#and the dr i have to go to is the one who told me it was just HORMONES when i was severely low on vitamin d and had had mono...

[docrobinavitch]

i'm your summer girl

dr. robby x f!reader masterlist content: 18+ mdni, sexually explicit content, swearing, alcohol, age gap, established mohabbot, other character cameos, robby has tattoos based on this quote from noah, um idk u guys this one is pretty light for once nothing too scary i don't think!! summer romance baby words: 18.6K synopsis: (based on these two prompts: one, two) reader and samira have been best friends since they did their undergrad together nearly ten years ago and have been in constant contact since graduation. which is why you already knew plenty about her grumpy senior attending even before you met him. but you're surprised to find when you do actually meet him that he's a lot softer than anyone has given him credit for. and hotter. so when samira invites you to a week long getaway to the poconos a year later, you can't stop yourself from asking if robby will be there. little do you know, robby's asked jack the same question about you. a/n: thank you to @dancingtruffle for the prompt! and another thank you to @gemmahale (ah sry, tag isn't working!) for suggesting the poconos as our vacation spot <3. is it realistic that this many doctors can get this amount of time off at the same time? probably not but we are doing it anyway because it’s Fun. similarly, do not ask me what year it is that's literally none of my business. alright um anyway... i am asking the age old question... is this anything?? i hope u like it but if u hate it don't tell me i am rejection sensitive ok bye <3 syd

Robby still remembered the smell of your cherry perfume, the way it settled heavy in his nose with the humid August air. Whenever he was in a crowded place afterwards, he thought he’d catch a whiff and his head would follow after, but it was never you.

It was pathetic, really, the way he still thought about you when nothing special had even happened that night. Just a single conversation over beer on a porch swing before it got to be too much. Before he started noticing how your tongue darted out between your lips when you were thinking or the way you avoided eye contact when you were embarrassed. And noticing too many of these things was going to get him in a lot of fucking trouble.

Which was why he disengaged from the conversation and went home without asking for your number. There were a few moments he thought about asking Samira for it, but he knew he’d never hear the end of that. Then, he thought about asking Jack to ask Samira and by the time that thought popped into his head he realized he was being insane.

You had been sitting on the porch swing by yourself, beer in hand and the blue glow of your phone lighting up your face. He had told himself he would only come for a single beer, mostly because Jack had asked him to.

Samira was having—not a party, exactly—but she had invited anyone who was available for a few drinks and pizza at the house she was renting. He guessed it was more of a way for her to spend time with Jack without having to ask him directly. They were both still dancing around whatever thing was going on between them, pretending it was more casual than it was.

And you were sitting alone on the porch swing, the only face Robby didn’t recognize from the Pitt. Thinking maybe you were a new hire he had missed, he made his way over to you, “This seat taken?” He asked, gesturing to the empty spot on the swing next to you.

Slowly, you raised your eyes from your phone to look up at him, and then you peered around him, as if you were wondering if it were possible he was speaking to someone else.

Finally, you shrugged, “Nope.”

A smirk tugged at his lips, “I don’t want to bother you, I can sit somewhere else if you want to be alone—“

“No, sorry—“ You sighed and shook your head, “Sit, please. I should really stop being an unapproachable loner.”

He huffed a laugh as he sat down, “This is going to sound terrible, probably, but, uh… Are you… Did you start recently? At the Pitt? I don’t recognize you, so—“

“Oh—No,” You laughed, “No, I don’t work at the hospital. Samira and I did our undergrad together, we used to be roommates. I’m just visiting.”

“Ah,” He said and hung his head, “Well, that would explain it. Where are you visiting from?”

“Los Angeles.”

He let out a low whistle, “You from there?”

“Born and raised.”

“And you went to undergrad here?”

You nodded, “Yeah,” You looked up at the moon, “I miss the east coast.”

“Why’d you go back to California?”

You sighed, “Um, things just didn’t pan out here. The pandemic. Ran out of money. Had to go back to live with my parents.”

He nodded, “I’m sure you’ll end up back here. If it’s what you really want.”

He felt your eyes on him, the way they paved a path down his face to his hands, that were lazily tearing at the label on his beer bottle, “You must be Robby.”

He raised his eyebrows as he looked back up at you, “How’d you figure that out?”

You gave him a lopsided smirk and took a sip from your beer, “Samira talks about you a lot. It’s not hard to put the pieces together.”

He looked back down at his beer bottle. Fighting the disappointment that coursed through him, he rubbed at his beard, “Well, I imagine your perception of me isn’t all that favorable, then.”

You hummed, “She really looks up to you, you know?” You leaned a bit closer to him, close enough that he could smell the beer on your breath as it tangled with your cherry perfume in a way that made him dizzy. You whispered conspiratorily, “But as her friend, you think you could ease up on her?”

He turned his head to look at you and found that you looked almost surprised at how close your faces were, although it was you that had closed the distance. You bit your lip and in the moonlight he saw the way your pupils dilated as you looked at him. And then quickly, your eyes darted away from his and he knew he was fucked.

He cleared his throat, “I’m hard on her because she’s so good. I want her to be the best.”

“You ever hear of this thing called positive reinforcement?” 

He chuckled, “Yeah, okay, if it’s that important to you, I’ll try to be nicer to her.”

You raised your eyebrows, “Damn, it was that easy?” You shook your head, “She didn’t say you were such a softie.”

Robby sighed, “I’m not, normally.” He turned his head to look at you, “You must bring it out of me.”

You blinked a few times and then quickly broke eye contact, looking down at your hands. The movement got him a whiff of your shampoo and fuck if he wasn’t like a moth to a goddamn flame. It took all of his self control not to lean into you, not to push his knee against yours, just to see what you would do. 

But you were Samira’s friend. And you were far, far, too young for him. It would create mess and he hated mess. So he cleared his throat and stood, “Thank you for the conversation, I should be going.”

You opened your mouth as if to say something else, but he was already gone, disappeared into the house, leaving you dumbfounded.

“‘Thank you for the conversation…?’” You repeated and then laughed to yourself.

Later that night as you were relaying the interaction to Samira, she informed you that he had been flirting.

You raised your eyebrows and scoffed, “Right, yeah. He didn’t even ask for my name.”

Jack came up behind Samira and twined an arm around her waist and you watched as she flushed. It was sweet, seeing her like this. In the ten years you had been friends, you had never seen a man so casually fluster her.

“He was flirting.” Jack confirmed as he scooped Cheez Itz out of the plastic bowl between you, “He’s just a little rusty.”

Samira shrugged, “Doesn’t matter, you’re going back to LA soon anyway. But, it would have been nice to get Robby laid.” She sighed mournfully, “I bet he’s much nicer after a good fuck.”

Jack began to choke on a Cheez It and you chuckled as Samira banged on his back until it came back up, “Please… don’t talk about him like that in front of me, alright?” He said, rubbing at his throat.

Samira gave him a half hearted apology and then turned back to you, smirking once he had left, “He’s not really your type anyway, is he?”

He wasn’t. Not the usual guy you went for. You were into older, but usually not that much older. You were also into unstable and mean and heavily tattooed, which Robby appeared to be none of the above. But there had been a moment, fleeting, where you had wanted to kiss him. Where you had thought he wanted to kiss you. 

“Nope,” You sighed, “Not my type.”

Samira scrutinized you for a few moments and then sighed, “A shame. So I can’t give him your number if he asks?”

You laughed, “He won’t ask, but sure, you can give it to him.”

You were right. He didn’t ask. But not because he didn’t want to, because he didn’t think he should. He did, at least, manage to get your name from Samira. It ran laps around his brain for weeks after, and then it slowed, only reappearing every so often. And even though he knew you had gone back to LA, he found himself looking for you occasionally throughout the next year.

Until Jack told him you were back in Pittsburgh as a way to convince him to go to the Poconos getaway Samira was planning.

“She’s going?” Robby asked, eyebrows raised. They were on the roof, genuinely just getting some air. Robby hadn’t found Jack on the wrong side of the railing since he had started seeing Samira. The shifts were still hard, but he had someone to go home to after. And that seemed to make the difference.

Jack turned to him and smirked, “Oh, so now you wanna come, huh?”

Robby shook his head, “I didn’t say that.”

Almost all of his residents and Jack were going to the Poconos in August at Mohan’s invitation and Robby felt he had no business there. Jack was only going because of Samira. What excuse did he have? He would just make them all uncomfortable by being there. Who wanted their boss on their vacation?

“Samira said she asked if you were coming.”

Robby turned his head at that and then scoffed, “Don’t fuck with me.”

“I’m not.” Jack said, but had a self satisfied smirk on his face, “Honest to God.”

“And she lives here now.”

Jack nodded, “Started a new job here a month ago.”

Robby leaned over the railing on his forearms. He still wondered about you, still thought about whatever magnetism that existed between you that night. If it was just alcohol induced or if it really was something. And yes, you were way too fucking young for him. But Samira and Jack seemed to be happy. Maybe… Maybe he could at least try. You had asked after him, that had to mean something. That you still thought of him, too. 

And so that was how Robby ended up pulling into the driveway of the house on the edge of the lake a few weeks later.

After Samira had informed him of what room was his and he had set all his things down, he followed her and Jack out to the patio overlooking the lake, “Is she here yet?”

Samira smirked and looked down at her phone, “Should be pulling up any minute according to her location.” Just then, the distant roar of a car in distress grew louder and louder and Samira’s grin widened, “Yeah, that’s her.”

Robby raised his eyebrows, “Does she drive a fucking Ferrari?”

Samira frowned, “I don’t know what that means to you, but no, she drives a Yaris.”

He laughed, “A Yaris? Making all that racket? Jesus Christ.” And with that, he was heading to the driveway.

Sure enough, a bright red, ancient looking Yaris was idling in the driveway. You pushed your sunglasses onto the top of your head as you turned your car off and then looked up to see Robby standing a few feet away from your car. Frowning, you opened the door and stepped out, “...Hi.”

“Are you aware that your car sounds like the engine is about to explode?”

Your frown deepened, “I don’t know, sounds fine to me.” 

Robby circled your car, looking for other sources of the noise, until he got to the back of your car. Bending down, he saw your muffler was badly corroded, and was that… Chicken wire securing it to your car? He laughed softly to himself and stood again, “Do you know your muffler’s completely rusted out?”

You stared at him for a moment, pulling your bags out of the backseat of the car, “Uhh, no? Is that bad?”

He scratched the back of his head, “Someone wrapped some wire around it to try to keep it on, but it mostly fell off.”

“Oh,” You said slowly, “Yeah, I think my roommate did that for me.”

“You think?” Finally, he approached you to help with your bags, slinging one of your duffels over his shoulder.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, I know he said something was wrong with the car and that he fixed it temporarily. I can’t afford a mechanic right now. It’s okay to drive, though?”

“Well, yes.” They began walking towards the house, “It’ll just be… loud.”

“Okay,” You smiled at him, “I can handle loud.” 

He held the door of the house open awkwardly with one arm, which you ducked under to get in.

“I could, um,” He sighed, “I could fix it for you. Order you a new muffler and attach it when we’re back in Pittsburgh.”

“Oh, I—That’s really nice, but I couldn’t pay you—“

“For free, I meant.”

You paused in the entryway and took off your backpack, “Why would you do that?”

He shrugged and lowered your duffel to the floor, “Why not?”

You stared at him a moment longer, perplexed, before you turned to see Samira in the entryway, smirking.

Within seconds, you were both squealing and your arms were wrapped tightly around each other, “This place is insane,” You said to her, “How did you afford this?”

Samira opened and closed her mouth and then blushed, “Um… Jack and Robby split it, actually.”

When you spun to look at Robby, he smiled in confirmation, a hand on the back of his neck, “Oh. Cool. Thanks.” You turned back to Samira, “Where should I put my things…?”

“Yeah, about that, so… I ran into Trevor last week…”

You tilted your head to the side in question. Trevor, your ex roommate from when you and Samira were in undergrad, Trevor? Your years-long situationship, Trevor? The same Trevor whom you had ghosted once you moved back to LA?

“And…” You could read the fear on Samira’s face as she continued, “Jack may have, not knowing the situation, invited Trevor to come?”

“Mira,” You whined, “Seriously?”

“I know, I know,” She said quickly, “And unfortunately, Jack also invited him without considering that we were already out of rooms… So…”

She allowed you to fill in the blanks and your brain was beginning to short circuit, “Okay,” You laughed, “This is a joke, right? Are you saying I’m sharing a bed with him?”

“No, no. Separate beds, same room.”

You covered your face with your hands, “I think…” You sighed, “I think I might just drive home.”

“What? No, come on. It’ll be fine, I thought you and Trevor were good? You don’t even have to be in the room that much, just to sleep–”

“You could stay in my room.” You both started at Robby’s voice behind you, having forgotten he was still there. He cleared his throat, “I could stay in the room with… Trevor, is it?”

You sighed, “That’s… sweet of you, but Trevor snores. And besides, you paid for this place, I’m not going to kick you out of your own room–”

“Really, I don’t mind. Besides, it’ll be dark soon anyway and it’s a long drive back to Pittsburgh.”

He was looking at you almost a little desperately and you started to wonder if the only reason he had come in the first place was to see you. But that was insane, right? You didn’t even know each other.

And yeah, maybe the only reason you had come was because Samira assured you Robby would be here. Maybe that one interaction had played on a loop in your mind for the whole year until you started wondering if he had really looked at you with lust and awe that night or if it was just a trick of the light.

You bit your lip and then turned back to Samira, “I’m mad at you.” You said as you bent to pick up your backpack.

“But… You’re staying?”

Samira knew you could never stay mad at her. And she had never been able to stay mad at you, either. The few times you had had disagreements you had always been able to resolve them peacefully. It was part of the reason you adored being her friend, there was never any drama and always a shoulder to cry on if you needed it.

So you bit your lip and gave her a knowing look, “Yes, under duress.”

Robby slung your duffel back over his shoulder, “C’mon, I’ll show you the room.”

You trailed after him and up the stairs, still a bit apprehensive about this whole set up. He led you to a room with a king sized bed. The room was large with big windows on one wall and a long, brown leather couch that took up almost the entire wall opposite the bed. 

You stood in the threshold of the door, stunned, but Robby didn’t seem to notice. He placed your duffel on the floor and moved his bags from where he had put them on the bed.

“There’s an en suite bathroom over there,” He gestured to the door next to the couch, “So you don’t need to share with anyone.” 

“Robby,” You said breathlessly and then started shaking your head, “This is too much. You paid for this and it’s your vacation too, you shouldn’t have to share a room with Trevor—“

“What’s your deal with this guy? Trevor?”

You smirked and tilted your head a bit. Was that jealousy? “I don’t know if that’s your business.”

He shrugged, “Well, I just thought, since you’re feeling so guilty about taking my room this could be my payment.” He said lightly, the corners of his lips beginning to tug up into a grin.

“Ah,” You laughed, “Well, if you must know, he was mine and Samira’s roommate for about three years and then we slept together on and off for a few years afterward. Until I moved back to Los Angeles.”

He stared at you for a few moments, “Okay, so you occasionally slept together, but he’s not an ex boyfriend or anything?”

You shook your head, “Nope. But not for lack of trying on his end.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Oh? So you were the heartbreaker then?”

You smirked, “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m sure he was just fine.”

“Why wasn’t he good enough for you?” Oh, so it was jealousy.

Good. You liked playing. Maybe this vacation wouldn’t be a total wash. “You worried you might make the same mistakes?”

His grin widened, and then he shook his head, “That wasn’t an answer.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, “I think I’ve answered enough of your questions for today.” You picked up his duffel from where it sat in front of him and pushed it into his arms.

“Are you kicking me out of my room?” He asked, still with that teasing lilt in his voice.

You moved close enough to him that he finally caught a whiff of your perfume. Still cherries. He thought his knees might buckle. “I thought it wasn’t your room anymore?” You said softly.

You pushed gently on his chest until he was out of the doorway and closed the door.

Robby stood out in the hallway for a moment, staring at the door with a stupid grin on his face. He had just given up his room to share one with some loser kid who had made the catastrophic mistake of fumbling you, and he had the toothiest smile on his face.

Maybe he’d end this vacation sleeping in that king sized bed with you.

***

Robby was trying very hard not to seem too desperate, but Trevor had arrived hours ago and you were still in your room.

The rest of his residents wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, most of them having had to work a shift today, so it would just be you, Trevor, him, Mohan, and Abbot.

He had sized Trevor up immediately when he got here and, well, Robby was confused to say the least. The kid was scrawny, almost every inch of skin tatted up, and was a tattoo artist. He had long and dark hair that curled around his ears. He had a nose ring and a mustache.

It was mind boggling. If this is what you were into, why had you been flirting with him? You had been flirting with him, right? There’s no way that was your fucking baseline.

Samira was across the patio with Trevor and Robby sat with Abbot in front of the fire pit. One of Robby’s hands stroked his beard absently while he watched Trevor.

“Why’re you looking at that guy like you wish he’d give you a reason?”

Robby dragged his gaze away from Trevor and back to Jack who was fucking smirking, “This is your fault.”

He shrugged, “I didn’t know they had history, okay? Samira never mentioned.”

Before, Robby had been confident he’d win you over by the end of this week. Now, there was a roughly 5’10 problem that you were avoiding so diligently you were spending your first night of vacation hiding away.

“I’m gonna go talk to her.” He said finally, standing.

And that’s how he ended up back at your bedroom door, knuckles rapping gently against the wood.

A moment or two passed and then he heard the sound of feet padding across the floor. Then the door began to crack open, “Mira, I told you already, I don’t feel like seeing him ton–” You froze when you saw Robby standing there, “Oh. You’re not Mira.”

Robby’s mouth was slightly agape and he was, unfortunately staring at your bare legs and then back up to the skimpy sleep set you were wearing. A flowy pastel flowered camisole that fluttered just above your belly button and matching shorts that were so tiny, they may as well have been panties.

By some miracle between him and God himself, he managed to tear his eyes back up to yours. And you looked very smug right about now. He felt a flush begin to work his way up his neck and he cleared his throat, as if to push it back down, “Is it me you’re avoiding or Trevor?”

You hummed, “Why would I be avoiding you?”

He shrugged his shoulders up to his ears, “My irresistible charm and rogueish good looks?”

You choked out a laugh, “No, no, it’s Trevor I’m avoiding.”

“That’s a shame,” He sighed, “It’s really beautiful outside.”

You crossed your arms and smirked, “It’s the first night and you’re already trying to guilt me into having a drink with you?”

He scoffed, affronted, “I’m doing no such thing–”

“Fine, fine,” You said dramatically, “Twist my arm, why don’t you? Just let me change into something more… appropriate.”

A tragedy, really. He could stare at you for hours in that sleep set and never get tired of the view. Luckily, you closed the door before he said something stupid.

Five minutes later you were following him out onto the patio, a spiked seltzer in your hand.

Trevor immediately stood and made a big show of greeting you. Robby watched with some apprehension as his arms slid lower and lower down your back as he hugged you— Until you slapped his hands away, scowling at him.

Robby ran a hand over his mouth and beard to cover his smirk.

“What?” Trevor asked, laughing, “I can’t touch you now, either? I can’t text or call you? Had to find out from Mira’s boyfriend that you were back in town. Are we even friends anymore?”

“Trevor,” Samira inserted herself between you both, “You said you wouldn’t do this.”

“We were never friends,” You sneered, “You were always just biding your time until you could fuck me.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jack muttered softly from next to Robby.

“Really? And who led on who in the end?” 

“That’s enough!” Samira said sharply, looking back and forth between her friends, “Look,” She said, softer now, “We’re all adults here, okay? We used to have fun, the three of us. Can’t we just… put all that shit aside for one week so we can have fun? Like old times?”

You sighed heavily and looked at Trevor, “I have no problem with you as long as you keep it platonic.” 

He huffed a laugh and ran a hand over his jaw, “Don’t worry, message was received loud and clear when you ghosted me when you left.”

“Guys…” Samira said lowly in warning, still between them.

But you couldn’t stop the incredulous laugh that burst from your throat, “You waited until I flew across the country to text me—text! Not even call!—that you were in love with me and you think that warranted a response?”

Robby and Jack shared a look, attempted to hide their faces behind their respective drinks, and Samira grimaced before turning to Trevor, “Seriously? That’s kinda embarrassing.” She said softly.

You shook your head and started to walk over to sit near Robby.

“You don’t exactly make it easy for people to tell you what they’re feeling.” Trevor said, flushed.

“Yeah,” You took a sip from your drink as you settled next to Robby, “Or maybe you’re just a pussy.”

Samira sighed and looked at you, “Really?” 

But you only shrugged your shoulders. 

“Whatever, I don’t have to listen to this,” Trevor grumbled, “I’m going to bed.”

He muttered a goodnight to Samira and you waited for him to close the sliding door behind him before you gestured after him, “See? Pussy behavior.”

Jack and Robby were both fighting grins, but Samira frowned at you, “Can’t you try to be nicer?”

“That was me being nice. And he’s the one who started it, trying to fucking grab my ass like it hasn’t been, like, three years since we last spoke.”

Samira raised her eyebrows, “He tried to grab you?”

“He did,” Robby affirmed, “I saw it.”

“Well that’s not acceptable,” Samira looked towards the door that Trevor had disappeared into, “I’m gonna ask him to leave—“

“No,” You said immediately, “No, it’ll just create more of a mess. It’s fine.”

Samira stared at you for a moment longer, “Are you sure? Look, I’m sorry we invited him I didn’t realize— You’ll always come first for me. I will kick him out.”

The smile you gave Samira was adoring and tender. “I know,” You said softly, “It’s alright, I promise.”

Finally, she nodded, and went to sit next to Jack, sighing as she did. 

“The two of you ever fight like that?” Jack nodded to you and Samira.

You met Samira’s eyes over your drink and you both broke out into smiles, “No,” You said, “I think our biggest fight was when she took the last spot in the orgo class we were both trying to take sophomore year.”

Samira grinned at you, “Yeah and to make it up to you, you made me give you all my study materials the next semester, so I think it worked out for you.”

“What about you two,” You nodded towards Jack and Robby, “You guys seem like you’ve been friends for a long time. Any brawls?”

Robby chuckled, “No, definitely not.”

“Yeah, because he knows he’d lose.” Jack teased.

“Yeah, right,” Robby said and shook his head as he tossed back the rest of his beer, “Love you  brother, but I don’t think so.”

“Oh, really?” Jack chuckled and turned to Samira, “What d’you think? Who’d win?”

“Oh, come on,” Robby bemoaned, “Of course she’s gonna pick you.”

Samira looked affronted, “I resent the fact that you think I’m incapable of being objective just because we’re together.”

Robby raised his eyebrows, “Alright then, what’s the verdict?”

Samira’s eyes traveled back and forth between Jack’s wide pleading ones and Robby’s expecting ones until she sighed, “Jack. But only because he was in the military.”

“He was a medic.” Robby complained as Jack kissed on Samira’s neck in victory, causing her to squeal.

“Still went through basic training, brother.” Jack managed, adoring eyes still on Samira.

“And what about you?” Robby asked, turning to you.

“What about me?” 

“Who do you think would win, me or Jack?”

“Oh,” You laughed, “I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever weird hypermasculine competition you’ve got going on here.”

“That’s code for she doesn’t wanna hurt your feelings, Robby.” Jack said.

You scoffed, “That is not true,” Your eyes darted to Robby’s, “I have no problem hurting his feelings.”

A lie. You looked at the crinkles by his eyes, the flush in his cheeks when he smiled at you, and those big brown eyes that looked as warm as tree bark that had baked in the summer heat all day and your immediate thought was you’d rather drown yourself in this lake than hurt his feelings. 

Alternatively, you’d also rather drown in this lake than admit that that was true.

So where did that leave you?

You swallowed and looked at Samira, “I think Jack would win.”

Jack laughed loudly and Robby eyed you with disappointment as he shook his head.

It was teasing disappointment, but you were surprised by how much it bothered you. You were realizing quickly how desperately you wanted him to like you. 

“What?” You said to Robby, “He was in the military and he carries around a knife for fun. What’re you gonna do, hm? Blink your pretty doe eyes up at him and hope it distracts him long enough for you to run away?”

Slowly, a smile stretched across Robby’s face and he nudged his knee playfully against yours as he leaned his face down close to you. Your breath hitched in your throat at his closeness and he casually reached out to push a loose strand of your hair behind your ear.

When he spoke, lowly enough for just you to hear, his voice was husky and it sent chills across your arms, “You think my eyes are pretty?”

The laugh that escaped you was breathless and nervous and you quickly tore your eyes from his and looked down at your hands, trying not to think about the way his fingers, cold and wet from his beer bottle, felt against the shell of your ear or the way they dragged against the sensitive skin of your neck before he pulled away.

What the fuck was this guy doing to you? A man had never made you a giggly mess like this. This was bad. This was very, very bad.

“As if you didn’t know.” You said finally, as casually as you could manage, avoiding looking at him.

“You’re pretty hard to read, actually.”

Normally, that would be true. But with him, it felt different. It felt like you were shouting it at him with every lilt of your voice, every smile, every laugh. Every time he looked at you, you felt your skin heat. 

You looked over at Samira and Jack for a moment, thought about your friendship with Samira. Everything seemed to tumble forward, all the moments you were so painfully proud of her, but also envious. How you had both wanted the same things, once. She had gotten everything and you had tripped four hundred meters out from the finish line. She was incredible, intelligent, beautiful, ambitious. The whole package. It was no wonder Jack was so obsessed with her. 

Your eyes flitted back to Robby, who was no longer looking at you, but silently staring ahead. His knee was still touching yours. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d wanted someone this badly. Someone smart and capable, someone who seemed like he could take care of you if the conversation about your dumb muffler was any indicator, someone who would be good for you.

He deserved better than you, though, he deserved someone like Samira. And even if you just slept with him, you had the faintest inclination that he might ruin you for other men for good.

You cleared your throat, “I, um, I should go to bed.”

When you stood, he followed, “Are you okay?” He asked softly, blocking your exit with his broad chest.

Christ, you were going to fold so quickly if he kept this up, “I’m fine,” You forced a smile, “Just tired.”

You stepped around him, but still he followed, steps soft and careful as he traced your path up the stairs, “Did I say something wrong?” He asked once you were at the bedroom door.

“No,” You said and almost laughed as you turned to him, “No, it’s not you.”

“Then what?” His eyes carefully searched your face, “Because I can be patient if you’re just not ready, but–”

You shook your head, “I can’t. It’s not a good idea.”

He scoffed, “You see what I mean about being hard to read?” He tilted his head as he narrowed his eyes at you, “Is it… because I’m old?”

You smiled and bit your lip, “No, I think I actually really like that bit.”

He shook his head, “Can you just tell me what it is that’s bothering you? I’m pretty good at problem solving.”

You laughed again, “I don’t think I’m a problem that’s solvable, unfortunately.”

He watched you for a while longer before sighing heavily, “Okay, just to be clear, we’re not done with this conversation. But I’ll let you get some sleep. Goodnight.” He said softly and began to walk away, down the hall to where you assumed Trevor was.

You watched after him, fought an internal battle with yourself, and then sighed, “Robby, wait.”

He froze and turned back towards you. The look of hope on his face absolutely wrecked you, “I wasn’t kidding about Trevor,” You said, “He really does snore. Very loudly. You should stay in here. I’ll sleep on the couch,” You added quickly.

He shook his head, “I’m not letting you sleep on the couch.”

You threw up your hands in exasperation, “Fine. You sleep on the couch, then. You’ll get more sleep than sleeping in the same room as Trevor.”

And so that’s how the two of you ended up awkwardly dancing around each other as you got ready for bed.

You were unable to tear your eyes away as he pulled his shirt over his head and you were granted a full view of his chest. Your mouth dried out as you stared. He was so large, but everything about him was soft, the tufts of hair that grew on his chest and by his belly button, the gentle curve of his stomach. All of this turned your yearning from a gentle smolder to a raging inferno.

But what your eyes snagged on were the two tattoos over the planes of his chest. On the right side of his chest read MEMENTO MORI and on the left side AMORI FATI.

When your eyes traveled back up, Robby was looking at you with a smug look on his face.

You cleared your throat and looked away, conscious of the way heat burned in your cheeks, “Your tattoos,” You gestured to your own chest, “You’re a fan of Stoicism?”

A slow smile stretched across his face, “You know what they mean?”

You nodded, “Memento mori: remember that you will die and amor fati: love thy fate.” You were a bit ashamed by how pleased with yourself you were when an impressed smile flitted across his face, “I took a few philosophy classes in undergrad.”

“And what did you think?”

You shrugged, embarrassed now and not wanting to seem like you were showing off, “I liked them. Once, I took an ancient Greek literature class at the same time and they tended to overlap a lot.” You nodded towards his tattoos, “Memento mori and amori fati always reminded me of my favorite line from the Iliad.”

“Which is?”

You hesitated, and then, shyly, you lifted your shirt just slightly so he could see the tattoo that decorated the side of your ribcage. 

An intricate tracing of Icarus and his infamous fall, a hand still stretching out towards the sun. On either side of his falling form, in delicate scrawl read:

Everything is more beautiful 

because we are doomed

Robby was close to you now, so he could better see your ink, and when he reached out his fingers and ghosted them over the skin of your ribcage. Your breath stuttered as goosebumps rose across your flesh.

Noting the way your breathing faltered he looked up at you and pulled his hand away, straightening. He cleared his throat, “It’s beautiful.”

You dropped your shirt, covering up the tattoo again, “Thank you.”

“What was your major in college anyway?”

“Biology.”

He frowned at that, “And you took classes for philosophy and ancient Greek lit?”

You dug through your duffel, looking for your toiletry bag, “At first, they were just electives, but then I took enough of them to grab a minor. My counselor said it would diversify me for med school or whatever,” You sighed, “Fat load of good that did me.”

Finally locating your toiletry bag, you pulled it out and turned back around to see Robby eyeing you curiously, “What?” 

“I—“ He scratched the back of his head, “Samira didn’t mention you went to med school.”

You hummed, “That’s because I didn’t.” You dug your toothbrush out of the bag, “I didn’t get in.”

When you looked up at him again, he was still staring at you, frowning. You could almost hear the glass breaking in his head. Whatever shiny impression he had of you shattering on impact. You weren’t good enough for med school, why would you be good enough for him?

“Well—“

“I’d really rather not talk about this right now, or ever, if you don’t mind.” You said softly and brushed past him to get into the bathroom.

Or, you meant to just brush past him. But he tried to brush past you at the same time, you assumed to allow you space to get into the bathroom. You both tried to shimmy sideways through the bathroom doorway and ended up chest to chest, stuck for a moment too long.

He had, in the time you had been talking, put a shirt back on. Still, as your breasts slid across his chest, you felt your nipples peak in response. 

Through the thin fabric of your shirt, it wasn’t hard to notice, even if he hadn’t already been hardwired to notice everything about you since he first saw you alone on that porch swing a year ago. You let out a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a moan as you desperately tried to sidle past him. 

Used to this sort of thing happening at work, he instinctually settled a firm hand on your hip to try to help you get by, but this only seemed to panic you further. In your rush to move away from him, you inadvertently pushed yourself harder against him, your other hip gliding over his crotch and causing him to hiss.

“Sorry, fuck–” You cursed and finally slid by him, breathing hard as if you had been running for miles instead of having just moved through a doorway. 

The moment passed. You were at the sink, putting toothpaste on your toothbrush with the focus of a surgeon. If you weren't desperately avoiding eye contact and trying to level your breathing, he might have assumed you weren’t affected at all.

And fuck him if his brain wasn’t immediately rushing to calculate all the ways he could get your body to react like that again. He thought of your pupils dilating in the moonlight the first time you met, the way you shivered whenever his fingers brushed across your skin earlier, the way you got flustered sometimes just when he looked at you intently enough, and now this. He wondered what sort of touches would make you writhe beneath him, cry out his name, rake your nails across his skin, beg him to go faster, harder.

Oh, he had been thinking for too long if the aching sensation in his pants was any indication. He cleared his throat and with a hand on the back of his neck he left the bathroom.

***

Robby was tracing the tattoo on your ribcage again, this time with his tongue. Your back arched up off the mattress and you were moaning his name. He kissed up until he reached your breasts, first taking a sensitive nipple between his fingers and pinching lightly until you gasped. He took it in his mouth, then, swirling the bud around his tongue.

His hard cock was pressed to your slick folds, sliding back and forth against you, his tip nudging your entrance, but never fully sinking in. You were begging now, a single tear escaped from your eye as you looked up at him. The only reason he was able to stop himself from fully sinking inside you was because he loved the sight of you like this, absolutely drenched and fucking ruined, at his mercy. No more coy looks, no more avoiding his gaze so you could pretend not to want him, no more pulling away from his touch in fear it would give you away.

No, you were completely, fully, his now and he needed to make sure you knew it. You would only cum if he decided you could. If you asked nicely, if you did what he asked, if you were the good girl he told you to be.

He slipped his fingers between your thighs and sank two of his digits into your hole, watched as you bit down on your lip to stop the moan from crawling out. Just as quickly as he started, he pulled out his fingers and ignored your whine at their absence, sliding his cock against you again.

He brought his fingers, now drenched in your juices, up to your face and gently pressed his thumb to your chin, “Open.” He commanded. You hesitated for just a moment before obeying, taking his fingers into your mouth. You looked up at him as you sucked the way he imagined you’d take his cock. He hadn’t even had you fully yet, but he thought he might cum just like this, with you humming against his fingers. He rutted his hips faster, barely registering it when you reached a hand between you to hold your folds tighter around him, creating more friction and Jesus fucking Christ he was going to cum–

Robby awoke to the sound of the box fan in the window. The sun hadn’t yet fully risen and he could hear your soft snores from the bed, less than ten feet away from him. As consciousness returned to him and he shifted on the couch, he registered the sticky dampness between his legs and his eyes flew open.

No fucking way. There was no fucking way he had– He pulled the blanket he had been using off and was confronted with an absolute mess in his boxers. He ran a hand down his face in frustration. What sort of fucking grown man came in their pants like that and over a woman sleeping not ten feet away that was at least two decades younger than him? 

He tried to quietly get up from the couch and escape to the bathroom, but the couch was leather and creaked loudly with his movement. He froze and waited, eyes closed, and sure enough, you stirred.

“Robby?” Your voice was heavy and rough with sleep and he tried to ignore how much he liked the sound of it, “S’that you?”

“Just going to the bathroom,” He said softly, “Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”

The endearment slipped from him without his permission and he hung his head when his brain caught up with his mouth. But you hadn’t seemed to register it, or perhaps didn’t mind, as you silently settled back against your pillow. He sighed quietly in relief and then headed to the bathroom to clean up.

If this was how it was going to be, if just seeing an inch of your skin and brushing up against you on the way to the bathroom was going to prompt wet dreams that had him coming in his pants, he had no idea how he was going to make it through this week without convincing you to let him in your bed.

And now his residents would be getting here today, would be witnessing him desperately trying to get laid by a girl who they’d played beer pong with once. Humiliating.

But as he stood in the bathroom and rolled that dream over in his head again, he thought it’d probably be worth it. If he could have you even once, just a taste, maybe it would satiate him long enough to move on when they got back to Pittsburgh. Maybe. 

Or maybe it would never be enough. Maybe there was something about you that would keep him coming back, keep trying to find new ways to make you laugh so you’d let him in, like a stray at the door looking for scraps.

There was only one way to find out.

***

“You slept with Robby last night?” Samira’s voice had you turning your head from the paperback in your hand.

The two of you were laying on the dock, sunbathing, along with Trevor. You and Trevor had called a truce that morning and so far, he had been abiding by the conditions. Of which, there was really only one: not to touch you in a way that wasn’t strictly platonic. 

Jack had gotten a new prosthetic extension that allowed him to swim properly (thoroughly researched and recommended by Samira) and was in the lake with Robby.

Trinity, Dennis, Victoria, and Parker had all arrived a couple of hours ago. Parker had set up a volleyball net nearby and the four of them were attempting to play a match.

“No,” You scoffed, “He slept on the couch because I knew this one would keep him up with all his snoring.” You playfully shoved Trevor’s shoulder next to you.

“Ow,” Trevor murmured, rubbing at his shoulder. Then he turned on his side to face you, “Mira, are you trying to set her up with your boss?”

Samira scoffed, “Didn’t have to try, they’ve been obsessed with each other since they met, but neither of them will admit it.”

You felt your cheeks heat up again and attempted to cover your face with your paperback, “I am not obsessed with him, I just think that… he’s kinda cool… and we… vibe.”

Samira and Trevor both looked at you blankly, “You are hearing yourself, right?” Samira said eventually.

You groaned, “Whatever! I’m not gonna sleep with him, it’s a bad idea.”

“And, pray tell, why is that?”

“I–” You quickly looked to see if anyone else was around, but Jack and Robby were still in the water and the other residents still preoccupied, “Because I’m not good with relationships, Trevor can attest.”

Trevor pursed his lips, “This feels like a trap,” He looked at Samira, “No comment.”

“Look, you don’t even know if he wants a relationship. At least sleep with him, just once. I know you’re dying to.” You rolled your eyes and didn’t respond. But you were dying to, especially after accidentally rubbing up against him like that last night and seeing him shirtless. “I don’t know what you said to him that first night you met him, but he was so nice to me, for like, weeks after. And you spoke to him for what? Five minutes? If you won’t do it for yourself, think of me! Do you know how nice he would be if he got to actually sleep with you?”

You sighed, “I will… consider it.”

Samira smiled, “Excellent.”

Just then, Jack swam up to the dock, to Samira, and rested his arms on the edge as he floated, “Samira, come swim with me.”

Samira wrinkled her nose as she considered, “It’s cold in there.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” He said lowly, leaning up to kiss her. Samira smiled against his mouth, laughed when he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her down into the water with him. They continued kissing, Samira’s legs wrapped around Jack’s waist.

You sighed and turned back to your book, “Gross.” You muttered to Trevor.

“You know, we could make out in the lake.” He said in a voice you knew to mean he was trying to be seductive. It used to work on you, but now it only grossed you out, “Give your new boyfriend something to worry about.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” You said, voice bored, “And I’m not interested.”

You heard splashes coming from the ladder and looked up in time to see Robby pulling himself out of the water and onto the dock. Your stomach flipped again, seeing him shirtless. The water had weighed down his bathing suit so that it hung dangerously low on his hips. You were shocked when the first thought that came into your mind was that you longed to bite his hips and you cleared your throat as if it would cleanse your impure thoughts. You turned back to your book.

A moment later, a giant shadow in the shape of a man was blocking your sun and you felt the cold lake water dripping all over your body, “You’re getting my book wet.” You said, trying to sound bored as you looked up at him.

He had a boyish grin on his face as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking it like a wet dog and causing more droplets to splatter all over you, “Sorry,” He said, sounding anything but.

It was such a childish thing to do, but he looked stupid handsome as he smirked at you and you wondered if this was the type of thing he used to pull when he was your age. How many girls had he gotten into bed with that gorgeous smile and big brown eyes?

“You can swim, right?”

You watched him for a moment before looking back down at your book, “Of course I can swim, I grew up in Los Angeles.”

“Come in the water with me.” He said, still blocking your sun.

“No thanks,” You turned the page of your book, “It’s too cold.”

“Oh, come on,” He whined, “It’s not so bad once you’re in. It’s not the Pacific Ocean, I’ll give you, that, but it’s still nice. Have some fun.”

It was certainly not the Pacific Ocean, but you were more so worried about being able to keep your hands to yourself once you were in the water with him. Once no one would be able to see your hands on his waist, or better yet, in his shorts–

You were determined to keep your eyes on your book, “No thank you.”

He let the silence hang there for a moment, then finally he sighed, “Fine. Could you hand me my towel, then?”

You placed your book down on your towel and leaned over Samira’s now empty one to grab one of the dry towels meant for Robby and Jack. 

In retrospect, you probably should’ve realized what he was about to do. It was the oldest trick in the book. But you also hadn’t been a teenager in many years and so hadn’t had to worry about boys pulling goofy shit to flirt with a girl.

So for half a second, when you reached out the towel to him and his hand clamped around your wrist rather than the towel, you were just confused. But then in the next moment, he had pulled the towel from your hand, and dropped it back down to the dock and it was then that you realized how you had fucked up.

You tried to wrench your wrist back, “Robby–”

Smirking, he pulled you by the wrist and with a bend of his knees, had thrown you over his shoulder and began walking.

You squealed, “Put me down.”

He stopped walking, “Okay,” You heard the smirk in his voice, and again realized your fatal error too late.

“Don’t you dare–”

You were suspended in the air for a moment, before you hit the water, cold and unforgiving. Your head plunged beneath the surface for a second before you got your bearings and broke the surface again. The water was shallow enough that you could stand and while you gasped for air, you saw that Robby had jumped back in and was wading over to you, smirk still on his face.

“See? Not so bad.” He said smugly.

You scowled at him, “I’m very upset with you.”

Even as you said it, you had to fight a smile. Jesus fucking Christ, it was pathetic the levels of infatuated you had achieved because if this were any other man, if it was, say, Trevor who had pulled this shit, you wouldn’t have spoken to him for the rest of the night. Maybe not even for the rest of the vacation.

But Robby had thrown you in the lake and with just a smile, you were on the verge of giggling again. Oh, you were so fucked. 

“Really?” He was close to you now, close enough to touch, “You don’t seem that upset.”

“Yeah, well, I’m furious.” You said mildly. It was dangerous to be this close, so you moved to take a step back, but your foot landed on a particularly slimy rock and you slipped—

“Woah—“ Robby secured an arm around your waist before you could slip under the water and pulled you flush to his chest, “Careful, it’s slippery right there.” He said, teasing.

You huffed and looked up at him, conscious of every place your bodies touched. He had draped your arms around his neck and was now looking at you innocently, like he hadn’t fully manufactured this.

Your tongue darted between your lips and you ran your hands through his wet hair, scratching lightly at his scalp, “You can let me go, now,” You said softly, “I won’t slip again.”

His eyes were heady with desire, “I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you.” He lowered his hands until they gripped the back of your thighs and then hiked you up until you were straddling his waist, ankles tangled behind his back. Like this, your face was level with his, and his jaw was clenched as he watched you. As if he was restraining himself from something. From you.

“What’re you doing?”

He smirked and nudged his nose into yours, your breaths intertwined in the minimal space between you. Even drenched in lake water, you still smelled faintly of cherries.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” He whispered.

He leaned towards you, mouth searching for yours, and you pulled back slightly, “C’mon sweetheart,” He said softly, “Enough of the games. Let me in.”

It wasn’t a game, not to you. And that’s what was so scary. Because it had always been a game to you. There had never been anyone you had wanted more seriously than that. With Trevor he only wanted something more when he realized you didn’t want him like that. He didn’t really love you and you had never loved him. But now you were staring at Robby, shivering in the frigid water and you thought maybe you could love him.

Nearly thirty, you had started to wonder if maybe you just weren’t capable of feeling that deeply for someone else. And still, you didn’t know if you were. But Robby was the first man that made you curious to find out.

“You might not like what you find.” Your voice wavered.

He tilted his head slightly, “Why don’t you let me worry about that?”

Let me worry about that. You thought about his offer yesterday to fix your car. Thought about his willingness to swap beds with you so you could be comfortable. Let me worry about that. What would it be like to have someone else to help take care of things? To lighten the load, even just a little?

So when he leaned in to kiss you again, this time you didn’t stop him. It felt like relief, with his mouth finally on yours. When you sighed into him, he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth and your nails dug into his shoulders in response.

You felt his hands tighten their grip on your legs under the water. He seemed torn between keeping you wrapped around his waist like this or dropping you so his hands could wander.

Before he could make a decision, a wolf whistle split the air and the both of you froze. Robby broke his mouth away from yours, turning his head to follow the sound and saw Jack smirking at the two of you, Samira also looking smug from behind him with her arms draped over his shoulders. A moment later, there was whooping coming from the rest of the residents who were playing volleyball near the shore.

Feeling your cheeks heat, you buried your face in Robby’s shoulder.

“Ignore them,” Robby said softly, “Do you want to go inside?”

You pulled your head back from his shoulder so you could see his face. He looked like he was seconds away from devouring you here, in the lake, with everyone watching. Seemingly so desperate for you, he didn’t mind all of his coworkers and subordinates watching. 

“Is that what you want?”

He gave you a knowing look, “I want you in whatever capacity you’ll allow. So, do you want to go inside?”

He had to know that now, having tasted him, you wouldn’t be able to deny yourself any longer. The dam you had built between you had sprung a leak. Several, in fact. It was only a matter of time before it was completely eviscerated.

“Yes.” You said eventually.

A giddy smile transformed Robby’s face and he leaned in to give you another quick kiss, “Get on my back.” He murmured against your mouth.

You laughed, “What?”

Rather than explain further, he shifted your weight, spinning you until you understood he wanted you on piggyback.

“You know,” You laughed, pressing kisses up the side of his neck, “I told you I can swim.”

“I know,” He said as he began wading to the shore, “But isn’t this more fun?”

It was a bit embarrassing, if you were honest, drawing more stares and attention from the others. Once close enough to the shore, Robby seemed to give the residents a look you couldn’t see, but must have been scathing as they all abruptly returned their attention back to their volleyball game.

Robby let you off his back and grabbed a dry towel for you, wrapping it around your shoulders and rubbing his hands over it to help dry you before grabbing his own towel.

“You kids be safe now,” Jack was leaning on the edge of the dock, Samira doing the same next to him, both of them smirking at you, “Wrap it before you tap it and all that.”

Robby sighed heavily, “She’s gonna change her mind if you don’t be quiet.”

“No she won’t.” Samira said, “I’ve never seen her this obsessed with anyone. Not even Trevor, whom she slept with for years.”

“Mira!” You hissed indignantly.

“Heard that,” Trevor called, “Hurtful and unnecessary.”

“Let’s go,” Robby draped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side and beginning to walk towards the house, “You’re obsessed with me, huh?” He said quietly.

You rolled your eyes, “Whatever. As if you’re not obsessed with me.”

“Of course I am,” He opened the back door of the house for you, waited for you to walk inside before following, “But I’m not ashamed of it.”

He blew past you as his words stopped you in your tracks. For the first time, it struck you what it all must’ve looked like to him. How you had been flirting with him, but then pushing him away, over and over. 

You trailed after him up the stairs, “I’m not—I’m not ashamed.”

At the top of the stairs, he turned to face you, “I don’t particularly want to have this conversation right now, when I’m finally about to have you naked in my bed—“

“My bed,” You teased, smirking, “Remember?”

He huffed a short laugh and shook his head, “You’re impossible.”

You pressed your lips together firmly, your eyes transfixed by his mouth, “Do you think you’ll still want me?” You asked quietly, your voice small, “After you’ve had me?”

He narrowed his eyes at you, “Is that what this is about? You’re worried I won’t like you after?”

It hadn’t been something you had thought about before, with other partners, because usually you didn’t care enough. You liked being desired, of course, who didn’t? But more often than not if partners disappeared afterwards, you shrugged it off and moved on to the next one. 

But with Robby… You had only really known each other for a day or so, but there was something that seemed to pull you to him. The chemistry was easy, effortless as it seemingly flowed back and forth, infinite. With him, you also had a desire to impress, to prove yourself. Like with the tattoos last night. You wanted him to think you were more than just someone to fuck. Another new feeling, one you weren’t used to. You wondered how badly it would hurt if he carelessly let you slip through his fingers and crash back to earth. 

He was looking at you now with the patience of a saint, never mind the fact that he had finally convinced you to let him touch you and you were making him wait again. It made you feel stupid, so you quickly shook your head. 

“Nothing, forget it. Forget I said anything. Kiss me, please.”

For a second, you thought he might refuse, might make you talk to him, but then he was kissing you again, hard and sloppy as he pushed you through the doorway of your shared room. Never taking his mouth off yours, he half carried, half pushed you towards the bathroom.

With his tongue in your mouth, you were desperate to feel him, to see how needy he was so you ran your hands down his chest and past his waist. When you palmed him over his bathing suit, he groaned and took your lip between his teeth, biting hard enough that you thought maybe he had drawn blood. He was big in your hand. You had thought he was probably packing just from the size of him, but he was bigger than you had imagined.

You swallowed hard as he reached behind you to turn on the shower with one hand and pulled your other hand off his cock, “You can’t be touching me like that yet,” He said, voice gravelly.

You smirked, “Worried you might… ejaculate prematurely?” You teased.

He stared at the warm spray from the shower as he temperature checked it with one hand, “Yeah, actually. And I plan to make you come at least twice before I even consider fucking you properly. I want you crying and begging me to stop because you’re too sensitive before I fill you up.” His eyes slowly looked back at yours, “Is that what you want? Because if not, you should probably tell me now. So we can stop.”

Your breathing faltered hearing him talk like that. Your stomach flipped and you felt yourself beginning to drip into your bathing suit. You swallowed and then nodded, “That’s what I want.”

He offered you a slow smile and then his gaze travelled down your body. He was just looking at you, but it felt filthy. Like he was already thinking about all the compromising positions he could put you in. 

You started to take off your bikini, but he stopped you, “Wait.” He said, and his voice dipped, “Haven’t gotten a proper look at you in it yet. Seems like a waste.”

You smirked, “You want me to do a quick spin for you?”

You had mostly been teasing, but he nodded, and so you obliged. Once your back was facing him, his hands came up to touch you. Warm and calloused, they ran down your waist to your ass, which he squeezed appreciatively before giving it a firm smack.

It didn’t hurt, but you gasped and he ran a soothing hand over the skin, “Sorry, I should’ve asked first. S’that okay?”

“Yes,” You said breathlessly.

He brushed the hair off the back of your neck and you automatically tilted your head to allow him access to kiss and suck on it, letting out a soft moan at the scratch of his beard against your skin. As he kissed you, he untied the top of your bathing suit and you felt him sigh as he peered over your shoulder at your bare tits.

“Fuck,” He cursed so softly, you didn’t know if it was even meant for you to hear. He brought his hands up to feel them, his rough palms immediately causing your nipples to harden. He pinched and pulled at them lightly and you moaned in earnest, pushing yourself further into his body behind you.

Your skin felt like it was on fire. Every touch and every kiss had you wondering what you wouldn’t do to keep his attention on you like this. To keep this burning low in your belly. He was so attentive, soft and rough at the same time, watching your reactions to everything so carefully. Just having his eyes on you alone felt like you were a supernova, on the edge of self destruction. You thought you would likely damn yourself to Hell if it meant he would keep touching you like this.

He guided you into the shower and you stepped out of your bottoms. It was a large walk in shower and easily fit the two of you without much effort. Immediately, he got on his knees in front of you. He gripped the backs of your thighs and kissed your stomach, and then made a path down. The way your hips pushed up into him was an involuntary reaction, really, but then he suddenly pulled his mouth away and you pouted.

When you looked down at him, he was grinning, “What’s this?” 

He ran a finger over a small tattoo on your upper hip that you tended to forget about a lot. It was almost always completely covered by panties or, in today’s case, a bathing suit. 

In messy, loopy cursive, it read bon appétit. 

You sighed, embarrassed, “It’s stupid, I got it when I was, like, twenty.”

He looked down at it again, ran his thumb over it, “Did… Did Trevor give you this?”

It felt like the wrong time to talk about this, which was why you hadn’t mentioned, but now that he was asking… “Yeah. He was practicing,” You gulped, “Do you hate it?”

“Hm?” He looked back up at you and then frowned, “Oh, no. No, of course not. I was just…” He sighed, “The juvenile answer is just that I hate that he’s seen you like this.”

You ran a hand over his hair, “If it makes you feel any better, the irony of him giving me this tattoo is that he never really liked eating me out anyway. I almost always had to ask for it, and even then he’d get frustrated if I didn’t come within a couple of minutes.”

He gave a short laugh, “Makes it worse, actually. That you slept with someone like that for years. You didn’t think you deserved better than that?”

You were shocked when you felt the beginning pinpricks of tears at the backs of your eyes. No, you didn’t, actually. It was why the more time you spent with Robby you realized it was him who was out of your league and not the other way around. Why you suspected he’d probably bolt after he slept with you. You thought you probably didn’t deserve someone better than Trevor and so you had resigned yourself to being alone instead.

You swallowed, “Can we stop talking about Trevor, please?”

He must’ve heard the tears in your voice because he looked up and immediately rose back up to standing, “Hey,” He cradled your face in his hands, tenderly kissed your cheeks and forehead, before pressing a long kiss to your mouth, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He kept kissing you, deepened it again until you couldn’t think about anything other than the man in front of you, drunk on the taste of him. He kissed his way down your body until he was on his knees again, kissing and biting at your hips.

He hooked one of your legs over his shoulder and kissed your inner thigh, up until you felt him lapping at your folds. He was being so gentle and slow, avoiding your throbbing clit where you wanted him most, teasing on purpose you suspected. Deciding to take matters into your own hands, you grabbed at his hair and rutted your hips into him. He groaned into you and his nose rubbed against your clit exactly where you needed, but he was pulling away, securing his arms around your thighs to keep you still.

“Be good for me,” He said, looking up at you, “Let me take my time, taste you properly first, hm? Can you do that for me, baby?”

It didn’t seem like much of a choice, but you nodded eagerly anyway. He didn’t waste time beginning his assault on you again. It felt like minutes were passing and still, he purposely seemed to neglect the one place you were most needy for him. Tears were collecting at the corners of your eyes, “Please, Robby.” You whined, “Please, please, I’ve been so good, please.”

He took his mouth off you for a moment and looked up at you. When he saw the tears beginning to fall from your eyes, the smugness emanated from him in waves. “What do you want, sweetheart? You wanna cum on my tongue?” 

You nodded desperately, “Please.” It was the only word you seemed capable of saying.

He turned his attention back to your pussy, pushed a finger inside you and curled it upwards, slowly stroking that spongy spot that had your knees going weak. You thought your legs may have given out if it wasn’t for Robby holding you up. He added a finger and you were dizzy, the muscles tightening in your abdomen. Finally, he began swirling his tongue around your sensitive bud until you cried out, grinded yourself against him, let the sensation of his beard and mouth push you through your orgasm.

He left his fingers inside you as he rose to standing again, slowly pushing them in and out of you even as you came down. “You taste even better than I thought you would.” He said in your ear as his fingers kept slowly fucking you, pushing you into the wall behind you.

“Robby, I don’t,” You paused, wetting your lips. The slow movement of his fingers inside you was stirring that sensation inside you again, coiling like a spring, “I’m gonna cum again,” You said, shocked you were still able to string full sentences together, “If you keep going I’m gonna–”

He pressed a thumb to your clit and kissed up your neck to your earlobe, which he lightly took between his teeth. All coherent thought ceased, there was just the feeling of his mouth on your skin, his fingers inside you, his rough voice asking you to cum, “Go on then, cum all over my fingers like a good girl, you can do it.” The whine you let out sounded pathetic to your own ears as he moved his hand marginally faster until you were coming apart in his arms again, tears streaming down your cheeks in earnest now, “There you go,” He cooed, bringing his face back so he could see your tearstained cheeks.

Still, his fingers kept moving inside you and you whimpered, using your hands to push at his wrist uselessly. He stayed anchored inside you. You were so sensitive now, the pleasure was almost painful. “Oh, come on, baby,” He said, “You can give me one more, can’t you? You said this is what you wanted. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?”

You hiccupped and shook your head, no. He brought his other hand up to play with your nipples and the broken moan you let out sounded like a sob as you again felt yourself being pushed incrementally towards the edge of a cliff. “Kiss me,” You sighed desperately, “Kiss me, please.”

He hesitated for a moment before he kissed you and you wondered idly if maybe he knew you better, if this wasn’t the first time you were together like this, if he would’ve denied the request. If he was enjoying being a little mean and denying you what you wanted. The thought had you longing for more. You couldn’t take it now, you didn’t think, but the idea of doing this again with him was enough to get you to the precipice again. Your walls tightened around his fingers and he moaned into your mouth, “Go on, sweetheart. Can feel you’re there, give me one more.”

You thought you might black out when your orgasm ripped through you again. You shook in his arms, nails digging deep into the skin of his arms in a desperate attempt to anchor yourself. He murmured praises in your ear as you came down, gently pulled his fingers out of you and wiped away your tears.

He turned the shower off, dried you off, and in your fucked out haze he had to guide you to the bed. 

“You okay?” He asked gently, crawling over you, “We can stop.”

You shook your head slowly, a silent command, don’t stop. You looked down to see him putting a condom on himself as he watched you.

He swallowed, “You’re sure?” You nodded, and he chuckled, “Think you can use your words for me?”

You slid your tongue over your lips, “Yes,” You said slowly, “I’m sure.”

He lined up his tip with your soaked entrance and pushed in just an inch, “You’ll tell me if it’s too much?” He asked.

“Robby,” You laughed, “Are you gonna fuck me, or what?”

He fought a smirk and nodded before slowly easing himself inside you. You both sighed in relief when he filled you, “Jesus fucking Christ,” He moaned.

At first he was slow, gentle. He watched you carefully, as if he thought you were in danger of breaking. It would’ve made you laugh if it wasn’t so fucking sweet. When it was clear you were okay, were enjoying yourself even, he seemed to lose a bit of the careful restraint he’d been showing. 

He brought one of your legs up to his shoulder, pressed a kiss to your ankle before pressing into you again. His pace became relentless as he gripped your hips and he was so, so deep, you could feel him everywhere. Obscene, wet slapping sounds filled the space along with his pants and moans. 

“Harder,” You breathed and his eyes snapped to yours, surprised, “Please, I won’t break.”

“Oh, fuck,” He groaned and let your ankle fall back down, opting to fold himself over you instead to be closer. He kissed you sloppily, sucking your tongue into his mouth as he pounded into you, sucking up your moans like water. “Gonna cum,” He panted into your mouth.

You clutched at his shoulders, nails digging into skin. He was beautiful like this, you thought, on the verge of coming apart. If he hadn’t absolutely ruined you earlier, you would’ve liked to ride him yourself or make him come with your mouth. But this was a dream, more than you could have asked for, being able to see him like this. It felt like a gift, being allowed this peek into who he was when he was vulnerable. 

He buried his face in your neck when he came, groaning and breathless. His hips moved sporadically as his orgasm stuttered through him. You stroked a hand down the back of his head and kissed his cheek.

Still out of breath, he pulled his face back enough to kiss you again and you sighed contentedly into his mouth. 

“Still okay?” He asked.

You nodded, “Never better. You?”

He nodded and swallowed, “Yeah.”

After a moment, he pulled out of you and stood to rid himself of the condom. When he came back, he rolled back into bed and pulled you to him, pressing kisses on whatever bare skin he could reach.

He pressed a finger lightly into your cheek furthest from him to turn your head back to him. His eyes searched yours for just a moment before he kissed you on the mouth, long and slow. It made your toes curl. 

“I was thinking,” He said, “That we could shower again and then go watch the sunset on the shore. Share a bottle of wine. How does that sound?”

You smiled sleepily, “That sounds lovely.”

***

A little while later, you were sitting between Robby’s legs, your back pressed to his chest. It had cooled considerably since you had last been out here and Robby let you use one of his hoodies. 

You were still sleepy from the sex and the wine only made your limbs feel more languid and heavy as you passed the bottle back and forth.

“I’m going to ask you something,” Robby said eventually, “And I don’t want you to get mad when I do.”

You frowned, “Okay…?”

“You were premed? In undergrad?”

You sighed, “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you go to med school?”

You could feel yourself growing prickly and defensive, jaw clenching, “I applied twice within a couple of years. I didn’t get in. The pandemic hit, I lost my job, I ran out of money, I moved back home with my parents.” You shrugged, “I don’t know, I just… I didn’t see the point in trying again.”

It was more than that. The second time you didn’t get in, the failure had felt so visceral, you didn’t tell anyone for weeks. When you were forced into moving back to Los Angeles in the middle of the pandemic, the next year or so had felt unbearable with your failure seeming to loom above you, inescapable. Thinking back on it, you felt it was a wonder you had survived it at all.

“Do you still want to be a doctor?”

You shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. It doesn’t matter though, it’s too late.”

“Too late?” You felt Robby’s chest rumble with a laugh behind you, “How old are you? Twenty seven? Twenty eight?”

“Twenty nine.” 

He laughed again, “You’re a baby. It’s not too late for anything.”

Annoyed, you pushed off his chest and rose on your knees to face him, “I’m not doing it again, okay? So just drop it.”

He shook his head, “Why? Because you’re scared? I didn’t take you for a coward.”

You nodded and rubbed at your eyes, tried not to feel the punch to the gut his words were, “Yeah, well, you don’t really know me, do you?”

For a moment, there’s just his breathing and the gentle lap of the lake on the shore.

“I feel like I do.” He said softly, “And the girl who tattooed an Iliad quote on her body about how life is both beautiful and fragile strikes me as brave.”

Your eyes wandered back up to his and he had a tender look in his eyes as he met your gaze. 

You didn’t believe in love at first sight. You didn’t believe in love at first fuck, either. Whatever this was, whatever was causing your pulse to thrum erratically under your skin when he looked at you like that had to just be simple infatuation. It would pass. And Robby should have known better because he was in his damn fifties. You tore your gaze from his and stared at the tree line stubbornly. 

“I think,” Robby said after a few moments of silence, “That it’s never too late to do anything. And the worst that could happen is you try again and it doesn’t work out. You’re no worse off than when you started. What’s the harm?”

Your ego, for one. Not to mention the couple of thousands of dollars it would cost to retake the MCATs, order your transcripts, pay for each school’s application fee. Money you didn’t have. 

You shook your head slightly and crawled back over to him, placing a hand on the back of his neck to pull his face to yours. You kissed him hungrily and the surprised moan he let out sent chills down your spine.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” You murmured and slipped your free hand underneath the waist band of his shorts.

You watched as his eyes rolled back into his head when you touched him, felt him begin to swell against your palm, “You can’t–” He let out a pained groan, “There’s only so many times… I’ll let you fuck me to get out of a difficult conversation…”

You hummed, “What I’m hearing,” You said, leaning close to his ear, “is that it’s working.”

He cursed and slipped a hand behind your back before deftly flipping you so that you laid flat on the blanket you had been sitting on just moments earlier. 

“I’ll fuck you as many times as you need,” He said roughly, “But we will be finishing this conversation later.”

You were smirking up at him smugly and you could tell it was pissing him off with the way his jaw clenched and he tilted his head above you. 

“Now, open your mouth,” He said, and pressed his thumb to your chin.

***

It went like that for a couple of days. Robby would try discussing med school, where did you apply, where would you want to go now, did you have a specialty in mind, you should volunteer at the Pitt, he could write you a letter of recommendation, he could help you study for the MCATS, and on and on and on. 

Every time you would get increasingly more agitated and your attempts to distract him with sex were becoming less and less effective which only served to piss you off more.

You had spent the day on a boat outing, drinking in the sun, Robby’s hands all over you whenever he thought nobody was looking. Filthy mouth in your ear whispering all the things he was going to do to you once you got back to the house. 

He had fulfilled those promises and now you were fucked out and tired from being in the sun all day. Also you were a little grumpy that the group had planned to go out for drinks that night at a local bar. All you really wanted was to curl back up into Robby in bed and listen to the lull of the AC and Robby’s voice as he read aloud from the novel he had brought with him.

But you were here to be with friends, not just Robby. And you really enjoyed the company of the others as well, having met them a couple of times after moving back to Pittsburgh. They were always so sweet and welcoming to you, never making you feel like an outsider, even when the envy seemed to overtake you when they began telling stories about med school rotations or their latest shift.

So now you and Robby were in the shower, about to begin the task of getting ready for a night out when he brought it up again.

“You know, I know one of the professors at UPitt, I could get you an introduction, maybe a coffee even–”

“Robby,” You said sharply, “I don’t know how many fucking times I have to tell you, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not going to apply to med school again. I’ve moved on.”

“Yeah, to some dead end job at a biotech company that some giant corporation will probably buy out in a couple of years.” He said it offhandedly, like he genuinely didn’t think it would hurt you. He didn’t even look up as he said it, just continued lathering his legs up with soap.

“Wow,” You scoffed, “Didn’t realize you thought I was such a loser. Thanks for clearing that up.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, you thought perhaps realizing his mistake too late, “That’s not what I meant–”

“Well what the fuck did you mean, then, hm?” You stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around yourself, desperate to create space and distance, “Why don’t you just fucking admit it?”

He stared at you through the glass, perplexed, “Admit what?”

“That you won’t fucking want me when we get back to Pittsburgh and I continue to be some loser who works at a ‘dead end’ job?”

He shook his head, “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I don’t care what you do, what I care about is that you feel happy and fulfilled and I’ve seen enough doctors in my life to recognize the… hunger, the drive. The need to be needed, the desire to fix and heal. And I see it in you and you’re fucking wasting it.”

You scoffed and turned away, “You’re still talking like you know me, but we only really met a few days ago.”

“Okay, so, fuck, the last few days count for nothing then? I’ve spent nearly every goddamn minute with you since we got here. You think I don’t know you because you won’t talk to me, but you don’t have to say anything. I see the way you look at Samira. You love her, but there’s a sadness behind it, like you’re mourning something. I see the way you deflate around my residents when they talk shop in front of you, like a fucking kid left out at the lunch table. You’re not that fucking difficult to understand.”

You braced your hands on the bathroom sink, “It seems like all you’ve found out is that I’m insecure, not exactly the discovery of the century.”

You heard him scoff, “No, what I found out is that you’re so fucking scared of maybe being a little uncomfortable that you’d rather be miserable your whole life than try.”

“I’m not scared.” 

The shower turned off and you heard him get out, wrap a towel around his waist, “You are, kid, and it’s making a coward out of you.”

You shook your head and started throwing your products back into your makeup bag, “Fuck you.” You said quietly and stormed out of the bathroom.

“And now you’re acting like a child,” he said, following you into the bedroom, “instead of having an adult conversation.”

“You’re not trying to have a conversation, you’re just being a condescending asshole.” You grabbed the outfit you planned on wearing tonight and all your makeup, “I’m going to get ready elsewhere.”

He ran a hand over the back of his head in frustration, “Yeah, keep running from it,” He murmured, “I’m sure that’ll solve it.”

You bit the inside of your cheek and walked out of the room, towel wrapped around you and all your makeup and clothes clutched to your chest.

When you knocked on Samira’s door, Jack answered, frowning down at you, “Are you… okay?”

“Who is it, Jack?”

Jack let the door open fully and you saw Samira sitting on the ground in front of a floor to ceiling mirror, makeup brush in hand, “Oh. Hi.”

You took a deep breath, “Can I get ready in here?”

Samira smiled and scooted to the side to make room for you in front of the mirror and you brushed past Jack to sit with her.

“What happened?” Samira asked as you got settled next to her.

You frowned, “Nothing, I just wanted to get ready with you. Like we used to.” You inhaled sharply and clapped your hands together, “You know, maybe we should do shots.”

She was still smiling at you, but watching you carefully, “Come on, I know you.” She said softly, “It’s always been easy to see when you’re upset.”

You swallowed and glanced at her out of the corner of your eye, starting to dot your tinted moisturizer onto your face with fingers.

“Robby and I had a fight.” You said finally.

Samira nodded, “About?”

Slowly, you both turned to look at Jack who was seated at the edge of the bed on his phone, pretending not to eavesdrop.

He looked up when he felt you both staring at him, “What?” You both raised your eyebrows and he sighed, standing, “Fine, I’ll go, but I’m hurt that you don’t consider me one of the girls.”

Samira smirked, “If Robby wasn’t your best friend, I’d let you stay.”

Jack shook his head as he left the room, “That guy’s always ruining things for me.” 

You and Samira both turned back to the mirror, “Continue.” Samira said.

You sighed as you blended out the moisturizer with your beauty blender, “He kept pushing and pushing about med school and I told him I wasn’t going to apply again and he basically implied that I was a loser at a dead end job and wasting my life.”

Samira frowned, “Surely he didn’t say it like that?”

You blinked and watched her face in the mirror, “Does it matter how he said it?”

She didn’t say anything for a few moments and you scoffed, “Oh my God,” You said slowly, “You agree with him.”

Samira shook her head, “No, it’s not—“ She sighed, “I definitely don’t think that you’re a loser. And I don’t think that you’re wasting your life… If you’re happy, but you’re not. I know you’re not.”

You didn’t say anything, picked up your concealer and did your best to blink away the burning in your eyes. It was annoying and hurtful to hear from Robby, but from Samira, your best friend of almost ten years, it made you nauseous.

“I just, I remember how badly you wanted it once. It was all we talked about. And now it’s like you’ve convinced yourself you never actually wanted it because you don’t want to get hurt again.” Samira said gently, “But you could still do it. You can do anything.”

She sounded so earnest, you wanted to believe her.

You sniffled and blended out your concealer, “I’m really proud of you, you know. I know sometimes I seem jealous, but—“

“I know that,” Samira said quickly, smiling at you in the mirror, “If the roles were reversed I’d be the same way. It doesn’t make you a bad friend.”

You gave her a watery smile, “You’re a really great friend for putting up with me all these years.”

Samira laughed and gently tugged at her waterline to apply eyeliner, “Please, I wouldn’t have survived med school without you.” She stopped smudging the eyeliner and met your eyes, “And when you get into med school, I’ll do the same for you.”

You inhaled slowly and purposefully, “When,” You murmured softly.

And for the first time in a long time, you allowed the hope to bloom in your chest.

***

The bar was crowded and loud. The back of your hand was sticky from the lime and salt you had put there when you, Samira, Parker, and Trinity had done tequila shots. Javadi and Whitaker had had to drive back to Pittsburgh the day before, not able to get as many days off as the rest of you. Trevor had also headed out once you got back from the boating trip. He said he had work, but Samira had suspected he was just tired of watching you make out with Robby, which had gratified you a little bit.

“Another round?” Trinity asked, eyebrows raised.

“Slow your roll, Santos,” Parker put a hand on her shoulder, “I think we could do with a little break.”

“Robby’s been staring at you for the last twenty minutes.” Samira said, smirking. Robby was across the room behind you, you knew. Samira stood in front of you and could see him over your shoulder, “Why don’t you go talk to him?”

You had done about three or four tequila shots since arriving (you’d already lost count) and to say you were feeling it would be putting it mildly. You were starting to feel mildly apologetic for how you’d been handling your conversations with Robby the last couple of days, especially after talking to Samira earlier. But you weren’t ready to admit that yet. And, besides, you were having fun hanging out with the girls.

You shrugged your shoulders, “I’m having fun over here.”

Just then, the opening chords of Earth, Wind & Fire’s September started blaring through the speakers and you and Samira locked eyes.

“No way.” Samira giggled, shaking her head.

This song was very intrinsic to your friendship. It had played at a freshman orientation mixer and the two of you had been the only ones to sing along, embarrassingly loud and off key. It had bonded you. And from then on, it had become a siren song of sorts. Whenever you had been bickering (it was only natural after years of living together) one of you would play the song over the house speakers when you were ready to apologize. You had both been very studious in undergrad, but every so often after you turned twenty one, you could both be convinced to go out dancing and September was always requested of the DJ. So many of your happiest moments with Samira could be traced back to this song.

So you grabbed her hand, “Let’s go,” and dragged her to the dance floor.

Laughing, hands on each other’s shoulders, you danced badly and sang the lyrics loudly and ignored everyone else. You were often happiest when you were with Samira and the last couple of years back in California, you had forgotten that. She was your person, your lighthouse, the sister you never had, but always wanted. 

When the song was over, breathlessly and arms wrapped around each other still, you walked back over to Trinity and Parker. In your absence, Jack had joined them, sipping a whiskey and looked at both you and Samira with amusement on his face.

Samira detached from you as you got closer and slid into Jack’s arms instead. You watched as he pressed his mouth to her ear, whispering something only she could hear and the smile on her face widened.

With Jack here, you couldn’t help but wonder what Robby was up to now and turned your head towards the direction you last saw him. He was still there, leaning against the bar and sipping a drink–

But there was a woman next to him, now, smiling at him with her hand on his forearm. You were drunk, and so there was a part of your brain that registered whatever you were feeling watching another woman touching him was overblown. But it didn’t soothe the twisting feeling you felt in your chest when you saw him laugh at something she had said. And he hadn’t removed his arm from her touch. 

She was older than you, you could see that much. Probably around forty or so, someone more acceptable for him. Someone people wouldn’t look at and wonder if he was her father or not. She was gorgeous in a red dress that hugged her curves tightly and curly hair that fell past her shoulders. It was likely she had her life together, knew what she wanted to do with it and didn’t let childish insecurities get in the way. She probably knew how to be vulnerable with someone else without feeling like they were attacking her.

You couldn’t say how long you were staring before you heard Jack call your name. When you turned, he had a sympathetic look on his face, “Don’t let that get to you, alright?” He said, eyes following your gaze, “If you just go talk to him, he’s yours, I promise.”

Samira was still in his arms, her brow furrowed with worry as she watched you.

You looked back at Robby and the older woman and saw he had covered her hand on his forearm with his own, thumb stroking back and forth over her skin.

There was a roaring in your ears when you turned back to the table, “Mira, I think I’m gonna throw up.” You said as you braced your hands on the high top table you were all gathered around.

Immediately, you felt her hand on your back and she lowered her head until she met your gaze, “Do you want some ice?” You shook your head, no.

“You know what I would do if I were you?” Trinity said, tossing the ice from her now empty drink into her mouth.

“She’s about to give the most unhinged advice you’ve ever heard.” Samira said, sighing.

Trinity seemed unfazed by Samira’s criticism and barrelled ahead anyway, “I would go in the bathroom, take an awesome picture of my tits, and text it to him. He goes to check his phone: boom, breasts. Instant boner.” She shrugged, “It works on sapphic women, anyway.”

Parker nodded behind her, “Yeah, that would work on me.”

You blinked blankly at them and looked at Samira, who, frighteningly, was not shooting down the idea.

Jack sighed, “If you just talk to him instead of playing these games–”

“Girls,” You said, standing up straight, “Let’s take a trip to the bathroom.”

***

Robby was trying to make you jealous. He realized the immaturity of it, that he was resorting to tactics he suspected you would employ yourself, but he couldn’t help it. Something about you made him feel like a college kid again, pining after the prettiest sorority girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day. 

He just wanted to talk to you. He had pushed too hard, like he tended to do. Giving tough love for a situation that maybe required gentler hands and a more receptive headspace. He didn’t think what he said had been wrong, exactly, but maybe it had been a bit harsher than he intended. And he would apologize for that. Once you admitted he was right.

But in the meantime, he couldn’t stand by any longer watching you dance around drunk in a too short dress that cupped your breasts just right and left your bare back exposed to the humid August air.

The fact that the woman was older, more age appropriate perhaps, truly hadn’t even crossed his mind. He hadn't intended to hurt you when he indulged her flirting, just maybe make you a little territorial so that you’d finally stop pretending like he wasn’t in the same room as you.

When he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out, he honestly thought it was probably someone at the Pitt, asking some obscure admin related question.

It was a number outside of his contacts and he frowned at that before swiping it open–

And being absolutely blown away by the sight of your tits on his screen. It looked like you had taken it in the bathroom, the straps from your dress pushed down your shoulders so the fabric pooled at your waist. Your nipples were hardened, likely from the cold air of the AC in the bathroom.

Underneath the picture you had typed: do you wanna lick them? also open to some light nibbling if ur in the mood

He barked out a laugh and locked his phone, cracking his neck from side to side as he turned his attention back to the woman in front of him, apologizing for the interruption. He would not be won over so easily, despite the way he felt the blood rushing south and between his legs at the thought of your tits in his mouth. 

He was tired of you using sex to avoid deep conversation. He hadn’t been sure what he wanted from you when he got here, but he had decided since that it was more than just fucking. He wouldn’t settle for just easing the ache between your legs whenever you felt like it.

A few moments later, his phone buzzed again. Robby wanted to ignore it. If you wanted him, you could come over here and say so. But in the end, you won, and he picked up his phone again.

I’m not wearing any panties.

He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed deeply as he locked his phone.

“Is everything alright?”

He opened his eyes and looked at the woman in front of him, “Yeah, sorry, I, uh–” He lifted his phone, “I just have to take care of something, would you excuse me?”

Robby was already walking towards where he last saw you before the woman could reply. You were still there, looking smug as you bit on the straw of a long empty drink and stared at him. When he got to you, he wordlessly took the drink from your hand, dropped it on the table, and then secured a hand around your wrist before he began walking again, you trailing behind.

Once outside the bar, he checked for people before backing you against the wall, relishing in your little gasp when your back hit the brick. He kissed you hard and with all the annoyance he felt, sucking your lower lip into his mouth and biting down until you yelped. He began to pull away, to see if he had actually hurt you, but before he could get more than a few centimeters away, you crashed your mouth back into his.

He palmed your breast through the fabric of your dress and sighed when he felt the peak of your nipple. He needed to know if you had been serious about not wearing panties. The dress was fairly short, and it was loose and flowy from your waist down, so it would have been quite the risk. 

Robby spread your legs with his knee before reaching one of his hands between your thighs and up your dress. You were soaked and there was not a scrap of fabric to be found. He groaned into your mouth as he ran a finger down your folds, sucking your whimpers into his mouth like oxygen. 

He was so enamored, he nearly forgot that he was absolutely under no circumstances supposed to be doing this until the two of you could have a real conversation–

It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. That’s right, he wasn’t supposed to be doing this.

He pulled away from you so abruptly, that when your mouth moved to chase his, you leaned over so far you lost your balance and he had to steady you.

“Too much to drink?” He asked, hands on your arms to keep you upright.

“What the fuck?” You whined.

When he thought there was no longer any danger of you falling over, he leaned away and shoved his hands in his pockets, “I told you, there are only so many times I’ll allow you to use sex to avoid having an actual conversation.”

You pouted, “Then why did you come out here?”

He shrugged, “Temporary breach of sanity,” His eyes wandered down to your chest and he swallowed, “Provoked by a perfect pair of tits.”

You poked your tongue out between your teeth, “You think they’re perfect?”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, “Is this all you want from me? Because if it is, I need to know now.”

You frowned, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Is this just fucking to you?” He gestured to the space between you, “Is that all I am, just a good fuck?”

You felt your cheeks heat, “I–I don’t know, isn’t that what you want?”

“No,” He shook his head, “No, I–” He ran a hand over the back of his head, “I think I want more than that. I want–I want you. All of you. Not just a piece.”

You crossed your arms over your chest and shook your head slightly, “What about that woman at the bar?”

“I was just trying to make you jealous.”

You worried your lower lip between your teeth, “But she’s older and probably better at this whole thing and won’t send you a picture of her tits instead of apologizing.” 

You said it all in a rush and he gave you a small smile, “There are worse ways to apologize.”

“It’s not funny, Robby, I’m not good at this,” You threw up your hands in exasperation, “You’re right, I avoid anything that’s difficult, anything I’m worried I’ll fail at and–” You blinked rapidly, your eyes glinting wet with unshed tears, “And I’m terrified of disappointing you.”

He tilted his head and took a step to you, reaching a hand out to gently cradle your cheek in his palm, “Sweetheart, as long as you’re actually trying, you’re never going to disappoint me.”

Your breathing wavered slightly and you turned your head to kiss his palm, “I want to go to med school.” You said softly. It was a small concession, not quite an apology, but close enough.

“I know.” He pulled you to his chest and kissed the top of your head. His hands slid to either side of your neck and he tilted your head up so he could kiss you properly, the taste of tequila still on your tongue, “You ready to go back inside?”

You nodded and let him lead you back by the hand, smiling to yourself when his thumb stroked reassuring circles on the back of your hand. He kept a hand on you, whether it was on your hand, arm, hip, or thigh, for the rest of the night. The woman at the bar looked a bit miffed when she finally left, but Robby didn’t notice. He was too busy watching you.

***

The humidity was suffocating as you packed your bags in the back of your Yaris. You were dripping with sweat just from the walk from the house to the car. It was likely even hotter in Pittsburgh, a thought that had you second guessing why you had left Los Angeles in the first place. It may have been a desert, but at least it didn’t feel like you were drowning when you were outside.

“You got everything?” Robby came up behind you as you were closing your trunk, hands settling on your hips.

“Yep,” You spun in his arms once the trunk was shut. His face was red from the heat as well, skin damp with sweat, “You?”

“Think I’m just missing my… What do the kids call it? Passenger princess?” He leaned into you and pressed kisses to the side of your neck, making you giggle and push him away when he playfully bit the sensitive skin there.

“I told you,” You laughed, “I’m driving my own car.”

“Baby, it’s gonna be so loud with that useless muffler. You’re gonna hate it. Just let me call someone to tow it–”

“No,” You shook your head adamantly, “Thank you for offering, but no thank you.”

He sighed, “What if I said I just don’t want to drive back to Pittsburgh by myself?”

You smiled and kissed him. You didn’t think you’d ever tire of the taste of him, the feel of his beard against your skin, “We have plans to see each other two days from now. Aren’t you sick of me?”

He shook his head, “Not even close.” He kissed your forehead, “But, fine. Enjoy your drive, don’t come crying to me for an ENT referral when you rupture your eardrums.”

You laughed as he turned away from you, “That’s a bit dramatic, I think.”

He only shrugged as he headed to his own car and you headed to your driver’s side. Sliding into the hot seat, you put your key in the ignition and turned– There was a whine from the car, but no turnover. Frowning, you tried again. And again. And–

“Oh no,” Robby opened your driver’s side, “Looks like your car won’t start.”

You turned to scowl at him, “Did you do this?”

He laughed, “Of course not. But I can’t say I’m not a little pleased.”

You leaned your head against the steering wheel, “I can’t afford this.” You murmured. And it was true. Even after working at the new job for a while, you were still regaining your footing from all the moving costs.

“It���s probably just a dead battery or bad alternator. I’ll fix it when we get back.”

You looked up at him, “That’s too much.”

But he was already shaking his head, “I like doing it. Both working with cars and helping you. Now get in my car, please, so we can go home.”

It was strange, this feeling you got now when looking at him. When he was kind and generous with you, but had no ulterior motive. You had never met anyone like him. It had only been a week, and you had never been in love before, but you thought this must be what it felt like. When you were just on the precipice of it.

You got out of your car and rose on your toes to kiss him, “Thank you,” You whispered in his mouth.

“Get a room,” Jack teased as he walked outside, Samira in tow.

When you saw her you broke from Robby and went to wrap her up in a hug instead, “Thank you for inviting me, Mira.” You said into her shoulder.

Her arms tightened around you, “I’m just glad to have you back on the east coast.” She looked over your shoulder towards Robby, “And I’m glad that I’m such a good matchmaker.”

You laughed, “Yeah, if he’s ever mean to you again, you let me know.” 

“Oh, don’t worry,” She pulled away, “You’re on speed dial.”

Robby kept a hand on your thigh for most of the ride back to Pittsburgh, stroking a soothing pattern with his thumb until you were half asleep. The subtle smell of cherries was in his nose the entire drive back and when he occasionally looked back over at you, asleep in his passenger seat, he thought he finally understood what Jack had said to him when he started dating Samira.

It’s like I’ve been asleep at the wheel and she took it from my hands. I don’t wonder why I keep going anymore, I know it’s because she’s keeping me from veering off the road.

He certainly was no expert at relationships, but you made him want to try if it meant it would extend this feeling in his chest when he looked at you. Like everything would be okay as long as you were happy and breathing next to him.

He wasn’t sure if he loved you yet, but he was sure that he desperately wanted to find out. 

[wwinterwitch]

all over you – johnny storm x fem!reader

summary: there's this particular thought that's been on your mind lately, but there's just no way that you can say it out loud (read part one and part two first!!) pairing: johnny storm x fem!reader word count: 4.7k tags: tons of fluff of course, what a cute couple this is, meeting the fam!! (as vague as writing a fake family can get so it'd be more reader insert but i did include mom, dad and two younger siblings), one mention of reader being lifted off the ground, love confession omg it's finally happening folks, some minor angst ig?, tried to add some plot to all the fluff basically note: i'm highly considering making another part if i find enough inspo so please let me know if you'd be interested in that...also might be time to add a little smut to the mix??? i feel like i want to go there but then i stop myself lmao idk we'll see how it goes! thank you sooo much for all the love on this series, it really makes me so so happy you have no idea <3

a comment and/or reblog is always appreciated!

main masterlist | marvel masterlist

Diploma in hand, you scan the crowd in search of any familiar face. The atmosphere is surrounded with joy, excitement and a sense of accomplishment as fellow graduates get congratulated by their family and friends. 

This day officially marks the start of a new chapter in your life.

Your mom spots you first, immediately pointing at you as all your family walk towards you. “Congratulations, honey!” she says excitedly, pulling you in for a tight hug, barely able to hold back her tears. “We’re so proud of you!”

Your dad is the next one to hug you, followed by your two younger siblings. The youngest is only four, getting immediately distracted by your mortarboard, stretching her tiny hands up as if there was any possible way she could reach it by herself. Noticing her efforts, you immediately take it off your head before placing it on top of hers, the cap being a little too big for her head.

It doesn’t take long before your mom demands for everyone to pose for a photo. Your dad picks your younger sister from the ground as she quickly puts the mortarboard on and grins wide at the camera. Next to you stands your sixteen year-old brother, awkwardly smiling because he doesn’t enjoy being in photos that much.

“Holy shit,” you hear him mutter to himself as soon as he realizes who’s approaching all of you.

“Hey, language,” your dad calls him out, but then he realizes too and he immediately understands why his son would blurt that out so suddenly.

Holy shit indeed.

Many other people start acknowledging the presence of The Fantastic Four at the graduation. Sure, everyone in attendance was expecting to perhaps spot Dr. Reed Richards in the crowd since he’s a faculty member, but having all four of them here certainly makes everyone that much excited.

Johnny doesn’t care about the looks or the fact that your family is still frozen just observing all four of them. He only cares about making his way towards you to give you the biggest hug, making you giggle when he’s lifting you up from the ground and spinning you around.

“Here’s my favorite physicist!” he says with a massive smile on his face, finally putting you down before reaching out to fix a strand of your hair. “Now you can’t hold any technicalities against me.”

Your parents are very much aware of your connection to the group of superheroes. They were over the moon when you told them none other than Reed Richards will be helping you on your final project, but they were a bit confused when you finally told them about your relationship with Johnny.

Of course you had to say something because they’d have to meet him at your graduation anyway, so they might as well be aware of the situation beforehand. And it’s not like they didn’t like the fact that you were with him, but of course the timing was a bit off. To be working with your professor and then immediately starting to date his brother-in-law…perhaps in their position you’d also be wondering how that whole thing developed.

You get it. They’re just worried about how that dynamic might look like. You immediately tried to reassure them that everything’s fine and they completely trusted your judgement, so they dropped their concerns…slightly. You were fully aware that they’d still want to get to meet all of them and see that dynamic for themselves before making a definite decision on where they stand.

They not only want to see said dynamic, but they also want to make sure they approve of your new boyfriend. Yes, they love The Fantastic Four as any other regular civilian, but they have to put that aside and see if Johnny Storm is a good candidate for their daughter or not.

“Dr. Richards, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” you hear your dad say politely, immediately distracting you from Johnny as you watch your dad shaking hands with him. 

“Please, the pleasure’s all mine.” 

And so the introductions begin. Internally, you’re freaking out about the idea of your family meeting Johnny’s family, but you see all of them interact and so far you see nothing alarming. Your brother is fanboying over Ben just as you had predicted (he has always been his favorite of the group) and your little sister is giggling at something Sue and Reed just told her.

Then it’s time for the worst interaction. Or best. Depends on how you see it.

Johnny is shaking your dad’s hand and accepting the brief hug your mom gives him before placing a hand on your back. You can tell he’s nervous, almost seeking out your touch for silent comfort. It’s the cutest thing ever.

“It’s really nice to finally meet you,” he starts, offering them a polite smile. You’ve never seen him this…reserved. 

“We were pretty excited too,” your mom replies, leaning closer almost conspiratorially. “She told us a lot about you.”

“Mom!”

“You know, you're the first boyfriend she has ever introduced to the family,” she continues. Like she didn't hear your warning at all. It’s like she enjoys embarrassing you.

Johnny grins as he looks back at you briefly. “Really?”

“Mom,” you insist.

“Yes, really. You know how she is…doesn't like talking about her feelings and all that. But she talks about you, so you might be very special.”

“Alright, that's enough. Too much information,” you interrupt, earning a soft chuckle from her and Johnny. Your mom has always been too good at oversharing. That's definitely something you didn't get from her.

You're a lot more like your dad. He's been quiet the entire interaction, simply being there. It's usually like this with them. Your mom likes being the center of attention and your dad prefers to remain as unseen as possible. It's still a mystery to you how they fell in love. Perhaps there's some truth behind all that ‘opposites attract’ logic.

Thankfully, your sister comes to your rescue when she starts yanking your mom's hand. “Mommy, mommy! The superhero lady said she likes my dress!”

“That's very nice of her to say! Did you say thank you?”

Your sister nods, her eyes immediately focusing on Johnny. “You're the one who turns into fire!”

“That’s right,” he replies to her, kneeling to be closer to her height. The gentle tone of his voice when he interacts with her brings a smile to your face. Is it really necessary to be so goddamn cute all the time? “Can I get a high-five?”

He puts his hand up, your sister immediately accepting the high-five with obvious excitement. “Does it hurt when you’re in flames?” she asks almost immediately, genuinely curious to find out the answer.

“Thankfully it doesn't! Could you imagine if it did?” 

“You'd probably be in pain all day,” she offers, slightly tilting her head to the side. “If it doesn't hurt, then I think you're the coolest superhero because you can burn things and you can also fly. I would like to do that.”

Johnny can't help but let out a little laugh, mesmerized by how cute she is. “You really think I’m the coolest? That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, thank you so much.”

She walks closer to him, giving Johnny a hug he wasn't necessarily expecting, but immediately returned. You feel like your heart might explode any second now. It’s really not necessary to be so goddamn cute all the time.

“Mommy, can I get a picture with him?”

Your mom gives Johnny a look, as if silently checking if he wouldn't mind taking a photo. He doesn't hesitate one bit, carrying your sister in his arms before the two of them smile for the camera. 

Meanwhile, you feel the need to check on your dad. “So?” you ask simply, eyeing him curiously. If Johnny thinks you like to be all cryptic all the time, then he’ll have quite the journey trying to figure out your dad.

There's a brief silence as he wraps an arm around your shoulders, almost like he wants to create some suspense before replying. “I really like him.”

“Oh, you really like him,” you repeat with a playful smile. “Because he can burn things and fly?”

He laughs briefly at your joke. “The eyes,” he says, incredibly casual. You’re almost about to ask what the hell is that supposed to mean before he continues. “I noticed his eyes.”

You don’t dare to say anything else after that, knowing exactly what he’s hinting at. You don’t even want to look back at your dad anymore because he might’ve managed to make you feel even more embarrassed than your mom. 

All you can do is stand there, wondering how you’re going to forget the fact that your dad just told you that he instantly liked Johnny because of the way he looks at you.

“You should take a picture together too,” you hear your mom say, making you snap back to reality as she motions for you to join Johnny for a photo.

He puts your little sister back on the ground before affectionately pinching the girl’s cheek, making her giggle. Your dad steps in, grabbing her hand to guide her out of frame.

“How am I doing?” Johnny asks when you're by his side, immediately putting a hand around your waist. 

“I think you know the answer.”

Neither of you say anything else, posing for the camera together. You can't help but feel a little self-conscious with both of your families there watching you take photos together– not to mention there’s also a bunch of other people that can't seem to look away from The Fantastic Four.

“You guys look so cute together,” your mom smiles, taking a look at the photos she just took.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

As much as you would've liked them to stay, your family had to get back on the road to head back home. Your sister is almost passed out in your dad’s arms and your mom gets extremely nervous driving on highways at night.

“We’d love to have you over next time you're in New York,” Sue says to both of your parents. The idea of them planning visits brings you an indescribable feeling of joy. It’s only further proof that everyone got along just fine today.

“That’d be so cool!” your brother exclaims from the car, excitement evident in his face at the mere thought of stepping foot inside the Baxter Building.

“That’s too kind of you, thank you,” your dad replies as he shakes Reed’s hand. “Hopefully we can come back soon enough.”

“Or you can always visit us,” your mom adds with obvious excitement. 

“Heard that?” you ask, walking closer to the car where your brother is sitting. “You can show them all the Fantastic Four posters you have.”

Your brother gets immediately embarrassed by that. “I took those down years ago!”

“We both know you still have them stored in your closet!”

Your brother doesn't say anything else after that, which immediately makes you laugh. “Hey, don’t mind her, kid. I bet those posters are very cool,” Ben chimes in shortly after.

That comment cheers him up almost instantly. “Would you sign them?” he asks, your mom immediately giving him a warning look.

But Ben doesn’t seem bothered by it. If anything, he seems to genuinely like your brother’s enthusiasm. “I’d be honored!"

They all finish saying their goodbye's before your parents finally get in their car and drive off. It's always sad when you have to wave them goodbye, but at least this time you have a second family here in New York City that makes you feel less alone when they're gone.

After officially moving out of your college dorm, you were able to rent your very first apartment. It's nothing fancy by any means, but you were able to achieve it with your savings and a little help from your parents.

Your plan has always been moving permanently to New York City, and even when you don't exactly have a solid plan, at least you’re in the place you want to be– a small apartment, a job in retail that has nothing to do with particle physics, but in New York City. It’s a start. Soon enough you'll figure it out.

“They were lovely,” Sue comments, linking her arm with yours as all of you begin walking to their car. “I was so excited to meet them.”

“I’m glad you all got along.”

“Was Johnny approved?” 

“Here we go,” Johnny mutters right after Ben’s question, lightly shaking his head.

“What? I can’t ask questions now?”

“I was actually wondering that myself,” Reed chimes in, which makes Johnny instantly roll his eyes.

“Yeah, of course you are.”

“Someone’s a little defensive today!” Ben jokes, exchanging a complicit look with Reed while Sue just quietly observes their exchange, visibly amused.

“He was very much approved,” you decide to intervene, finally answering the question.

“Ah, that’s good! You should've seen him before we got here today,” Ben starts, giving his friend a light pat on his back. “He was a mess. I thought he was going to have a heart attack at any moment.”

“I think you're overreacting,” Johnny argues..

“Am I overreacting?” he immediately asks Sue and Reed. They don't say anything out loud, but their faces say enough. “Thank you.”

“It's nice to see which side you are on.”

Sue laughs after her brother’s comment. “I didn't say anything!”

“You don't have to if you make that face.”

“Nonesense! I didn't say anything. I’m on no one's side.”

“I am on Ben's side,” Reed immediately clarifies. 

“Yes, I know. You’re always on his side,” Johnny replies, unamused. “I don't want you in my team anyway, so I actually don't mind.”

“Really? Because it kinda sounds like you're hurt that he's not in your team.” It seems like there's nothing Ben enjoys more than pissing Johnny off.

“I’m hurt my sister is not on my team.”

“We're all on the same team here,” Sue corrects him as you all reach the car.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be on your team, babe,” you chime in, walking closer to him with a smile on your face that he immediately returns.

“And that's all I need.”

He gives you a quick kiss right after, both of you immediately turning to look at Ben after he makes a sound of disgust. “Keep it PG. This is a family event.”

“It’s not like I pushed her against the car to make out with her,” Johnny replies sarcastically. “I thought about it, but I didn't do it.”

“And sometimes you can keep your thoughts to yourself.”

“And perhaps you can start following your own advice.”

“How about you two get in the car already?” Reed suggests, interrupting their chat before they continue bickering

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Johnny has been staying in your apartment a lot. Like, he practically lives here already. Not like you’re complaining though, because you really enjoy his company. 

It’s been a little over a month since you two started officially dating, and that need of being every single second of the day together hasn’t died down one bit. You're pretty sure it'll take you a long time to get over the “honeymoon” phase, as you call it.

“Still no updates?” he asks, watching as you check your email for the hundredth time today. Just then you look away from the screen, eyes focusing on Johnny as he lays down on the couch. 

“No,” you reply with a sigh, obviously disappointed. You applied to a few internships here and there, hopeful that one of them will accept you. Any little amount of experience could be useful to find a more stable job in the future. “Not yet.”

He smiles when he hears your last statement. “That's the spirit! Someone will reach out to you. They can't be stupid enough not to.”

You appreciate his words, but there's that pessimistic part of yourself that wants to take over to remind you that it's very much possible that you won’t get an internship. “I’ll just hope for the best.”

He stands up from the couch, walking towards the kitchen counter where you're sitting. “You'll get an internship,” he insists, wrapping his arms around your shoulders from behind, resting his chin at the top of your head. “Say it.”

“I don't–”

“No, you have to say it. You need to stay positive, come on!”

“Oh, so you want me to manifest now?” you giggle.

“Is that what it's called?” he asks shortly after. “Whatever it is, it helps. Especially when that little pessimistic head of yours starts acting up.”

You playfully roll your eyes, but you know he's trying to make you feel more confident and positive. “I will get an internship.”

“Yes, you will!”

He gives you enough space to stand up from the stool you were previously seated at, but his hands are soon on your body again as he pulls you close to him.

“Thank you,” you mutter, meaning it tremendously. “I feel like you're always trying to get me to be less negative about…well, everything. I really like that.”

“Hey, I’ll always be here to be insufferably positive for you,” he comments with a small grin. “And to help you manifest.”

His last comment makes you laugh, pulling him in for a hug because fuck is it impossible not be all over him. It's like nothing else matters when he's around. You’re unable to keep your hands to yourself for too long when he’s around.

You've always been good with calculations and analysis, but this right here is something you might never be able to understand or explain in a way that makes sense. It just does not make sense. How could you ever apply any sort of logic to what Johnny makes you feel? It doesn't even feel possible to be this…well, that's as far as you'd allow that thought to go. 

But it's very difficult not to let that thought get into your head, to a point where you feel like you might've actually lost your mind because sometimes is all you can think about. And you feel even more crazy when you catch yourself almost saying that thought out loud.

You think about it when he wakes you up with little kisses all over your face. When he constantly checks on you whenever you two are in public because he knows you don't do well with big crowds. When he's excitedly talking to you about a new collectible car he finished building. When he waits for you in bed with one of your makeup headbands on so you could do his skincare before going to sleep. When he thinks he got away with eating almost an entire box of cereal behind your back before dinner. Even when you hear his little snores at night when he's sleeping next to you.

It's impossible not to think about how incredibly in love you are with Johnny, or how terrifying that feeling is because you never imagined that you'd ever feel this way towards anyone. Ever. 

How does a feeling like this even exist?!

“Can I manifest that we go to bed earlier tonight?”

Johnny laughs this time, the sound of his laughter somehow makes you feel a trillion times more happy. He moves back from the hug, giving you a quick kiss before letting you go entirely. “I think it's about to come true.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

There's nothing like laying in bed with Johnny, the room only illuminated by the moonlight that shines through the window. And there's definitely nothing like having him on top of you, his warm hands underneath your shirt and his lips kissing your neck.

“You know, we could definitely go to bed early more often.”

“I completely agree,” he whispers against your skin, making you almost shiver as his hands move higher up your sides. “You're so pretty…”

He leaves a trace of kisses from your neck to your jaw and then finally he meets your mouth. As silly as it might sound given who Johnny is, everything he does feels addictively fiery. He shows affection to your body with such passionate dedication, it always leaves you begging for more.

From the way his fingers dig onto your skin just enough to the way his mouth devours yours, it's like he's been starving his entire life for you. Like he couldn't possibly get enough, eager to discover more of you and find all the ways he can prove to you just how much he enjoys the privilege that it is to touch you.

Breaking the kiss, he moves a hand up to your face, tracing your skin with his thumb as he just holds you. His eyes scan over your features, silently admiring you.

There's something way too intimate about the way he looks at you, immediately making you feel nervous. “Don't look at me like that,” you whisper sheepishly.

“Like what?” he whispers back, failing to hold back a smirk.

“Like that,” you insist, attempting to roll your head to the side so you could look away, but he immediately grabs your chin to stop it.

“You're so beautiful,” he says not so long after.

You giggle, that dangerous thought from earlier creeping right into your head. You almost have to warn yourself not to say it out loud. “Stop.”

“Am I making you nervous?” he asks, voice low and teasing.

Attempting to look away for a second time, he tightens the grip on your chin just enough. His eyes say it all. A silent authority in them that tells you to stay still. 

“Maybe.”

“I’m just admiring how gorgeous my girlfriend is.”

“Well, then stop.”

“Why? It's not a crime.”

“It should be. You're dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” he acts like your comment offends him. “C’mon, I’m a good boy, you have nothing to fear.”

You try to ignore the effect those words have on you as you shake your head. “No, you're not. You’re a public menace.”

He laughs at your last comment, which inevitably makes you laugh too. Your moment of peace doesn't last too long though, because he’s once again contemplating you in silence with that same intensity in his eyes that almost wants to make you hide under a pillow.

And you're about to comment on it again when you hear him speak. It's a faint whisper, but of course you hear it, even if it's quiet– almost like he didn't register that he was saying it out loud.

“I love you.”

It takes you completely by surprise. Never in a million years would you have expected him to say that right here and right now. It's like Earth stopped spinning from the second those words slip past his lips, echoing inside your head as you try to process them.

The realization that he loves you fills you with an incommensurable amount of joy because you couldn't possibly be more lucky to be loved by someone like Johnny. You also feel an insane amount of peace knowing the feeling is very much mutual.

“It's…you don't have to say anything back, by the way,” he eventually speaks, perhaps becoming a bit scared of the fact that you just went completely silent after that confession. “I just–”

You don't let him finish. “I love you.”

He looks a little taken aback at first, but just seconds later he's smiling with obvious excitement. “Really?”

“Yes, really!” you reply immediately, almost upset that he would even dare to question it, but then your expression softens as you look up at him. “I love you so much, Johnny, it's almost scary.”

It's like he can't believe you're saying it again, almost in awe by hearing it coming from your lips. “I love you,” he repeats, in the most sincere and soft tone you've ever heard.

He kisses you again, with that characteristic passion that makes your head spin. But there's something even better about this kiss now. Everything you experience with and because of Johnny might start feeling just that much better now that you know he's in love with you.

Unfortunately, you have to break the kiss when you abruptly feel the entire ground beneath you shaking. At first you thought it might've been an earthquake, but when the floor is shaking again and Johnny's bracelet starts beeping, you know there's something else going on.

He immediately stands up, dressing as quickly as possible. All you can do is sit in bed and watch, the floor once again shaking. Things around your room have fallen to the ground and you hear the commotion outside.

Johnny briefly sits down on the bed with you, hurriedly grabbing your hand. “I’ll be back before you know it, okay?” he says, trying to bring you some sort of peace in the midst of this uncertain situation.

“Please, be safe.”

He offers you a smile before giving you a quick kiss. “Always,” he says, as casual and playful as usual, right before rushing out of your apartment.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

You practically sat in front of the television all night, watching everything unfold. The Mole had apparently had enough of the surface world, assembling an army of his people to invade New York City. It seemed fitting to attack at night, given many of them can’t stand the sunlight for that long.

Luckily, Johnny and the rest were quick to stop his plans before he got the chance to reach the surface so, although the earthquakes created by his underground devices caused some damage to several buildings, the worst was definitely avoided.

Reed held a small press conference after the villain was officially detained, explaining the overall situation and calming the public before leaving all the diplomatic chatter to Sue, who’s a lot more qualified when it comes to negotiating peace with the people of Subterranea. Ben and Johnny just stood behind them in silence.

It was about two in the morning when Johnny finally made it back to your apartment. You immediately pull him in for a tight hug. “Are you okay?” you ask him, evidently worried, which he can’t help but find incredibly adorable.

“I’m much better now that I’m with you,” he replies to lighten the mood, but he can tell you’re still worried. “Seriously, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

You take a step back to look at him, almost as if just by looking into his eyes you could immediately tell if he’s lying and there’s an injury he’s not telling you about. He offers you a smile, gently rubbing a hand up and down your arm in an attempt to calm you down. 

“And the rest?”

“We’re all good. Sue will have lots of fun tomorrow trying to get some sense into Elder’s head, though.”

“You think he’ll attack the surface again?”

Johnny really doesn’t want you to keep worrying about it, especially if your concerns come from simple speculation. “I mean…he can certainly try. That’s about all he’ll be able to do.”

His comment does help to bring a smile to your face. “Right. Because we just have such great heroes.”

“Yup,” he immediately agrees, arms wrapping around your waist to pull you towards him. You don’t reject his advances one bit, leaning in to kiss him. He makes a sound of contentment against your lips, immediately tightening his grip around you. “I was already missing this,” he mutters.

“Don’t get too clingy on me, Johnny.” It’s only half a warning, because you couldn’t care any less if he decides to keep his arms around you all day.

“Too late,” he grins, pausing briefly before continuing. “I love you.” It’s like he can’t stop saying it now. 

And, of course, you can’t get enough either. “I love you too.”

Johnny gives you one last kiss before stepping away from you, slightly stretching his arms with obvious signs of tiredness. “I think I’ll take a shower before bed,” he announces with a sigh. “You’re welcome to join me if you like.”

“Very tempting, but I’ll pass for now.”

He inevitably pouts at your reply. “You won’t even join me as a little ‘thank you’ for saving the city again?”

His words make you roll your eyes, walking past him to your bedroom. “Maybe if you don’t take too long in the shower, I might give you a thank you or two before sleep.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

previous part

taglist: @00rangeshoney @dearwalker

[vint4gegh0st]

This is very very self indulgent, and i mean, technically you could change the term “German” for about any language or nationality in this fic and it would make sense, but since no one but my own person requested this, i just made it what made sense to my brain right now :)

Aaron Hotchner x gender neutral reader (pre relationship i guess)

Summary: The team needs someone who speaks German, reader does, just their luck!

Language Barriers

“This can’t be happening to us right now. It really can’t.” Prentiss muttered, Morgan looked at all of them, “Can’t we just use translating stuff? I’m sure Garcia has some that would work.”

Prentiss shook her head, sighing, “Most people who speak a language fluently enough to be communicating this boldly will know whether or not that’s a translating program or someone who actually knows the language… add to that dialects and other regional terms, unlikely the unsub or our potential witnesses will not notice…”

A heavy silence fell over the conference room, the case had allowed for the team to stay at the headquarters, a small relief in the face of a missing family, tourists from Germany. They’d been travelling with a group, one of the tour guides and another member of the group were their main suspects, but they didn’t know where the family could have been taken. The only evidence they had were chats between the suspects and a witness who didn’t understand a whole lot of English and was able to say even less in this to her foreign language.

“Statistically speaking, at least one of the employees here at Quantico would have to understand and speak German, a lot of people would have learned it in school, what if-“ Reid began when Rossi cut in, “Of course! Garcia, I need you to pull up the employee register, look for the forms all agents and whatever had to fill out who were suspected to have foreign contacts, should say which languages they speak on there. Then we just need to find out who’s working today.”

As Garcia worked away on her screens, Morgan raised an eyebrow, “They have forms for that?”

Hotch chuckled, before replying, “You wouldn’t believe what else they have forms for. Though that one’s kept a little more under the wraps, they don’t need to seem suspicious. Rossi and Prentiss are the only ones here in the BAU who should have one. Should be a faster check than going over other personnel files, we don’t have a filter for languages, weirdly enough.”

“Gather round my fine furry friends, we have a match! Dr. Y/N L/N of our cyber and forensics department just upstairs. Should be in today, want me to call them?”

Hotch had perked up in a more than just a little confused fashion at the mention of your name, “Y/N? I know them, i can just call them, hang on.” he said as he stepped out of the conference room to call you.

“Look at that, our mysterious doctor, who seems to be on first name basis with Hotch, lives in the same apartment building as our fearless unit chief…”

“They’re on their way, should be here any minute.” said unit chief told the conspirative team as he returned to the room.

“Hey, Hotch? Did you know they were your neighbor?” Rossi asked in a tone that suggested he had already made up his mind on that one, but before Hotch could reply, the door opened and you stepped in, returning the small smile Aaron gave you.

“Heard someone needed help with some Germans? What can i do?” you asked into the room, not sure how the team operated, but it was usually a safe bet to ask anyone in general and somebody would feel obliged to talk to you.

“Can you take a look at these text messages first? Some we were able to get through some translation apps, but some don’t make sense and some have abbreviations…” Prentiss replied as she guided you towards her tablet, giving you pen and paper to jot down your notes.

In the end, you were of great help to the team, catching intricacies in the patterns and making connections that were the key to a solved and successful case. Hotch was teased relentlessly until he spilled that while yes, you were one of his direct neighbors, sometimes looked after Jack or picked him up and brought over dinner when you’d made too much for just one person (a ruse he didn’t have to be a profiler to look through but he wasn’t about to call you out on that one), no you two were not engaged in a romantic relationship (questions on whether or not he wanted to be, he didn’t even dignify with an answer) and were all in all just good friends. And if he looked at you just a little too fondly when you sat next to the youngest member of the rescued family, a little boy who was obviously shaken by the whole experience, talking with him in hushed voices even though you both knew barely anyone would understand what you were saying, that was nothing to be of concern to the BAU. The team had other things in mind, however, and tried to lure you down into their bullpen or conference room more often than not to accidentally have you two near each other. Hotch loved his work family, but they really needed to learn how to mind their own business from time to time.

[howi99]

The boy who dreamt of electric sheep part 4

Ruby: *sigh, sitting on the ground* Whoever said "new school, new me" was a liar. *Sigh again, slumping down slightly* I'm still such a clutz.

Jaune: *chuckle, walking towards her* I wasn't expecting people to bring fireworks here of all places. *Extending his hand* But the light show WAS entertaining, if dangerous.

Ruby: *sigh, taking Jaune's hand* Tha-!?

Jaune: *lifting her up from the ground with ease, catching her before she could stumble* Here you go. *Looking her up with a frown* Not hurt anywhere, are you?

Ruby: *shake her head* I'm fine *smile* see?

Jaune: *nod* Good... *Sigh, looking at the scorched marks on the ground* Waving around a highly volatile compound that has a tendency to explode if not handled carefully.... *Shaking his head in a disappointed manner* It's a miracle nobody was hurt.

Ruby: Right!? *Sigh* It's dust handling 101, but i guess the "heiress" to the SDC never took the time to learn how to handle her own product safely.

Jaune: *aghast* (Wait, THAT was Weiss Schnee?! What's wrong with her?!?) *sigh, before mumbling* If Winter knew how her sister was acting like, i doubt she would have sang her praise to me.

Ruby: *surprised* You know her sister?

_ flashback _

12 yo Jaune: *sigh, walking down the hallway* I know it's an order from General Ironwood, but do you really need to follow me everywhere?

18 yo Winter: *serious* My orders are to escort you at all times. Failing such a simple task would poorly reflect on my capabilities as a specialist i'm afraid.

Jaune: *sigh* I know, i know... *Speaking softly without thinking, almost inaudible* It's home all over again, isn't it? Guess i'm nothing more than a prized bird, forever prisoner of a gilded cage...

Winter: *stop, surprised by Jaune's reflection* ... Say, Jaune...

Jaune: *perplexed* (Weird, it's the first time she address me by my name) Yes?

Winter: ... *Sigh* Tell me; did you really want to be here in the first place?

Jaune: *now completely confused* W-well, of course! Working alongside Dr Polendina is an honor!

Winter: *Shake her head* I didn't ask if you wanted to work with Dr Polendina. *Frown* I asked if you wanted to be here, in Atlas university of Robotic engineering.

Jaune: *looking down* ... If i'm being honest, i would have much preferred studying to be a huntsman... *Sad smile* There's so many people down there suffering... *Shake his head* I could help them and yet, i'm stuck here instead. Learning, but unable to use whatever i learn to help those in need.

Jaune: *sigh* But alas, my family thinks my intellect is far too precious to waste on the battlefield. *Grits his teeth* Am an Arc too, aren't i? So why am i not be allowed to save people!?

Winter: (Maybe...)

_ _ _

*CLANG*

Jaune: *Kicking a training dummy* WHY IS EVERYONE ALLOWED TO BUILD THEIR OWN PATH BUT ME!?! WHY CAN'T "I" FOLLOW MY DREAMS, HUH!? MY SISTERS CAN, BUT I CAN'T!?

*KICK*

WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT IS THIS!? THEY TOLD ME I COULD DO WHATEVER I WANT AFTER HIGHSCHOOL!

*KICK*

I BUSTED MY ASS TO FINISH EVERYTHING IN A YEAR! AT SEVEN I WAS ALREADY DONE AND IT WAS STILL NOT ENOUGH!?

*KICK*

WHAT DID I DO!? WHAT DID I, JAUNE, DO TO BE CONSIDERED SUCH A DISGRACE THAT THEY EVEN REFUSE TO SEE ME FOR WHO I AM!?! TO SEE ME AS AN ARC!!!

Jaune: *breathing heavily, standing over the destroyed bot*

Winter: *sigh, giving Jaune's a gentle pat on the back* I... Know what you feel, part of it at least. *Trying to cheer him up* It's a good thing those are easily replaceable, right? (Pleasedon'tcrypleasedon'tcryplease-)

Jaune: *tearing up* Sorry, i... *Start sobbing* I didn't mean to break anything... *Sob* I-i just want to help people... Like my dad...

Winter: (FUUUUUUUUCK) ... You really want to help others, don't you?

Jaune: *sob quietly, nodding his head*

Winter: Then... *sigh, placing one hand on his shoulder, carefully looking around* stay still, and don't tell anyone what i'm about to do, ok?

Jaune: *nervous* !?

Winter: *realising what she just said* I-i'm going to unlock your Aura! N-nothing weird!

Jaune: *slight sigh of relief... Before understanding exactly what she just said* R-really!?

Winter: *gulp* (Hope i won't get demoted for this...) For it is our duty to serve the people-

_ Present _

Jaune: *choosing his choice of words carefully* She's... *Smile genuinely* A friend, yes.

Ruby: *smirk* A friend, huh?

Jaune: *deadpan* She's 6 years older than me. And last time i saw her was 3 years ago, when i left Argus for Vale.

Ruby: Oh... *Smile awkwardly* So uh... What's your name? I'm Ruby, by the way.

Jaune: (oh right, i didn't present myself did i?) My name's Jaune, Jaune Arc.

Ruby: *chuckle* Just like the author of my favorite magazine-

Jaune: *smiling innocently* Which one? "Dust" or "Weapon from the junkyard"? *Chuckle* I'm particularly proud of my newest invention: The Aura converter. *Sigh, removing his glove, showing a metallic hand* Although, the Mark one did blow up my arm so-

*thump*

Jaune: *look at the now unconscious Ruby* ... *Wince* Oops.

[leleiwritesbooks]

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 5

...

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At night, deep in the forest where the moonlight would reflect on the lake. There she stood in her beautiful yet simple traditional Korean dress with a man whose face was blurred out and also wore traditional clothing, unable to see his identity. The two danced like two shooting stars flying together above the lake, a magical aura surrounding them. (Y/N) and the unknown man started to float higher and higher where the moon can be seen closer.

The two looked at each other with love as the man put his hand on her cheek, she leaned into his warmth. The two slowly leaned in together for a kiss and...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

(Y/N) woke up from the sudden sound of her alarm clock on her phone making her groan tirelessly and turned off her phone. She sat up and went deep into thinking about the dream she just had and this wasn't the first time. Lately, she has been getting dreams about this unknown man but they were always in generations of time. She shook her head and got up to get dressed since she and the others were going to fix her voice.

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The next day, the Huntrix girls are walking through the busy markets of the city as they wear disguises to hide from fans. Although it was a bit hard to blend in with the crowd since there were so many people around them. Zoey held her phone that had the map to the place they were going to, "He's got this special tonic. Apparently, it can heal anything from sore throats to relationship problems." Zoey told her friends as she looks at the map on her phone.

"Shh! Quietly, Zoey." Rumi scolded, hiding her face with her long braid tucked in her pink hoodie.

"We don't want to attract attention here, Zozo." (Y/N) said, wearing a similar hoodie but in (f/c) and black Y2k star sunglasses.

"Why are there so many people today?" Mira murmured in question as she looked around with her head tilted down, her black cap covering her face and her round glasses shining in gold. "That's a good question but it's probably nothing." (Y/N) said but shrugged it off.

"Oh! It's down that alleyway." Zoey skipped in excitement like she was a 5 year old.

They stopped in front of a small clinic shop called HAN as the girls inspected the poster that was on the door. "Yep, about as legit as I expected." Mira commented, sarcastically. Twins took their hoods off. Rumi letting her hair out and (Y/N) putting her sunglasses on her head. "Earthy and herby." Rumi read off the poster, her twin nodding in agreement. making Zoey cheer. "Yay! That's the spirit!" She then ushers her friends inside as she holds (Y/N)'s arm.

They were now in the doctor's office, waiting. (Y/N) sat on a stool in front of the desk as Rumi, Mira and Zoey sat on the other chairs on the side. The blue streaked haired girl looks around the room as her (e/c) eyes landed on the photos hung on the wall. a magazine. Rumi shrugged her shoulders in response as Zoey beamed up, giving a thumbs up making (Y/N) return a forced smile and thumbs up.

"(Y/N) Nim," Dr. Han walks in the room as the girls stand and bow in respect but the doctor kindly waves them off with a smile making them sit back down. "Sit, sit. You need no introduction. So, a problem with your voice?"

"Yes, so we need one of your awesome tonics." Zoey answered for (Y/N).

"Yeah, we need something that will work super fast." Rumi added.

"Okay, let me see." Dr. Han adjusted his glasses as (Y/N) opened her mouth but the doctor put his hand out to tell her 'no'. "In order to heal a part, we must understand the whole." He takes a deep breath before staring at her with huge eyes like an anime character as he gets closer to the poor girl who was awkwardly leaning away from him. "I see, I see..." He trailed off before he was back normal. "No. Actually, I don't see." He confirmed, leaning back up out of (Y/N)'s personal bubble. "Very strange. You seem to have a lot of pressure which makes you have a lot of walls up, forming secrets of your own." Zoey looks at him in amazement, Rumi turns to her twin with a raised brow as (Y/N) felt her whole body system stop but she quickly shook it off.

"So many walls."

"Walls? Pressure?" (Y/N) scoffed in disbelief. "Listen, buddy. I don't have walls or secrets and I don't feel pressured."

"Uh, yeah you do." Mira side eyed her friend through her magazine before turning to Zoey and Rumi. "He is kind of good." She whispered, Rumi slightly nodding in agreement.

"I'm just trying to stay focused, guys." (Y/N) said, defensively.

Dr. Han then appeared again, inspecting her some more making her jump at his sudden presence. "Hm, focus is good but focusing on one part can lead to ignoring other parts. Which makes you separated, isolated..." Zoey then puts her hand up like she was a student, answering a teacher's question.

"Oh! Emotionally closed off?" She chirped in, Dr. Han immediately smiled at her answer making (Y/N)'s jaw drop in disbelief. She looked towards her twin, "I'm not like that...am I?" Rumi looked everywhere but her, lips were flat as a line. (Y/N) stared at her younger twin with (e/c) eyes that read 'You're supposed to be on my side' as she pouted. "She's also a workaholic, doesn't know how to relax." Mira added, a blank expression on her face.

"She does train a lot." Rumi mumbled.

"I know how to relax!" The blue and (h/c) haired girl defended.

"I bet she refuses to go to the bathhouse." The doctor 'guessed'.

"Oh my gosh! Yes!" Zoey exclaimed, (Y/N) and Rumi looked at the Dr. Han is shocked that he somehow knew about that while Mira was a bit impressed. "Wait, how did you even-"

"Dude, we've been trying to take her to the bathhouse..."

"Forever!" The three said in unison before laughing together, (Y/N) glared at them and were starting to become impatient. "How is this even helpful?" Mira smirked slightly at her friend. "It's helping me a lot." Rumi nodded with the same smirk as Mira, "Same here." She admitted. "Wow! I can't believe you got all that wisdom just by looking at her." Dr. Han then adjusted his glasses and stared at Zoey with wide eyes. "Hm, I see..."

"Wait, why are you looking at me?"

"Eagerness to please. Maybe a little too eager." The doctor says as Zoey nervously laughed. "What? I'm not like that!" She then turns to her friends with a panicked face. "You guys would tell me if I was really like that, right?" Rumi and Mira just shared a look, not answering her question. "Of course. We would, Zozo." (Y/N) reassured making Zoey sigh in relief. Dr. Han turns to Rumi, "Hm, you have a great heart within you but afraid to lose the only family you have." His words made the purple braided girl avert her eyes down in slight sadness as (Y/N) frowned at her, feeling upset for her twin sister.

He then turned to Mira who gave him a deadpanned look as they had a small staring contest before she barked at him which made him whimper in fright. "Yeah, that's right." She said before (Y/N) budged in.

"Okay, how does this help me get my voice back?" She asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, this isn't really helping us with my sister's voice." Rumi agreed.

"As I said, to treat the part, we must understand the whole." Dr. Han repeated what he said before, (Y/N) groaned in frustration. "That's great and all, but I thought we were here just for your tonics." Rumi noticed her twin's blue streaks flashed into a different color, red before turning back to blue which made her confused but shook it off, thinking she was just seeing things. "Just give us the voice juice." The fiery red head commanded.

"Hm, I know just the tonics you need."

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(Y/N) was waiting near the reception while her twin and friends decided to wait outside. She glanced up at a photo of her and the others with the doctor but it wasn't a new photo. It was a photoshoot they did for a soda brand advertisement. "Is that...us?" She mumbled until the sticker of Dr. Han fell off making her groan, "How is he even a doctor?" (Y/N) thought before Dr. Han popped right in front of her with a box. "Your tonics are ready!"

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(Y/N) exits the clinic while holding the box of her tonics, "We got the tonics!" Mira and Zoey chanted, Rumi giggled at their goofiness. "Now, once your voice is fixed, we can go back to the important stuff." She said.

"Yeah, like the fans!" The space buns girl exclaimed.

But they all came to a halt when they heard chatter from a group of men that were coming their way which caused them to panic. "Fans!" Zoey pointed out, pulling her yellow sunhat down. "We can't let them see us here!" Rumi, Mira and Zoey quickly hid behind (Y/N) as they slid her (f/c) hood with a strand of blue peeking out and her Y2k star sunglasses back on, awkwardly waddled like penguins in a line.

They then stopped again when the group of four men turned to the alleyway, the other three peeked from behind (Y/N) to see who it was. The four men wore really bright colored clothes that would stand out on the night of day. The twins looked confused as they turned to their friends who were practically drooling over the unknown group. "Whoa..." They muttered, their eyes forming into red hearts when the boys did a quick hair flip. The guy with the yellow beanie and pink hair stretched his arms causing the buttons to come off and reveal his abs, Mira and Zoey blushed at the sight as Mira was eating the popcorn that came out of Zoey's eyes.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing." Rumi cringed, rubbing her forehead like a disappointed mother.

"You guys are so weird...what?..." 

CUE K-DRAMA MUSIC

(Y/N)'s words trailed off when her (e/c) eyes caught sight of another male that was behind the group, her sunglasses slightly slipping off the bridge of her nose. Everything around her started to become slow as she continued to stare at the most attractive man she has ever seen and she met a lot of attractive guys. But this guy...for some reason, she felt like she knew this man from somewhere. She felt a hint of...nostalgia? Her heart was beating faster than a normal heartbeat and felt frozen in place.

(Y/N) didn't even realize that Rumi was waving her hand in front of her face. "Hello? Earth to unnie?" To no avail to snap out of her dreaming daze, the purple braided girl followed her sister's gaze to see who she was looking at. The man had jet black hair and wore silver jewelry that the sunlight reflected on. He even wore a pink shirt under his white button up shirt that had blue teal lines. The blue and (h/c) haired girl's sunglasses were slowly coming off but Rumi caught it before it could hit the floor but she noticed something about the strand of blue hair again. Instead of the blue streak turning into red, it flashed into the color of rosy pink. She rubbed her eyes and double checked to see nothing, "Am I going crazy?" She thought to herself.

The man looked up, creating a blowing atmosphere that made (Y/N)'s hood fly off her head. Their eyes caught each other as he walked past her and Rumi, the girl could see an building up. He bumped shoulders with Rumi which made her bump into (Y/N) who stumbled and fell back due to the strong impact, the box of tonics also falling off her hands. (Y/N) falling to the ground in a non-graceful way, not like a K-drama movie girl.

She landed roughly on the concrete ground, hissing in pain. Then she looked up to see the man reaching a hand out for her making (Y/N)'s eyes lit up, thinking this was some sort of dream. She brought her hand up to grab his until he took his hand back and dusted his shoulder, (Y/N) looking at him in confusion with furrowed (e/c) eyes as he turned back to her. "Watch yourself," He told her before walking off with his friends. twin helps her stand up, Rumi and the others glaring at the group of boys.

"Watch myself? You watch yourself! You, you..." She groaned in anger. "The audacity of that guy! I mean, who raised him?!" (Y/N), Rumi, Mira and Zoey went down to pick up the tonics she had dropped.

"I know, look at this mess!" Rumi yelled.

"Yeah, they're not even that cute." Zoey scoffed.

"They're so bleh!" The twins stick their tongues out in disgust.

"They're so..." Zoey then mimics a retching noise.

"No, they're..." Mira also does a retching sound.

"They're..." All four made a noise in revulsion in unison.

While the girls were too busy talking about how rude and disgusting the boys were, The black haired man who was Jinu in a human disguise was thinking about that small interaction with (Y/N). When he made eye contact with her, he felt a certain spark in his heart. A spark that he hasn't felt since the love of his life had suddenly disappeared but he ignored the feeling and kept walking.

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...

Chapter 4 - Chapter 6

[eviemonroeer]

The Monroe Effect: Chapter 48

Set during Season 7, Episode 13 of ER. Spoilers if you haven't seen the show.

Warnings: THIS CHAPTER IS 18+ ONLY!! MDNI. Smut. Language.

WC: 4.7 k

ER story belongs to original creators, just adding on my own original charter.

Taglist: @pleasecallmeunhinged, @rainmg, @arigoldsblog, @queenslandlover-93, @hagarsays, @antisocialfiore, @snowflames-world, @guiltypleassure243, @omgbrianab, @dizzybee03, @secretmoonphantom, and @emma8895eb

MASTERLIST Again, 18 + ONLY.

“So, are you excited for tonight?” 

I smiled and turned to face Haleh. “I think Millicent Carter is more excited for my first Foundation Charity event then anybody. She’s been trying to get me to go to one of these for years now. I’m just surprised Carter actually said yes to going.” I turned back to change out the saline bag I had been working on before she walked up. 

“What’s the dress look like?” I gave her a quick description. “Oh, sounds expensive.” 

“Millicent said not expensive enough when she bought it.”

“I’m really starting to like Carter’s grandmother more.” I chuckled and moved to the next bed. “No, but seriously. Are you excited?” 

I sighed and bit my lip. “I’m nervous. This is the first-time people from his world are going to see me as a member of the family. That’s a lot of pressure.” I paused, grabbing Haleh’s arm and taking her over for more privacy. “I really don’t want to mess this up with Carter.”

“Oh sweetie, you’re not going to mess this up. You could show up in a brown paper bag and that boy would still think you were the best thing around.”

I scoffed. “We’ve just been different Haleh. I just feel like we’re on the edge of something and one move could send us back on the road or over a cliff.” 

 “Don’t worry about that. Just go home, get all dolled up for your man, and have a fun night out without your baby. It’s as simple as that.” 

“I wish. Nothing with the Carter family is simple.” 

It was while I was making my way to clock out, that Kerry grabbed me to help with a clown that had collapsed at a birthday party from aspirating a balloon. Abby and I got him into the trauma room and began some testing Carter asked for while we waited for him to rejoin us. 

“You look disappointed.” Abby said, seeing the look on my face. 

“I was supposed to be clocking out. I need to go home and get ready.”

“Oh, you two have a big date tonight?”

“Charity event for his family’s foundation.”

“Sounds stuffy.”

“Probably.” I smirked and we continued working.

“How we doing in here?” Carter asked as he walked in. 

“Some spontaneous movement, but he’s still out. Glasgow coma scale is 114.”

Carter took out his pen light to check his pupils and looked at me. “I thought you were heading home to get ready.”

“I was, but then this guy came in and the universe decided I didn’t need to have time to shave my legs tonight.” 

“Pulse ox 98 on 50%.” Abby told him and looked up at me, trying not to laugh. 

“Pressure’s 90/60.” I added and winked at her. 

“Run a 500 of saline. You know, we have this. You can head out.”

“What? Want to make sure I look good for all of Gamma’s rich friends.” 

“You always look good.” 

“Tombstones on the anterior leads.” Abby jumped in, handing him the EKG. 

“Uh, let’s push 6000 of heparin and call the cath lab.” 

“Looks like you do need me.”

“BP’s only 70 systolic.”

“Evie, would you go get Dr. Weaver?” 

I walked out into the hall and spotted the woman. “Dr. Weaver! This clown is crashing!” Unfortunately, the clown ended up coding and we were unable to revive him. Carter and I walked back to admit so he could store the chart. “Well, I am headed home to get ready. I’ll see you in a couple of hours. Don’t go killing anyone else, will you?”

“You killed the clown?” We both turned to Malucci who had a nervous look on his face. 

“No.” Carter scoffed. 

“Didn’t save him.” 

“Evie, come on! We’re gonna be late!”

Carter was yelling from downstairs. I rolled my eyes and put in my other earring before I checked myself out in the mirror. Giving one last adjustment, I grabbed my clutch and headed for the stairs. “Sorry.” I called. “I’m done now. Let’s go.” 

“Wow.”

I stopped at the top of the stairs and met Carter’s gaze. It had been a long time since I last saw him in his tuxedo. He looked so debonair and handsome. And it sure as hell sparked something inside of me. I picked up some of my skirt and used the rail to walk down, until Carter held out his hand and helped me down the last couple of steps. His gaze ran me up and down so many times, I was starting to get a little self-conscious. 

“You hate it, don’t you?” The dress was a satin, burgundy, strapless with a mermaid shape, and just the right amount of cleavage from the sweetheart neckline. Or at least I thought so. “I can go change.”

“Absolutely not.” Carter paused and ran a hand over his mouth. “You look amazing.” 

I felt myself blush. “Really?” 

“Really. I kind of don’t want to take you out. Keep you all to myself.” 

That’s when I noticed the hunger in his eyes, and I even thought he licked his lips. A shiver ran through me, and a spark shot straight in between my legs, causing me to squeeze my thighs together. The two of us hadn’t been close like this since before he went to rehab. Sure, we slept in the same bed, but there hadn’t been anything intimate about our relationship for a while now. It had kind of worried me. 

Until now. 

“We should probably get going.” I offered. “Millicent is going to get worried if we don’t show up soon.” Carter took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders back before nodding. He grabbed my coat and helped me in it. “Does Corrine have Meghan?” 

“They are snacking in the kitchen. Told me not to rush.” 

“Of course she did.” 

Carter put out his arm. “Your chariot awaits.” 

The limo ride was quiet and I spent most of the time looking out the window. But in my periphery, I could see Carter looking nowhere but me. I even felt his hand rest on my thigh. I did my best not to squirm, but I couldn’t tell if I was successful. If he wanted something, I was gonna let him chase me for it. It’s the least I deserved. 

Once we arrived, there were pictures and the occasional hello to others before we actually made it into the museum. Many compliments and questions about whether or not there would be an engagement soon, all things Carter had warned me about beforehand. When all that was done, we handed in our coats and went about finding our hosts. It took a moment, but Carter was able to find his grandfather standing in front of the Hall of African Mammals. 

“John, there you are.” He called out as he gestured us over. 

“Hi grandpa.” 

“Finally, some people I really want to talk to.” The two of them shook hands. “Why Genevieve, you look absolutely lovely tonight.” 

“Thank you, sir.” I said as I kissed him on both cheeks. 

“I’m so glad the two of you could get out tonight. Although I would much prefer to be at home with Meghan to tell you the truth.” 

“Don’t let Millicent hear you say that.” I teased. 

“Oh, she knows me by now.” 

“Speaking of Gamma,” Carter started. “Where is she?” 

“Talking to the keynote speaker, back there.” He motioned into the hall. “Go on.” We nodded and Carter put out his arm again. I took it and we made our way inside the room. People were already mingling and even dancing, spinning around the room to the music. 

“Care to dance, Ms. Monroe?” I turned to him and that dopey smile of his that I loved, and hadn’t seen in a while, was on his face. 

“I would love to, Dr. Carter.” 

Carter took my hand and led me out to the middle of the dance floor, before taking me in his arms. His grip on my waist was firm, like now that he had me, he wasn’t letting go. We spun around the room for a while, just staring at each other like the rest of the room didn’t exist. Everything felt normal, like the last few months didn’t exist and we were back to how we used to be. 

“You look so beautiful.” 

“Say it some more and maybe I’ll believe you.” I chuckled. 

But instead of saying it again, Carter leaned down and kissed me. And not just the kind of kissing we had been doing lately. No, this kiss was a real, solid kiss. A toe curling, take your breath away kind of kiss. We stood there in the middle of the dance floor and kissed like we were each other’s air. I wrapped my arms around his neck to ground myself. It felt like a giant weight was lifted off of my shoulders and I was soaring off into the sky. 

“Let the poor girl breathe, John.”  

Both of us stopped at the familiar voice and we moved apart, turning to see Millicent standing there. “Hi Gamma.” Carter said, a little breathless as he wiped his face. 

“I see you two are enjoying your night.” 

“Very much.” 

“Genevieve, you look radiant. I told you that dress was perfect.” 

“Thank you, Millicent. The party is lovely.” 

“I’m sure you’ve only gotten to see a part of it.” She paused a moment and smiled, looking between us. “You two enjoy yourself. Have a lovely evening.” 

“Thank you.” 

As Millicent walked away, I felt a hand wrap around my waist and pull me close. My back was pressed against his chest. “Can we get out of here?” He whispered in my ear. 

“Won’t Gamma be mad if we miss dinner and the speeches?” 

“I think she’ll understand.” 

“But what if I wanted dinner?” 

“I will get you whatever you want if you just leave with me.” He pulled me in again and that’s when I felt his erection. “Now.” 

I nodded and he led me to the coat check before we headed back out to the limo. When I got inside, Carter stayed out, talking to the chauffer. Eventually he joined me. “What took you so long?”

“I was just telling him the hotel to drop us off at. I want us to be alone.” 

As the car began moving, Carter grabbed my face and started kissing me again. He went all over: my lips, my cheek, my jaw, my neck. He went anywhere he could find. I let out a hum as he started sucking on my neck, his hand wrapping around my throat and his thumb resting where my vocal cords would be. “You smell amazing.” He muttered against my skin. 

I moaned and I could have sworn my eyes rolled back into my skull. When Carter’s lips left my skin, I let out a whine, but he shushed me and crawled from his seat down to the floor of the limo. “Carter what are you doing?” He looked up at me and smirked before he spread my legs apart and lifted up the skirt of my dress. He disappeared underneath and I felt a series of kisses on each thigh. 

He took his time; I could feel it. He was teasing me, kissing and biting my thighs until he reached where he wanted. “Oh yes.” I heard him groan. He grabbed the sides of my thong and pulled it down my legs as he came out from under my dress. He held up the thong before he put it in his pocket and went back under my dress. Suddenly, I felt his tongue lick upwards to my clit. 

My body bucked up and I slapped my hand over my mouth. He licked and sucked, earning a few escaped whines and moans from me. It was like I was chasing his mouth with my hips. As if reading my mind, I felt one of his fingers enter me and I gasped, raising off of the seat. A tight grip pulled me back down and into place. “You’re not going anywhere.” I heard him say. And he put in another finger. His licks and sucks matched the rhythm of his fingers. I grabbed his head through my dress. The pleasure was building wonderfully with each curve of his fingers. “That’s it baby.” He moaned, enjoying this as much as I was. He was starting to get loud.

My release was sudden, catching even me off guard. My cry was barely dampened by my hand, my head falling back as Carter continued to work me through my orgasm. Once I stopped shaking, Carter removed his mouth and fingers, slowly coming out from under my dress. As if to add to how turned on I was, he licked his fingers clean in front of me. I grabbed his face and brought his lips to mine, trying to ground myself from flying away. 

“You’re okay.” He cooed. “Just breathe.” 

“How can I breathe when you just did that?” I asked, chuckling. He smiled at me and kissed me again. Just then the limo came to a stop. “I don’t know if I can walk right now.” 

“Just wait here. I’ll go get us a room.” Carter kissed me again before getting out of the limo, the door slamming behind him. 

I took a deep breath and sat up in my seat. I could still feel my legs shaking, but they were slowly calming down. I found my clutch on the floor and opened it, taking out my compact. Surprisingly, I still looked pretty put together, just some hair out of place and a little smudged lipstick. I cleaned up my face and smoothed my hair, getting situated by the time Carter opened the car door. 

“How you feeling?” He asked, that dopey grin on his face again. 

“Like I want to go upstairs with you.” I put my compact back in my clutch and held out a hand. Carter pulled me out of the car and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me again, smiling into it. “You need to take me upstairs Dr. Carter before I have my way with you in the street.” 

“Yes ma’am.” 

Carter led me through the entrance of the hotel and over to the elevators. Another couple joined us as we waited, and I was trying hard to keep Carter from being frisky. The ride up to the seventh floor was harder. But as soon as we were in our hotel room, his hands and mouth were back on me. We both dropped our coats at the door, and I helped Carter remove his tux jacket. We traveled farther into the room and that’s where he lost his bow tie and his shirt, suspenders falling to his sides. I smiled and took a moment to look him over, taking in every inch of him.

That’s when I caught sight of the scar. 

It was on the lower left side, peeking out just above the waistband of his pants. It was healing nicely, smaller than it was after surgery. I had seen it back when everything first happened, but it had been red and raw and so new that it was intimidating. I had never seen it in this context. Now, it was different. It was lighter, but still not the same color as the rest of his skin. I ran a cautious hand over it and felt how it was smooth but slightly sunken in. 

I reached around and felt the bigger one on his back. Carter shivered as I traced my finger all the way down the length of it. I looked up at him and couldn’t help the crack in my heart. This was one of the most vulnerable moments I had ever had with Carter. He didn’t like showing this side of himself, the broken parts. But I realized, the broken part were just something else that I loved. It was all him, every bit. The good and the bad.               

“I really need to touch you.” He whispered. 

“The zippers in the back.” 

Carter nodded and reached around, pulling the zipper down. He stepped back a little to allow the dress to drop to the floor.

“Oh fuck.” 

The dress had built in cups, so I hadn’t bothered with a bra. And since my thong was currently in his pocket, I was completely nude. Now it was my turn now to be vulnerable, to show him the parts I thought weren't the best. The stretch marks and leftover weight I hadn't lost after giving birth. The way my boobs had changed after feeding our daughter for almost a whole year. Carter’s eyes raked over me for a while, and I was starting to feel self-conscious. But before I could cover myself, Carter brought me down to the bed.

He stood over me and kept eye contact as he unzipped his pants. He pulled them and his boxers down at once, allowing his hard cock to be free. He crawled on top of me and parted my legs before dragging himself along my slit. I squirmed. “Please.” I whined. Carter nodded and slowly began to push inside me. 

The stretch felt amazing as Carter took his time, letting me adjust until he was flush against me. We both stayed like that for a moment, just living in the feeling of fully being together after so long, our breathing heavy as we tried to be patient. When the kisses began again, they were passionate and rough. It was like being devoured mind, body, and soul. It left me dizzy, but so utterly happy. I wrapped my legs around his waist and dug my heels into his backside, encouraging him to move. He eagerly responded with moans and groans. The thrusts started out paced, slow and steady. It was stimulating in the best possibly way. But I wanted, no I needed, more. I dug my heels back in again, trying to make him go faster. 

“Use your words, sweetheart.” Carter ordered, his voice low and raspy. 

“Move......faster.” I moaned in between thrusts. 

“Gladly.” Carter’s pace picked up and the added speed gave pressure to my G-spot in the most amazing way. “Does that feel better?” I nodded. “Use your words.” 

“Y-yes.”

“Good girl. What else do you want?” 

“F-Faster and rub my c-clit.” His speed picked up and his hand reached in between us. He used his thumb in time with his strokes and the pressure started building up again. And I chased it like a mad woman. Chased it so hard I’m pretty sure I was currently leaving nail marks on Carter’s back. But at this moment, I really couldn't care less.

"God, you feel so good." He moaned. "Fuck. I love you. I love you. Yes. Oh God! I can feel it."

When the release hit me again, I was able to be vocal, crying out as my back arched off the bed. Carter’s pace just got more erratic as he chased his own release, and it wasn’t long before his head fell into my shoulder, and he came, loudly I might add. The air was filled with nothing but our pants as we came down from the glorious moment. Carter pulled out slowly before rolling over and laying down beside me. 

“That was...... wow.” I breathed out. 

“Yeah, it was.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it, laying it on his chest. 

“Your heart is racing.” 

“Yeah, I think that happens when you have sex with the woman you love.” He sighed and kissed my hand again. “God, we haven’t done that in—” 

“A while.” 

You haven’t had sex, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t. 

My body suddenly went rigid as that very real fear suddenly swept over me. Carter must have noticed because he sat up and looked at me, his eyebrow raised. “What’s wrong?” 

“Uh, nothing. I’m fine.” I sat up and walked over to the closet, hoping to find a robe; I suddenly felt very exposed. I thankfully found two. As I put it on, Carter walked up beside me and grabbed the other, studying me. 

“Evie, talk to me. What’s wrong?” He slipped on the robe as I sat on the bed. “Hey, please talk to me.” 

I crossed my arms and took a deep breath, not really wanting to have this conversation right now. “Have...... have you had sex since you got back from rehab?” 

“What?” I kept my head down, not wanting to look at him. I heard his footsteps come closer and he kneeled down, lifting my head. There were silent tears falling from my eyes. “Baby, why would you ask me that? We've talked about this.” 

“I know. But it's still a thought I’ve had in the back of my head for months now. We haven’t slept in the same bed until recently. We’ve just barely been kissing. I didn’t even really think you were attracted to me anymore.” I whispered the last part, terrified to say it out loud. 

Carter scoffed and shook his head. “Evie, how could you think I’m not attracted to you?” He took my face in his hands so I would keep looking at him. “No, I have not had sex with anyone but you. I haven’t had sex with anyone but you since we became a couple. I would never do that to you. I love you.” He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “You have seen me at rock bottom, and you helped me dig myself out. I don’t want to be with anyone else but you. Do you understand?” 

I nodded and he pulled me into his arms tightly. I rested my head on his shoulder, and we just sat like that for a while as I continued to silently cry. He kept mumbling reassurances as he stroked my hair. “How about we order some room service, and we can talk? Really talk.” I sniffled and lifted my head, wiping away a few left-over tears. 

“That sounds perfect.” 

Carter kissed my forehead and stood, going over to the phone to order. And if I didn’t know any better, every time he looked back over at me, it was like he was scared I might disappear at any moment. 

A kiss on the back of my neck was what woke me up. 

I was naked, underneath the covers in the hotel bed. After we had dinner, we talked about my worries and fears from the last few months, and everything else that I had kept bottled inside. I finally told him about the panic attacks, how I felt so alone even after he got back from rehab. And he listened, he really listened. Then, he made it his mission to worship me for the rest of the night, telling me how beautiful and loved I was. And now that it was morning, he must be ready to go again. 

“Carter, I can’t.” I mumbled partially into the pillow. A shiver ran down my back as his nose ran along my spine. “Please, I’m gonna be sore for days.” 

“I think you can handle it.” 

“No, I can’t. I’m not going to be able to walk. The other nurses are going to tease me.” 

“It will just let everyone know you’re taken.” 

I scoffed and sunk down deeper into the pillow. “I want to go back to sleep.” 

“No way.” He placed a series of kisses down my already stimulated spine, when I felt his tongue run back up it ever so slowly. 

I mewled and my back arched. Carter took that as an opportunity to roll me onto my side where my back was to his front. I could feel him already hard. “Please.” He moaned, nipping at my ear. 

“Yes.” I finally gave in. 

I felt him smile as he used his hand to open my thighs as he lined up. He sunk in slowly until he was inside all the way. Even though there was a small ache, the feeling of being so full was amazing. Carter moved slow, a nice steady pace. He used his other hand to play with my nipple and I arched my back into him. He kissed my neck again, sucking and biting in time with the rest of his movements. I must have still been over stimulated from the night before because it didn’t take long for us both to come. 

We laid like that for a while, the warm sunlight of the morning bathing the bed in light. It was absolutely perfect. He slowly pulled out and sat up, brushing a piece of hair from my face. “Why don’t you go get the bath started for us and I’ll order room service. We can eat before we have to head back home.” 

“I hope Meghan’s okay.” 

“She’s fine. I called the house while you were asleep, and Corrine said she’s as happy as a clam.” 

“Well that makes two of us.” 

Carter smiled and kissed me again before leaving the bed to check out the breakfast menu. I chuckled slightly at the fading red marks that seemed to go from his shoulder blades to his lower back. Eventually, I gathered the strength to stand and headed for the bathroom, the big luxurious tub calling my name. 

[mabelmidnight-takeover]

the thing that doesn't make sense to me regarding the "he was putting her career on the line" POV is that there's no previous behavior from abbot that makes that believable to me. abbot faked a teenager's exams (w/o her knowledge) so she could get an abortion, told another doctor said teenager was getting back for the pills and didn't seem to care that robby could very easily find out what he did, reprimanded but immediately praised santos for doing a risky procedure she wasn't allowed to and took every opportunity he got to do procedures the hospital board wouldn't allow on the daily. nothing from his behavior told me he would put someone else's career on the line with something we were shown he's very capable of doing. add that to mohan's arc this season and the possibility of that POV being the case becomes nonexistent to me. it never even crossed my mind before checking what people were saying about the episode. i read it as a joke bc nothing else shown would tell me it wasn't.

comparing it to robby and david's situation: it was Not a surprise how robby reacted after david was proven innocent from the shooting. he was a bit more asshole-ish to how he'd probably react in a normal day, especially after a breakdown, but where he stood on the whole situation was not new. we were shown and told robby could react like that; we were shown and told abbot didn't care about what could happen to him or his career if a patient's health was on the way

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

swings bat at hornets nest dot png

consistent characterization of pb is that if youre conventionally cute she will like you and pull you out of danger but if youre kinda offputting or ugly she will let bad things happen to you in front of her and she might even openly blame you for them

[thepromisedbride]

i don’t talk about bridgerton on here but just to clarify. i will not be having ANY eloise hate on this account. i will bite.

[teh-nos]

I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron (apart from I skipped some overly long action sequences) and I am not sure so can someone tell me whether or not Tony Stark was the baddy in that film? Because about halfway through I was sure he was but then it was maybe just an evil robot after all and I am confused because either this film was surprisingly subversive or it was about robots hitting each other.

[taegularities]

some men are textbook villains fr

[memento-morri-writes]

whump wednesday - part iii

tw / tags: concussion, blood, bleeding out, loss of consciousness character: Rook (who else?) status: canon (took place several irl months ago as part of Rook’s first “Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Weekend”.) wordcount: 525

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | [read the whole thing on ao3]

Another continuation from earlier. The party has now made it back to the Winters' manor. Having lost a lot of blood since being revived (on top of his concussion), Rook is in pretty bad shape. His mentor, Sigmar, is attempting to get him to the Winters' healers.

Rook’s eyes drifted closed, the oblivion of sleep calling to him. A sharp prod at his side dragged them reluctantly back open.  “Rook, you need to stay awake. Just a little bit longer, until a healer can have a look at you.” Sigmar’s voice was serious as he half-dragged, half-carried Rook down the hall of the Winters’ manor.  Rook groaned in response. He was exhausted, and every inch of his body ached. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and fall headlong into unconsciousness. Sigmar prodded him again. “Tell me what happened to you. How you ended up in this state.”

Rook thought hard for a moment. How had he ended up like this? He remembered Celestia, and healing the party, and then- Oh, right. He started to explain, his words running together as he spoke. “This werewolf guy showed up. Deadringer?” Sigmar’s body tensed but he said nothing. “And he wanted Warren. Warren and Cherry, I think.” He paused, trying to remember what had happened after that. “He… he wanted to hurt them. So I told him he’d have to go through me first. And he said ‘Deal.’ and threw me across the room. I… I think one of his werebeasts killed me.” He felt rather than saw Sigmar shake his head. “I should never have left you. If I’d known she’d bring Deadringer into this… I shouldn’t have let you go off to fight someone like him without me.” Once again, Rook was surprised at the weight of the emotion in his mentor’s voice. He wanted to say It’s not your fault. Or maybe, I would have done it anyway, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. So instead he just rested his head on Sigmar’s shoulder. The damp chill that had come over him on the way here was getting stronger and he leaned into Sigmar’s warmth. “‘S cold,” he mumbled. Sigmar picked up the pace a bit, a worried edge creeping into his voice. “Come on, come on. Just a little further.” Rook’s eyes were heavy, and his awareness of the world was fading. He heard a door open, was vaguely aware of a brightly lit, white-painted room, of being laid down on a bed. He could hear people talking urgently, unfamiliar voices joining Sigmar’s. His muddled mind only caught fragments of their words. “Concussion… Severe… Significant blood loss… Not enough… ”  Sigmar’s raised voice cut through the fog. “Help him, damn you!” It sounded very far away, as though coming from another room. Multiple sets of hands touched his skin, and the familiar warmth of healing magic (when had being healed become familiar again?, he wondered dimly) flooded his body. The cold, clammy feeling faded away. The constant pain he had stopped registering some time ago subsided, leaving blissful neutrality in its wake. His head cleared slightly too, blurred reality coming back into focus for a brief moment. Distant voices reached his ears, borne by that momentary clarity. “It’s safe for him to sleep now. He’ll be fine after some rest.” As if his body needed no further reassurance, Rook’s mind relaxed, and within seconds he sank into a deep sleep.

[imwritesometimes]

I just want a life where my mom isn't so much of an asshole that on like a bi-monthly basis my eyes hurt by the end of the day from crying so hard cause she's such a fuckin giant dick

[seventh-district]

so uh. that 2.2 Special Program, huh

[glitterghast]

no but when i was in the ER in terrible agony and i was labelled a drug seeker with an overbearing mom (despite her also being a doctor) by three doctors because my scans “showed nothing abnormal”, we called in a fourth who looked at the scans and immediately saw the 1cm kidney stone causing my pain.

and you can bet your ass he, my mom and another doctor who was advocating for me called them out in front of the entire ER for being, and i quote, “incompetent clowns”

Doctors should snark at each other more, be a bit mean. Not for no reason, mind you. But if five doctors blow me off about symptoms and doctor number six FINALLY runs actual tests and gets a diagnosis, I think it should be Doctor Six's right to call up the other five and tell them they're lazy pieces of shit. That should be socially encouraged. Those first five doctors clearly can't listen to patients, but maybe another doctor might finally get to them.

[steampoweredskeleton]

Just remembered my new doctors appointment tomorrow. The one where I'm gonna ask them to prescribe my hrt. That doctors across the country are refusing to do. And therefore detransitioning ppl.

Great