she doesn't know…”
“Ah, some bloody saint you are,” he quipped, turning his attention to Ghost. “You’re telling me you went full sneaky mode and came back empty-handed?”
Ghost pulled a small card from his pocket, holding it up between two fingers. “Found this. Coffee shop loyalty card. Five stamps in. Fascinating, really.” his voice dry as ever.
Soap snorted, slapping the counter. “ Oh, brilliant. All that work for a wee cup of coffee.”
Ghost flicked the card onto the counter. Gaz picked it up, turning it over in his hand, studying it closely, “That could be useful.”
Ghost tilted his head, raising a brow. “Didn’t peg you as a coffee enthusiast.”
“Not the coffee. The shop.” Gaz smirked. “Five stamps already means he’s a regular there.” The others knew what he was implying.
Soap scoffed “So we’re back to stalking now, aye?”
“You get your info,” Gaz’s smirk grew sly, “ and I finally get to see what all the fuss is about.” He added, his grin widening as he pocketed the card.
I love Johnny being a chatterbox, but damn, writing his accent was chewing my ass! I'll get better, I promise! Anyway, it's a wee bit longer than the previous one, hope you like it! <3
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pairing: oscar piastri x fewtrell!reader, lando norris x fewtrell!reader
summary: lando is one of your closest friends… until he sleeps with you and ghosts you.
warnings: SMAU (no written parts), swearing, mature themes, alcohol consumption (blacking out + mentions of throwing up), use of y/n
masterlist | next part
a/n: here's my first ever smau and the first fanfic i've ever published on tumblr lol <3 hope you like it!
liked by ynfewtrell and 289,588 others
lando.jpg ⛷️
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user LANDO JPG IS SO BACK
user he finally remembered his password!!!
user who's that girl omg
user magui probably lol
user no it's y/n!! check her post, she has the same jacket
user I'm just so happy he finally posted
user y/n's so cute
user i love their friendship so much
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ynfewtrell i can't ski for dear life but at least i drank three gallons of bombardino (life is good)
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maxfewtrell They should ban you from skiing
ynfewtrell i only crashed into you twice?
maxfewtrell Tell that to the huge bruise on my left thigh
pietra.pilao Bombardino breaks my favorite 🤍
user save me skiing y/n
user icon behaviour actually
magui_corceiro ❤️🔥
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ynfewtrell lazy morning
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gigihart noo don't suffer you're so sexy aha x
ynfewtrell IF U DON'T STOP SPOILING MY SURPRISE
maxfewtrell Why are you being naked on my front page?
ynfewtrell look away!
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The Alchemy Masterlist
Lando Norris x fem!reader
THE SEASONS
2019 season Norris and Button meet on their first year at Formula 1 and soon enough they're both attached to the hip.
2020 season Nothing much has changed between the pair, expect they now wear masks everywhere they go.
2021 season Norris and Button are two big idiots traveling the world together.
2022 season COMING SOON After the fiasco of the end of the 2021 season everyone expects them to be together by now.
2023 season COMING SOON It's happening, it's finally happening! Or... is it not?
2024 season COMING SOON Where's the trophy? He just comes running over to her.
BABY BUTTON
Baby Button paddock debut COMING SOON
Ice Man melted COMING SOON
Baby Button first crush COMING SOON
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(Ahem ahem)
Now by no means is the military *homophobic* nor is Price. However, they has seen enough buddies get "married" for the sake of having a better housing arrangment on the base, so it be had very quickly become increasingly difficult for couples of the same sex to get better housing or for their marriage to be considered real.
So when your Lieutenant came up to you on that random Sunday morning, saying nothing other than, "I'm bi, legally married to Johnny but thr fuckfaces at housing say m faking."
If your eyes hadn't seemed interested from your dazed and sleepy stare the next sentence caused you lock in.
"Marry me."
...you shut the door in his face.
Now, about four hours later you had been trying to get coffee, key word had been trying. Until Price came up to you, seemingly to be more confused than anything. "Congratulations."
You falter, the warm liquid barely reaching your lips and you give him a look, "Ya know i know I'm usally late on my reports but no need to be a dick when I do turn em in."
"No. On getting married."
Silence.
....that fucker
"Oh! Heh, yeah yeah, I kinda...didn't want him bringing any attention to it. Didn't think he would-"
"Yeah never saw you and Johnny getting toegther."
You almost gagged, coughing as you doubled over within the mess hall and your face feeling incredibly hot. "Mmhm."
The next two days had been a very odd blur, everything seemingly to be just a mess of emotions and very dramatic pleading from your "husband" Who already had a husband?? They had a decent amount of paperwork to do, and then movers and then more paperwork as your "best friend" wanted to move in as well.
"So how long have you been married?"
"A year-"
"Few months-"
...
"What he means is that we eloped a year ago and had a family and friends wedding few months ago."
..
"I have to answer all these questions about you?" You look at the small stack of questions, "Johnny i don't fucking know your mother's maiden name."
"O'Donnel."
"...very Scottish of you-"
"Not Scottish, lassie."
"Oops."
--
Then came actually selling the whole bit, a few kisses on the cheeks there, some flirting there. Very domestic really.
Then came trying to explain it to your girlfriends
"He isn't gay?"
"Girl you are marrying a gay man isn't he fucking that-the scary one?"
"...no no no they're just...ya know?? Bromance?? It's so bromance."
--
"I don't wanna go on a date."
"We have to lassie, we said the anniversary was today so we gotta-"
"But Price is on my ass about-"
"You're going." The sound of the lieutenant made you jump, of course he was in your room, why wouldn't he be in your room?
"Hey! I never agreed to any of this."
"Plllleeeeaaaase lassie, Price already approved the time off."
--
Two months in you started to get different remarks from friends and even coworkers
"You could've just said you didn't wanna choose."
"Took them both?"
"Ya know I read an article that said those sorts of relationships are much more sustainable-"
It didn't quite click till you were talking to Kyle one day-
"So how are ya boys?"
You laugh, going on with typing the report, "my boys?"
Kyle seemed to stare at you long enough that you looked up to him, and then he spoke, "Is it not true?"
"Is...what not true?"
"That you, Soap and LT are in one of those....poly thingies?"
"Polyamory." You correct the term and look down, trying to find the words but failing- sure the lines between friendship and...whatever was blurred but that was to be expected as you were all living in the same house, "No?? We- he jus-"
"No shame! No shame, just didn't know."
(Annnnd that's all I got. Toodles!!!)
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Tattoo Artist Simon "Ghost" Riley x Female Reader
Chapter Specific Warnings (per the warnings MDNI): swearing, grief & difficult conversations, discussions around canon-typical violence, smoking, angst, all hurt no comfort
Word Count: 2.5k
A/N: Part Twenty-Four of Ink & Needle
Walsh leaves another note. Price might know your location. Simon prepares to leave.
Chapter Twenty-Three // Chapter Twenty-Five
ao3 // main masterlist // ink & needle masterlist
It rained that night.
Simon turns his gaze upward into stunning light.
There is no rain. No boom of thunder. No flash of lightning.
I burned like the seed.
Price, Johnny, and Kyle stand behind Simon in a half-moon, watching on like observers at a burial, but not part of the procession.
The sky watered my skin.
Simon takes a step forward. Underneath his boots is cracked concrete. From the fissures sprout green. Not weeds. No. Those don’t belong in a garden.
I germinated. I flowered. I grew.
This is grass. Fresh grass. And perfectly green.
Veins. Veins of grass. A network. A web. Stretching outward from a bountiful source.
We are gardens now. The two of us.
“Simon.”
Price’s voice is gruff. A warning. ‘Danger ahead’ is the tone.
But Simon is steadfast and uncaring of what happens to him. He takes another step, crushing blades of grass beneath his boots as he heads for the epicenter of it all.
This building is a shell. A construction site long abandoned and used as one of many covert warehouses under Walsh’s hat. This place burned. Melted.
Simon remembers how the smoke burned his lungs. How it was Price and Johnny that dragged him out even as the fire blazed around him. The ride in the helicopter is still blurry even after all these years.
Afterward, Price told him how it took several days for the fire to eventually burn itself out. Chemicals caused it, and dumping water on it did nothing. The blaze was contained. And then it was left to fade out.
It did.
Eventually.
By that point, Simon was in the hospital thinking he’d never walk again without a prosthetic.
We are gardens now. The two of us.
Simon comes to a stop just shy of the garden. Because that is what it is. A garden.
This is where they found Walsh’s body. Burnt to a crisp with Simon’s blade still lodged in the chest cavity. The handle partially melted.
Simon understands why Price is urging cautiousness.
It’s valid. Truly.
Regardless of the garden surrounding him, in the center of it all is a body.
Not your body. And not a stranger’s either.
It’s a charred corpse. The corpse of Kit Walsh that isn’t Kit Walsh at all. The one discovered after the fire burned out. The one taken back to a lab somewhere for examination before they ruled the wanker dead.
How it’s here, Simon doesn’t know. But it’s preserved well, as if everything only happened yesterday.
The knife is gone.
But in its place is a tree. Not a towering tree, but a young one. Still growing toward the light that shines down from above. The tree, and all the surrounding plants come from fire-activated seeds.
Seeds that are coated in thick resin. Seeds that need that resin burned away before they can germinate and grow.
Simon clearly remembers telling Walsh about it, back when Simon was undercover and Walsh considered Simon a friend and confidant.
The two of them walked the streets of Manchester, lingering in a part of the city that few like to visit and only if they have to. A group of young boys no older than fifteen were slinging it out in an alley.
“They only use their fists now,” Walsh had said. “Back then we used our teeth.”
“Those boys are just seeds coated in resin,” Simon had replied.
Walsh had given him the strangest look. “Fucking what?”
“Some seeds can’t germinate unless they’re burned first.” Simon had nodded toward the group of raging boys. “They are the resin-coated seeds. Their violence is the fire. It’ll melt away the resin. Crack the shell. They will grow. Become a garden.”
“A garden?” Walsh had laughed. “You’re fucking hilarious, mate. A fucking garden? Like my mum’s flower bed?”
“No,” Simon had replied, knowing his own story. Knowing how his father and his bite was the flame that melted Simon’s resin. He had cracked. Grew. But not into his father. Not into that monster.
He germinated and followed a different story.
“A path. They’ll choose a path.”
Price comes up beside Simon, pausing just shy of his shoulder.
“I thought she’d be here,” murmurs Simon, staring at the burnt body of fake-Walsh.
“She might still be alive, Simon.”
“It still has the toe tag.”
Price sighs. “It does.”
Johnny and Kyle appear in Simon’s peripheral. They hover for a moment before coming into view. They walk the perimeter on the opposite side, gazes locked on the garden as if they might find a clue.
Could be that there is, but Simon doesn’t see it.
You are not here.
The note appeared on his front door and Simon knew exactly where when the words flowed off the page to burrow into his skull.
It rained that night.
It did rain that night. It fell in sheets. Soaked right through Simon’s clothes before the fire dried it all away.
“We’ll find her, Simon,” says Price, squeezing Simon’s shoulder before taking a step to the right.
They all stare at the garden. They all look for clues.
Simon’s mind is a cobweb. Dusty. Full of so much and yet unable to recall anything of note. Walsh’s actions have suctioned Simon’s resolve right out of his body like embalming tubes, filling him with a dullness that won’t abate.
Maybe it’s because you’re gone, and half of his purpose is missing.
Simon moves, but it is aimless. He tramples the garden. Steps all over the blooming buds. Crushed. Damaged. That is all he knows to do.
His gaze scans the flora. Examines the body. Its neck is bent backward, mouth open as if seeking falling rain.
Simon moves toward it. Notices a flash of white.
As if yanked from a trance, Simon lunges, falling to his knees, not caring that his bad leg cries out angrily in protest.
“What is it?” asks Johnny, dropping down beside him.
Another note. Another fucking note.
White envelope. No postage. Simon’s full name handwritten on the front.
It’s exactly the same. A twin from the one found at Evie’s home. A twin from the one attached to his front door.
This time, his fingers shake as he opens it up.
The small piece of paper is thin. Wispy. Translucent like the paper you might find in a wrapped gift.
Simon stares down at the ink. It is solid and bold. Not smoke-kissed like the last one. Here, it bleeds. Nearly illegible.
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
“Simon?” comes Johnny’s voice, but it’s a distant thing.
Friend. Friend.
“I wasn’t your friend, Walsh,” whispers Simon.
“What is it, Simon?” It’s Johnny again, concern lacing his tone.
“I wasn’t your fucking friend!”
Johnny leans away from Simon as he staggers to his feet. Clutching the paper in his fist, raging anger blooms white hot in his chest.
Price approaches Simon, hands outstretched as if trying to calm an animal.
“Get the fuck away from me!” shouts Simon.
Johnny gets to his feet, moving backward. Kyle, Johnny, and Price all stare back at him. There is pity—so much of it. Simon hates it. He wants to rip it away. They look like they want to give Simon their condolences, as if you are already dead.
But there is no confirmation.
Walsh wouldn’t hold on to your corpse just to take the piss.
Would he?
Walsh stole the fake body. He held on to it. Grew a fucking tree in the chest cavity.
A tightness forms in Simon’s chest. It grows, and then he’s heaving, panic rising. He bends over, placing his hands on his knees as his body convulses, wanting air but not able to find it.
“Simon.”
It’s Price, but Simon turns away, stumbling forward. He moves out of the garden and then collapses to his knees. They strike grass-laced concrete.
No one comes near him. Not until it’s over and his breathing slows to something even and calm.
“We’re taking you home.”
“Captain—”
“I don’t want to hear it, Simon.” Price puts all his authority in it, and Simon’s training rises to the surface, silencing him. “We’re taking you home. And I will handle this.”
Simon turns his head just enough to look at Price. “I want in.”
“I know.”
“I want in. I’m not asking.”
Price nods. “I know you’re not.”
The man sighs, glancing back at Johnny and Kyle. They linger near the edge of the garden, standing close but not touching. Gaz has removed his hat, holding it by the lip, speaking softly to Soap. Simon cannot hear their conversation.
Price returns his attention to Simon. “I want you to go home, and live as normally as you can. Let me take a look at our options. I will call. We’ll find her.”
Instead of walking away, Price presents his hand. “I’ll take it.”
Simon offers up the note without hesitation. Keeping it won’t do anything. It’ll only hurt more. It’ll only be a reminder.
Price nods and folds it up, placing it in his jacket pocket. Pushing up to standing, Price addresses Johnny. “I want this place picked apart. Call in who you can. And get me Laswell. I want Walsh fucking found.”
Distantly, Simon hears Johnny talking into a phone. Price talks too but it’s not to Simon. They are already making plans. Already moving toward the goal.
He is staring ahead. Hardly blinking. All the energy has been sucked from him.
It not Price or Soap, but Gaz that steps into Simon’s line of sight. He bends at the knee. Gets to Simon’s level.
“Let’s go, mate.”
Kyle offers his hand. Simon takes it.
The walk to the car is slow. Foggy. Like the trip to the hospital on the helicopter, this too is completely blurry. He doesn’t remember the drive out of Manchester and back to London. He doesn’t recall arriving outside his flat or the walk up the stairs.
There is nothing.
Only blankness.
Until Simon wakes—and realizes that the exhaustion finally overtook him, plunging him down into a black sleep that took all thought and dream and memory.
Routine keeps him together. It is the only comfort. Simon sinks into it. A distraction from everything. And between it all, Simon fills it with cigarettes and his favorite bourbon. If he didn’t love you, he’d likely be scrolling through his contacts thinking about how he can get his dick wet.
That’s what he used to do after you ran from him at Riot Room. He’d think of you and remember how you were forever out of reach. He’d wank one out to that shredded piece of thong in his drawer and be completely unsatisfied after.
From there, he’d find someone willing and warm. And that simmered the need. At least for a bit.
But he has you now. He loves you. Wants no one else.
The bourbon will do.
But it is a bloody shite substitute.
A day passes.
Then two. Then three.
After a week of radio silence, Simon feels the edges of madness closing in.
Evie calls, but Simon ignores her. She comes to the shop, and with hardened shame, Simon turns her away. It’s cruel. Completely fucking cruel.
But Simon cannot face her or anyone else. Not until he has an answer.
Whether you’re alive or dead, Simon will bring you home.
Amelia even comes—trying to talk sense. And yet Simon hardly cares. He stares blankly like he’s observing a wall. He says nothing. Doesn’t react.
Amelia eventually leaves. Clearly defeated.
A second week passes.
A third.
Simon is a zombie. He is decaying.
Lighting a cigarette, Simon takes up post on his balcony. It’s fucking cold. Winter is in full swing. Christmas has already come and gone. Simon didn’t go to Johnny’s family farm. Soap’s mum rang him just to check in. Apparently, Johnny was there. So was, Gaz.
Simon should have been there. You should have been there. He was so excited to bring you along, to introduce you to the two people in his life he can call parental figures.
He takes a long drag on his cigarette. Simon’s phone buzzes in his pocket.
Though time has passed, Simon is still eager with each vibration of his phone. Every time it goes off, Simon reaches for it—lunges.
He does it now, expecting something yet knowing that it’s unlikely.
Think we found her.
Simon’s heart stops. Drops into his stomach before returning to his chest to thud loudly until it’s all he can hear.
Before Simon types out a response, Johnny sends coordinates.
Meet us here. Three days.
Three days. In three fucking days he’ll be closer to finding you.
Urgency tells Simon to just go—to just fucking leave.
Three days.
Three. Days.
Simon puts out the cigarette and heads inside. Clearing the kitchen table of takeout boxes and empty bourbon bottles, Simon opens up the scheduling planner with all his upcoming appointments. He sets to work, making calls, rearranging fucking everything.
He rebooks until his schedule is clear for two months out. Finding and returning home with you is not nearly enough. Simon has no idea what state you’ll be in when he finds you. If you are alive, you might not be whole, and Simon doesn’t want to dive into work again. You will need all his love and attention.
You deserve it. And he wants to give all that he has.
From there, Simon packs a duffle. Bravo watches on, padding nervously around the bedroom as Simon shoves things inside the bag.
“We’re going on a walk, Bravo,” says Simon, snagging the German Shepard’s leash from off its hook by the front door.
Stopping at Dancing Faun, Simon drops off an extra set of keys to 141 Ink for Ben. After, Simon walks Bravo to the one place he’s been avoiding for weeks.
He hesitates before knocking.
“Finally ready to talk?” asks Amelia, her arms crossed over her chest after she answers the door.
She might be short but her energy isn’t.
“I’m leaving for a bit,” replies Simon.
Amelia shrugs. “And?”
She’s irritated, but that’s understandable. Simon hasn’t exactly been polite to her.
“I’m leaving to bring her home.”
Amelia’s visible irritation melts away. Her arms slowly uncross, dropping to her sides. Eyes widening, she opens her mouth to speak, hesitating at the last second.
“Can you take care of Bravo?” asks Simon before Amelia has a chance to say anything.
She nods quickly, taking the offered leash, holding it against her chest as if she cradles something precious.
“You sure?” she asks, voice shaking slightly. “Are you absolutely sure, Simon?”
There are no details. Nothing to guide him. It is a blank canvas. A deep gash in his understanding. Too many variables bounce around, and Simon cannot seem to grab one out of the air. They slip through his fingers.
Too much uncertainty dwells within him.
“I’m sure,” he lies.
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A Complete Set (Whatever That Means) || 2
A continuation of Skin Deep. Part one of this sequel is here.
About this: previous warnings apply, oral sex (f receiving), alcohol, gross imperfections, not a single nipple unfortunately, an eyebrow though. For @/moody-alcoholic, I hope this manages to quench even the tiniest portion of your thirst. 1 more part left. 7k
-
“Simon?”
“Hm.”
“Are you seeing anybody else?”
Simon looks up at you. His hair is getting long, falling over his forehead and looking nearly brunet in the dim lighting. You don’t think he’s cut it since the two of you have started dating.
He’s been drawing for half the night, hunched over with the sketchpad in his lap, doing terrible things to his own posture and blocking his own lighting all at once. When he answers you, it’s in that dry tone that lets you know he thinks you’ve said something funny or clever: “No.”
A knot in your chest loosens. It’s hard to believe you worried over such a question for so long just to receive such a simple, earnest answer. He goes back to sketching.
You content yourself with this and stretch your legs out until your toes touch his thigh at the other end of the sofa. His mouth twitches, but he keeps working.
-
Six months pass, and how do you celebrate? You climb topless onto Simon’s lap, eager and anxious in equal measure. Your nipple piercing had stopped hurting months ago (save for the time you had snagged it on a cable knit sweater and nearly seen Jesus), but you had read online that piercings heal from the outside inward, and as such you had made every attempt possible to leave the thing alone even when all you wanted to do was play with it.
In his own way of celebrating, Simon had bought you your first new barbell: a black one with black gemmed studs at each end. You couldn’t help but notice that it looked similar to his, only with a more delicate, feminine touch.
“Will you change it for me?” you ask him. Your hands are shaking.
“Alright. Let me wash my hands.” He shifts you off of his lap and disappears into the bathroom where you hear the faucet turn on. You cross your arms over your breasts, feeling silly being half naked without Simon in the room. Your foot bounces impatiently, but you know that if cleanliness were a love language, it would likely be Simon’s.
Not that he had told you he loved you—nor had you told him. You had promised yourself that you would wait until he said it first (the only sure-fire way to avoid coming across as overeager and scaring him off). Still, there were a thousand ways in a day that Simon made you feel as if he loved you: the way he would go out to start your car in the wintery mornings when your remote start stopped working; the way he always offered you the first bite of his food if you weren’t sharing a meal; the way he’d crack open your drinks before handing them to you. Was it wrong of you to try to read between the lines?
Simon comes back and tugs you onto his lap again. His hands look huge compared to the jewelry through your breast as he dexterously works the ball free from the barbell. He has the hands of a surgeon: steady and calm. You close your eyes in anticipation of pain, but there is none; it just feels alien, sensitive whenever his calloused fingers brush over your pebbled nipple, even as he removes the barbell itself.
Taking the sanitized jewelry, he carefully puts it in and screws the stud in place.
“That didn’t hurt at all,” you say, reaching down to tug softly on the barbell. Still, no pain.
“Great,” he says, eyes on your breasts. He grips your hips. “Up, now. C’mon, up.”
He tugs you up onto your knees so that you’re the perfect height for him to take your nipple into his burning mouth. You shiver, one hand gripping his shoulder and the other burying itself in his hair, gripping softly to keep his mouth in place. If you had worried that getting the piercing would make you less sensitive, you were wrong. He tugs on the jewelry gently with his fucking teeth and God, holy shit, fucking hell, definitely not less sensitive.
“Been waiting to do this,” he says, nuzzling the skin between your breasts as he gives you a moment to catch your breath. “Six months of hell.”
“Yeah?” You pant lamely, chest heaving.
He hums. His thumbs stroke beneath your breasts along the sternum tattoo he gave you—a favorite part of you for him to touch—as his lips find your nipple again, lashing softly with his tongue. His hands have begun to tremble where they slide down the curves of your sides and to your hips, touch soft and worshipful as he brings you down to rest your weight against the hard line of his cock still confined in his jeans. The shaking says more than a thousand of his words ever could.
“I want you,” he mutters. “Say yes.”
“Yes, God, yes.”
Simon guides you off of his lap, kneeling down into the space between the couch and the coffee table. He pushes the table backwards with a little more force than is necessary when there isn’t enough room for his long legs and accidentally sends a cup full of charcoal pencils tipping over onto the carpet. You snort with laughter. He peels your leggings and panties off and drags you to the edge of the couch, pressing your thighs open wide.
Getting head from partners in the past had been a fraught, mostly unenjoyable experience. Even your first few times with Simon had been tense, with him quickly moving on to something else after noticing your inability to relax. A less eager man might have counted his blessings and moved on, but Simon’s gentle persistence had gone a long way toward reassuring you that he truly wanted to please you this way. It had gone a long way toward reassuring you that you could let him.
He spreads you apart, thumbs slipping against your slick folds, heated gaze pinpointed on your most intimate parts before he leans in and licks a broad stripe over your entrance and up to your clit. You shut your eyes (and cover your face for good measure). His warm breath fans against your pussy as he laughs. He could be mean and pull your hands away, but he lets you hide this way and you are grateful for it.
Simon takes his time mapping each part of you with his mouth, nose brushing your clit whenever he doesn’t have his lips sealed over it. Your thighs shake, toes curled, as he pulls whines and choked gasps from your throat.
You peek through your fingers when you feel him shifting beneath you to find that he’s worked his cock from his jeans and is jerking off, only noticeable by the tell-tale rhythmic motion of his arm against your calf.
“Jesus, Simon,” you whine.
He makes a little sound of acknowledgement in the back of his throat, shifting on his knees to change the angle of his mouth against you. Something about him so unashamedly enjoying himself makes it easier for you to enjoy yourself too, to let your hands come away from your face and thread them through his hair.
“Can we fuck?” you breathe, aching inside deep where his tongue can’t reach.
He nods against you and kneels up to kiss you. You still aren’t used to the taste of yourself in his mouth, but it’s growing less foreign—and nothing could ever make you turn away from one of Simon’s kisses.
He pulls you off the couch onto your knees, his legs spread to either side of your own. You arch your back, feeling his cock brush against the back of your thighs. Two of his thick fingers slip inside you, testing your give and your wetness. He twists them; turns to hook them against that soft, vulnerable spot inside you that makes your legs shake. Simon works a third finger into you, a stretch that your body struggled to take before but which it accepts eagerly now, the sting welcome and familiar.
“Fuck. I need a condom,” he rasps.
“Just pull out,” you say.
You can sense him rolling his eyes. Your fondness for the (dangerous) pull-out method had been formally noted by him and thus far rejected at every turn.
“Don’t insult me,” he mutters. He grabs your hand and guides it between your own legs. “Be good and keep yourself warm. I’ll be right back.”
He’s barely gone long enough for you to stroke your fingers through your folds, but when he returns (flashing the intact condom package at you like he always does), he watches you for an endless, lingering moment.
“I like that,” he says at last, taking his spot behind you again, condom in place.
“Like what?”
“Watching you touch yourself.” The head of his cock nudges your entrance. He finds the right angle and slips inside you, stretching your walls to make room for himself. You groan, your fingers digging into the couch cushion. It stings a little, right towards the end, but he just softly saws himself in and out of your pussy, soothing the ache with pleasure. His words go completely over your head.
He reaches so deep inside you, like with his every thrust his cock bullies the air out of your lungs. The slick sounds are lewd, keeping time with your moans and sighs as his fingertips dig into the flesh of your hips, manhandling you further onto the couch to the perfect height for him to fuck into you, your knees barely skimming the carpet.
Your hand ends up crushed between your pelvis and the couch. You let your fingers find your clit and the touch reminds your body of how close it is, that coil deep in your belly stretched tight and ready to release. Your fingers trail down to where his cock pistons in and out of you, and at your touch he groans, slows to a smooth drag, his length slippery with your own arousal.
“Touch yourself, not me,” he chides, his voice rough. “I’m close enough.”
“I’m close enough,” you say.
He flops against your back, nearly crushing you with his weight to hook his chin over your shoulder and ask: “Then what the fuck are we waiting for?”
You can barely draw in the breath to laugh, and it’s only worse when you cum. You bury your face into the couch cushions, giggling, fingers rubbing a gentle, hectic rhythm against your clit as your pussy spasms around him. He snorts at your laughter, a soft quiet exhale against the back of your neck. Then he cums, his thrusts sloppy and hard, turning his head at the last moment to bite your shoulder lazily.
“Sex makes you so weird,” you pant. Your face hurts from smiling.
“You like it?”
“Yeah. I do.”
He ties off the condom and throws it away. The two of you sit naked on the couch together, curled up. It’s a little alien to be this open about your body with someone and to have them be so open about their body in return, but it’s a good strangeness. So much about loving Simon is.
“I need to get the other one pierced now,” you mention, toying with his unpierced nipple. “Have to complete the set.”
“I never did.”
“You’re incomplete. Don’t you know?”
He snorts. “I feel quite fulfilled, thanks.”
“Please Simon?” you ask. “I want to.”
“Don’t ever say please. I’ll text Soap in the morning,” Simon says, trailing his fingers up and down the length of your arm, making goosebumps appear.
You hesitate. Should you tell him what you’d been thinking about for the last several months? Would it offend him to know that you didn’t want to go to Johnny for any more piercings?
Whether it offended him or not, your pride couldn’t rest easily going back to the tiny room behind the curtain in Skin Deep. While there had been only a few other tense interactions between you and Johnny since Simon’s birthday (and usually he seemed to favor outright ignoring your existence), the situation had not improved.
“Simon—I think I’d rather go somewhere else for my other nipple. To someone other than Johnny, I mean.”
Simon frowns. “What’d Johnny do.”
He phrases it like that—more of a statement and less of a question, immediately assuming that Johnny is at fault.
“It’s just—it’s like I said on your birthday. He doesn’t like me much.”
Simon turns to look you in the eye. When your gaze tries to skirt away, he lets out an irritated breath through his nose—but doesn’t fight you. Simon always lets you run. Maybe because he knows his legs are long enough to catch you. “You really feel like that?”
“You’ve never noticed?”
“Thought it was in my head,” he mutters. Then he says the most dreaded words he possibly could: “I’ll talk to him.”
“No!” you nearly shout. You struggle to lower your voice to something more appropriate for indoors, your heart tap-dancing to an anxious beat inside your chest. Just trying to picture Johnny’s irritated expression at any of Simon’s potential efforts to talk to him made your stomach turn over. “I mean—don’t. Really. It’s fine.”
“It’s not. I need you two to get along. You and Johnny—you’re the most important people in my life,” he says baldly. His honesty does something to your lungs—empties them, crushes them. You only just realize the position that you’re putting Simon in, and it makes you feel about two inches tall. How could you let your petty problems with Johnny potentially get in the way of their longtime friendship? Their brotherhood?
“I’m begging you, Simon,” you plead. “Promise me you won’t talk to him. Just, give me more time to get to know him or something.”
“Can't promise that.” He stands up and stretches, joints popping as you stare at him, your stomach tearing itself to pieces at this knowledge. This is not how this conversation was meant to end. But he disappears into the bedroom before you can gather your wits enough to say another word.
-
There is nothing like sleeping beside Simon, his arm beneath your head, your body turned and cradled against his side, a leg thrown over his thighs. His heart is as slow and steady as his breaths, his calloused thumb tracing a line back and forth on your naked side, a line which grows slower and slower as he drifts closer to sleep.
You ruin it like this: “Simon?”
“Hm.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“If you got’a.”
“On your birthday, you said that women meant for you sometimes ended up being Johnny’s. What did you mean?”
He’s quiet for so long that you mistake him for falling asleep. You’ve resigned yourself to asking him another night when he speaks, his speech is slow and thoughtful, like it is hard to put it into words.
“When Soap and I are in a room together with women, I’m like a ghost. He’s a fucking human being. Flesh and blood. Alive. People want to talk to him, to know him, to laugh with him, to have a drink with him. I’m not like that. I haven’t ever been like that. More than once Johnny would try to get me together with a woman who would end up falling for him instead. Eventually I convinced him to stop trying.”
“Were you jealous?”
He makes an ambiguous sound. “It’s hard to be jealous of Soap.”
“Not impossible, though.”
He rolls you over onto your back, coming to rest over you, your legs a tangled mess beneath the sheets. The darkness lengthens the shadows of his eyes, but you can still feel his gaze, tangible as any touch. He braces himself on his elbows over you and lets his forehead rest against your own. “I just wanted someone who was mine,” he says.
It’s on the tip of your tongue, those words that are building inside of you and growing harder to withhold by the day. But you say it like this and hope he can translate: “I’m yours.”
He ducks his head and kisses you.
-
In the morning, Simon has slipped a piece of paper just beneath the edge of your mug of tea. When you look at it, written in charcoal pencil is DARCELINA: Dream City Tattoos and Piercings XXX-XXXX.
-
It’s one for the record books: the rain. Thick pregnant clouds carry more than eight inches of rain to your city in the course of a day. The last time it rained so much was apparently during the Civil War era. The city floods, including the basement of your apartment building, which leads to a building-wide power outage.
Simon has you pack a suitcase, junk the majority of your refrigerator and freezer, and come stay with him. You’re giddy, feeling like it’s a semi-permanent sleepover when he gets the call that Skin Deep has flooded as well.
Then things take a turn for the worse. Simon is gone for nearly 36 hours straight making endless calls to attempt to clear the water and begin repairs, and sometime in the midst of that, the fight with Johnny happens.
It’s an ugly one.
Simon comes home in the foulest mood you’ve ever seen him in. It turns him positively stony as he moves around the apartment making himself a hasty meal, avoiding your eyes every chance he gets. After he eats, he sits heavily on the sofa, pulls out his sketchpad, and trashes no fewer than six entire pages before you get the nerve to ask him what’s wrong.
“Soap,” he mutters, crumpling a paper in one strong, dextrous hand. He throws it toward the small garbage can beside the telly and misses. “He’s looking for other locations to pierce at.”
“Is the building that bad?” you ask. “You guys will have to find a new place?”
“Soap is looking for a new place. One without me.”
You gape, the shock of this news reaching all the way to the core of your being.
“You don’t think it’s because of—?” Me. You can’t even finish the sentence, the thought upsets you so much. You tuck your legs beneath you on the couch, curling up, seeking to become small and harmless as grief and horror wash over you in wave after wave.
“This is my fault. I tried to talk to him but he’s so fucking—he gets under my goddamn skin like he was born to do it.” Simon pauses heavily, before adding: “I need to tell you something about the night Soap pierced me.”
Story time. Alright. You uncurl your legs, choosing to sit with them criss-crossed, your body turned toward him, giving Simon your entire attention. It’s been months since you found out that Johnny had been the one to pierce Simon, but you had been no closer to getting the story from either of them. Your curiosity was a dangerous, corrosive thing, eating away at your insides.
“I’m listening,” you say, hoping you don’t look as eager as you feel.
Simon looks to be at a loss for words, running his tongue along the sharp edge of his teeth. When he speaks, it’s hardly the lengthy story you had been anticipating: “We fucked.”
You blink. “You and—Johnny?”
Simon sighs and shrugs a shoulder.
“I didn’t know you were…” Simon stares, waiting for you to finish your sentence. “…interested in men.”
“You are. Why can’t I be?”
You feel a chilly pang of horror, like someone has slipped a dagger between your ribs. You rush to assure him: “You can! You—“
Simon’s mouth twitches as he rubs at the crease of one eye, and your panic fades. He mumbles: “I’m just fucking with you.”
“So you’re bisexual.”
“I’m… I don’t fucking know. I’m attracted to who I’m attracted to. I never named it.”
“Okay,” you say gently. “We don’t have to. But what does that have to do with now?”
“The day after we—y’know. Fucked. I told him it was a one time thing. Maybe it’s in my head,” says Simon, frowning. “Maybe I’m crazy. But sometimes he looks at me or says something to me and it makes me think it’s not over. Not for him.”
“Is it really over,” you ask, “for you?”
Simon looks at you, quiet. He says: “I want you.”
And you are so relieved by the obvious honesty in his answer that it never crosses your mind to think that’s not what you asked.
-
Simon is uptown at a café holding consultations while Johnny directs cleanup efforts at the shop, and you think that now’s the perfect chance.
Your hands shake against the steering wheel the whole drive there, nerves less like butterflies and more like great winged moths in your belly. A part of you says that this is a mistake, you should turn back and let Simon and Johnny work it out on their own. But another part of you feels personally responsible—even if Simon says you aren’t. All your life you have taken things too personally, shouldered burdens which were not your own, bent over backwards to solve problems that weren’t yours to solve. If there was any chance that you could resolve this, you would put your pride on the line to do it.
You park alongside the street and are thrilled to find the front door unlocked. The entire place smells musty, like a basement. The wooden floors have warped a little under your tentative steps, announcing your presence sooner than you’d like.
Johnny sits in the chair where Simon tattoos clients. Sunlight streams in through the blinds and lights him up like some kind of punk-rock angel, his mohawk freshly clipped, dark finger nail polish chipping. Sometime between now and the last time you’ve seen him, he’s pierced his eyebrow: a black barbell with studs that reminds you a little too much of the one through your nipple (and Simon’s. Was that intentional? Did Johnny pick jewelry to match Simon’s? To match yours? For some reason just the thought makes your nipples tighten). In his hands is one of Simon’s sketchpads, and he’s flipping through it leisurely.
He glances up toward the sound of your footsteps.
“If you’re here about the water—“ his words die out on his pierced tongue as he stares at you, gobsmacked by your appearance.
“Hey,” you say lamely.
“Where’s Simon?” he asks, eyes flickering toward the protective spot where Simon usually hovers just over your shoulder. “He said he wouldn’t be in today.”
“He’s not. It’s just me. I thought maybe we could talk.”
Johnny openly grimaces. He shuts Simon’s sketchpad and sets it down (hopefully where he found it). Standing from the chair, he takes a few casual steps away from you, clearly heading towards the curtain that leads to the back of the shop. “Really cannot think of anything we have to talk about.”
You square your shoulders, fighting down that instinctive urge to make yourself smaller, to give in and be manageable. “I think we do.”
“You should go.”
“Not until we work this out.”
“There isn’t any this, alright, just—does Simon even know you’re here?” Something guilty must splash across your face because Johnny gives a mirthless laugh, reaching up to palm at his eyes. “Tha’s great. Just great. Could you be more incriminating?”
“Incriminating—? Look, Simon told me about the night you pierced him.”
“Oh he did, did he?” Johnny says flippantly.
“About how you two slept together.”
Now that stops Johnny in his tracks. It’s clear that he didn’t expect Simon to really tell you about that night all those years ago. He looks at you with a fresh caution, waiting to see how exactly you’ve taken this news—what you plan to do with it. “Aye, then. I guess he did.”
“I’m not trying to take him away from you.”
Johnny makes a derisive sound. His words are well-rehearsed, like he has said them to himself a hundred-hundred times: “Cannot take what isn’t mine.”
“He was your friend first,” you say, aiming for conciliatory and gentle the same way you might approach a feral animal. Johnny stares at you with flat, suspicious eyes. They’re so fucking blue—so different from Simon’s own dark ochre ones. “He told me that you’re one of the most important people in his life.”
Johnny’s face softens. He says: “You shouldn’t tell me that. He wouldn’t.”
“He’s not always good with words. Please don’t leave the shop, Johnny. I think it would break Simon’s heart.”
“I didn’t know he had a heart to break,” Johnny mutters. He leans against the wall beside the curtain and sighs, lips pressed into a thin line. “I’ll think about it. Now out. You shouldn’t be breathin’ in this air.”
Johnny ushers you to the door, hand hovering just above your back, careful not to touch you. Once you’re out on the street, he shuts the door and locks it audibly. Then he leans in and huffs a heated breath beneath the “NO WALK INS” sign. In the fog, he adds: “No GFs!”
You flip him off.
He flips you off.
On the way back to your car, you find yourself smiling. You force yourself to scowl. It’s a more appropriate expression. Giving one last glance back toward Skin Deep, you find him still standing there, watching.
Likely just to make sure you’re really leaving.
-
Not long after you are moved back into your apartment, you find that Simon stops sleeping.
You’re ashamed to say that it takes you a while to notice; nothing changes on your end of things. Anytime you are sleeping over, he lays down with you, tugs you up against his chest, and holds you for ages, his body still and breathing even. But one night you wake to a cool, empty bed. And later in the week, it happens again. Until more often than not you realize that any moment when you expect Simon to be sleeping, he isn’t.
Usually you find him sketching, shadows like charcoal smudged beneath his eyes. He doesn’t meet your gaze and tells you to go back to bed, that he’ll be there soon. Sometimes he even does come to lay back down beside you—but only long enough for you to convince him that you have fallen asleep again. Then he is shifting away from you, disappearing into the other room, shutting the bedroom with the quietest click behind him.
You know that he’s busy. His schedule has been booked—and with deposits nonrefundable, people more often than not kept their appointments. He’s been working with a client on mock ups for a sleeve, and the various pieces and the way they all come together around the contours of the person’s body are very delicate. Johnny’s threat to find a new job doesn’t help, either. Have they talked and resolved things yet? Simon never says so.
You can’t imagine the stress that he is under, and you’d do anything to be able to shoulder a fraction of it for him.
That’s how you end up with drunk Johnny in your car.
It starts with Simon falling asleep before you—for once. You can tell he is well and truly asleep by the sheer weight of his arm over you, the soft snores that he gives out against the nape of your neck. After so many nights of sleeplessness, his body has finally given in. You’re about to slip off to sleep yourself when the buzzing of a phone startles you back into wakefulness.
Not your phone—Simon’s phone. And it goes off again. And again. And again. Who the hell could be sending so many messages at midnight?
You know you should leave it alone—if it was urgent, they would likely call—but curiosity gets the better of you. Carefully you slip out from under Simon’s arm. It’s a testament to his sheer exhaustion that he doesn’t wake as you jostle him. In sleep, he looks painfully young and relaxed, and it makes you long to reach out and brush back his hair that has fallen onto his forehead. But not at the risk of waking him.
Sure that all you are planning to do is shut Simon’s phone off so that he can get some restful sleep, you are surprised to see that Simon has his text notifications visible on the homescreen, so all it takes is a simple tap to open them up.
Johnny. All Johnny.
Ghost.
Ghost
Are you uo?
Up* fuck my fingers
I need a ride home
Simon
I’m at that bar on… The text is cut off. To see more, you would have to open his phone. So Johnny is stuck at some bar, drunk more than likely. Well good riddance, you think to yourself, the hurtful way he treated you still very much fresh in your brain. But then you remember your talk at Skin Deep, and your traitorous heart softens. Could you really just put the phone back now and pretend you hadn’t seen the messages?
Simon doesn’t even have a password; that’s how much he trusts you. Would he still trust you after this, if he knew that you had gone through his phone, even if it was for a good cause?
Making a spur of the moment decision, you could only hope so. Your conscience wouldn’t let you wake Simon, and as much as you disliked him, it couldn’t let you leave Johnny stranded at some bar either.
You open his phone as quickly as you can, swiping so that it goes straight to Johnny’s texts and nowhere else. The name of the bar is right there, and you scramble for your own phone to type it down in Google Maps. He’s not far. Probably would be within walking distance, if he weren’t drunk. You could be there and back before Simon ever knew you were gone—you hoped.
As Simon, you send back to Johnny a simple OMW.
There is no hint of spring in the frigid March air as you slip outside into your car. The parking lot is dim and quiet, and traffic is minimal as you follow the GPS on your phone to Johnny’s location. The pub nightlife spills out onto the pavement and you struggle to find a place to park, grimacing at the knowledge that you will have to get out of the car and go inside to find Johnny, considering you see him nowhere on the street. Leaving the warmth of your car is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do, especially in just a thin tank-top and a pair of leggings. Gathering your coat more tightly around yourself, you rush out of the car and through the people on the sidewalk and into the warmth of the pub.
You keep your eyes peeled for Johnny, but can’t spot his silly haircut anywhere. What if he’s gotten a ride home from someone else? What if he’s decided to walk, or found someone to go home with? You shift up onto your toes, looking over everyone in the bar when you spot him in the corner at a table with a few other men.
Johnny doesn’t even recognize you at first—either a testament to how unexpected your sudden appearance is or how drunk he is based on how difficult it is for his eyes to focus on you. When he realizes who you are, his mouth drops. He points.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, accent so thick and slurred that you can barely understand him.
“Picking you up. You said you needed a ride.”
“Aye but not from—oh, Jesus make me still. Yer not wearing a bra, are you?”
All the men at the table turn to gape. You snatch the sides of your jacket closed where they had loosely fallen open, your face flushing with warmth. The table roars with laughter, but Johnny in his drunkenness doesn’t seem to notice your embarrassment.
“That was mine!” Johnny shouts, elbowing the man next to him. “Did you see that? That was my work!”
“We get it, bruv,” the guy says with a roll of his eyes. “She’s no ten.”
“What’d you fuckin’ say?”
The table laughs.
Johnny grabs a fistful of the guy’s shirt and drags him nearly clean out of his seat. “I said, What’d you fucking say about her?”
The table stops laughing. Johnny cuts an impressive figure even when drunk; he’s easily the largest guy of the group. Your stomach drops and lands somewhere between your shoes. This is not going to plan at all. Reaching out, you try to insert yourself physically between the two of them but can only wrap your fingers around Johnny’s wrist, feeling the strength poised in the tendons.
“Johnny,” you say, loudly to be heard over the sounds of the pub. “Come on. Let’s go, yeah? Simon…Simon’s out in the car.”
“Simon?” Johnny let’s go of the guy’s shirt, his bad mood evaporating as quickly as it had manifested. He nudges his way out from behind the table, all politeness. Once free, he stumbles into a woman in a slinky dress who gives him a look that could melt glass.
“I’m so sorry,” you apologize to her, wrapping an arm around Johnny’s waist and doing your best to keep him steady. “He’s an idiot, and he’s drunk. You look amazing by the way—“
“Control your boyfriend,” she snaps.
“I will,” you promise, guiding Johnny away from her and into the crowd.
His nose brushes the shell of your ear, breath fanning across your neck as he says with a laugh in his voice: “I’m not yer boyfriend.”
You flush. “Thanks for letting me know, Johnny. I had no clue.”
He says something back, some Scottish phrase, his accent so thick you couldn’t understand the words even if you knew them.
“English, please,” you mutter.
“Je-sus,” he groans, dragging the words out into multiple syllables. He takes your chin in his hand and squeezes your cheeks a little. “You’re just like him. ‘English, MacTavish’. Ha!”
You bat his hand away.
“He’s been rubbing off on you,” Johnny mutters, laughing a little. Beneath his breath (though far more loudly than he likely intends), he adds: “In more ways than one, I imagine.”
Your face goes hot. “Johnny, stop talking.”
The two of you exit the pub out into the cool night air. It seems to sober Johnny some, as he takes in deep, gulping breaths. He walks a little steadier as the two of you cross the street, and by the time you’ve made it to your car, he has shrugged you off altogether (even if he is still a little unstable on his feet). He stands outside the car for a moment before opening one of the rear doors.
“What are you doing?”
“Rather sit back here.”
“I’m not your cabbie.”
“Strange manner of dress if you were,” he says snidely, slipping into the backseat.
In the driver’s seat, you let yourself have a small breakdown. You grip the wheel tightly, taking a few deep breaths of your own, searching for inner peace. You thought that you and Johnny had a tentative truce after that day at Skin Deep, but clearly he is still holding some grudge. Your search for peace turns up empty.
“Sorry I lied about Simon being here. I just really needed you to leave the pub,” you explain politely.
“Knew you were lying,” Johnny says from the darkness of the backseat. He sounds remarkably like Simon: brooding and irritable. “He’s got no idea you’re here, does he? He’d never let you come alone.”
You frown. “No. He doesn’t. He’s sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him.”
“Nightmares?”
“Huh?”
Johnny leans forward. You glance at him in the rear view mirror. “I said, Has he been having more nightmares?”
You didn’t know anything about Simon having nightmares. That sour feeling in your belly was back, the one that made you feel like you would never truly know Simon, not the way his friends did.
“No,” you say, a little defensive. “He’s been working on this sleeve for a client. Staying up way too late to finish it on time.”
“Aye. Nightmares. Anything else is just an excuse he’s telling himself—and you.”
Done with the conversation, you turn the key in the ignition and pull out into the street. “What’s your address?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Why’s that?”
“Left my keys at the bar.”
“Goddamnit.”
You turn towards Simon’s apartment. “Then you’re staying with us—with Simon. You can sleep on his couch and get your keys in the morning; I’m sure he won’t care.”
“Are you staying there?”
“Yes.”
Johnny mutters something under his breath. You consider yourself lucky not to have heard it. For a while, the two of you drive in silence. Then Johnny says:
“You never came for your second nipple.”
“It’s only just been six months.”
“So you’re due for an appointment then, aren’t you?”
You steel yourself, gripping the wheel tightly at ten-and-two. “Actually, I’m going to someone else.”
Johnny’s seatbelt unclicks. He hovers at your shoulder bringing with him burning warmth and the scent of whisky. When he talks, his breath brushes your neck, fury tangible in every syllable. “Who is it? Who the hell is he taking you to? Darcelina? Astrid? Dusty? Whoever it is, consider the appointment canceled. No one is piercing you but me.”
“You don’t get that privilege,” you grit out between your teeth. “Not anymore, not after the way you’ve treated me!”
“Oh, did I offend you?” he breathes, clutching one hand at his breast. “Not falling down at your feet? Not worshippin’ the ground you walk on?”
“Fuck you, Soap! I wanted to be friends.” Your voice cracks embarrassingly. Suddenly the road goes blurry. You blink rapidly, forcing yourself to calm down—you’re driving for fuck’s sake. You swallow past the lump in your throat, the silence interrupted by rustling as Johnny leans forward again in the backseat, trying to get a look at your face in the passing streetlights.
“Fuck,” Johnny groans. “Are you crying?”
“No!”
“You are. Fuckin’—pull over, before you get us killed.”
Keen embarrassment only has your eyes watering more, until you have no choice but to do as he asks, pulling over to hastily parallel park and throw on your hazard lights. You let your elbows rest against the steering wheel, face in your hands. His words echo in your head, said in that stupid Scottish brogue: not falling down at your feet? Not worshippin’ the ground you walk on? Are those really the things he thought you wanted? Is that the sort of impression you gave to Johnny, to Ghost’s other friends?
The backseat door opens and Johnny climbs out. A small part of you hopes that he will walk himself home—and good riddance. But he horrifies you by walking all the way around to the driver’s side of the car and tugging on the door handle until you begrudgingly unlock the doors.
“C’mon,” he says, trying to pull you out of the car with your seatbelt still on.
“What’re you—?”
“Just—wouldya—so stubborn—“ he drunkenly leans over you and mashes his fingers against the button of your seatbelt until it releases. For that brief moment, he is a warm weight across your lap, bringing with him the scent of cologne and whisky. Then he pulls you out of the car—and into his arms. It’s a tight, full hug, chest-to-chest, not bone crushing per se, but all-encompassing.
You don’t realize how badly you need it from him until you’re getting it.
“You’re such a dick,” you groan against his shoulder, sniffling.
“Aye,” he says, swaying a little on his feet, like the two of you are dancing. “But I’m right. We cannot be friends. So you’ve got to let this go, alright? Just breathe out 'n let it go.”
“I don’t understand,” you mutter. “He wants us to be friends.”
“He doesn’t know what he wants,'' Johnny says, one hand rubbing gently at your shoulder blades. “No more crying. It’s out of your hands. Aye?”
You shake your head, hands gripping his shirt.
But your tears slow and eventually stop. Cars pass occasionally. One of them honks at the sight of you both entwined on the side of the road, rolls down their window to let their passenger yell something suggestive, and it makes your face go hot. Johnny pulls away, nearly stumbling out into the road to give the car both middle fingers as it peels away. He slips on the damp asphalt and goes down hard on his side, taking the skin off his elbow and palm.
“Fuck, I’m hammered,” he laughs.
“Clearly,” you say, struggling to help him up and into the backseat.
Once in the driver’s seat again, you feel exhausted, emptied, like a washcloth wrung out and left to dry. The drive back to the apartment is silent, and when you’re in the parking lot, neither of you make a move to get out of the car.
You warn Johnny: “Simon’s asleep, so be quiet inside.”
Johnny warns you sleepily: “Ghost is right there.”
There’s a tap on the glass of your window. It nearly makes you shriek—but it is only Simon, half-smoked cigarette in his fingers, bundled up outside the car door. You roll down the window sheepishly.
“Need a little help?” he asks, taking a drag and turning his head so the smoke doesn’t touch you. His eyes are on Johnny in the backseat.
You hold up your fingers with just a smidge of space between them.
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Chapter 1 -> Chapter 2
{overview} Task force 141 has gone without an omega, despite needing one. Is their decision catching up to them?
{full story warning} a/b/o dynamics, poly 141 x reader, fem reader, omega reader, cursing, violence, blood, angst, future smut and suggestive language, chapter story, medical and military inaccuracies, age of reader not specified (adult tho)
{chapter warning} Nothing really, Simon needless medical attention

“Have you thought any more about my offer?”
“Have you thought any more about my answer?” John shot back, his arms folded across his chest. Kate sighed, digging her heels deeper into the dirt.
“They’re going to pair you up with one anyways, John. Wouldn't you rather they be chosen by me?” Kate pressed, turning to face the stubborn Captain. John pressed his lips together, his gaze distant.
“This a fact?” He hummed.
“They’re doing it all over the world. I'm sure your task force isn't out of the woods with this one.” Kate reminded. “Plus don't you think there could be some benefits?” Kate pressed.
“You think we need one?” John asked, his eyes finally landing on Kate.
“Honestly, yeah. I can smell it on you- all of you.” She spoke truthfully, her head glancing behind her at the three men lounging around in the dirt.
“We can talk about it later.” John shut down. “We’ve still got a job to do.”
“Business as usual, Captain.” 

“What’s his blood type?”
“B positive,” Johnny replied following the rolling gurney. The nurse rolled the gurney into another maze of hallways.
“Alpha, yeah?” She questioned. Johnny quickly replied with a yes, his hands digging into the fabric of his jeans. “What happened?”
“Shrapnel to the leg, maybe up higher?” Johnny explained, his eyes flickering behind him to John.
“He fell from quite a height too,” John added. The nurse nodded her head, pushing open two large doors with the gurney.
“You’ll have to wait here. Someone will come and see you when we’re done.” She explained the doors swinging shut behind her. For a few seconds, the doors opened, and the sound of utter chaos filled the hall. Johnny and Kyle winced the urge to follow- the urge to keep watch weighing on them.
“Steady now,” John spoke up, his hands resting on their heavy shoulders, guiding them towards some chairs a little further down the hall. “He’ll be fine, much to his annoyance.” They dry chuckled, sitting in the hard plastic chairs.
They sat for what felt like hours- maybe it was. Johnny had a hard time sitting in his seat, the blood in his veins still hot and swarming.
“You're making me dizzy, mate.” Kyle huffed, leaning down further in his seat. John hummed in agreement from next to him.
Finally, the two doors swung open, all of them standing at attention.
“Gentlemen? Simon Riley, yes?” The doctor asked, and they quickly nodded. She smiled causing relief to flood them. “He’ll be fine. He’ll need some recovery time though. Pulled some hot metal pieces out of his left leg, and treated it for some second-degree burns. He's going to have some intense brushing on his back and side- but no signs of internal bleeding. We also had to pop his shoulder back into place. Two weeks rest at the very least.” She explained. “He's already been wheeled to his holding place, but he’s not quite ready for visitors yet.”
“Instincts?” Kyle questioned.
“Correct. It seems like he's been passed out for a while, don't want him waking up still thinking he's on the field.” She responded. “Now would be a good time for the pack omega to join him. Or if they can't come, maybe something holding their scent. It'll calm him and make his adjustment easier.”
They paused, looking at each other before John spoke up.
“We don't have an omega,” John said, with a clear of his throat. The doctor's eye widened, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“Oh.” She smiled slightly. “That changes things slightly. Without an omega, his healing time will be at least four to six weeks.”
It was their turn for their eyes to widen.
“We might have some extra clothes with omega scent on them. Now because he's not bonded it might not help by much, but it could make his waking up easier.” The doctor offered.
“I think a new scent’ll throw him off,” Kyle interjected. The others nodded their heads in agreement.
“Of course.” She smiled politely. “He’s on the fourth floor, room B12. I suggest waiting till tomorrow morning for visitation.”
“Thank you, doctor.” They said in unison. They watched as she spun on her heels, steering herself back into the double doors. John pulled out his phone from his pocket.
“What are you doing?” Johnny asked.
“Calling Kate.”

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The next chapter will be posted in three days! See you next time! 🤎🧡
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Cherry Bomb - tattoo parlor au
MDNI | poly 141 x fem fat reader | masterlist
Part 8: Nobody’s Son, Nobody’s Daughter
You hate how weak you are, sometimes.
That a text can ruin your whole day.
>> Hey. I hope you’re doing well. I miss hearing from you.
You’re fuming. Absolutely fuming. In under fifteen seconds you’re on your feet, face hot and heart pounding as you stomp across the old wooden floor.
“I’ll be right back.” You grunt to Johnny and Kyle, ignoring their wide, confused eyes and fast walking past them and out the back door.
The sun is up for longer now, only just beginning to set. It’s hot and hard to breathe, which only makes you more pissed off. Your skin prickles and blood rushes in your ears. You hate the way your hands shake. Your boot connects with the dumpster hard. It hurts, but you’re too pissed to really care. You just need it out of your system - the metal sending a ringing, gong-like sound bouncing around the back alley as you repeatedly slam your foot into it.
How dare he?
Miss hearing from you? YOU?
He ignores you for your whole childhood and teenage years - didn’t even try - and he misses hearing from you!? Couldn’t ever remember your age or grade when you did see him and he hopes your doing well!? Blew you off for his other kids for years and he fucking misses you!
How the hell did he even get your new number? Your mom, probably. The traitor. Fuck.
“Think that bin’s ‘ad enough, bird.” Simons voice startles you. He glances down at the dent you somehow managed to make. Your foot throbs when you put it back on the ground, shifting your weight onto the other one. One of your toes is bleeding, you think. You hand feel it soaking into your sock.
You look away, face hot from embarrassment now. “Didn’t know anyone was out here…”
Simon takes you in for a moment. Usually you don’t mind it - his intense silences - but right now it feels like being dissected. Like he’s pulling your skin back to reveal that squirming, tar-like creature aways simmering just a layer beneath. The pathetic little worm you try so hard to cover with a functional facade.
“Smoke?” He tilts the pack toward you. You wrinkle your nose - it’s a shit brand - but at the moment you wouldn’t care if it was made of actual shit as long as it had nicotine.
You pick one out and plop down on the weird curb that lines the opposite side of the alley. Simon sits beside you, raising his lighter toward you cupping his hand around the little flame to light your cigarette. It’s intimate, in a way, and if you had the emotional elasticity for it you might have blushed.
“Wanna talk about it?” He asks after a few drags.
You shrug. “Dads suck.”
Simon hums. “That they do.”
“It’s just like-“ You make an exasperated sound and run your fingers through your hair. “Like if you’re not around for fuckin’ twenty years, you don’t get to act upset when I don’t want to talk ever. Just because now I’m the one that set the boundary. It’s stupid. It’s mean.”
Simon nods along as you ramble, your voice trailing off eventually. You both sit there quietly, for a moment. This is the type of silence that you don’t mind. Enjoy, even. Just existing together. At first you thought he hated you, or just didn’t like much of anybody, but you’ve come to theorize that he’s the same as you. That he gets stuck in his head, too. It’s nice, having someone to sit with without the need to entertain them. To preform.
Your lip quivers even as you attempt to stop it by sinking your teeth in. A killing blow. It doesn’t work. You bury your face in your hands. “I don’t know why I’m crying…”
“Because you’re hurt.” Simon bluntly replies. It’s soft, though. As soft as a voice like his can be.
“He doesn’t deserve it.” You sob, messily wiping at your eyes. Your eyeshadow is probably smudged to hell now but you can’t bring yourself to care. Hopefully the others don’t ask about it.
An arm wraps around you, tucking you close. The surprise of it almost knocks you out of your crying fit entirely. Simon isn’t touchy. With anyone. He doesn’t look at you, just keeps his eyes forward while he takes a long drag, but that arm remains around your shaking shoulders with you pressed to his side.
It’s quiet, as it usually is when you close up with just Simon. The others took off for the night. Johnny said something about a date before dragging Kyle off arm in arm. They must have set up some kind of double date for the evening. John’s last appointment had to reschedule so he knocked off early as well. It’s nice, really, to be alone in the shop with Simon. He lowers the music, helps you with sweeping and the trash. Tells you the newest joke from wherever the hell he gets them. Popsicles, you think, based on his sweet tooth and the quality of pun.
“C’mon. We’re takin’ a field trip.” Simon tilts his head toward the street past the turn to your apartment. He still insists on walking you home, even if the sky is still relatively bright.
You look up, frowning. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
You follow him down the quiet street. It’s warm and muggy as you go. You keep glancing up at Simon, waiting for some sort of tell. Some hint at where he’s leading you. In the back of your mind, you become innately aware that Simon is probably the only man you’d follow this blindly.
You nearly knock into him when Simon comes to a sudden stop. “Here.”
You look up, squinting at the tacky sign in what you can only describe as “intense manly man” font. Bold, blocky letters in bright orange with faux cracks scattered through the letters.
TANTRUM TANK
A mixture of stunned and curious leaves you quietly following Simon in. You press the spot between your brows to dissipate the confused frown. The lobby is pretty basic with a few decorations that mimic the style of the sign. Cracked facades and black walls. The room is lined with plastic chairs and a couple safety posters reminding patrons not to hit each other with the bats. A large television screen flashes between images of people in hazmat suits smashing various garbage and debris, pausing on a menu of times and prices.
“Simon!” A man appears behind the counter, face bright. “Here for your usual hour?”
Simon steps up to the counter, nodding in your direction. “Actually, I’ve got a plus one.”
The man’s brows raise and he looks you over, giving you ashort, polite greeting. You nod and smile back, pretending like you know why you’re here at all. You just watch as Simon briefly chats with the clerk who obviously knows him well. He’s a regular here, then. He doesn’t give anything away, just makes some brief, perfunctory small talk before taking a key and waving you after him. Why’d he bring you here, of all people?
Your heart skips at the thought of Simon wanting to do something with you, though. He brought you here because he wants to hang out - in his own way. He must do this with the other boys, too. Maybe one of them bailed on him or something. Part of you wonders if he didn’t want to come alone, but that doesn’t sound like him. Plus, you can’t say that its’ at all out of character for him to decide something and just do it with no other communication. You also can’t say you mind much. Not with him.
“You come here with the others a lot?” You ask as you follow him back to the room.
“No.”
You frown. Oh.
The two of you lapse into silence as you put your things away into designated lockers. There’s a sort of interim room before the actual rage room with storage and a few stacks of protective gear in various sizes. Simon’s quick about it. Practiced. He slips on the protective plastic suit quickly while you grunt and struggle with unfolding it. Your hair crinkles with static as you finally get the mass of plastic unfurled and step into it. Of course the one that fits you around is too damn long. At least the gloves fit.
“Simon?” You murmur, finally finding your voice - as weak as it comes out. “Why’d you bring me here?”
He looks you over for a moment with that same steady gaze as before. You’ve never felt seen like you do with Simon. Even with the others… they don’t see to the core of you like he does. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Some pathetic little part of you left over from your misunderstood teenage years.
“I ’ad a pretty shite father.” Simon says as he zips up his suit. “Taught me a lot of anger. I didn’t- I don’t want to be like ‘im. Don’t want people t’be scared…”
You stare, wide eyed, frozen in place. As if any movement would disrupt this new found honesty - would frighten the man away from confiding in you. It’s sudden and far more than you’ve gotten out of him in the months you’ve known each other. It’s too special to risk.
“Sometimes you’ve got t’get it out of your system. Better than breaking your foot on a skip.” He snorts, stepping forward and carefully pushing a pair of safety glasses over your eyes. One hand runs over your hair just for the briefest moment; another lightly pats your cheek before he turns on his heel, grabbing one of the bats hanging on the wall and making for the door.
You stare after him, shell shocked by both the admission and uncharacteristic physical touch. You involuntarily reach up to trace your fingertips over the cheek he touched.
Don’t want people to be scared…
A part of you breaks in the back of your mind. The obvious, unsaid ‘of me’ sits heavily on your tongue. Some distant image of what he might have looked like as a child. Small and blonde with those big dark eyes… You gulp down a tight breath and follow after him, just a little too close to crying at the implication.
Simon gestures toward a crooked, half broken office desk. “Ladies first.”
And oh, if that first swing wasn’t the best release you’ve had in a long, long time.
A/N: Sorry for being inactive the past couple weeks, I could literally write a novel with how much as happened irl🙃
Anyhoo next part y’all are getting lots of Price because that homecoming skin has got me fucked up
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Ghosting pt. 1
Simon “Ghost” Riley x Fem! Reader
Cw: swearing, unplanned pregnancy, mentions of abortion, angst, arguments, abandonment, younger Simon, story takes place when he’s 23 and you’re 21.

“kids?”
“What about them?”
“Would you ever want any?”
It was yours and Simon your one year anniversary. It was nothing special, just some takeout and card games with a movie playing in the back. You don’t know how the conversation of your futures came to be but you both knew it had to be said at some point in your relationship. You asked what Simon planned to do once he got older and retired from the military. He asked you questions about your plans as you grew older. That’s when you decided to be the one to bring up the very question that tends to either strain or strengthen a relation, children.
“No. Hard pass. I don’t do well with them nor do I want any of my own.” He never meant to say it with such a rude tone but It didn’t bother you much. You knew that there was a deeper reason why with the way his brows furrowed and the tension in the shoulders. You wanted him to elaborate more but you decided against it.
“Yeah I’m not too keen on children. At least right now anyways.” You said placing down your card on the table as Simon continued to examine his cards to find a way to defeat you. He looked at you as you spoke your last words as you kept your eyes on your cards. You liked kids to a certain extent and wouldn’t mind one later on in your life as you settle down or just none at all. You tried not to let Simons words get to you, since you don’t mind a childless life, as long as you had Simon by your side, but sometimes there would be days where you felt lonely without Simon when he’s deployed to his job. There’s also days where you fear he’ll never come back home and you’d be left with nothing to remember him by but memories, pictures and his possessions. A kid would be something that not only would be a piece of him that breathes and moves but they would be the physical embodiment of yours and Simons’ love, something that would keep you two tied to each other.
As nice as a child with Simon would be, you respected his wishes and you would have to come to terms with it. It’ll just be you and Simon, growing old together in a little house on the far side of town where no one can bother you and it’ll just be you, your grumpy (eventual) husband and your animals to keep you company. Yeah, you could live with that.
Hopefully, if he doesn’t die on the job…
“It’ll just be the two of us and a bunch of animals.”
That’s how you’d thought it be. Until it wasn’t.
You sat there on your bed holding the white stick in your hand. The pink plus sign was burning your eyes. You could feel your stomach churning. What the hell were you gonna do? You were panicking. You had been throwing up the past few days, Simon suggested you’d go see a doctor worried you ate something bad or caught some stomach bug but you refused and said you’d be fine thinking it go away within a few days however more things surfaced on your body that caught your attention. You breast grew a cup bigger and felt sore as hell, you assumed it was due to your period, it was due to arrive in a week anyway but you still found it abnormal that your breast swelled up so much. When the week passed you figured it was delayed due to your little stomach bug but another week passed. That’s when the thoughts hit you. You couldn’t be right? There’s no way you could be pregnant. You and Simon were always careful.
That same day of realization you went to the drug store just to be sure. You brought three sticks and each one came out with the same pink plus sign appearing on the little box. What the hell were you gonna do? How were you going to tell Simon? Maybe you don’t. You can just get an abortion and get it over with. Well, maybe it’s best if you tell him either way. But the more you thought about the baby, the more harder it seemed for you to think about getting rid of it.
You never really made your decision on not having kids, you figured that when it happens it happens, but what about now? Simon doesn’t want a baby, but you’re pregnant with the child you created with the love of your life, Yours and Simons baby…
Tears prick your eyes as you stared at the stick. What are you going to do?
Simon was out drinking with his ‘comrades’ so you had some time to yourself before he came back. You needed to plan a time when you’d tell him. But you were beyond terrified. You know having this baby was putting your relationship with Simon at risk. But this was just as much of his doing as yours, but at the same time, your IUD should’ve prevented this from happening.
You tired to gain the courage in the past couple days since you’ve found out, to tell him but you never could. For days Simon could tell something was bothering you, and it wasn’t the sickness you had. It was something that was clouding your mind. He could see in your eyes that something was troubling you.
Simon had just returned to home from the bar, feeling dreadful about having to be deployed once again here in a couple of days, he doesn’t want to leave you. He hates it, he hated leaving you here all alone, he can’t be there to protect you, hold you and love you but his job makes it worth it if it means you get everything you deserve. Even if he isn’t around for long periods at a time.
As he walks into the house you greet him with a smile, he’s a little tipsy but just barely since he still had to drive home, he did enjoy his time with Price, Soap and Gaz though. Even if he didn’t outright admit it.
“How’d it go?” You asked him as you approach him with a small smile. You’re too nervous to give him his usual greeting kiss which made Simon’s suspicions of your worry confirmed.
“It was fine, not too shabby and the boys were okay as usual. I need to ask you something.” He said glancing your direction aa he looks into your eyes like he’s trying to read your mind, he cups your face gently as he approached you. He saw your body tense up, you tried to save yourself by quickly relaxing before Simon could see but it was too late, he already did. That was his que. “There’s something bothering you, I can see it. You know you can’t hide things from me and I understand you don’t wanna talk about it but at least let me help you the way you help me.”
Your throat grew dry, ‘Shit.’ You thought. You could feel your anxiety flow through your nerves as your hand began to tremble slightly. Your silence worried Simon. “Yn…” He called out but you stood silent.
‘It’s now or never, i can’t hide this forever, not when I start to show.” You thought, Simons hand gently rubbed your cheekbones which brought your attention back to him. Your teary gaze met his concerned ones. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry…” You quivered out. You tried to keep your composure but the hormones betrayed your body. “For what? What happened love?” He grew more worried as the tears rolled down your face. He wiped them away with his fingers as he cradled your face, as you both stare into the others gaze. “You promise you won’t be mad, I’m scared you’re gonna hate me, leave me and…” You whisper but Simon cuts you off as he leaned down to take your lips into a soft but passionate kiss, pulling away you look at him such vulnerability as you wrap your hands around Simons wrist gently. “I won’t.” He whispers back to you, his eyes filled with concern and love in his eyes. It makes your heart break thinking about what can happen next.
Your breath hitched before you inhaled and closed your eyes leaning into Simons touch. “I’m pregnant…” it was silent for a hot second. You felt his hands stiffen up but quickly relax as he looked a bit surprised. Your IUD should’ve been working, but he can’t blame you, there’s still a small chance.
“Have you made an appointment?” He asked after a long silence.
“For what?” You look up nervously, your guts telling you things were going downhill soon now, it’s too late you’ve already made up your mind.
“To get rid of it.” He asks you confused but something was telling him something else is going on. It was dead silence after that, you didn’t even need to say anything, the look in your eyes were enough to tell Simon what your intentions were. His hands were stiff it almost felt like a mannequins hands were placed on your face but then they were quickly snatched away from your grasp and face. You gasped lightly at the action. He took two long strides away from you, his eyes were slightly wide and had a blank look in them as he stared at you.
You wanted to call out to him but his eyes alone were enough to tell you that he was about to run. Your heart throbbed and your stomach began to churn again. More tears began to flow and obscure your vision. “Simon…” You called out to him, you refrained from walking towards him, terrified that one wrong move and he’d run and leave you in the dust. But it seemed to trigger him.
His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes began to show frustration. “No.” He shook his head as you sobbed. “Dammit yn I thought we established this. You promised!” He began to raise his voice, his fear coming to light. Not only was your relationship beginning to strain but you were planning to bring a child into this world. His child. All he could think about was his father and his family something he doesn’t want to experience or risk history to repeat itself.
“I’m sorry Simon but I never made a promise! But I truly didn’t mean for this to happened but it did and when I thought about having an abortion I couldn’t bear that thought of it. I know what we had in mind was to not have any kids but I can’t bring myself to get rid of our baby.”
“No we agreed that we’d have no kids, for Christ sake, I’m always at base and deployed. I can die and leave you to raise a baby alone. And I’m not ready to care for a baby, nor did I ever plan on having one.” He didn’t yell but his voice sounded distant like he was guarded. Like how he used to be when you first met him back in high school, stiff as a stone with years and layers of built up walls around him to keep anybody out from his heart and mind, a troubled Simon who was haunted by his abusive father wanting to save his mother and brother the ones who are now six feet under. One that took you years to slowly tear down and let him trust you with more than one few but big bumble in the road but in the end you never gave up on him and always stuck by his side. “I can’t do this.” He didn’t sound like your Simon anymore. He sounded like Ghost now. The Ghost he separated you from, the Ghost that was cold hearted and never cared about anything or anyone else but getting his priorities done and missions finished.
Your breath hitched. “What do you mean?” Your voice quivered. Ghost didn’t even bother to answer you he made his way to the bedroom. “Simon please!” You treaded after him, your anxiety surfacing again.
You walked into the bedroom to see him reaching into the closet and pulling out his bag, already packed with all the gears and items he needed for his deployment. Slumping the strap over his shoulder as you watched made your throat tighten.
It was nothing but silence the whole time as you watched Simon pack away a last minute items he’d need. You watched as he began to tie on his boots. “You’re right,” you finally spoke. Your voice soft as you tried not to let out a sob. “You don’t have to do this, you can keep doing what you do. I’ll keep the baby without you.” Simon just sat there listening to you as he kept his gaze glued to the ground. You couldn’t see what he was thinking with his Balaclava on now but you could see his fists clenched tightly. “I won’t make you go through this but just know, I still love you Simon, but I want this baby. You won’t hear from me asking you for anything at all. Just know once you walk out that door. I’ll be gone, unless you say something Simon...” you stand there staring at him hoping he’ll say something… anything. A sliver of wanting to be around at least or try to work something out but you know it’ll never come. He’s Simon, Ghost, he’s not, and may never be, mentally prepared nor does he have a lifestyle fit enough to raise a baby. Without a single noise Simon gets up and walks past you to the bedroom door, you watch his back, he doesn’t spare you a single glance before he walks out without another word.
After a few seconds, you hear his boots stomp down the stairs, the door opening and slamming shut. Your que to finally let all your sobbing out easing the pain in your throat. You sat on the floor holding your stomach. You were really on your own now. Just you and your baby.
You were lucky you managed to gain contact with your older sister, Stacy, she and her husband had welcomed you into their home with no hesitation, surprisingly. Granted you and your sister had some mending to do but it was mostly cause by your parents. Your mother had always founds way to turn you and your sister against one another when you two were younger. You both always fought and tried to better the other for praise of your mother she’d always compared one over the other, “Your sister is skinner than you,” “You eat like a pig, your sister eats better than you,” “your sister this” or “your sister that”. You mother always tried to make you two compete against the other that both physically and mentally damaged you both.
Your father never bothered with you two, you could never talk to him without every conversation ending in a some form of abuse or never in the right mindset being constantly high off his mind with drugs. But as you grew older you began to see the things your mother did to you and your sister but you never took the chance to make amends, your sister met her then boyfriend and ran away with him the first chance she got, you did the same when you met Simon.
“Are you alright?” She approaches you as you got out the car. The moment you came face to face with her you wrapped your arms around her shoulders and brushed into tears. “I’m sorry!” You cried out. “It’s okay.” She hushes you and cradled your head. “No it’s not, I should’ve talked to you, we should’ve made up long ago but I ran off…”
“And so did I!” She cut you off. “I was the one that ran off first, I was the one who left you in the dust for some guy that turned out to be a fraud. I chose a man over my own sister but I was too dumb to see it. We both made mistakes but now that we’re here, let’s take this chance to make it right.” She wiped your tears from your face. “Now tell me what wrong?” She asks you as you take a deep breath. “Simon left me.” You say, your sisters eyes widen in surprise and sympathy. “Well technically I left but we decided that we were through.”
“Why, what happened?” She asks you as she began to guide you to her house. As you make your way in you wipe your eyes as you think about the memory.
“I’m pregnant.” You start off, your sister is caught off guard and stunned, but she doesn’t speak and allows you to continue. “I found out not too long ago.”
You sister looks at you in shock. “Is that why… Simon…” she tries to ask, you know what she’s saying before you nod answering her question.
“Yeah, we’ve had the talk before. We agreed on no kids because he didn’t want any, me, I wasn’t too sure at the time but now, now I know, I do want this kid.” You say as you lay a hand on your stomach. “I don’t know what to do know. I told him and shit just went down hill. He made his choice and I made mine. I left home, he left because he’s currently on deployment but he’s made his choice not to be in the baby’s life. I gave him the choice to leave because I don’t want to force him into this since he never wanted any in the beginning.” You say, you sit on the soft couch as you both settled on conversing in the living room.
“He’s in the military?” She asks him a bit surprised, she’s still trying to process all this new information about your current situation and your now ex-boyfriend.
You nod your head and rub your eyes feeling the fatigue catch up to you from the past couple of days. You’ve nearly gotten a wink of sleep ever since Simon left, the past two days you were packing up all your things that you needed and wanted to take with you into your car, and you were stressing about where’d you go and be staying up until your Stacy, thankfully, responded back to you and offered you a place to stay at her house. “Yeah, he doesn’t tell me much about it. But from what I’ve seen every time he came back, it was always bad. He’d come home with bruises, sometimes wounds that sometimes looked to be fatal. It always scares me every time he goes, and I sometimes never know when he’ll be back, or if he’ll come back at all.” You explain to her. You leave out the part where he’d be a shell of himself, like a ghost possessing Simon, so unemotional, and you can never forget how scary it was seeing how empty his eyes looked sometimes.
Stacy looks at you, she’s processing all this and trying to her best to listen but she can tell that’s it’s a lot for her to take in. You don’t blame her, you two haven’t seen each other er for over five years, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. “I promise you I’ll only be here for a few months. I’ll find a place to stay for the baby and I before they’re born, we’ll be out of your hair soon.” You tell her quickly trying to reassure her that it’s only temporary and you’re not going to take advantage of your sister’s kindness and willing to help you out, you don’t wanna have the burden of having her worry about you and have a baby in the house. You’ve already become enough of a burden for Simon with the baby.
Stacy shakes her head and gently takes your hand and gently squeezes it. “Don’t worry about it. Take as much time as you need to get back on your feet. You got a kid to worry about now. And granted, it may be hard but I believe in you. You’re a strong woman, I know you can get through this, you always do. And even if you don’t, I’ll always be here to help you.” She says as she smiles at you fondly.
You feel so grateful for her. Your hormones have you all over the place both emotionally and physically. You’re on the verge of tears as you engulf Stacy into a hug once again. “Thanks Stac.” You say, your voice threatening to crack into a sob.
Stacy smiles at you and hugs you back. “Don’t thank me, you’re my little sister, family looks out for one another. Real family.”
꧁——————————꧂
Im debating if this series should have a twist to it. So stay tuned :)
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Untitled Ghoap fic
AO3 link coming when I have a title.
MDNI +18 content, you know the drill this is a smutty series. I have plenty of SFW content though so don't threat check that out!
masterlist
Part 1 - Coffee
Part 2 - Dinner Date
Part 3 - Sleepover
Part 4 - Teasing
Part 5 - Brunch
Part 6 - TBD
Status of projects
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Service Dog Johnny (18+) - Ghost/Fem Reader/Soap
Part 1 - Simon calls your bluff
Part 2 - Simon convinces you to fuck Johnny
Part 3 - Simon helps you cum
Part 4 - Your first time with Johnny
Part 5 - Simon gets you ready to fuck Johnny
Part 6 - Johnny fucks you in Simon’s bed
Part 7 - You rescue Johnny
Part 8 - Meet Cute
Part 9 - Sack of Flour
Part 10 - Johnny for dinner
Part 11 - Ghost in the bedroom
Part 12 - Soap bends you over
Part 13 - You spit in Soap's mouth
Part 14 - Ghost cleans you up
Part 15 - Fuck off, Johnny
Part 16 - tbd
Service Dog Johnny Headcanons and Bonus Scenes
I don’t do tag lists, but users can Subscribe on AO3 for updates as soon as they drop!
Status of updates ✍🏻
Art by Rinchu
Concept for this series by Rowarn:

Cry counter: 🤭 Reader ✔️✔️✔️ Johnny ✔️ Simon ✔️
⬅️ Back to COD main page
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Part 11!!
Sorry this took so long (and that it’s a bit short) I have trouble with scene switching sometimes, and it makes me cut up the story into pieces.
No Content Warnings For This Chapter
Somewhere between your pride and the numbing passage of time lies the way you really feel about the 141. It's undeniable that you're still deeply hurt by what transpired; a chronic ache like a mended bone, only noticeable in the cold, or when you sleep on it wrong. For them, it was easy to reach inside your chest to extract your heart, sternum soft and malleable. It was harder with SpecGru, the bone grew back harder, thicker. You had to crack your ribs open and scraped the chambers on bone shards, but at least they stopped the bleeding.
You don’t miss the 141, not really. It wasn’t just those final, brutal days spent lying alone in a hospital bed that filled those transfer papers. The culprit had been the time that isolation had afforded, to think more deeply, to analyze your position through a less-optimistic lense. Those last conversations had just been your signature on the line.
You don’t blame the gun for firing, you blame whoever pulled the trigger.
Bitterness seeps onto your tongue sometimes. Masochistically, you let it linger. It has no purpose but to raise your hackles and press on that knitted spot until it bruises. It’s your pride, that’s all, lamenting the blood you chose to spill in sacrifice only to have it wasted.
The present is a much sweeter wash for the taste of the past, sticking to your lips and curling your tongue. Honey-balm for resentment, syrup cutting through salt. You focus on the flavor as you stride into the briefing room.
Your captain is already there, a sly smirk for the flush to your faces as Nova follows you in. He’s speaking to Laswell, arms crossed but shoulders relaxed.
Nikto is leaned up against the wall, a shadow without anyone to cast it. He comes to you and Nova as you take seats, angled to face the only exit. He knee presses to yours as you settle in, eyes flicking around.
Nostalgia is a complicated tide rising and ebbing around your ankles. Memories of your time with the 141 in this very room, planning and strategizing, learning where to support your teammates and where they would support you. Jokes made with Soap and Gaz, loaded glances between you and Ghost, a reassuring nod or shoulder squeeze from Price.
That, you think, is where the ache is. Not in missing those moments; you have them with SpecGru now, and without that lingering sense that you don’t quite belong. But in those rose-tinted relationships you’ll never get back (and know you don’t really want again.)
It was never as good as it is with your team now; they were still the team you thought you belonged with. You’ve learned better since but that doesn’t appease the naive 141 operative that put everything into those four.
Your captain has taken the seat you used to have, and he belongs there, a buffer between his team and theirs. You press your thumb to one of the bruises he left on your thigh and settle in.
“Sunshine,” Keegan greets, brushing his knuckles over Nova’s cheek. “Sweets.”
You tilt your chin welcomingly as he nuzzles his nose against your temple, fabric of his mask itching along your jaw.
“Smell good,” he rumbles, low. Just for you and Nova.
“That’s what happens when you shower,” you answer, playing dismissive.
“You should try it sometime,” Nova adds, smirking.
“Only if you join me,” Keegan coos, drawing a spare chair up close. For as tough and distant as he is towards others, he’s long opened his ribs for you and the rest of SpecGru to crawl inside. You admire it now for as much as you distrusted it then.
“Too late,” you say, sharing a look with Nova, “already helped her wash up for the day.”
She whacks you in the knee, startling a laugh out of you. Keegan scoffs, throwing an arm across the back of your chair.
“Nothin’ says we can’t take another,” he drawls, “if I get you dirty enough.”
Beside you, Nikto snorts. Keegan shoots him a teasing look, arching his eyebrows invitingly. The captain is watching, as always, pride and affection smoldering in coal-dark eyes.
And you’re right where you’re meant to be. With them, always with them.
At the front of the room, Laswell politely clears her throat. All eyes turn to her - though you only just notice that the 141 has filed in, perched on the other end of the briefing table, a collective storm cloud.
Laswell kicks off the meeting with a recap of the ongoing mission - basics that all of you read in the docket before shipping out. It’s a big operation, delicate due to hostages. The 141 needed manpower with comparable skills; enter SpecGru.
“One of our best specialists has patched in to explain the parameters in greater detail.”
The big screen at the front of the room lights up. A familiar puff of curly blond hair and green eyes blink into view.
“Gooooood mornin’! Or is it evening? Either way, I hope it’s good.”
Your captain lets out a long breath, trying (and mostly failing) to hide his amusement.
“This is Duke,” Laswell says for the 141’s benefit. “She’s one of our best technicians. I put her on this assignment when I reached out to SoecGru.”
“And you should be glad she did!” Duke chimes in. Her tongue flashes blue as she speaks, and it’s not just the light of the computers surrounding her. Her love of raspberry candies is practically a calling card. “They’re actually pretty decent at keeping communications to a minimum, but porn bots always get ‘em.”
The captain sighs, running a hand down his face. Nova pats his arm sympathetically. Poor guy.
“Anyway! I have their plans for the hostages all drawn up - check this out.”
One loud click of her mouse and the screen flicks to a map with colored circles and wiggly lines. Locations and routes, with little time stamps above each.
“They plan on taking the hostages in waves. If one transport goes down going in or out, they can cut their losses. Lucky for us, they’re super dumb, so I’ve found a 12 minute window where all their teams are out in the open.”
Another image, the transport routes now sporting little icons of angry faces with their tongues sticking out. They're all at various distances along their colored paths, but none of them have made it to whatever the destination is.
“If they’re hit all at once, no group will have time to warn the others,” Duke explains. “Hostages safe, bad guys caught, we all go home and pet our dogs.”
She babbles through the rest of the plan in that controlled chaos way she has, concise and insightful around a casual tone more fitting a high school presentation. The building where the hostages will be taken, every route, down to the vehicles and guns the terrorists will have.
Eventually, she runs out of pertinent information, there are no questions because she’s covered just about everything short of the humidity. Her face pops up on screen again, eyes always a bit glassy from staring at screens too long without blinking. “Lastly, don’t get shot, or I’m telling ma.”
Your captain huffs, that grin finally cracking across his solemn face.
“Do that ‘n I’ll tell her you drop f-bombs like it’s your job,” he replies.
Her mouth drops open in outrage. “It is my job!”
“Yeah? How about that stipend, huh? How much’a that ‘s going to your candy habit?”
Duke’s face flushes, but she’s got that wide smile beamed up to eleven. “Your girlfriend likes me better,” she sing-songs.
He snorts. “Which one?”
“Both,” you and Nova answer at the same time.
Her eyes narrow smugly before she signs off with a little finger wave and a “toodaloo!”
“Your sister, I take it?” Price drawls in the characteristic silence of Duke’s absence.
Your captain shoots him a sideways look. “What, you can’t see the resemblance?” he replies, dry as desert.
You cough into your arm to hide your giggles but Nova isn’t nearly as polite.
As you’re filing out with the rest of the team, you’re surprised that there aren’t calls from your former team. No overtures to justify themselves or half-assed apologies that still somehow make it sound like everything was your fault. You’re almost tempted to check over your shoulder, but you won’t give them the satisfaction of seeming interested. You just don’t trust the sudden silence, even if the captain alluded that there’s some sort of ceasefire in place. You’ve never known the 141 to bend knee to anyone but their own.
A glance at your captain and he’s noticed it too, satisfaction flicking across his face before he catches your eye. He jerks his head. You follow him back to his room, leaning your shoulder in the doorway as he loosens his belt.
“Talked to Price,” he begins.
You arch your brows. “And?”
He blows out a sigh, hands on his hips. “And he wants to talk to you. Him and the rest of the team.”
You groan. “About what?”
He shrugs. “Hell if I know, it wasn’t exactly circle time, doll.”
You roll your eyes. Those useless, cryptic…
“Hey.”
You blink, face going hot when you see the stern look on your captain’s face. Whoops.
“Sorry, sir,” you say. “That wasn’t meant to be at you, I’m just so fucking… ugh.”
“Look, I got ‘em off your back during working hours, but anytime after is outta my hands.”
You puff up, annoyed all over again with the whole situation. It couldn’t be enough for them to ostracize you back then, or try to distract you on-duty now, derailing drills. No, they want your free time too.
“I’m not gonna tell you how to handle this, alright? But maybe getting some of this shit off your chest will do you some good. Let ‘em blow smoke, say whatever you gotta say, and put all this to rest.”
You deflate, giving him a weary scowl that does nothing to deter him from closing the distance. (Not that you wanted it to.)
“Isn’t that telling me what to do?” you mumble, letting your forehead thunk against his broad chest.
“Nah, if I was tellin’ you what to do, you’d be doin’ it,” he chuckles. “If you don’t want nothin’ to do with ‘em, you can spend every night in here for all I care. Up to you.”
You’re only putting up resistance because you know he’s right, it’s just not what you want. It’s easier and simpler to be pissed off and short-tempered with the 141. Safer, in a way.
But there’s no getting any safer, in any sense of the word. Worst thing any of them can say is something you already know, or something that isn’t true. You’ve got your own team for support regardless.
“I hate when you’re right,” you grump.
He smooths a hand through your hair. “If that were true, you’d hate me all the time.”
You nip him in retaliation; he tugs a lock of hair for the trouble.
This is home, you think. Your captain. Nova, Nikto, Keegan. Doesn’t matter where in the world you are, they’re your present and your future. Knowing that, the pain and uncertainty of the past are just ghosts. It’s time to put them to rest like one.
First | Previous | TBC…
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🔴 Please Please Please
Poly! Dark! 141 x Reader
TW: Dark Themes, Spicy Themes, Possessive Behavior, Obsessive Behavior, Non-Con, Violence, Blood, Death.
Description, Part 1, Part 2
Main Masterlist | CoD Masterlist
Note: At the moment, I have Reader's codename as Bullet but comment if you want it changed and if you have any ideas?
"How's it looking on your side, Gaz?" Your Captain's voice questioned from the radio. There was a short second of static before the sargeant responded. "It's looking fine on my side, Captain."
Your team was dispersed in the middle of a forest in Sweden. You were looking for a hidden facility somewhere here.
Your task was to find this facility, eliminate the assailants, rescue the hostages, and secure their biological weapons.
"How's everyone's status?" Price asked again after a few moments.
"Haven't found anything yet."
"Not a facility in sight."
"I'm fucking freezing, shite."
You smiled a little, resisting a laugh from Soap's comment. Always a little humor coming from the Scot.
"Bullet?" Hearing your codename being called, you forgot to reply. "Something in the distance but still not sure. I'm closing in to get a better look." You reported.
"I'm heading to your location to have a see as well. Continue with caution, Bullet." Ghost ordered. His gruff voice brought shivers down your spine. It didn't help that you were basically ice in these weather conditions.
Once you were near enough, you could finally confirm that you've found what your team was looking for. "Confirm. I found the facility, waiting for Ghost." You radio in.
"Almost there. Start walking." Ghost commanded and you didn't hesitate as you slowly moved forwards.
The facility was not as big as you thought it would be. Then again, it wasn't so small either.
You stopped before you could walk out into the open, peeking to see a couple of men holding guns patrolling around the area.
"Hostiles, about eight of them around patrolling." You reported.
"Don't initiate. Try to find a way to sneak in without alerting them." Price ordered.
"I see the facility as well now, Captain. I think that's gonna be a little hard seeing as there are a couple cameras as well." Soap sighed.
"I'm with Bullet." You almost jumped, not even noticing that Ghost was already standing behind you.
"How many hostiles in total you think, Ghost?" Gaz asked. "Not that big of a facility. It's not the numbers I'm worried about though." Ghost glared at the building.
"It's the hostages. There were estimated 15 hostages taken." Gaz completed his thoughts.
"If I cause a distraction, think any of you could slip in?" Soap asked. "Bullet. Gaz." That's all Price needed to say as you prepared yourself to quickly sneak inside.
"Ready when you are, Soap." You could hear the grin in Gaz's voice.
"Always am." As soon as those words were said, a fire soon spread through the trees to your opposite side.
"I think you might piss of Mother Nature with all the chaos you often cause. " Ghost commented as you wait for the guards to move away towards the commotion before bolting it towards the facility.
Ghost sniped down a couple of the cameras, taking them all down just as you reached the facility.
"I'm here. I'm going in." You reported. You busted open the door with your gun, shooting down the two unsuspecting hostiles by the front.
Their dead bodies slumped to the floor quietly while you sneaked inside as silent as you could.
It seems that no one was alarmed of what was happening outside seeing as no one had greeted you with weapons yet.
"In as well. Got my eyes on the hostages." Gaz reported back.
"Alright. Hostiles outside have been dealt with. We're moving in as well." Price huffed.
"Some of the hostages are missing. There's only 10 here." Gaz cursed beneath his breath.
"I think I found your missing hostages, Gaz." You were still in your position. Earlier while you scoped around the area, you found a way downstairs and found a closed off underground lab.
The facility was small from the outside but the lab underground was huge. There were a lot of people in coats wandering about with more guards surrounding the area.
It wasn't the number of people that had you frozen in your place though. It was the 5 hostages. You could see them strapped down in operation tables, mouths gagged and wires connected to them. These people in coats would inject something in them every minute and list down whatever in their clipboards.
Those who injected stuff in the hostages wore full on protection gear before going in the room with the hostages. "I think I know where their biological weapons are as well."
These fuckers... They were experimenting on people. They had them strapped down and gagged, treating them like animals.
"Bullet, what do you mean?" Price needed a clarification. More details to the situation.
"They're experimenting on them. They have the hostages tied down, gagged and poked with wires while they shove whatever shit they made down their bloodstream." You cursed, your voice shaking with anger.
The radio went silent for a minute. "Don't do anything reckless. Wait for us." Price ordered.
"I have to do something." You whispered. "She's going to die." You looked frightened as this one hostage, this woman screamed in her place. Her body seized in pain while she cried red. Was that blood? Was she crying blood? "They're going to die if I do nothing."
"He's going to die again." You gasped, struggling to anchor yourself to reality. Suddenly, you weren't in the underground lab anymore. You were in a basement. You were strapped down to a chair. Your sargeant was strapped down to a table. He was blindfolded and gagged but you weren't.
You watched and sobbed as they-
A blur of a body moving past you quickly interrupted your spiraling thoughts. You blinked, turning your head to watch Soap go in, guns blazing as he aimed for the guards.
"Shit- Soap!" Price grumbled at the recklessness of his sargeant. He followed behind him nonetheless. Your lips twitched a small smile, what a Soap thing to do.
You followed behind your Captain as well, holding your gun up as you aimed for hostiles. You smiled as bodies came crashing down the floor with every shot.
"The Hostages." Price yelled, you nodded as you turned your focus to the hostages. You were covered anyways so you don't have to worry about protective gear- still, you grabbed a mask laying in the counter and put it on.
"Hello, sweetheart." You cooed at the woman laying on the table, removing her gag. "Hi. They've been here longer than me. You need to help them first." She hiccuped. She reminded you of your old sargeant.
She reminded you of Cori. Your brave sargeant, always thinking of others first. It's a pity he never made it out alive in that basement. But she will. This woman will and she will not end up like Cori.
You swear it. There will never be another Cori, not under your watch.
You carefully unstrapped her, unhooked the wires and took one of the protective gear hung up on the wall for extra use. "Wear this for me, sweetie?" She nodded, quickly putting them on.
"Think you can help me? I need you to help me release the others, yeah? Have them wear the gear as well." You instructed and she nodded, moving fast to get the others out.
Doing the same for the others, you cooed sweetly at them to calm their nerves and assured them that they'll be safe. That you would make sure they'll make it out here, alive.
"Gaz?" You radio. "Bullet. I haven't heard from Price and Soap. What's happening?" Ghost's voice came out. "I need Gaz to come down here and escort the remaining hostages with the others. Afterwards, once they're all under Gaz's watch, we need your help, Ghost."
You made sure that the hostages were safe behind you, gunning down any hostiles that came near. You wanted to help Price and Soap with the rest of the hostiles but your task right now was to protect the hostages.
You had to wait for Gaz.
"Sargeant. Move the hostages and switch with Ghost. Quick." You ordered and he nodded, following your commands as you ran to help your Captain.
"The guards aren't a big deal with their guns but the coats have their daggers laced. One of the guards have been accidentally stabbed and his body seized on the ground, still alive but in immense pain so keep clear of them." Price informed.
"Got it." You nodded, moving swiftly to gun down the hostiles and dodge the annoying coats. It was a little struggle to fight people who were larger in numbers than you in an enclosed space but you've been through worse.
It didn't take long for the Ghost himself to include himself in the battle. "Took you long enough, Ghostie." Soap teased, taking a moment to do so.
A single fucking second of that moment.
Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a glint of a blade- too close. It was too close to Soap's shoulder. You couldn't pull him back. You think of your Captain. The woman you called your best friend, your soulmate. You think of how you could have saved her.
You reached out- "Fuck. Ah, that stings." You bitterly laughed as the blade pierced your hand.
You blocked the blade from Soap with your own hand. The jolt of pain was quick- quicker than you thought as you gasped for air.
"Focus on the fight, Sargeant. It's not over yet." You swallowed the pain. You dealt with worse. You dealt with worse. You chanted repeatedly to yourself.
"You weren't joking, Captain." You wheezed, down on your knees grasping your hand. Sweat pooled down your forehead and you could taste blood on your tongue. The wound on your hand quickly created a pool below you
"Bullet!"
It didn't help with the pain. You managed to raise your gun a couple times at least to aim at some of the hostiles.
You dragged yourself to a corner so you wouldn't be too much of a burden on the battle.
At least you were better than the other guy affected by the toxin. You looked over. The guy was unmoving now. "Move away from the body!" You heard one of the hostiles scream as they scramble to get away from the dead guard's corpse while still focusing on the battle.
Your team was a good distance away from the body at least. You watch as one hostile who didn't move away in time suddenly begin to choke as he suffers the same situation you are now.
Ah. So it's infectious once the person infected is dead.
You chuckle bitterly. So you better don't die, not now at least. It would serve more as a problem to your team than help if your corpse infected any of them.
The battle lasted for about half an hour you estimate before your team finally wiped them all out. No matter the number- quantity is nothing to the quality of the 141.
You sighed in relief, body slumping. "I think I'd like to sleep now, men." You sighed out, eyes lidded and face pale. You closed your eyes, conscious long enough to hear collective panicked voices.
One last mission.
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Bitter Allies [Soap x Reader] • Masterlist
Summary: John "Soap" MacTavish has hated you since the very first day you arrived on base and joined their Task Force. You argue all the time, and one day, it pushes Captain Price to his absolute limit. He sends you both away to an isolated cabin in the woods for a week in hopes you can put aside your differences and bond. Will it work? Or will you two just end up hating each other even more?
This is a slow burn enemies to lovers fan fiction featuring Soap and you, the reader.
Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Soap is mean, like really mean, smut later to come, rough smut, lots of swearing, violence, descriptive, blood, angst, fluff, slow burn, (more to come as I write)
Other Places to Find This Fic:
~ Wattpad

Chapter 1: The Mission
Chapter 2: The Heat of Battle
Chapter 3: The Debrief
Chapter 4: The Cabin: Day 1 (pt. 1) (pending)
Chapter 5: The Cabin: Day 1 (pt. 2) (pending)
Chapter 6: The Cabin: Day 2 (pending)
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