#‘hey sorry I’m late with today’s medical records’ or whatever

[lady-harrowhark]

The latest from my medical dumpster fire:

Tests from Monday came back positive for autoimmune activity that theoretically shouldn’t be linked to my ulcerative colitis, but could also be a false positive

Other tests didn’t show much, but in the past I’ve had inflammation markers come back normal in the midst of active UC flares where imaging showed visible, severe inflammation, so I’ve also been told those tests are basically useless for me

Got referred to rheumatology and made an appointment - the earliest they can see me is the beginning of October, and it’s in a city about an hour away

Had my first physical therapy visit on Tuesday and must have overdone it because I felt like hot garbage that night; felt very feverish/cold/flu esque but I took my temperature a few times and it was normal. I’m feeling better in that regard, though I’ve still got some pretty sore muscles and achy hands and knees

My other doctor agreed to trial a new medication that might help with pain and sent that prescription in

My parents have still not acknowledged any of this, and it’s been over three days now. If they haven’t said anything by this evening I’m gonna say something to them about it and try my best not to be overly snarky :/

[mintymiknow]

Trust Fall - ch. 1 | Lee Minho

summary | character profiles | masterlist

Pairing: Lee Minho/Lee Know x Reader

Summary: When you walk away from something that essentially ruined you, you don’t expect to have anything to do with it anymore. But it would seem like the universe had other plans for you, and you find yourself with no choice but to face the nightmare again. 

Genre: Secret agent/spy au, romance, angst, action

Word count: Approx. 5.6k

Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of blood, implied human experimentation in labs, descriptions of said experimentations, descriptions of medical operations, implied trauma 

A/N: My new series is here! I don’t think it’s going to be as good or as hit has Scintilla, but I’m writing this ‘cause I want to, and I am excited! Please note that I’m not fully knowledgeable in the area of secret agent stuff and medical/science fields, but I hope you still enjoy reading this series. I can’t wait for everything to take place! Hehe as usual, I’d appreciate feedback, and if you have any comments, questions, etc., feel free to send in an ask!

“Yeah, so don’t forget to eat your meals and take your medicine when the nurses tell you to,” you laugh, looking at a patient with a playfully stern expression, “especially if you want to get better sooner.”

The elder patient laughs, leaning back on the hospital bed, “Yes, Doc, you got it. I promise to.”

“Good.” you grin, nodding your head approvingly, “I believe Dr. Kang will be checking up on you in the next few hours. Rest well, Mr. Lim.”

The elder nods with an airy chuckle before turning his attention back to the drama currently playing on TV. You bow politely before grabbing your clipboard and quietly exiting the patient’s room. While walking down the hospital hallway of this particular wing, you hear a familiar voice call out to you.

“Hey, y/n!”

You turn around with an amused grin, shaking your head, “Dr. Kang, aren’t we prohibited from shouting in the hospital?”

The male doctor makes an “oops” face before chuckling softly, hands in his medical coat’s pocket, “Right, sorry about that, Dr. Song.”

“So, how can I help you? I have another appointment in a bit.” you smile.

Dr. Kang - or Hyunbin as you call him - grins likewise, waving his hand in a carefree manner, “Nothing, just wanted to say hi since I bumped into you after like...weeks of both of us being busy. Go along now...wouldn’t want your patient getting angry over your late arrival.”

“You’re clingy.” you joke before laughing, “I’ll get going then. See you around, Hyunbin.”

The male playfully scoffs before waving his hand dismissively just as a nurse calls for his attention over some medical records. “See ya, y/n.” he hums, turning on his heel to walk away.

You smile before going about your way as well, hearing your heels click on the glossy floors as you walk to another department of the hospital to meet with a consulting patient.

And after that, you are called in for an emergency operation, so you end up running in said heels, pretty much aware that you’d probably end up with sore feet afterwards.

Hours pass by until you complete a very stressful yet successful operation. Your crisp, white shirt was replaced by the hospital’s mint green scrubs, stained with blood and bodily fluids. Your heels left somewhere in the locker room as your white clogs are essentially red now. Your neck feels like it’s about to break from leaning and craning it to focus on the operation, eyes strained like they would seal shut any second now.

But you knew that.

You knew that it was part of the job. Was it bothersome? Maybe, but that was just one slight inconvenience in the process of saving lives. That was why you became a professional in the medical and science field in the first place - to save lives. No, you definitely could not save every single person you came across. But you would definitely do your utmost best.

Especially when there were certain...blood stains you needed to wash off from your hands.

The more people you saved in Gongjak Medical Hospital, the more the blood on your hands washed off, little by little. Hopefully.

Unconsciously, you stare down at your gloved hands, eyes taking in the way the blood either dries or swirls into a distorted pattern. You see blood everyday - you’re a doctor, of course you would. And it was nothing new or something to be disgusted about because you were used to it. But right now, you felt like throwing up, the metallic scent and gruesome color clinging to your own hands too much to bear. This has never happened before, so you aren’t sure why it was happening today. You feel like the empty operation room spins around, ready to make you collapse until a nurse’s voice catches your attention.

“Dr. Song, the patient has been moved to a room and Dr. Choi is overseeing right now. We’ll have this room cleaned, so you may take it easy. Thank you for today’s operation.”

“I see, thank you too.” you nod, faking a calm smile despite the shaking of your hands, “I’ll get going then.”

And so you spend the next few hours rotating around consultation appointments and check-ups on patients. By the time it’s past 12 midnight, you prepare to head back to your home.

You drive in silence, eyes exhausted as they keep focused on the driveway that leads to a house that is not too large but not that small either. That’s one thing you were thankful for; your parents chose to live in a house surrounded by trees in a more private area of the city with only so much residents and houses. Some say it was for the rich - and maybe it was true - but it was definitely more peaceful and safe. Peace and quiet was what you needed after tedious days.

And safe was what you needed when you felt like something or someone haunts you every single day.

You drag yourself across the living room, dumping your bag on the couch as you make your way to the kitchen. An eerie and somewhat unsettling aura mixes in the air, but you choose to ignore it in favor of drinking a glass of cold water. You place the glass down on the counter before leaning on the table’s surface, head craning down as you get lost in your dark thoughts once again. It was always lonely at home without your parents, and you weren’t going to lie; admittedly, there were times you felt afraid to even step foot into any inch in this lonesome household.

But again, a different air filled the place right now, and it somehow sent shivers down your spine. Maybe you needed a bath, so you slowly make your way to your bedroom. However, as you reach the second floor, you notice that the door to your study room was left slightly open - you always made it a point to leave it shut.

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you tiptoe and stop in front of the door, grabbing the knob and slowly pulling it closed. However, just before it can click, a deep voice breaks the silence.

“Dr. Song y/n.”

You freeze, your blood running cold as a voice is heard in the dark study room.

“Dr. Song, we aren’t here to harm you. Come inside.”

We?

Your body moves on its own, pushing the door back to reveal your study, illuminated by nothing but the moonlight seeping in through the curtains. Once the door is fully opened, you vaguely register three figures standing by your desk. Most people would scream or scramble to call the cops. You? Nope. You didn’t know why either. Maybe these strangers were the cause of you feeling like someone was always watching you.

With crossed arms, you nod your head towards the stranger’s direction, “What is it? How do you know me? Who are you?”

One of the figures switches your lamp on, revealing his face - sharp eyes and a sharp jaw but an overall youthful and young disposition. He then speaks up, “We need you to come with us.”

“Clearly, strangers telling me to go with them is the most normal thing to happen.” you say, eyebrows furrowed.

Another figure notes your displeasure as he tilts his head to the side. Long, beautiful hair and plump lips - a beautiful man who could be mistaken as a model. “We know, but we’ve been ordered to come and talk to you about it.” he says calmly, his confident smile quite difficult to decipher.

You stand, arms still crossed and face still stern as the three figures observe you. The third figure takes one step forward. He’s more buff and definitely looks scarier, dark eyes cast in shadows with the cap he wears. “I’ll cut to the chase, Dr. Song. We’re agents from SKZ, and I don’t think I need to explain what SKZ is. Am I right?”

As soon as those words leave the male’s lips, you visibly tense, jaw clenched and eyes sharpened. You glare at the three agents, gritting your teeth, “Tell Jung Hyunseo to leave me out of whatever affairs SKZ has.”

The sharp-eyed male shakes his head, “I’m afraid Jung Hyunseo himself wants you to come with us, Dr. Song. He particularly said it was to be you no matter what.”

“What does SKZ want now?” you hiss, “I left for a reason, and I’m not going back. I think I made that quite clear to your authorities.”

The buff agent sighs, “I don’t know what bad blood you have with SKZ, and I can’t tell you exactly why we need you back right now, but everything will be explained if you just come with us.”

“Cut the crap.” you scoff with a belittling smile, “I’m not going anywhere. Case closed.”

“It’s a matter of life and death, Dr. Song.” the buff male says firmly, “It’s for a cause that could save many.”

“Hmm.” you snarkily laugh, “Now, I’ve heard that one before. Sorry, agents. I’m not going. Give Jung Hyunseo my regards.”

The agent who switched on the lights tries to step forward, opening his mouth to speak, but the buff one holds him back. With one look, the sharp-eyed agent nods his head in understanding, stepping back. The buff agent turns to the long haired one with the same look in his eyes.

The long haired male then walks towards you, leaning down to whisper in your ear, “Best you come with us now, Dr. Song. Mr. Jung won’t take no for an answer on this matter, and I’m afraid he’ll send that agent for you.”

You gently push him back with your hand on his chest, “He can try. Now, leave.”

The buff agent sighs and gestures for the two to follow him. As they walk past you, the buff agent whispers into your ear, “Try not to be too feisty when the next agent comes. He doesn’t play that nicely.”

“Neither do I,” you start, levelling his sharp gaze, “especially if he pushes it.”

The male smirks in the most subtle way so it’s barely noticeable, “I see.”

With that, the agents leave. You don’t even know how they got in, so you don’t know how they’d leave. Either way, you couldn’t bring yourself to care, not when the adrenaline fades away and your hands are now shaking.

Seconds later, you briskly walk to your bathroom, locking the door as you ready your bathtub in a frenzied hurry. You lower yourself into the water, allowing the warm liquid to envelope your body in an attempt to relax. Dead silence fills the room with the faint sloshing of water with your minimal movements.

SKZ.

You squeeze your eyes shut as if the name of that organization would be erased from your mind forever. But it does the opposite, taking you back to a time you never wanted to remember.

The sounds of agonizing screams and groans filled your ears as if you were witnessing a horror movie come to life. The smell of rotten corpses and smoke filled your nose, clouding your senses like pollution dirtying the world. You can only stare as a person slammed his hand onto the glass wall, desperately wailing and screaming for you to help him.

The pure horror that filled your veins caused you to freeze in place, bile building up within. The person’s skin started to melt and rot away, revealing things you’d see in your medical classes back then - except this was in a much more gruesome and violent context.

As the person let out one last cry, his eyes rolled back with foam frothing in his mouth. You hated how you’re only able to look away just as it finished. Every inch of your skin was covered in goosebumps, hands shaking and heart pounding. The sounds of other scientists and doctors discussing things were mere whispers despite being next to you.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Write that observation down so we can do something about it.”

“This effect is quite interesting and may prove to be useful.”

You cleared your throat and faced the group of scientists with angry eyes. “You need to stop these experiments now!” you yelled, “You are taking too many lives!”

One scientist rolled his eyes, “Dr. Song, have you forgotten your place? Why you’re here?”

You slammed your hand on the table, “I’m here because I’ve been forced to! I didn’t want this!”

With that, you turn on your heel, keen on talking to the authorities about what you’ve witnessed for the past week. However, as soon as your hand is hovering above the lab’s door access, one scientist grabbed your wrist and twisted harshly, throwing you to the marbled floor. You grimaced at the pain in your ankle and leg, glaring at the scientist as a result.

The scientist threatened to hit you before smirking and laughing, “If you so much as say a word about this to anyone outside this lab, you and your family are joining the test subjects. Got it?”

“And don’t bother being sneaky.” another scientist laughed, “We’ll find out one way or another. Now get up and run some tests on the vials over there. No results within the day, we test on another subject. Quickly now.”

You swallowed the anger bubbling inside you, forcing yourself to get up to grab the said vials. As the group of scientists continue to murmur amongst themselves, you went to the other side of the lab to run whatever tests on the greenish-blue liquid inside the vials. You realized that your hands were still a bit shaky, tears threatening to spill out of your eyes.

You became a doctor to save lives, not take them.

So when it all became too much - when all you could hear at night was the screams and cries of suffering, you knew you had to do something. It was all still a bit of a blur - or perhaps you just did not want to recall the details - but you somehow remember the day you decided to speak up.

The day gunshots were fired in the lab, explosions here and there. Fighting and more unnecessary death. Some scientists captured and some escaped. You sitting on the lab floor with an empty expression, blood dripping down your face and black smoky soot smudging your skin. An agent you didn’t know or have never seen holding you in his arms, whispering that it was going to be ok as Jung Hyunseo angrily ordered the others to search for the escaped “traitors”.

Days later, you resigned. Jung Hyunseo felt sorry and allowed you to do so, helping you go back to a more “normal life” outside SKZ. He spoke to Gongjak Medical Hospital’s director, using his authority and status as a government agency’s head to give his recommendation for you to work there. Seoul’s top hospital instantly welcomed you as a doctor there, and you prayed it stayed that way.

No matter what, you were never going to so much as glance at SKZ headquarters or even speak about the secret organization.

Your phone, sitting on a small stool next to the bathtub, rang with a text notification, successfully snapping you out of your trip down memory lane. You glance at it, vaguely reading the text from Hyunbin saying “I forgot to text you earlier but...Mr. Lim ate all his food for dinner. Did you scold him again? Hahaha”.

You ignore the text, hugging your legs to your chest as you rest your head on your knees. The water in the tub is no longer warm, and you aren’t sure if it’s water from your hair or tears that are trickling down, but you let your sobs echo across the bathroom either way. Maybe you’d forget everything if you did.

You knew the answer to that.

Meanwhile, back in SKZ’s headquarters, the three agents return and head to one of the lounge areas, plopping onto the couch with heavy sighs. A dimpled agent looks up from his book and smiles sympathetically, “How bad was it?”

“Chan,” the buff agent starts, “it wasn’t bad...she’s just...difficult. I would have used force if it were up to me, but Mr. Jung didn’t want that.”

“What Changbin said. And she’s a bit hostile. Like Minho on his bad days?” the long haired agent whines.

“Hwang Hyunjin.” Minho glares, shaking his head before returning to the book in his hands.

The sharp-eyed agent shrugs, “Either way, she was really adamant on not coming with us. It’s either she’s scared, suspicious or hates SKZ so much...and I wouldn’t know why. Maybe it’s all of the above.”

A freckled agent - Felix - laughs and speaks, “Jeongin, why didn’t you use your charms?”

“Charms? I’m not the seducer, Hyunjin is.” Jeongin states.

“I don’t think Dr. Song is the type to get seduced…” Hyunjin thinks to himself, trailing off.

Another agent with dark brown hair - Seungmin - hums as he leans back on another couch, “Does Mr. Jung know?”

“Yeah, we told him.” Changbin explains, “He...he’s going to send Minho next.”

Minho grimaces, the irritation on his face evident, “Shouldn’t Chan go first or something? Maybe someone nice and sweet and calm would work.”

Chan slings an arm around the other male, laughing, “Or maybe some force needs to be used.”

Minho looks at him with an eyebrow raised, and Chan sighs with a smile, “Ok, not violent force but...someone strong and stubborn.”

“Bang Chan, are you calling me stubborn?” Minho fake gasps.

“You kinda are.” Seungmin points out with a laugh.

The agent with a sharp nose and sparkly eyes groans and leans his head back on the couch, “I am not a babysitter, I’m a field agent. I don’t have the time to deal with a whiney woman who doesn’t want to be here in the first place.”

An agent with round cheeks shrugs, “Mr. Jung seems to know Dr. Song very well and has her in high regard. We must really need her here.”

Jeongin agrees, nodding his head, “Jisung has a point. And we need her soon.”

“Maybe she’ll come if she finally sees Minho’s face. He is handsome and sexy. Who would say no to him?”

“Damn it, Hyunjin - ”

“Anyway,” Changbin interrupts, “I warned Dr. Song to just...comply; not to push Minho’s buttons because we know what he’s capable of and all.”

“I’m not going to kill her.” Minho sighs, rubbing his temples.

Changbin laughs, “No, no. I mean...your whole ‘cut the crap’ attitude. We know you’re most probably going to get irritated with her and might end up fighting or something.”

Minho hums as if he was agreeing, pouting his bottom lip in thought. Chan chuckles, shaking his head, “Maybe you should try being a gentleman with her.”

Minho shakes his head as well. “That isn’t going to work with her, if Changbin, Hyunjin and Jeongin’s encounter is anything to go by.” the agent states, “Might just irritate her more. Look at Seungmin. He’s cranky a lot. Maybe doctors are like that.”

“Minho…” Seungmin sighs, but Jisung and Felix only laugh.

“Well, Minho doesn’t take mission or task failures too well, so I’m sure Dr. Song will be here in no time!” Chan pipes in, earning a chorus of agreements from the other agents.

Minho makes a small nod before sighing. He prays you actually listen and come with him without much trouble.

The next day, you drive yourself to the hospital for another day of work. Things go on normally, and you put on a smile when meeting with your patients. You even laugh and crack jokes with other patients while you visit them in their rooms. You give the little children hugs whenever their parents ask them to thank you for your time; a nice contrast to what happened last night.

But once it’s your lunch break, you sit at one of the hospital’s cafeteria tables, blankly staring into space as you eat your lunch. You don’t even notice the person sitting in front of you until he laughs and says, “You don’t look so good, y/n.”

You snap your eyes up and nearly choke on your food. Swallowing and clearing your throat, you softly chuckle and say, “What makes you say that?”

Hyunbin smiles, leaning forward with a playfully serious expression, “Your face just looks way more exhausted today. And I don’t know...I just feel like something’s bothering you. Didn’t sleep well last night?”

“As expected from one of Gongjak’s best doctors.” you tease, looking at your food with a melancholic expression, “But we’re always going to be exhausted. Part of being a doctor, right?”

The male doctor nods, “I know, but...you are ok, aren’t you?”

You nod, offering a slightly wider smile, “Perfectly.”

The male grins in satisfaction with your answer, leaning back on his chair to talk about his “cute little patients” running around and laughing when they get lollipops after their check-ups. You listen to him share stories, but somewhere along the line, your mind drifts off. To where, you aren’t sure, but it’s definitely not as cute and happy as Hyunbin’s stories.

When the day ends, you’re more than relieved to come home without mysterious agents appearing anywhere in your house. Maybe they’d leave you alone now.

And the next day also goes by smoothly as you work in the hospital. Sure, you had two operations to handle - and one of them nearly went south, but thankfully it didn’t - but nonetheless, it was a smooth and average day for you, and it was as if you forgot all about what happened with the agents the other night.

You wave to Hyunbin before leaving the hospital, laughing as he jokes with a “don’t fall asleep while driving!”. And thankfully, you don’t do that, making it back home quickly and safely.

The stillness that welcomes you once you enter the house is a bit eerie, but it doesn’t seem to bother you that much; after all, it was a bit chilly-weathered recently. You take a nice, quick warm bath before deciding you wanted a midnight snack since you didn’t get to eat dinner courtesy of the two back-to-back emergency operations you had to perform. After slipping into your nightgown and a fluffy robe to keep you warm, you go down to the kitchen.

While preparing a cup of coffee and preparing a quick sandwich, you hear faint rustling somewhere in the house. You don’t own any pets, and your neighbors hardly visited, so the first thought that enters your mind is that the agents are back. It isn’t dread or fear that fills your veins - it’s anger and frustration. You scoff angrily, glancing at the coffee maker and sandwich on the plate before making quick steps towards your study room. Harshly pushing the door open and switching on the lights, you scan the room.

But no one is there.

You look behind your desk and shelves, but still no sign of people. Maybe Hyunbin was right and you were just more tired than usual; maybe your mind was playing tricks. Sighing, you shut the door and resume your business in the kitchen, needing that cup of coffee much more now.

Once the coffee is done brewing, you take the mug and plate in your hands, making your way to your bedroom. Coming home at midnight or past midnight was always accompanied by a cold silence that resulted from all your other neighbors being asleep. But that was probably better than a bustling city filled with horns and drunk people shouting after a night in the club.

You sit on your bed, letting yourself release a deep breath as soon as your body comes into contact with the soft sheets. You munch into your sandwich, absentmindedly letting your gaze drift to the window. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue-violet mixed with inky black, silvery-white stars twinkling here and there. You find yourself smiling at the view; when was the last time you actually stopped to admire something? To actually feel safe and calm? To feel like you were finally free?

You take a sip of coffee and muse on about everything that has happened since you left SKZ; it’s been two years, and you were more than satisfied with working on Gongjak Medical Hospital. Surely, the things that happened in SKZ made you less trusting, but you had one or two friends - including Hyunbin - that you deeply trusted.

But despite that, the trauma still lingered. And you knew more than anyone that you truly would never be free.

You put your coffee cup down on the bedside table, getting up to bring the sandwich plate to the kitchen. However, as soon as your eyes are set on the door, you see a figure leaning against it, arms crossed as he stares - or glares - at you. You sigh, tugging on your robe tighter, “Did Jung Hyunseo send you?”

The figure doesn’t make any sign of expression unlike the previous agents; instead, he remains stone-faced as he pushes himself off the door. “Agent Seo said you’d be difficult. Can we not do that tonight? Things like these aren’t exactly in my job description.” he sighs.

“Then maybe Agent Seo made it clear that I don’t want to comply.” you say sharply.

The male’s eyes narrow in the slightest, and you don’t miss the darkness in them. He has a different aura compared to the other three. With the dim light of your lamp, you can see that he had sharp features - handsome, if you would, but definitely had a sharper and more daunting presence. Cold and steely.

“Yes, he did.” the male starts, putting on a bored act as he adjusts the buttons on his dress shirt’s sleeves, “But I’m here to make sure you don’t say ‘no’ again.”

“SKZ can’t force me against my will, even if they are some organization or agency.” you point out, irritation rising once more, “I have my rights.”

The agent huffs, crossing his arms again, “Listen, Dr. Song. I don’t want to be here, yet here I am. Mr. Jung personally requested your presence. You seem like a smart person, judging by how he holds you with such high regard, so can you at least hear him out?”

You roll your eyes, picking the plate from your bedside table. You slip your slippers on and ignore the agent, opting to head for the door yourself. You reach past him to hold onto the door knob, twisting it and pulling the door open as best as you can. Unlike Changbin, this agent refused to budge or leave. In fact, he grabs your wrist quite strongly and slams the door shut; the loud bang startles you in the slightest, causing your eyes to widen despite your urge not to. No, you refuse to show any sign of uneasiness.

The agent grabs the plate from you while still holding onto your wrist tightly. “Please do not test me, Dr. Song. My colleagues wanted to make sure I don’t hurt you, and I personally don’t do such things, so please, don’t push it.”

“Would you hurt me?” you challenge, levelling the male’s glare with sharp eyes, “Because I’m not as weak as you think.”

A lie. A complete and utter lie. Yes, you were strong-willed, but emotionally, mentally and physically strong? No. You were smart, but you were anything but strong. You believed you were weak. You refuse to face the past and move on from it. That’s what makes you weak, you thought.

“Wow.” the agent smirks, “Dr. Song, I don’t want to hurt you if I don’t need to. You aren’t a target; you’re the mission.”

With the last sentence, he grips your wrist just a bit tighter. Infuriated, you grit your teeth and harshly yank your arm away from him, quickly turning on your heel to run and grab your phone from the bed. Who were you going to call? Hyunbin? The hospital director? The police? You didn’t know, but you surely wanted this agent out of your sight.

You grabbed your phone to dial whoever’s number, but just as your finger is about to press the contacts app, the agent is in front of you, taking the phone in his hand and tossing it to the carpeted floor with a dull thud. You stare at him in mixed anger and disbelief, opening your mouth to shout some insult. However, a yelp is what comes out of your mouth instead because the agent tangles one of his legs with yours, tugging at your ankle to trip you.

With the momentum, you fall to your bed behind, back landing on the mattress with the agent above you, one hand still gripping your wrist. You have no fighting experience, and clearly engaging in a fight with someone who was trained seemed like the worst possible choice of action. Yet you did.

Without hesitation, you swing your free arm in a sorry attempt to slap the agent, but he easily catches your wrist with his other hand, now pinning your own hands above your head. You look up at the agent with a gaze burning with anger. “What fucked up crap has SKZ gotten themselves into this time?” you hiss, on the verge of raising your voice, “Why do they need me?”

Despite your outburst, the agent remains emotionless, disposition composed and collected much to your dismay. “You’ll find out if you come with me, Dr. Song.” he responds calmly, raising an eyebrow, “I don’t want to knock you out to do that.”

You try to wriggle your hands out of his grip and kick with your legs, but the agent holds your wrists tighter and pins your hips down with his own. His facial expression is still quite blank, but the furrow in his eyebrows tells you he is mildly - or maybe very - exasperated already. “Knock me out? Enlighten me how.” you spit out.

“You’re the doctor, Dr. Song. I’m sure you’re knowledgeable on gases that could do that. Or…” the agent remains expressionless, but there’s a haughty color in his eyes as he brings a hand to your cheek, gently caressing with his knuckles, “...I could hit you, which is what I do to our targets, but as I’ve said, I personally don’t want to do that.”

You can only stare at the male, eyebrows knit together in an upset manner as all the fight and anger in your body dissolves, tensed muscles weakening as the unfavorable position you’re in finally registers in your mind. When the agent blinks, you vaguely take note of his long eyelashes, a delicate contrast to his sharp and strong features.

“What will it be, Dr. Song?” he whispers, breath mingling with yours.

You shut your eyes, deflating as you sigh, “Fine. But if I hear what Jung Hyunseo has to say and I don’t like it, I have the right to refuse to assist SKZ.”

“Hmm, I’m afraid not.” the agent finally lets go of your wrists and clambers off of you, fixing and tucking in his dress shirt into his slacks, “If you refuse or run away, Mr. Jung will persistently send agent after agent for you until you fully return or help SKZ.”

“And once I help? Once I’m finished? Will SKZ finally and genuinely let me go and live?”

“Yes, Dr. Song.”

“Shit, fine. This is the last, I swear.”

You could have kept saying “no” in all honesty, but the prospect of an agent coming into your house - or worse, directly kidnapping or abducting you by force - was not something you wanted to think about; that would just make your life more miserable.

The agent lets you get dressed in your bathroom for privacy, but he waits in your room to make sure you don’t sneak out or run from him. Afterwards, he tells you to quickly follow him, which you do because you don’t really have a choice. Once in the black car with tinted windows, you sink into the passenger’s seat, a very big frown on your face as you look outside at the city lights. The agent himself is quiet as well, focused on driving rather quickly.

The buzzing silence in the car is then interrupted when his phone rings; he accepts the call with the speakers on so you could technically hear the voice of the person speaking: Jung Hyunseo, no doubt.

“Agent Lee, what’s the update?”

The male agent doesn’t take his eyes off the road as he answers, “She’s with me, sir.”

“I knew I could count on you.” Hyunseo chuckles lightly, “Thank you, Minho. See you back in HQ.”

When the call ends, and Minho stops the car as the traffic light turns red, he cranes his neck to face you, expression still annoyingly vague and basically emotionless. “Please do behave once we’re in HQ.” he says, “You may hate SKZ, but we all expect you to adhere to the rules, alright, doctor?”

You don’t even have the desire to respond, rolling your eyes as Minho breaks eye contact to focus on the road as the traffic light turns green.

Two years away from SKZ, and here you were, being dragged back into the place you desperately wanted to get away from.

Lee Minho.

You’d remember that agent’s name. Whether you went willingly or not, you had a feeling Lee Minho, on Jung Hyunseo’s command, would find one way or another to bring you back, and that was what affected you the most.

It was going to be his fault you were back.

[willadisastercry]

Lance ignores his asthma and Coran is not willing to be an accomplice pt. 2

It’s a race against the clock as Lance’s lungs worsen and his team scrambles to come up with a remedy before it’s too late. And though this whole mess certainly could’ve been avoided had he been upfront about his situation to begin with, his team will have to save the scolding for when Lance can focus on something other than the pain of trying to force air into his rapidly constricting airways. Altean technology works fast, but what if fast isn’t fast enough?

Part 1 / Part 2

“D’you check these yet?” Hunk asked as he threw open the topmost drawer of the in-wall storage space in Lance’s cabin.

“No, and it’s not in here either... I don’t understand wh—shit!” Keith cursed as he knocked over the trash can beside Lance’s nightstand and began scooping the contents back up.

“I don’t know where it could possibly be if—“

“—found it...” Keith interrupted as he held up the inhaler that had fallen out with the rest of the trash.

“Did you just get that from the... don’t you dare tell me it’s... oh, quiznak!”

“We’ve gotta tell Shiro...”

Keith was scared that Hunk would actually cry with the way his body tensed and his eyes glossed over.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Coran will know what to do,” Keith offered as he forwent cleaning up the rest of the mess he made for the sake of time.

“Bring that with you, maybe it can help him figure something out,” Hunk said after a second of staring blankly before he turned on his heel and joined Keith in a mad dash back to the training deck.

When they finally made it back they wished they’d never left.

Lance was collapsed onto his forearms with a very distraught Shiro rubbing circles on his back as he struggled to take in heaving breaths. He hadn’t even realized they’d returned until Shiro spoke up.

“Thank god you guys are back, just toss it—”

“It’s empty, this was his last inhaler...” Keith offered for the look of utter despair on Shiro’s face as Hunk sunk down next to them and placed one hand beside Shiro’s on his back and wrapped the other around Lance’s, receiving a weak squeeze in thanks for the small comfort.

“You’re gonna be fine dude... Coran and Allura are going to help, they can fix this. Just keep breathing as deep as you can,” he repeated over and over as Lance’s chest continued to hitch, the wheezes so loud and guttural now as his lungs worsened and his body grew more exhausted.

Understanding washed over Shiro all at once and then he was moving, maneuvering Lance’s struggling body despite the unwillingness of his lax limbs.

He was too exhausted to do much of anything aside from keep his chest rising and follow whatever direction his pliant frame was guided, letting himself be pushed back onto his heels as hands clasped his forearms and settled on his back to keep him from tipping over.

Every muscle in his abdomen was screaming. A similar tension burning up his neck and seeping into the sinews between his shoulder blades that made his head feel way too heavy to sit atop his shoulders. After not even thirty ticks of trying to summon the strength to keep it up he let it hang forward, the hands on him tightening their grips when he did.

He was extremely grateful they couldn’t see his face anymore because tears were beginning to form quicker than they could fall and he was sure he would have been fully sobbing at that point if he’d had any energy to spare.

“We’re meeting everyone at the infirmary then, you guys run ahead and let Coran know,” Shiro ordered as he motioned for Hunk to take hold of Lance while he turned away and crouched.

With some help he rose on shaking legs, Keith rushing to support his other side when his oxygen deprived legs protested the action.

“Woah, we’ve got you... thanks Keith...”

Their hands under his armpits kept him standing long enough to collapse onto Shiro’s back.

He literally only had the energy after that to throw his arms over Shiro’s shoulders and nestle his chin securely in the space between his own bicep and Shiro’s neck before his body sagged against his leader like dead weight.

“Go! I’m right behind you,” he shouted, his voice dark and fearful.

He could feel Lance straining against him as he followed after them, could hear the way his congested airways sputtered each time he tried to breathe.

Shiro made his way with steady urgency, not exactly jogging but not walking either, the anxiety bubbling in his stomach only forcing his legs to pump quicker as Lance got worse.

Keith and Hunk made it to the medbaby in record time though, both boys panting after sputtering to a halt once they made it through the whooshing doors.

The paladins knew today’s workout would be a doozy, but none of them expected to be doing this much running, especially under these circumstances.

Pidge was on the floor sorting through boxes of medicine and supplies carrying on an in-depth conversation regarding the compositional makeup of altean pharmaceuticals with Coran and Allura.

“Hey guys—wait why do you have...?”

“Empty...”

Keith answered a bit breathlessly as he waved the tube of navy and teal plastic in the air before gesturing to toss it to Coran who nodded and raised his hands in anticipation.

“...figured you’d want to take a look at the ingredients or whatever before Shiro got here with him.”

The air in the room seemed to thin as worry descended upon everyone.

“Christ, Lance!” Pidge exclaimed and sat back on her heels.

“Yeah, he’s not doing too hot,” Hunk said as he joined them, stealing the box of tubes and gadgets from Pidge to rifle through it himself.

Coran’s frown somehow deepened and Allura looked increasingly more distraught as he began filling them in.

“What level of dangerous is his breathing at?” Pidge asked hesitantly, like she didn’t want to hear the answer.

“He’s panicking and already really exhausted, so pretty dangerous. It’s one of the worst attacks I think he’s had in a while...”

Allura worried at her lip and kept glancing between the jumble of medical supplies and the medbay doors while she worked absently to ready a bed, the mice smoothing out wrinkles in the sheets and pulling down corners for her.

“Well, it was smart of number four to think of bringing this. I am synthesizing several medicines in likeness but none of them are exactly complete yet—”

“That’s—fuck, that’s not gonna be good enough...”

Everyone stilled at Hunk’s harsh interruption, his hands shaking in loose fists at his sides while he stared fixedly at the boxes of miscellaneous medical equipment in front of him.

“Lance can’t breathe, he can’t just wait for something to finish synthesizing, he might not be breathing at all when it’s done!”

Pidge scooted across the floor and laid her tiny hands on top of Hunk’s trembling ones.

“I think what Hunk means to say is that Lance’s condition is, erm, kinda dire and requires something that works as fast as possible.”

“Hmmm, I see. That is why the blue wilgam bark salve is strictly for prevention... this is indeed a rather tricky—ah, though I suppose I can try to extract and aerosolize whatever might remain of his earth remedy for a temporary solution,” Coran noted as he braved his stern concentration face and began separating the metal canister from the outer plastic to compare the words on it to the words on the bottles of medicine in front of him.

“And we can always place him in a pod for however long it takes to create an accurate remedy... he is truly in the best hands Hunk, do not fret so much,” Allura finished with a tight smile that was warm and assuring all the same.

It was strange how well she could do that, squash so much worry with such a simple act.

Coran hurried over to a station with lots of tools and canisters and turned on several machines that made various clicking and whirring noises.

Keith’s nose wrinkled at the new sounds but he couldn’t find it in him to feel angry about it. Not when they were going to help Lance when was in such bad shape.

“Okay, okay... those are good ideas,” Hunk agreed with a gasp, he hadn’t realized he’d been withholding air as he lost himself in his panic.

“Deep breaths, big guy,” Pidge urged, the weight of her hands bringing him back down from the brink of panic as his mind raced.

“Yeah, don’t forget that you’re the one who can actually breathe,” Keith chided gently with a hesitant hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

“Right... sorry. It’s just that these can get ugly really quick if—“

The doors whooshed open with an unsettling burst of air as Shiro emerged and crossed the room in a matter of seconds, a flurry of concerned exclamations filling the silence in between pauses of commotion that should have been hurried gasps for air.

But weren’t.

There wasn’t time to make sense of the lack of color in Lance’s face or the absence of movement in his chest as Shiro slid him off of his back, human hand trembling as he moved to support his middle and the base of his neck as he lowered his lifeless body onto the bed.

It was a grim enough sight to have even Allura’s mice crying out.

“Lance!”

“Holy fuck...”

Pidge was acting on autopilot as she pinched the altean breathing mask Coran had pulled out over the bridge of his nose and cupped it under his chin to secure the seal, Keith moving in eerie similarity to connect the tubing and flip the right switches on the machine when it became apparent that Hunk wouldn’t be spurred from his horror any time soon.

It wasn’t prepped because they hadn’t realized they’d be needing it so soon.

“No... nonononono—“

They aren’t sure how they heard it through the muddle of commotion and devastating silence but it stopped them all in their tracks, the faintest whisper of air passing his lips.

His very blue lips, go figure.

“He’s breathing, Hunk. Just barely, though...”

Lance’s eyes were open still and staring at nothing as his neck strained for air that was there now but still not accessible with how severely inflamed his lungs had become, the only sounds leaving his lips at all just rapid exhales where he couldn’t expel enough before his aching lungs screamed for more of what the mask was providing

“It doesn’t look like it’s helping...” Hunk all but sobbed as he gripped the base board of the bed so tightly his fingers blanched.

Lance’s eyes bobbed at that, struggling to locate who out of his friends was distressed through the tears welling at their brims.

They were puffy and bloodshot as silent tears spilled in a continuous stream, his eyebrows drawn together with pain and desperation.

“That’s because it’s not,” Shiro deadpanned, his hands working to soothe over Lance’s stuttering chest as his rasping breaths caught in his throat on their way out.

“Wh-how is it not working... it’s oxygen?!”

It was almost pitiful how helpless Keith looked as he stated the very blatant fact, his expression sharp and his tone prickly, like he didn’t know who or what to be mad at.

“His airways,” Pidge started weakly, her voice wavering, “they must be too tight for the air to get through...”

Shiro’s hand gripped Lance’s fiercely. It was ice cold.

The gravity of the situation dawned on his friends like a literal blow then, all eyes turning to Allura.

“Coran... he-he’s working on something, but...”

It wasn’t often that the paladins saw the princess hesitate. Her usual order of proceeding during a crisis was to do something brave or noble first and think about it later, but her impulse instinct was uncharacteristically absent as she stared at Lance’s greying face.

Her hands rose slowly, long fingers uncurling from where they’d been pressed tightly in her palms to reveal a subtle pink glow.

“Princess...”

“I know, Shiro... it’s just—I am scared it might cause him greater discomfort...”

“I don’t think we have time to worry about that, Allura,” Keith noted gravely from the foot of the bed where Lance’s eyes were half focused and darting between him and Hunk.

A status update from Coran made the tension in the room skyrocket further as he estimated another twenty or so dobashes before anything was viable.

It only took one more particularly worrisome sound of distress from Lance for Allura’s hands to descend on his chest with certainty, the pink furls leaving her fingers and settling on his body for not even a second before his back arched off the bed with a strangled gasp.

Allura grimaced as she called upon several energy reserves to ease the vice constricting Lance’s lungs as fast as she could.

A phantom tightness bloomed in her own chest as she visualized the pressure leaving his while she forced each passage back open, the channel she had opened between them by using her powers allowing her to feel the gridlock for herself.

She didn’t let up until Lance was sinking back into the pile of pillows and by then she was so lightheaded that her vision was spotting, but Keith was at her side and gripping her elbow securely before she could even stumble when the strength in her legs wavered.

“I am quite alright, just feeling a bit weak.”

“Are you sure? Why don’t you take a seat for a few anyway?”

Lance couldn’t really make sense of the conversations going on around him while he collected himself after being released from the pulls of Allura’s magic.

“It’ll pass, Keith.”

“Allura...”

Not that he was known for having stellar listening skills, but he was just usually able to follow along with the general flow of things even when otherwise preoccupied.

“Coran you said only eighteen minutes, right?”

The voices of his friends filtered back in slowly though, his skull throbbing still after the horrible pressure had lifted.

“Can you lift his head for a sec so I can secure the strap?”

He hadn’t been coherent of much of anything before, fixing what remained of his energy on the miserable stalemate in his chest.

“It’s only seventeen dobashes and forty three tics now...”

And then the twisted relief of Allura’s magic.

But after that his hearing seemed to flatline, zeroing in on a high pitched hiss that was either static or the oxygen flow of which droned on and dribbled into his present when the tension that had yanked every muscle in his body taught alleviated all at once.

It was so disorientating it almost nauseated him and brought a distinct rush of blood to his eardrums, the oxygen flooding his deprived bloodstream like a dam had broken and left him feeling utterly weightless.

Shiro was the first one to break through the barrier of cotton that muffled his brain.

“Easy, Lance,” he instructed when he didn’t start breathing normally right sway, too stunned by the sudden levity to remember how.

“Take it slow hermano, you’re okay now...”

Everything was still uncomfortably tight and restricted, but air was at least accessible even as his body struggled to acclimate to the change, his heaves greedy and crackling.

“I was able reduce the inflammation for now but there is a substantial amount of fluid that remains in his lungs.”

“Fluid? What like blood?”

“No, Keith, not blood. Phlegm.”

“Oh, gross.”

Lance let out an indignant huff at that and despite the restriction of the mask managed to return the look of disgust the mullet had given him.

“Why is that so bad if it’s just phlegm?”

“Because anything in your lungs besides air is bad, Keith. It’s your lungs!”

“Precisely, Pidge. And it will only keep irritating Lance’s but we cannot risk him progressing back to such a state before Coran has derived his medicine when my powers are not indefatigable.”

“Yep...” Lance winced.

In order to speak he had to battle against the congestion in his chest which made his already wrecked voice sound downright abrasive.

“Shhh, no talking!” Pidge hissed with a warning glare.

But when was Lance ever known to take good advice when it’s given?

“Think... I can feel th’fluid... s’not very—“

He didn’t have to elaborate any more than that to get his point across because the rapping of his own vocal cords against each other had him launching into a harsh fit of coughing that rocked his entire frame. The accumulated cloud of condensation in the mask never allowed to chance to dissipate fully as he hacked.

It sort of felt like he was drowning since he didn’t have the strength to get his arms underneath him while all of the crap that his stupid respiratory system produced to counteract the strain in his lungs only worked to suffocate him and his freshly reduced air passages.

“Shit someone help me get him up, it’ll be easier to breathe if he’s vertical...”

Hunk surged to grab the arm that was closest to him as Shiro slotted his own beneath Lance’s back and hefted him into what only partially passed as a sitting position. But the motion made his head spin and his stomach clench and then Hunk’s hands planted on either of his shaking shoulders to keep him from tilting over as Shiro slid behind him.

The others looked on with horror.

“You’re okay,” Shiro assured as he pulled Lance towards himself.

He was grateful for the solidity of Shiro’s chest, his hold firm enough that Lance didn’t have to work anymore to keep himself up as he slumped into it, but the tears started back up anyway when he continued to actively choke on what felt like nothing despite being upright.

But there wasn’t anything in his throat to actually choke on.

“Just gotta work through it...”

He was starting to get really tired of the exhaustion and malaise that came with being deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time.

“Paladins! Only fourteen—er, minutes remaining.”

“Hear that bud? You’re gonna be okay.”

He did hear but he’s shaking his head in the crook of Shiro’s arm where his head had lolled because he can’t wait that long. He can’t.

“Yeah, you’ll feel better real soon,” Hunk affirmed.

But Lance was verging on a hysteria that he couldn’t summon the strength to express when every muscle that can be strained in his body felt like it most definitely was. And with how acutely his ribcage ached he was also certain he’d displaced a couple of those false ribs made up of just cartilage too.

“Hey, no don’t get upset, you’re gonna be fine!”

He’s never been more exhausted in his life and he can’t communicate that he can’t wait that long because he hasn’t stopped coughing.

His eyes are burning from the amount of crying he’s done so he relies on touch alone when a hand cups his chin and turns it, deducing it must be Allura.

“Lance, can you hear me?”

A shakey jerk seems to be good enough for her.

“I know you aren’t the biggest fan of the healing pods, but I understand that you are in a great deal of distress still and I believe you have endured enough...”

“What are you—oh, yeah! We could totally just put him in stasis like you and Coran were for thousands of years and bring him out when the medicine is ready.”

“Yes, just as Pidge puts it. There is no need to extend the suffering of one of my paladins.”

Shiro set his jaw as he regarded Allura sternly, it didn’t matter what she believed if Lance didn’t agree and he knew how wary he was of returning to the pods after the harrowing experience that landed him in one for the first time.

“Is that something you want to do? It’s alright if you aren’t comf—“

“Please.”

His voice was small, hard even a rasp, but it didn’t need to be loud for Shiro to accept it as his answer.

“Okay...”

Lance checked out after that, allowing himself to save the energy it took to focus on what was happening around him.

So when he started registering Shiro’s voice in his ear he wasn’t exactly sure how both him and the respirator came to be at the foot of a cryochamber but he made a desperate noise at the realization.

“I know, bud. You’re almost there but we need to take the mask off.”

No one missed the fear that flashed across his face before it softened into resignation, or otherwise known as I don’t care, please put me in that stupid thing right now.

Shiro was still holding him and seemed to sense the urgency in it.

“I’m gonna stand up with you...”

It was so surprise when Lance’s knees hardly held any of his own weight before wobbling and giving out as Shiro stood with him still flush against his chest.

He regarded Hunk with a lazy roll through lidded eyes as he tipped his head forward and worked the strap off but held the mask in place.

Distantly aware of the burst of air from the pod opening and a renewed flurry of commotion around him, Lance tried to work with Shiro as he ushered him forward but his legs were too heavy and he couldn’t coordinate his movements well.

Someone else’s hands were on him, bending his knee so they could set one leg down in the pod and send the rest of his body with it. He thinks it might’ve been Keith.

The various sets of hands on him stay even after he’s securely in place, probably scared he would crumple if they did.

They were probably right.

“-nce. Hey, Lance? There you are, this is gonna suck but only for a second. I promise. Ready?”

You would’ve missed the brief hum from his somewhere deep in his sore chest if you weren’t practically inside the pod with him like Shiro seemed to be.

“Okay, now Hunk.”

The crackling heave that erupted from hims mouth was something a dying thing made, but he couldn’t hear himself or the horrible sound he made as consciousness began to swiftly melt away in stages.

First with the initial pressure everywhere after the removal of the mask.

And then pain because holy shit he couldn’t breathe.

But the cold creeped into his bones at light speed and the darkness wasn’t too far behind.

[albertasunrise]

Unexpected

Summary: After the worst day at work you’ve ever had, you find release in a man that you meet in a bar. A tall dark stranger that gives you the best night of your life… but you also get more than you bargained for.

Warning/Content: Explicit, Angst, Bathroom Sex, Swearing 

Paring: Javier Peña / Female Reader 

Masterlist

~

Downing your drink, you groan into your palm as you try to calm your frayed nerves. Today had been hell. You knew that coming to Columbia to work at the Embassy was not going to be easy. You'd volunteered on a whim, how many Executive Assistants had the chance to assist the Ambassador to Columbia? Today though, shit had hit the fan and you were the one to take the brunt of the crap that flew. You were the assistant, unfortunately, it came with the territory. So you had decided to go home, put on your best jeans and a nice top and go to the bar your colleagues had been raving about, alone. You motion to the barman to fetch you another drink, thanking him as he gives it to you and you hold out the money you owe.

‘It’s on him.’ The barman states, motioning to someone sat a few stools down from you.

He had dark hair that curled at the end and a moustache that surprisingly suited him, you’d never liked them on men before. His eyes were dark, cocoa brown and twinkled in the yellow artificial light, crinkling at the corners as he smiled at you.

‘Thank you.’ You say to him, nodding your appreciation before taking a large swig.

‘Bad day?’ He asks, noting the tension in your shoulders.

‘The worst.’ You reply, downing the last of your drink.

~

His lips were delicious against your skin, nibbling and sucking at your neck as he hoists you up so that you're perched on the edge of the sink. It was chaotic. Fingers fumbling to unbutton his jeans as his thrust and curl inside you, driving that coil tighter and tighter. You manage to free his length, kissing him hard as your hands grab his waist and pull him flush against you.

‘Fuck me, Peña.’ You growl, pumping his length ‘Now.’

You don’t need to ask him twice, pushing himself into your heat with one swift motion that has you moaning loudly into his mouth. He's ruthless, pounding you as your brace yourself against the mirror. It didn’t take long for you to climax, throwing your head back and your mouth falling open in a silent scream as he continues to hit that spot inside that makes your toes curl. His lips latched to your pulse point, fingers sliding between you and rubbing circular motions on your clit as he growls in your ear.

‘One more for me Hermosa.’ He whispers, his low baritone sending you over the edge again and your walls clamp hard around him, pulling his own orgasm from him seconds later.

‘Fuck.’ You breathe as you slump back against the mirror at your rear ‘Thanks… I needed that.’

‘Glad I could be of service.’ He grinned, helping you down and running his hand through his sweat-slick hair.

‘See you around Peña.’ You wink, leaving him speechless in your wake.

~

You hadn’t expected that you’d see him so soon, the both of you sharing a wide-eyed gaze as he approached the Ambassador's office. The blonde man at his side studied the two of you for a moment before rolling his eyes and letting out an audible huff.

‘You fucked her didn’t you.’ He growled, your face heating up as you return your attention to your paperwork.

‘She’s ready when you are.’ You state, your eyes not leaving the piece of paper in your hands.

You quickly dove for the ladies the moment they disappeared through the door, letting out a shaky breath as you splashed your face with water. Of course, the man you’d casually fucked last night was a DEA agent here to catch Escobar. You’d been here exactly 2 weeks so had not had the pleasure of meeting the two American pain in the asses that the Ambassador complained about so much but now you knew one intimately. You knew he had given you the best fuck of your life. You straightened your makeup and returned to your desk, fighting to keep your mind quiet as the minutes ticked by.

‘Can I speak to you a moment?’ You jumped, not even seeing Javier walk up to your desk.

‘I uh-‘

‘It won't take a minute.’

You nod, following him to the empty communal kitchen and lean against the counter, arms crossed as you wait for him to speak. He’s silent initially, scratching the back of his neck nervously as he thinks carefully about what to say to you.

‘I’m sorry about Steve.’ He says finally, resting one hand on his hip as the other scrubs over his face.

‘It’s fine Peña.’ You reply ‘We did fuck so he was right.’

‘Right…’ He replies, looking at you a moment before continuing ‘I guess he is.’

‘Was that all you wanted to say?’ You asked curtly, eyes glancing at the clock to your left.

‘No. I uh-‘ He pauses, carefully thinking about his next words ‘I wondered if perhaps I could take you out for dinner?’

‘Javi you don’t have to do that.’

‘Do what?’ You sigh, shaking your head at him.

‘Protect my dignity or whatever.’

‘No thats-‘

‘I’d had a bad day and needed a fuck. You kindly provided me with that service.’ You state, noting the slightly wounded expression that crosses his face ‘You were great but it was a one-time thing. Don’t need to make a thing out of it.’

‘Oh.’ His voice cracks a little, taking a step towards the door he nods and looks around at anything but you ‘Right yeah of course. See you around.’

~

You don’t see much of Peña after that. He doesn’t speak to you when he meets the ambassador, barely looks at you when he announces that he’s there. You’d learned about his reputation from office gossip. The playboy DEA agent, screwing hookers for information and bedding most of the assistants in the office, you were just another to add to the pile. You notice that he doesn’t blank the other assistants, he subtly flirts with them as he passes by but when he sees you the air changes and you shiver. You couldn’t possibly have hurt him? He didn’t do relationships and he was the king of one night stands so why was he treating you like this? You’d almost called in sick this morning. You’d been feeling nauseous since you woke up and when your colleague had offered you a mug of coffee you'd almost thrown up on their shoes. A familiar voice filled the air and you looked up to see Peña and his partner Murphy approaching, catching Javi’s eye you decide that you don't need his shit and will avoid it altogether. You push yourself to your feet, grabbing your desk as a wave of dizziness hits you.

‘You okay.’ Asks Sophie as she gives you a concerned glance.

‘Yeah.’ You reply, nodding weakly ‘Just got up too quickly.’

You start walking towards the kitchen, your eye catching Peña’s again as your paths get closer and closer. Then everything goes back. Javier manages to catch you just as your eyes roll back and your legs give way, his heart hammering in his chest as he tries to rouse you.

‘She okay?’ Asks Steve as he looks down at you with concern.

Peña doesn’t answer, just strokes your cheek as your eyes start to flutter ‘Hey you with me?’

You can only nod, your brain a fuzzy mess as you try to make sense of everything. When your eyes finally find the strength to open, you’re greeted by familiar brown eyes staring down at you, brow furrowed with worry. Suddenly you get a surge of energy and you push yourself up and out of his arms.

‘Thanks.’ You grumble, placing your palm against your forehead before getting to your feet.

‘You should go see a doctor.’ He states, placing a friendly hand on your arm.

‘Yeah. I will.’ You reply plainly, leaving his presence as quickly as you can.

Javier watches you leave, his stomach twisting again as he felt that all familiar hurt creep in again. It wasn’t something he was used to, having feelings but ever since that night, he’d not been able to get you out of his head. You clearly weren't interested in him though. You got what you wanted and that was it.

~

Sophie drove you to a clinic that afternoon, the only person that spoke English there being a lady called Connie who was American also. After explaining your symptoms she decided to run a few tests, informing you that you’d most likely get the results later that week. You gave her your number and left, not wanting to dwell on the multitude of possible things that could be wrong with you. It was stress. Pure and simple. As the days went on you grew more and more nervous. You were still struggling with nausea but you’d thankfully not had a repeat of your fainting spell so when your phone rang you felt your heart thunder in your chest, picking up the receiver you answer with your name and listen as Connie spoke.

‘Are you able to come down here?’ She asks, her soft voice doing nothing to quell your nerves.

‘Sure, when?’

‘Would half an hour work for you?’ She asks.

‘Yes.’ You reply, grabbing your keys ‘See you then.’

You make it to the clinic 10 minutes early, your hands shaking as you sit and wait for your name to be called. Connie’s smiling face calms you a little when it comes into view and she ushers for you to follow her, motioning at the chair beside her desk as she closes the door behind her.

‘How are you feeling?’ She asks, placing a kind hand on your forearm as she sits in the chair across from yours.

‘Still been struggling the last few days but no more fainting spells thank goodness.’ You reply, your voice shaking,

‘Okay.’ She says softly, pulling a piece of paper out.

‘So what’s wrong with me?’ You ask, smiling awkwardly as you try to lighten the situation.

‘You are pregnant.’ She replies plainly, looking up at you to gauge your reaction ‘About 6 weeks along.’

‘Fuck.’ You groan, throwing your face into your hands.

‘According to the medical record that you supplied you have an IUD but it appears that you are late getting it changed.’

‘Yeah, I uh…’ You groan again, cursing yourself inwardly ‘I haven't had a chance.’

‘Well, we’ll get you booked in to get it removed and for a scan.’ She states, her tone calm and professional ‘I’m guessing that you’re not with the father.’

‘Fuck, the father.’ You exclaim, throwing your hands up to your head ‘What am I going to tell him? Oh hey, remember that time we fucked in the bathroom of that bar… well you got me pregnant.’

Connie sits there with her mouth hanging open as she listens to your tirade.

‘God, what do I do Connie? Do I keep it?’ You start to panic, a million scenarios flying through your head.

‘Have you got someone that can come get you?’ She asks.

‘I moved here 2 months ago.’ You reply, tears finally falling ‘I have literally no one.’

‘Hey.’ She grabs your hand, grounding you ‘Why don’t you come back to mine this evening? I don’t have many friends either and I know that I wouldn’t want to be alone after receiving unexpected news like this. My husband can drop you home after. I bought a tone of food to cook for us and his friend so there will be plenty for you too.’

You think about it for a moment, finding that her presence was instantly soothing, like a balm and so you find yourself nodding. You offer to drive her back, the conversation in the car flowing easily as you drive through the busy streets to her apartment building. You help her cook, finding the action helps calm you as you stir the sauce as she chops some veg.

‘So what do you think you’ll do?’ She asks, sipping on her wine as she turns to look at you.

‘Well, I need to tell the father. Whether he wants to raise this baby with me or not he deserves to be given the choice’ You reply, sipping on the decaf coffee she’d made you ‘I’ve always wanted kids but I thought perhaps I had a few more years left yet before it happened.’

‘So you want to keep it?’ She asked and you nod 'Do you think he'll want to be involved?'

‘Honestly? I don’t know.’ You reply, shrugging your shoulders ‘Like he asked me out to dinner and I said no, I assumed that he was just trying to protect my dignity or whatever but then he’s been so cold to me since. Thinking about it now, I think he might have asked because he actually wanted to go on a date with me. When I fainted he was so attentive and I practically ran away from him. Ugh.’

‘We’re back.’ Came a familiar voice, your blood went cold.

What were the chances that Connie Murphy was Steve Murphy’s wife?

‘Who’s this?’

You turn around and his head jumps back in surprise.

‘Oh, Hey.’

‘You know each other?’ Asks Connie, confusion crossing her face.

‘Yeah we work together’ He replies ‘Sort of. How do you know each other?’

‘She came to the clinic. She got some unexpected news today and I thought she'd appreciate a home-cooked meal and good company to take her mind off of it.’

‘I hope everything’s okay?’ He asks as he gives you a concerned look.

‘Yeah.’ You reply, your eyes locking with Javier as he slips out of the shadows ‘Everything’s fine.’

Javier is silent most of the night, the tension between the two of you so thick that it was almost tangible. When Connie and Steve got up to clean the plates you were left alone and you knew that this was your chance. You had to tell him.

‘I uh…- You pause, your heart in your throat ‘I need to talk to you about something.’

‘Do you?’ His tone is cutting and you wince, you deserve it.

You are interrupted by Steve offering you both a nightcap which you decline in unison. You leave together, hugging Connie goodbye and thanking her for a lovely evening before practically chasing Peña down the stairs.

‘Javier wait. Please!’

‘Can’t this wait until tomorrow? I have somewhere to be.’ He growls as he pushes his key into the lock on his door.

‘I’m pregnant.’ You blurt out, stopping him in his tracks ‘My IUD failed and well… I’m 6 weeks pregnant.’

He turns to face you but he doesn’t say anything, just listens as you continue to ramble.

‘I’m not telling you because I want anything from you. I think I’m going to keep it but I just wanted to give you the option to be a part of its life but I get that you probably want nothing to do with me.’ You pause, wiping a stray tear with the back of your hand ‘I have a scan booked in for two weeks from now. You can come if you want. It's at 3 pm on the 25th at Connie’s clinic.’

He still says nothing, just stares at you and you shift uncomfortably under his gaze.

‘Anyway… I thought you should know.’ You state before darting out the door, your tears streaming as you get in your car and drive away.

~

Once again you were early. You stare at the clock and watch each minute painfully tick by, a hand resting on your belly.

‘Hey.’ It’s a voice you hadn’t expected to hear.

You look up to see Javier standing across from you, his expression surprisingly soft considering the circumstances. He takes a seat beside you and you lock eyes with him, smiling when he takes your free hand in an attempt to calm your nerves.

‘You came.’ You state, so quietly it’s almost a whisper.

‘Yeah well... Despite the fact I asked you on a date which you rejected and the fact you ran away from me when I tried to care for you after you fainted you seem to have some sort of hold on me,’ He states, tilting his head to one side ‘Kids were never a part of my plan but then... neither were you.’

You go to speak but are interrupted by your name being called and you look up together to see a short, dark-haired woman motioning for you to come. You both follow her into a small room where she hands you a robe and instructs you to change in the toilet. When you return she motions for you to lay down and warns that the ultrasound gel will probably be cold, you still jump when it touches your skin. You lay there as she fires up the scanner and places the probe on your stomach and you suddenly feel unbelievable nervous. You stare up at Javier who was giving you a look you couldn’t make out. Was it nerves? Excitement? The silence is cut by a constant beat and Javier’s hand grabs hold of yours as you both look at the nurse.

‘Heartbeat is good.’ She states, pointing at a small white shape on the screen ‘Everything look good.’ She continues in her broken English 'I print some pictures for you.’

You nod then look at Javier again. He’s staring at the screen with wide, tear brimmed eyes and you feel your heart jump at the sight. You return your attention to the nurse who hands you the print-outs and excuses herself, leaving the two of you alone with the frozen image of your baby on the screen.

‘You okay?’ You ask, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

‘Yeah.’ He replies, looking at you with pure, unadulterated joy ‘More than okay.’

Then he kisses you but this time it’s different. It’s not hungry or desperate, it’s soft and caring and you melt into it, smiling as he cups your cheeks. Breaking away he kisses your forehead and looks at you with his hypnotising eyes.

‘Shall we try this again?’ He asks, smirking at you ‘Can I take you to dinner?’

‘Well, Agent Peña I think that’s the least you can do considering I’m having your baby.’ You joke, kissing him again as he chuckles.

‘Yes.’ He replies, kissing you again ‘Yes you are.'

~

[joontier]

Parallel Palpitations | V1; report i

pairings: dr. park jimin x female reader 

chapter rating: NC-17 | genre: romance, slice of life, humor

warnings: none to note

word count: 2k

g/n: this is just an intro basically ksjdfksjdf but i’d also like to inform yalls this coincides with the Subliminal in Scrubs universe (jk’s installment of TWA) 

Parallel Palpitations (the records) |  navi. | m.list

Closing his locker with his foot, Jimin tries to carefully balance his books placed precariously on top of each other in his arms as he walks back to the dean’s office where he’s also arranging most of his stuff to take home. It’s already been a week since he’d officially graduated medicine from Busan National University, and he had only kept going back to school to gather all his belongings so he could start reviewing. 

“Jimin, is that you?” The question almost knocks clumsy Jimin off his feet, surprised at how there was still any other person in the office besides  Kyungjo who was also collecting his stuff to take home. Jimin sets all of his books down first on a desk and turns, only to come face to face with none other than Jeon Jungmin himself, associate professor and chairman of the Jeon Medical Center. 

“Professor Jeon! Good evening Sir...It’s already late, professor?” 

Jeon Jungmin laughs, patting Jimin on the back, “I was going to say the same to you kid. You should go home.” Jimin flashes the older man a small smile, “Ah...yes, Professor. I’m just grabbing the last of my stuff then I’ll be on my way. This won’t take long.” 

“It’s fine, Jimin. The staff know you well anyways,” Jungmin sighs, then rests his weight on a pillar as he puts his hands in his pockets. “You know, Jimin...you’re a very bright student...I think even one of the best in Korea if I do say so myself.” 

The young man momentarily pauses with what he’s doing, taking in the professor’s words, “Oh, I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, Sir.” 

Jungmin chuckles as he shakes his head. “It’s true - you’re driven and you’re smart. It’s a fixed formula for someone who achieves great success in life later on. Your parents must be very proud. I would be too, if you were my son too.” 

“Thank you, Professor. Everything I do, I do for my parents.” 

The older man lets out a deep exhale and gives Jimin another pat on the back. “Just wanted to let you know that you’re going to be a fine doctor Jimin - and the Jeon Medical Center would definitely need fine doctors like you. I realized I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I really hope you will choose JMC for your post-graduate internship. We have a good program here,” Jungmin’s voice goes down to a whisper, “If you wish to, just let me know…” 

Someone enters the office and bows to the both of them and recognizes the same man as the professor’s driver. The man collects the professor’s briefcase and coat with one nod of Jungmin. “Well, I’ll head off first, Jimin. I can give you a ride home if you’re done with those.” 

Jimin shakes his head quickly, declining the one and only Jeon Jungmin’s generous offer. He’s unsure about the other offer though, but if he lets himself get a car ride home with the chairman himself, the latter might take it as a favorable answer to his proposal to which Jimin is still undecided. “No thank you Sir. I’ll be alright. This might still take a while after all,” Jimin says with an awkward laugh, tapping the top of the stack which was rivaling Jimin’s height. 

“Alright Jimin. Get back home safely. And I...hope to see you again very soon.” 

Jimin gives him a curt nod. “Good night, Professor.” 

He continues on with his remaining tasks, wanting to finish quickly so he could finally go home and rest. “Is he gone?” Kyungjo’s voice startles Jimin, the book in his hands nearly causing the tower of books to collapse. “My god! Stop doing that!” Jimin scolds his friend as it wasn’t the first time Kyungjo’s sleuthing had given Jimin a fright. 

“Yeah, he left already. You done with your stuff?” 

“Uh-huh. All set and ready to step into the real world,” Kyungjo replies, waving his hands in the air. Jimin narrows his eyes at the other boy, judging him silently. Kyungjo has a particular inclination towards alcohol and Jimin wonders if today was one of the days where his friend indulges himself yet once again. 

“Have you heard about his actual son? What was the kid’s name again...uh…” Kyungjo snaps his fingers in mid-air as Jimin asks what was the issue with the chairman’s son, likewise reminding Kyungjo it wasn’t best to talk about it in the dean’s office. “Ah! Yes, Jeon Jungkook. Heard that their relationship got so bad that Jungkook completely cut himself off from the family once he graduated high school and went to Yonsei instead of BNU because of his daddy issues.”

Jimin, unsure how to handle and process that kind of information, simply shakes his head at Kyungjo. “It’s wrong to gossip about other people's lives like that.” When Jimin looks over at his friend, Kyungjo is no longer listening, fumbling with the remote as he turns up the volume of the office television. 

“In other news today, two thousand five hundred sixty one students of Seoul National University graduated this afternoon 25th of February, 2023. The ceremony was held at COEX Convention Center in Samsung-dong, Seoul to accommodate the number of graduates this year. With a yearly average of at least two thousand three hundred graduates, this year’s commencement ceremony records the highest number of graduates in the history of the national university. 

“Not only did they record the highest number of alumni, but this year also marks the first year to have a foreign national graduate as the school’s valedictorian.” Jimin is listening just as intently as Kyungjo now with both boys focused on the TV screen. “Jeong Yeorum, also known as Summer Jeong by her colleagues, graduates with flying colors today from Seoul National University’s College of Medicine. Here is part of her valedictory speech this afternoon.” 

A girl appears on screen and she stands behind the podium with a bright and reassuring smile on her face. “As we embark on the journey of the rest of our lives, I implore you all, to do what you love, because I believe it’s what you’ll do best. There will be countless times of trial, but keep in mind that perseverance will always prevail. Always aim for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Class of 2023, good luck. And remember, graduation is only the beginning.” 

“Wow!” Kyungjo claps his hands enthusiastically as he marvels at the girl. “The twenty-six year old, who along with her  family migrated to South Korea back in 2015 when her father was reassigned to an office here in Seoul. The valedictorian says she’s not entirely foreign to Korea as her paternal grandmother is actually a native of Jeju. Jeong Yeorum then attended a co-ed high school in Mapo District, where she likewise finished her secondary education with academic distinction.” 

The reporters, equally impressed with the girl’s achievements, couldn’t help but add their own comments to the news report, “Wow...I guess some people are simply born for greatness.” 

“I agree with you there, Dongho-ssi. We might be looking at the next Bae Jeonjoo, the only woman in the group of doctors who pioneered neurosurgery in South Korea. Ms. Jeong Yeorum, if you are seeing this, we’re rooting for your promising career. Fighting!” 

As soon as the news anchors proceed to report other news, Kyungko turns off the television and mentions the time. “Well, she was pretty cute, wasn’t she? Totally my type! Maybe when we get to Seoul to review, we’ll get the chance to meet her...and make her my girlfriend!” 

Jimin rolls his eyes at Kyungjo, placing a firm grip on the shoulder, “My friend...you are either drunk, hungry, or high. Either way, you should go home. Don’t worry about me, I’ll just close up here.” 

Kyungjo shrugs his shoulders. “You’ll still go, right? To Seoul?” 

“I will. Don’t worry.” Jimin gives the other boy a reassuring nod. 

“Still half half with the rent, a’ight? I’ll be counting on you, Jiminie...and don’t let me down. Also, tell me when you’re leaving for Seoul so I know when I’m not supposed to bring hot city girls home...they have the tendency to be...loud sometimes.” 

This boy was definitely high, and whatever substance he’s taking, Jimin wants none of it. 

“That’s your cue, Kyungjo. Go home and take a cab instead.” 

“I can drive! I’m not high or drunk!” Kyungjo puts his hands up in the air in defense. “Hey, look, I can even moonwalk!” He proceeds to dance wildly as he exits the office, leaving Jimin questioning how he even became acquainted with Kyunjo in the first place. 

You barely hear the sound of your name being called on stage when the audio of Hoseok’s loud whooping completely dulls that of your professor’s. “Oppa! Nobody would be able to make out my name with your audio input!” Playfully shoving your cousin’s phone back into his hands, you continue to mumble your complaints about the poor video quality. 

Indignant with your words, Hoseok retorts, “Hey! I’m not a professional videographer, alright? What’s important is the actual moment happening and not how the moment was captured!” Hoseok hooks an arm over your neck, bringing your head to his chest as he gives you a noogie. “Oppa, my hair!!” 

Pulling yourself away from his grasp, you quickly pat your hair down but not delivering a solid smack on Hoseok’s back. As you’re fixing your hair, you weren’t able to put much thought into where you were walking, ultimately, and accidentally bumping into someone in a blue and black graduation robe similar to yours. 

Quickly, you look up, apologizing profusely at the person. “Oh! I’m so sorry- I…” “It’s okay,” the guy smiles a little, “_________, right?” You’re sure the surprise is evident in your face when he mentions your name when he barely even talked to you during the entirety of med school. “Yes! I mean...hello, Jungkook..” Clearing your throat, you quickly think of something to divert the impending awkward silence, “Well...um, congratulations to you for graduating as the batch valedictorian!” It now dawns on you that he really did graduate on top of the class, “Wow! You’re real smart!” comes your thoughts, unconsciously voicing them out. 

‘You’re real smart?’ Really? That’s the best you could’ve done? 

Jungkook chuckles, slightly taken-aback by your audible observation. “Oh yeah...um, thanks.” From behind you, you hear Hoseok clear his throat before speaking up. “Hello!” You hang your head low momentarily, already imagining Hoseok making fun of you later for this. 

“Right, Jungkook, this is my cousin, Jung Hoseok. Oppa, this is my classmate - Jeon Jungkook.” The two men shake their hands briefly before Jungkook speaks up, “Well, I’ve got to go now. Congratulations to you too Soomin. And Jung Hoseok-ssi.” 

As soon as Jungkook gets out of your sight, Hoseok nudges you with his elbow. “Please tell me that man was Jeon Jungmin’s son,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. Nodding your head, you raise an eyebrow at him. 

“Got a crush on the dude?” Oh god. Here we go again. 

“No! Jeez.” 

“Why were you so awkward around him then?” 

“We barely talked in class. Hell, I don’t even think we were within at least fifty meters from each other.” 

“But he’s a handsome man?” 

“Maybe you’re the one that’s got a crush on him?” 

Hoseok glares at you. 

“Do you think maybe you’d know which hospital he might be interested in taking his PGI? Woocheon perhaps?” 

It’s your turn to glare at him. “I told you. This incident was only one of our very few interactions ever. I think the last time he talked to me was when he borrowed a pencil during a class and that’s it.” 

“Well...if you’d discover where, let me know. Because if he does apply for Woocheon, and we’d happen to get the girl from SNU too....” Hoseok nods his head slowly, stroking his chin “Woocheon will have the A-Team interns this year, you included.” 

You roll your eyes, resting your arm against the car door that Hoseok opens for you, “You really think that’s going to pay for you ruining my hair?” 

“No, but you’re going to thank me if Woocheon manages to snag the dream team!” 

© joontier 2021

[ackermans-freedom-inc]

Had to repost this cause Tumblr is ass im so sorry anon! I hope I captured this the way you wanted <3 please feel free to send more requests I had so much fun! 

Remember – modern AU

Tags: mild depressive episode, fluff, comforting Levi

You rolled over in bed, attempting to stretch out your sore back. You winced as your cold fingers and toes brushed against the cold air of your bedroom. It had been nearly two days since you had gotten out of bed. You had been so careful to monitor your mood, journaling, getting lots of sunshine, and keeping in touch with close family and friends. Yet, somehow, the dark raincloud still came down on you like a wave. Silent. Destructive.

At first you resisted asking for help, the feelings of anxiety coupled with restlessness a bad mixture for your body. By staying in bed, your body tired itself out, worrying and stressing while headaches left your head feeling tender and your mood irritable.

You were barely able to pick up your phone and fire off some emails to your professors, letting them know of your current situation. Thankful, they were all extremely supportive, each sending you lecture recordings and soliciting the class for volunteer note-takers while you were unable to attend class.

The last person you wanted to bother, and the person you needed the most was Levi. He had just started his first year of medical school and was absolutely swamped. He had lectures daily from early in the morning to late in the evening. Whatever free time he had Levi spent in the lab, trying to learn as much as he could. You knew he would be furious if he found out you were toughing it out on your own, but your anxiety kept whispering in your head those dark, guilty thoughts. He’s going to think you’re a burden. You’re bothering him during a time where he needs to focus.

You frantically clicked the end call button, Levi’s name blinking off your screen. This was the third time you had dialed his number before immediately ending the call, hoping it had not rung on his end. As you wiggled your toes and flexed your calf muscles, you couldn’t help but feel another wave of guilt wash over you. You were in school. You could afford rent. You came from a loving family. All these things that you had and yet you still felt this way. Wave after wave of self-doubt and hatred built up inside you. How dare you feel this way when other people have it much harder than you do?

Rolling over again, you buried your face into your pillow, clutching the cool underside and feeling the soft linen of your sheets before you let yourself fall back into an uneasy sleep.

When you woke again, at first you weren’t sure what roused you. Blinking and rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you were surprised that your mood was slightly lifted. The next thing you noticed was the sunlamp next to your bed, humming softly and emitting a soft soothing light. Then, you noticed a pile of your favourite snacks and drinks spilling out of a grocery bag by the foot of your nightstand.

Before you could call for him, your door swung open. Levi walked in with a tray, and after seeing you blinking up at him, he gave you a soft smile and walked over, helping you up into a sitting position, fluffing your pillow behind you and handing you a mug of hot chocolate, little half-melted marshmallows bobbing at the top.

He ruffled your hair and gave you a soft kiss on the forehead before sitting down next to you, squeezing your comforter clad feet. “Hey, I noticed you called me a bunch of times and got worried. Is it a bad day today?” he inquired, thumb rubbing soft circles against your still covered legs.

Panicking, you waved your free hand in denial, eyes wide and shimmering, tears threatening to fall. “Oh, Levi I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean to bother you. Did I disrupt your class?”

Soft hands lifted your chin and you let your still blurry gaze meet your boyfriend’s piercing grey eyes as he wiped the single tear that made its way down your cheek with the pad of his thumb. You whimpered slightly as he leaned forward again, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, and another to your cheek, and another to your nose…and another to your other cheek before he tucked your face into his chest, just letting you breathe in his scent as he rested his hands against your head.

You basked in his love, his soft hands on you and feeling of his hands rubbing soothing circles into your scalp made you sigh in relief. When your breathing finally settled down a bit, Levi let go, giving you room to make the first move. As you leaned away from him, you managed a smile. It was as if a weight had been lifted from your chest. Looking at your still silent boyfriend, you grabbed one of his hands and smiled.

“You’re welcome, brat.” Was his reply. “You need to get lots of sun okay Y/N? Remember it’s okay to feel the way you do, remember to breathe, and to call me if you need anything. Remember to celebrate the little things you accomplish okay love?”

For the next little while, Levi chatted to you about his day. You asked your questions about what he learned that day while the sound of his voice gave you the strength to swing your legs off the bed and lean against your boyfriend. Before you knew it, it was getting late, and a small pile of wrappers had accumulated on top of your dinner plates. Levi had made a simple yet nutritious dinner of vegetables, some rice, and chicken soup, knowing you didn’t have the stomach for anything too heavy. He had watched you eat every bite and offered a soft “Remember to eat.” Before he gave you another kiss on the forehead.

As you sighed again, this time in content, you felt Levi’s gentle hands gripping your shoulder. “Hey Y/N” he whispered, “You feel up to taking a shower? Let’s get you cleaned off; I know how much better it makes you feel when you’re squeaky clean.”

Nodding slightly, you straightened one foot, testing out your slightly numb legs as Levi supported your waist. You both made it to the bathroom, and you allowed Levi to peel each layer of your sleep garments off you, folding them neatly by the sink. He kept a hand on you at all times, comforting. Supportive. Strong.

As the first jet of hot water hit you, you managed to crack a smile. The sun was breaking through the clouds. Your mood only improved as you washed yourself with your favourite shampoo and body wash. By the time your dried off your hair you felt as if the sky had cleared. Your chest no longer felt heavy, your headache was gone, and your aches and pains had been washed away along with those voices inside your head.

Levi was there as soon as you stepped out of the shower to wrap you up into a warm towel. He had evidently thrown it into the dryer before you finished your shower. You reached up to cup his face in your hands and peppered kisses all over his face, stopping only when he pushed you away, grumbling that you had gotten his shirt all wet.

Finally relenting, you pulled away from him, a smile still painted across your face as you giggled, watching Levi brush the water drops off his t-shirt. He looked up at you at the sound of your laughter, and scoffed slightly, taking your hand and pressing a kiss to the back of your hand with a whisper of “Also. Remember that I love you.”

[chuuulip]

The First Kiss of Love

Pairing: Hannibal Lecter x Female Reader

Warning:  Fluff with a smidges of angst

Words: 3262

Prompt: hey i was wondering id you could do a hannibal lecter one where the reader doesnt realize that hannibal likes her and she gets jealous when hes talking to another woman. when she calls him out on it he cant help but laugh. the reader is basically a oblivious dummy type and way too much of a klutz .

Summary: “Dr. Bloom is really beautiful.” your small, joyless voice continues its sentence. “Ah...yes indeed.” Hannibal replies casually.

A.N: This is for an anon that request some Hannibal fanfic. I’m sorry that it takes me so long xD I hope you like it! whoever you are ❤️ Thank you for @jewels2876​​ for helping me with this piece, love you ❤️ Also tagging fellow Hannibal fans 😉 @venusdemonroe​​​ and @detectivehannibal​​​ thanks for feeding me Hannibal content and discuss him with me ❤️

__

It’s been a couple of months since you’ve worked with Dr. Lecter. You were once a librarian; due to an accident, you lost your job as a consequence of a long time recovery.  Hannibal Lecter literally was an angel or your angel to be precise. Vividly, you remember the time you met him. By chance, Hannibal is in the clinic when you do your physiotherapy. He catches a small stack of books that you buy that day. He manages to balance the books in his left hand while his right-hand catches you before your face kisses the floor.

Long story short, both of you have some sort of conversation that leads to you applying for a job to be Hannibal’s secretary. You are excited but also nervous when you do your interview. You have no idea that Hannibal is a well-known psychiatrist not only just in Baltimore but also in Maryland. There is a fear that Hannibal will not choose you because of your clumsy tendencies. You are naturally what people will call a klutz. Physical activity somewhat hinders your ability to shine among others. You are either too slow or too weak. Not to mention lucky stars seem to distance themself from you. But not that day, the day when you get an email of your employment. Hannibal is pretty impressed with your CV and how good your skills on scheduling and data management, 

“Good morning.” the soft, accented voice of Hannibal greets you. Today, he wears a dark blue windowpane pattern jacket suit. He chooses a somewhat dark metallic floral pattern adorning the red-brown tie. His white buttoned-up shirt makes the color of his suit and ties pop. Hannibal always dresses elegantly, something that you always look forward to seeing.  

“Good morning, Dr. Lecter.” You stand up and follow Hannibal inside his office. He takes a seat on his brown leather chair. Everything looks immaculate as always.

“Schedule for today?” he unbuttons his suit jacket and you quickly help him hang the suit. “Thank you, my dear, you didn’t need to do that.”

“It’s alright Dr. Lecter.”

Sometimes when it’s only you and Hannibal in the office, he accidentally calls you my dear. You aren’t sure if it's because that’s the way he usually addresses someone he is in contact on a daily basis, or it means something more? Oh, you wish.

“Dr. Lecter…, for this morning you will have two appointments. Mrs. Potter and Ms. Randall. Also-- Mr. Franklin said he might need to reschedule.” Your slightly breathy voice points out other appointments Hannibal has outside the office. Your work had become kind of a blend between his secretary and personal assistant, to be honest. It was actually Hannibal's idea to engage you more into work that’s not strictly his office related. Not that you are complaining because it let you take a peek on Hannibal’s other persona. Not to mention that the payment is pretty generous. 

Not once does Hannibal ask your input on what type of thing should be added in his office, and by that, you are pretty proud of yourself. Not a lot of people give any thought about your opinion. Although Hannibal, like when his office has this sleek look and somewhat minimalist style, he always mixes something that you could say was classic inside his office. You have been inside his office quite a lot, but sometimes you help him tidy up his books and document. He’s somewhat more of a hard copy type of person than a soft copy one. Like you. You like the smells of an old book although some of Hannibal’s books smell too clinical for you. Like the smells of a hospital or a place with a lot of disinfectants.  

Pretty proud of your experience as a librarian in the past, and knowing Hannibal is a perfectionist himself, you practically turned the side of his office into a perfect mini library. The medical record shorts are alphabetically arranged while his other books are listed by genre, then in an alphabetical manner as well. When Hannibal stays longer in the office, sometimes you catch him drawing. A hobby that he said he has since childhood. One day he told you, “Growing up, I found my hobby really useful when I decided to be a medical doctor.” and you can’t help but agree. After he finishes with what he sketches at that time, he specifically calls you into his office and shows you the final product. That action simply makes your heart flutter in excitement.

“Thank you, you can leave for now.” He gives you his subtle yet beautiful smile. Those eyes of his when he smiles always send some sort of quick rush to your brain.

Giving Hannibal a short nod, you quickly excuse yourself. You stumble upon your own shoe and almost fall, face first. Luckily you can prevent that from happening, hoping Hannibal doesn’t notice, although you think he did. Scurrying from his office, you station yourself on your spot. Continue typing and archiving what Hannibal asks you. 

Sipping your now cold latte, your eyes shift to the books next to your PC. It’s a book called Les Fleurs du mal renaissance, a volume about French poetry that Hannibal had lent you after you finish some short of psychology 101. You have read a few pages of it, and since it’s in French, it takes you some time to understand it. 

Sometimes Hannibal invites you to his office to let you read his book while he draws things. Trying not to get caught red-handed, you glance at him from the corner of your eyes, savoring the scene in front of you. Wondering what Hannibal actually does on his day off, is there anything he can’t do? Your brain likes to take a detour on what Hannibal does at home when he’s not seeing other people’s minds.

A soft clink of steps on the mahogany floor wood, momentary pauses your fingers on the keyboard. 

“Good morning Mrs. Potter.” you stand up immediately. Greet her with a polite, shy smile. One of the things you are still learning from working with Hannibal is being confident. Since the secretary is usually portrayed as bold and beautiful, while you on the other hand are quite the opposite, Hannibal makes sure you take your time to adapt from ‘less contact with people at work’ to ‘in contact with different people almost every day.’

“I’m here for my appointment.” her British accent tickles your ear. It’s rare for you to meet a Brit, especially as posh as Mrs. Potter. Although you never glance at a patient’s medical record, you do actually google them. When you find out Hannibal’s reputation, you know that most of his patients are a somewhat well-known person. Mrs. Potter is an owner of exquisite but limited jewelry store on the east coast. From several articles that you read, she has had quite a lot of scandal. Despite that, you will not deny her beauty. She may be quite older than you, but the way her cheekbones stay supple and very few wrinkles decorating her face sometimes makes you jealous. 

“Yes, sure. Please wait a moment,” immediately, you walk to Hannibal's office door that's just a foot away from your desk. Giving a soft knock, you open the door and inform Hannibal that Mrs. Potter is already here. He gives you a quick nod, and you open the door wider, to let Mrs. Potter start her session. 

Hannibal isn’t a strict boss. Or that’s actually what you thought about him. Of course, you are a professional employee as you can be, but sometimes you spend time reading the book you borrow from Hannibal between your desk job. Mostly because you already do whatever Hannibal tasks you with. On some occasions, you join Hannibal when he attends some appointments, such as when he needs to be a keynote speaker in a well-known conference around Maryland and DC. An experience that you guess is his way to widen your social ability. 

“Thank you Mrs. Potter. I’ll see you in the next session.” Hannibal’s accent cues you to stand up and bid your goodbye to Mrs. Potter. The rest of the day comes out like it usually is. Typing and arranging schedules for Hannibal while also scrolling on another book to read. Even though you were a librarian before, there’s just so many books and so little time to read. 

When it’s time for you to go home, you knock on Hannibal’s office door and open it slightly when he answers you with a soft, “come on in”. You excuse yourself while also giving Hannibal’s friend a smile. Although Hannibal doesn’t have a lot of appointments today, his friend, Jack Crawford visits the office and you know that means Hannibal will stay late until dinner time.   

*** 

The next day your work finished earlier than you thought so you spend some time at work to continue reading the poetry book. Some people may find it weird that you like to stay a little bit longer at work than going back home. There’s always this thought of knowing there is someone close to you, without the need to do conversations in every millisecond, calming. When your eyes shift to your gold bronze table clock, you haven’t realized that you are pretty late, as the sky already turns dark. 

You know Hannibal is still in the office and you plan to excuse yourself before it’s getting really late. You don’t want Hannibal to drive you back home since you feel embarrassed about it. He always makes sure you arrive at home safely when you spend more time at the office or going home pretty late since Baltimore isn’t the safest place on earth. However, there is always a thought in your head that Hannibal being a little bit protective towards you, his employee because you are just a much of a klutz and he feels responsible. 

You aren’t sure what possessed you to move too quickly and it just messes up your footing. The point of your left oxford shoes hit the castor office chair. Ungracefully you trip to the floor and bring the chair with you. The falling chair let out a loud bang while you landed on your hands and knees, grimacing in pain. 

You aren’t sure when but your brain kind of mid freeze for a second. When you look up, you see Hannibal crouching down and calling your name, worried, “-- are you ok? Can you stand up?”

“I--I’m ok Dr. Lecter,” you try to stand up but you hold up your right hand in a sign of I need a minute. 

Hannibal takes care of the office chair first, putting it back in its original position. He carefully lifts you up, supporting you and letting you sit back on your office chair. “I’m sorry my dear, but I need to check?” He asks you for your permission and you quickly give him your approval. With an expert examination of his hands, Hannibal checks your knees for any swelling or visual deformity. Since your past accident, you are prone to any joint and soreness on the knees. Delicately, he gives a little pat on both your knees. “I think everything is ok, you may need to have some pain killers.”

“Thank you Hannibal.” you blurt it out. Sometimes you call him by his first name when you aren’t in office hours, although rarely.

He graces you with that smile of his, subtle yet it always makes your heart quiver, the kind of smile you infrequently see. You notice that sometimes he has his professional smile, it is short and kind of cold. The smile you always notice when he meets his colleague. You don’t know a lot of Hannibal’s friends, but when he has some impromptu meeting with Jack, you slightly witness more smirk and sometimes there’s this naughty element like he is planning something evil, although humorously.

“Wait a minute, I will drive you home.” Hannibal left you to go inside his office. 

There’s a guilt in your stomach that you feel you are being a burden to your boss. When your concentration dispersed like vivid smoke, the corner of your eyes caught the beautiful woman you have seen a couple of times visiting the office. Unlike other women who mostly visit Hannibal for a session, this woman is indeed different. 

“Ms. Bloom.” You greet her. Your smile may look blankly courteous even, but you definitely are not in the mood to give her your big smile this evening.

“You look unwell, are you ok?” 

“I-- I’m ok.” you try to answer her, less tense.

“Alana?” your eyes shift to Hannibal as he opens his door.

“Hey, Hannibal. I try to call you but I thought I might as well just drop by.”

Hannibal’s eyes divert from you to Alana, and he gives Alana a quick nod, letting her quickly enter the office. “It will be quick. Can you wait for a while?” you give him a nod and smile at him nervously.

At first you aren’t sure why you are nervous but something finally clear on your head. Maybe you are jealous. You know a lot of women near Hannibal are not only beautiful, or rich, they are also acutely intelligent. Although you aren’t rich, you aren’t that bad looking and you will not say you aren’t intelligent but when you compare yourself to someone like Alana, there will always be inferiority engraved in your mind. Not to mention that she has known Hannibal longer and better than you.

Hannibal's office door opens and Alana exits the door with Hannibal following her. “I heard what happened to you from Hannibal.” Alana stops in front of your desk and gives you her sympathetic smile. “Get well soon.” She gives you a pat on your shoulder and says her goodbye to you and Hannibal.

“Shall we?” Hannibal changes his focus towards you and you nod in agreement. Let him help you out of the office. 

***

“So…,”

“So?” Hannibal glances at you momentarily while driving, asking you to continue what you have in mind.

“Dr. Bloom is really beautiful.” your small, joyless voice continues its sentence.

“Ah...yes indeed,” Hannibal replies casually. 

Your eyes glance at the dark street. Hannibal’s office is located in a quite busy place and it’s nice to see less traffic when you get out of the area. 

“Did both of you date?” you blurt it out. Your eyes widen in horrors as you blatantly just spill out something unprofessional. “Hanni-- Dr. Lecter, I-- I-- didn’t mean to pry on your personal life.” 

Hannibal looks at you and lets out a laugh. Something really rare, something that you even have witnessed. The crinkle on his eyes when he laughs lets his somewhat cool and calm demeanor melted. It takes you sometimes to register on what just happens. 

“I’m sorry my dear, that’s just quite funny.” Hannibal stops laughing and sends you a quick smile.

“Also that might not answer your question but the answer is no, Alana and I, we aren’t dating. I’m her mentor and our relationship is more of colleagues and friends.”    

You aren’t sure why you hold your breath, but after listening to Hannibal's answer, you let out a long exhale, feeling that something heavy has been lifted up from your shoulders. 

Hannibal’s Bentley stops in front of your apartment complex. Ever the gentleman that he is, Hannibal asks you if you need help. You decline his help as if you can’t embarrass yourself enough in one day. 

“Before you go, I have something to tell you.” Like a deer caught in a headlight, you look at Hannibal. He switches on the light inside the car and pulls his bag from the backseat. He handed you several papers that looked likely to be a job application. Your eyes widen, vision blurry as a sudden tears drop from your eyes. This is it, maybe Hannibal has enough of your clumsiness. He doesn’t find you worthy as he sometimes needs to ‘babysit you’ when you do something you don’t intend to do. 

Feeling that he may be approaching this the wrong way, Hannibal tries to comfort you. You put both of your hands in front of your chest, like a shield in a defensive manner. Try to accommodate his tall frame, awkwardly Hannibal turns his body to the passenger seat and embraces you. He shushing you and pat your heads 

When your silent cry turns into a hiccup but more calmer, Hannibal pulls away from you. With a stutter, you explain to Hannibal that you understand if he doesn’t want you to work with him again and you are thankful that he’s been a very great employer to you. 

“Hey,” Hannibal swipes the tears that rolls down on your cheeks with his thumbs, “--it’s not that. Look, my dear, the reason I handed this paper to you is not that I want to fire you, but I have been pretty impatient lately.”

You look at him, eyes full of question on what the fuck he means by that? Although you don’t let it out loud because you don’t want to make any rude comment. Because Hannibal doesn’t like that.

“I’m one of those people who do not agree with office romance.” 

Office? Romance? What the hell? No one has any romance in the office, you thought. 

“I have been pretty much intent to court you,” his eyes flicker to your lips and back to your reddish eyes. “Alana came today because she wants to give me the application personally, there’s a librarian vacancy in her University and I pretty much just want to hand it to you.” Your brain wiring, try to connect the words as if you forgot how to speak English.  

“Apologize if I’m being rude my dear, but I have observed you for some time and I encourage myself to just lay it all here so I didn’t make you upset. Of course, if I am proven wrong, you can stay and still work as my secretary. No harm, the position will always be yours.” 

“Hanni-- Hannibal, does this mean that you like ‘like’ me?” 

He answers you with a quick nod and the smile that always makes your heart flutter. You try to reach Hannibal but your knee prevents you from doing such a thing. Hannibal let out a small chuckle as he finds your difficulty quite amusing. 

You eye him in disbelief but your anger melts right away as his face gets closer to yours. His right hand's cup at the side of your face as his lips inches closer towards you. With eyes close, you feel the brushes of Hannibal’s lips. The kiss is soft and delicate as if he is just testing the water. 

You let your hands sneak at the back of his collar as you seek more contact. Both of your lips slide and glide against each other. Letting out a whimper, you grant Hannibal’s tongue to slip past your lips. Teasing and flicking languidly, exploring something that makes you shudders in want. 

After some time, Hannibal withdraws his lips from yours. Eyes fluttering open, you can see Hannibal’s pupils expand. He let his foreheads rest at yours while his hand still cups on your face. “So...I believe it is a 'yes''?” There's humor in his voice. 

With a broad smile and less reddish eyes, you answer Hannibal with a confident nod and grant him another kiss on the lips.

__

As always, like, comment and reblog are really appreciated ❤️. Let me know what you think about this xo

[hopelikethemoon]

The Guilty (Javier x Reader) {MTMF}

Title: The Guilty Rating: PG-13 Length: 3100 Warnings: Mild Angst. Medical Triggers ( loss of consciousness and discussion about pre-eclampsia, etc.) Notes: You can find the Maybe Today, Maybe Forever Timeline here. Set in March 1997. Part two in the “big angst arc”. There’s a POV switch midway through for obvious reasons. Summary: Reader follows her gut. 

Taglist:  @grapemama​  @seawhisperer​ @huliabitch​ @pedropascalito​ @rogrsnbarnes​​@thewallpapergoesorido​ @twomoonstwosuns​ @gooddaykate​ @livasaurasrex​ @ham4arrow​​@hiscyarika​ @plexflexico​ @readsalot73​ @hdlynn​ @lokiaddicted​ @randomness501​​@fioccodineveautunnale​​  @roxypeanut​ @just-add-butter​ @snivellusim​​@amarvelousmandalorian​ @lukesrighthand​ @historynerd04​ @mrsparknuts​​@synystersilenceinblacknwhite​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @exrebelshocktrooper​​@awesomefandomsunited​ @ah-callie​ @swhiskeys​ @lady-tano​ @beskar-droids​​ @space-floozy @ct-arc-5555​​ @cable-kenobi​​

At noon you made your way down to the records room where Lieutenant Ableman had put the intern. Javier had been hesitant about you asking Monica what she knew about the rumor, but… you had to know. If the rumor was loud enough to make its way to the dean’s office, then it was loud enough for the students to be fully aware of it. 

“You know,” You started, leaning against the doorframe as you watched Monica sort through a stack of files and put each one into the appropriate banker boxes. “I had a sweet gig when I was sixteen helping process evidence at my town’s tiny ass police department.” 

Monica startled a little, dropping the folder she was holding. “Shit! Hey! How long have you been there?”

“Couple minutes.” You laughed. “Just thinking.”

“How have you’ve been?” Monica asked with a hesitant smile. “You’re due soon, right?”

You shrugged a shoulder as you rested your hand on your stomach, “Still got a few months to go.” You walked further into the record’s room, leaning down to pick up a stray file that had fallen. “How are your classes going?”

“I’m in this finite math class that is killing me.” Monica answered, making a face. “I was told it would be easier, but… C means complete, right?”

You chuckled, “I’ve heard that somewhere.” You moved to sit down, feeling the slightest inertia from bending over. That was happening far too often lately. “I’ve heard a lot of things lately.”

“Oh?”

You inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to ignore the sensation of being able to feel the world spinning around you. “A couple weeks ago I heard about this crazy rumor at the university.”

“What was it?” Monica stared at you, looking a little nervous.

“Oh, just that Javier was cheating on me with a student, which…” You laughed humorlessly. “Is hilarious, because I have that man by the balls.” 

“I—.” Monica shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything about that. I think the whole class knows that Javier loves you. I mean his office is practically a shrine to you.”

“I know.”

Monica swallowed thickly. “I should… I have a lot to finish before my night classes.”

You weren’t about the let up, “Why are you so nervous, Monica?”

“I’m not nervous.” She shot back too quickly. “Look, I’m really sorry about this rumor or whatever… I’m sure it’ll blow over.”

“Or Javier will lose his job.” You rubbed at the center of your forehead, trying to soothe the throbbing headache forming there. “I mean, a rumor like that could destroy someone’s career.”

Monica put the cardboard lid on the banker box with a little more force than necessary. “I really… I haven’t heard anything.” She didn’t meet your eyes. 

“Look, you’re a nice kid Monica…” You offered her a small smile. “I’m not accusing you. I just want to know what you know. And I think you know more than you’re telling me.”

You started to stand back up, fingers gripping at the filing cabinet beside you for support. Shit. 

Your pulse was throbbing in your ears. You could feel it in your throat, down your arms. 

Fuck.

“Monica…”

“Hey. Hey.” She grabbed your arm to support you. “I’m here.”

You clenched your eyes closed, trying to ignore the way that the world was closing in on you. Everything felt like it was in a tunnel. Voices — distant and kind of tinny sounding. Your lips felt numb, your words slurred and mouth full of cotton. It felt like pins and needles up and down your body. 

“Call Javi.” You managed to think or maybe say… just before everything stopped. 

 ——

 Everything stopped the moment Javier got the call. He wasn’t even entirely certain how he ended up at the hospital — the period between the phone call and arriving at the hospital was a blur. He vaguely remembered swearing at a red light for lasting too long — he definitely went through it. 

“Mr. Peña, right this way.” A nurse said as she guided him through the emergency room, back to her room. “The doctor will be with you both shortly.” 

Javier’s heart clenched as he looked at the hospital bed, meeting her eyes. She looked awful. They had her hooked up to oxygen and she had an IV. “Hey baby.” 

“Hi, Javi.” She said quietly, his voice half of what it usually was. 

His gaze flickered to the woman sitting beside her bed. Monica. She jumped up quickly, gesturing to the chair she’d been sitting in. “Here, Professor Peña… I’m so…” She looked between the two of them. “I’ll just go.” 

“I have questions.” Javier said, his jaw clenched tight. “Do you mind waiting in the waiting room?”

Monica clasped her hands together. “Of course… Yeah.” She looked towards the hospital bed. “I’m so… I’m so sorry.” 

“What are you—”

“Just let her go, Javi.” She whispered, gesturing for Monica to leave. 

“What the hell is going on?” Javier questioned, his hands on his hips. Before he grabbed the chair and pulled it closer to her bedside. “Baby… you gave me a fucking heartattack.” 

“You and me both.” She breathed out, reaching out for his hand. “I was terrified.” 

Javier squeezed her hand tightly, lifting it to his lips. “Have the doctors talked to you?”

“A little.” She sank back against the bed. “They took some blood.” She said, lifting her arm to show off the bandage. “I guess they need to check kidney and liver function.” 

Javier stood up, leaning over the bed to press a kiss to her forehead. “It’s your blood pressure, isn’t it?” He questioned, brushing his knuckles against her cheek. “Baby.” 

“Yeah.” She grimaced a little. “I’m actually fortunate I was down in records with Monica. She… saved me.” She swallowed thickly. “She knows something. I don’t know what, but… that girl is guilty.” 

“I told you not to.” Javier shook his head, trying to keep his voice steady. “You’re supposed to be keeping your stress levels low. And what? You decided to start questioning my students about this bullshit rumor and now you’re in the fucking hospital.” 

“Javier.” She shot him a look. “I passed out. It happens.” 

Javier dragged his fingers through his hair, taking a step away from the bed and turning his back on her. He was so fucking pissed and he didn’t know who to be pissed out. He couldn’t be pissed at her — even though she’d done exactly what he had told her not to do. He wanted to be pissed at Monica if she was behind the fucking rumor. He’d been so lenient with her — late work, missed classes… 

His fingers curled into fists at his side and he shook his head slowly. He so fucking angry. 

“Javi.” She whispered. “Come here.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“I’m the one in the hospital bed, I get to call the shots. Come here.” 

Javier’s shoulders sank as he turned around to face her. “I thought I was going to lose you.” 

“You didn’t.” 

“I get a call that you’re in the hospital unconscious and you don’t think I’m going to lose my mind, baby?” He dragged a hand over his face and looked away. “I can’t fucking lose you. I can’t.” 

“You’re not going to lose me.” 

Javier paced the short distance he could in the room. “What the fuck does she know?” He questioned, stopping at the foot of the bed. “Is she the one spreading the rumors? I swear to God if it is—”

The door opened slowly and the doctor stepped inside. “Bad time?”

She sat up in bed and shook her head slowly. “My partner’s under a lot of stress at work.”

“Stress that seems to be rubbing off on you,” The doctor’s brows raised suggestively. “I’m Dr. Smith,” She offered, shaking both of their hands. “If you’d like to sit Mr. Peña we can talk about what happened and how we can prevent this from getting worse.”

“Of course.” Javier mumbled, ducking his head as he moved to sit back down in the chair beside her bed. He reached for her hand, interlacing their fingers. “Is she going home today?”

“She is.” Dr. Smith smiled warmly. “With a number of changes, however. Fetal heartbeat is strong, I’m not concerned about the baby's health right now. Mom’s health is my primary concern. You came in here with a blood pressure that was 150/90. That’s a dangerous level for anyone, but especially while pregnant.” 

“So, what do we do?” Javier questioned.

“A whole lot of nothing.” Dr. Smith answered with a levity-offering chuckle. “You’re going to have to stay at home. I’m prescribing you to remain on bed rest for the remainder of your pregnancy.”

“Are you fucking serious?” She grumbled, sinking back against the pillows. 

“Yes. I know it’s inconvenient, but it’s necessary. If your blood pressure remains high, you’re at much higher risk for strokes, seizures, and placental abruption. The last thing we want to do is have to induce labor early. Everything looks great with baby, it’s just you we’re worried about right now.”

“When will we get the results back from the tests? You took blood, right?” Javier questioned.

“In a few hours. We’re just going to keep her for observation for a few more hours. Get that blood pressure down. You’ll be home tonight.” Dr. Smith answered, offering both of them a small smile. “Do you have any questions?”

“Will the delivery be more difficult?” She questioned, rubbing her stomach. “I didn’t have any problems with Josie.” 

“I’m not going to rule that out,” The doctor explained. “Your obstetrician will be best able to answer that. Where did you deliver?”

“In Colombia.” She answered. “But I didn’t have any issues like this and that… was stressful.” 

Javier scraped his teeth over his bottom lip as he looked between the doctor and her. The mere mention of Colombia had his own blood pressure spiking. This was all his fault. She was laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to wires all because of him.

“I need to…” Javier drew in a shaky breath. “Shit. Josie... “ He raked his hand over his face as he stood up suddenly. “Daycare. I need to call Steve.”

“Are you alright, Mr. Peña?”

It was all his fault. 

“I need to call someone to pick up our daughter.” Javier looked towards her then. God, she looked so weak. So pale. 

The doctor said something to him as he left the hospital room, but he was gone before he could make it out. He headed down the corridor, retracing the path the nurse had led him along, heading out the double doors that led to the waiting room.

He headed for the payphone, fishing a couple quarters out of his pocket. 

Steve offered to pick her up and bring her to the hospital. They both figured Josie might make her mother feel a little better. She was a cuddle monster whenever she knew someone wasn’t feeling well. 

It was his fault she wasn’t feeling well. 

He was the stupid fucking selfish idiot who had wanted another try. He was the one that had wanted another kid to make up for all of the shit he missed out on in Colombia. 

Javier slammed the phone back into the cradle before bringing his fist down against the top of the box. He was so fucking angry at himself. They had Josie — why couldn’t she be enough for him? Why had he wanted to have another child? To put her at risk. 

And she was at risk. 

“Professor Peña?”

He tensed, slowly turning to look at Monica. “Why are you still here?”

“She asked… I can go?”

“Don’t you have classes?”

Monica swallowed thickly and lowered her gaze to the ground. “I feel awful about what happened. She just… she was asking me about the rumors and…” She shook her head. “I didn’t know she was having trouble with her pregnancy. I didn’t know.”

Javier narrowed his eyes. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” She looked up then. “I didn’t… mean to. But it was so much money and…”

“What?”

Monica glanced over her shoulder warily. “After work one day. The internship.” She gulped a little, looking like she was actually about to cry. “He had a badge.”

His jaw rocked as he stared her down. “Who had a badge?”

“Someone with the Drug Enforcement Administration.” Her cheeks flushed with shame and she stared at the ground. “I’m so sorry. But it was so much money and I…” 

It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice on him. 

The motherfucking DEA?

“What the fuck did they tell you to do?”

Monica took a step back, “To start the rumor.” 

“Why?” Javier questioned, fingers clenched at his sides. 

“I don’t know.” Monica admitted. “It was ten thousand dollars. You have no idea how much I needed it… I couldn’t say ‘no’.”

He took a step backwards. 

The article. It all had to do with that goddamn article. His idea. 

“I need…” Javier bit down on the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. “I need to go sit with her. I need to…” He flexed his jaw, turning away then. “I can’t fucking do this right now.” He didn’t even look back at her, he headed straight back into the emergency room, back to her room, back to her bedside. 

She was asleep. Whatever they’d given her to help calm down had clearly knocked her out. She needed the rest. He knew she hadn’t been sleeping well — not since the start of the rumor. Not since he gave her those five fucking envelopes. 

All of it. All of this. 

It was all his fault. 

There was a clock on the wall that was ticking. Each second growing louder. 

This was his punishment. 

All those people. The people he failed. People who died. The people he wasn’t able to save. 

“Javi.” She whispered beside him, reaching out to touch his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Just rest, baby.” He pleaded quietly. 

“You look like you need to be admitted too.” She smiled at him. “Babe, I’m fine. My blood pressure is just high. I fainted. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“But what if you’re not fine? What if this…” He clenched his jaw and shook his head. 

“And what if you got shot in Colombia? Don’t treat me like a fucking flower over ‘what ifs’, Javier.” She pulled her hand away from his face and rubbed at her forehead. “You know how much I hate being treated like an invalid.” 

“I don’t want to do this right now.” Javier shook his head. “I want to get you home and then… we can talk about everything. What we’re going to do…” 

“It was Monica wasn’t it? My gut was right, wasn’t it?”

Javier stared at her, before nodding his head slowly. “Yeah.” He laughed bitterly. “It wasn’t just Monica… it was the fucking DEA.”

Something beeped on one of her monitors.

“Just my pulse. It slipped off my finger.” She assured him, readjusting the clip on her forefinger. “What do you mean it was the DEA?”

“You need to relax, baby.” Javier reached out and rested his hand on her stomach, his other reaching for her hand. “We can talk about this at home. When you’re not… hooked up to fucking wires.” He sat back and pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. “This is fucking bullshit.” 

“Javi.” 

“We’re not doing this.” He stood up, hands on his hips. “I’m not losing you.” 

She held her hand out, “Come back here. You have to keep your shit together for Josie, Javier. You can’t be freaking out like this.” 

“It’s all my fault.” Javier let the words slip out of his mouth.

There was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Dr. Smith on the other side again. “Good news.” She said with a hesitant smile. “Your organs look good, but we are still concerned with your blood pressure. We can bring it down if you keep your stress levels down—” She gave Javier a pointed look. He knew he was red in the face, still fuming from everything. “I’m going to send you home with a prescription for anticonvulsants.” 

“What does that do?” Javier questioned.

“It’ll stave off seizures. She hasn’t had one yet, that we know of. But with her blood pressure range, it's potential. They help prevent them. But rest will be best.” The doctor looked towards her bed then. “We can get a letter sent to your office.”

“I’ll handle it.” She promised. “Or Javi will. Whoever. They’ll understand.” She laughed bitterly. “I’m a walking worker’s comp claim.” 

“And the baby’s fine?”

The doctor nodded. “Both of them should be fine if her environment is kept calm.” 

“We’ve been going through a lot.” Javier admitted, staring at the floor. 

“We just moved.” She explained. “And some stuff from our past has been giving us issues. It’s nothing that we can’t resolve.”

“After you give birth.” The doctor reminded her. “I’ll start the discharge process within the hour. Good luck.” 

“I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” She sank back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. “Don’t lash out at her.”

“Who?”

“Monica. She’s just a kid, Javi.” 

Javier sighed heavily. “I wanna fucking punch a wall.” 

“Try not to make a mess.” She quipped dryly. “And I can’t exactly help you hide the body like this.” 

“You’re going to bed when we get home.”

She made a face. “Sounds like the bed is going to be my new home.” She tilted her head to grin at him, wiggling her brows. “Sounds like fun, yeah?”

Javier glared back at her. “How can you make jokes?”

“Because if I don’t I’m going to fucking lose my shit.” She shot back. “I was so scared.” 

“I know, baby.” He took her hand into his and leaned down to kiss each knuckle. “I’ve got you though, okay? I’m going to take care of you and Josie and the baby.” 

“Bean.” 

“What?”

“You called her bean. Remember?” 

Javier cracked a small smile. “It was little legume, I believe.”

She grinned at him, “We’re going to be okay, Javi. I promise you.”

“That’s just the medicine talking.” He leaned down and cupped her cheek, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “Steve should be here with Josie soon… then the three of us can go home.” 

“That sounds nice.” Her lashes fluttered. “I need a nap.”

“Yeah you do.” He laughed softly, brushing his thumb over her cheekbone. He hated seeing her like this. Weak. Exhausted. Not her typical fiery self. 

She could say it wasn’t his fault, but he knew it was. And he fucking hated it. 

[kim-bobbae]

24. “Just because.”

Requests are still open! Feel free to send in your requests...or anything really (it’s lonely out here TT)

“Jay won’t listen to us, can you come pick him up?” Gray spoke in a hushed voice.

“From? Isn’t he supposed to be home?” You asked, confused.

“He came into the office a little sick but it seems like it’s getting worse,” Gray explained. “We told him to go home and get some rest, but you know how he is when it comes to work…”

“Oh,” You replied, exhaling deeply. “Alright, I’ll see you guys in a bit then.”

You got there half an hour later, not surprised to see that the office was still bustling despite it being close to three in the morning. The guys were, more than anything, relieved the moment you entered – most of the time, you were the only one they could count on when it came to dragging their boss out of the office. Of course, they tried their best not to not wanting to disturb your rest knowing that your residency at the hospital was hectic enough as it was but seeing that they had called at such an ungodly hour, you figured that the situation must have been rather serious.

“Hey…” You greeted with a tired smile.

“Sorry to call you this late,” Gray said with a sheepish smile, casting you an apologetic look before giving you a massage whilst guiding you to the recording studio.

Lo and behold, Jay was hunched over the desk, coughing away whilst tapping his feet to the beat. Empty bottles of water lined the desk and sheets of paper with lyrics scribbled on were scattered everywhere and you couldn’t help but sigh as Jay spun around in his chair with half lidded eyes, face pale as sheet. 

“Alright who was it?” Jay asked, half joking before he swallowed nervously at how unamused you look.

“That’s not the point Jay…” You started, defending Gray who was about to speak. “If none of them called me I wouldn’t have known that you had spent your day coughing your guts out when really, you should be resting at home. You sound worse than when I last heard from you today.”

“I was working from home, but then I suddenly had all these ideas and I just had to come record it.”

You bit your lip, then took a seat on the couch across him and spoke in a tone of defeat, “So you done? Can we go home now?”

He ran his hand through his hair, taking a quick glance at the lyrics in front of him, “Fifteen minutes. Just let me wrap this up, okay?”

It wasn’t really a question though as he went right back to work, Gray leaving the room to give you guys some privacy – Jay was firm when it came to work and while it took you some getting used to in the initial stages of your relationship, you grew to respect that it was a line that you could not cross even if it meant that you were just really, genuinely concerned. Being a medical school student in your final year of residency made you feel even more helpless at times like these knowing that regardless of the number of patients you treated on a daily basis, your very own boyfriend’s workaholic nature left you powerless when it came to his health.

He kept to his word nevertheless, the both of you soon bidding the rest of the guys goodbye where Gray received a playful smack from Jay in the process as he whined about being kidnapped home while you literally pulled him by the shirt out of the office and into his car where you offered to drive seeing how he was in no condition to.

“Did you take any meds?”

“No…I didn’t know which one to take…” He croaked, slumping onto the couch as he rubbed his temples, the headache kicking in.

“You should have something in there for your throat…” You mumbled, walking towards the drawer by the kitchen counter which contents you had memorized by now.

You then took the packets of tablets out along with a glass of warm water and walked towards Jay.

“Eat these and take a shower,” You told him, hand on his forehead as you felt a fever coming. “Take it again tomorrow morning after breakfast if the fever persists. I don’t think your throat is going to get very much better overnight either.”

“Yes doctor,” He said with a small smile.

“And by breakfast, I mean like a proper breakfast, not just squeezed garlic,” You stated, side eyeing him to which he chuckled in response.

Some playful banter and a lot of babying later, he finally got round to showering but the sight that he was greeted with as he stepped out, towel over his head had him doing a double take – there you were, leaning against the kitchen counter whilst your hands busied themselves making rice balls at four in the morning.

“…what are you doing?” He asked as he walked towards you, staring at the food and then back at you.

“I was looking through your refrigerator and it looked like you ran out of cereal, fruits and yogurt and we both know you wouldn’t make yourself a proper breakfast with whatever else that’s left,” You said, shaking your head. “So, I thought I’d just make you a little something that you can have for breakfast tomorrow so you won’t have an excuse to not take your meds.”

For a while he just stared at you, unable to find the right words that would sufficiently express his gratitude. After all, you had a long day of work yourself and despite the fact that he had not taken your advice to rest at home, have been summoned by his employees after a grueling work shift at the hospital to take him home where he left you to wait while he wrapped up his work, drove him home and even prepared the medication, there you were still dressed in your scrub suit from work, hair in a messy bun and squinting through your glasses as weariness weighed on your eyelids whilst you tried your hardest to fix a meal with whatever leftovers you could find in his refrigerator just so he wouldn’t skip his breakfast and medication.

Guilt crept to him as he thought about you having to return back to work in twelve hours – had he really stayed home to rest, you would be home resting by now. 

“There was leftover rice, kimchi and tuna so…nothing too fancy,” You shrugged.

Then, he wordlessly walked up behind you, sliding his arms around your waist and rested his head on your shoulders, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it,” You said, giving him a quick peck before turning your attention back to the food. “Let me know tomorrow if the medication doesn’t help and I’ll see what I can do, alright?”

“Thanks babe.”

Now Jay wasn’t a man of many words when it came to expressing his feelings, more so when it came to the sweet, romantic ones. It was just awkward for him – something that you got used to eventually – but you had no complains there as he often compensated with hugs and kisses in the privacy of your homes.

Thus, with the way he tightened his hold on you before pressing another kiss onto your cheek, you couldn’t help but let out a cheeky giggle, “And what was that for?”

“Oh y’know,” He smiled, then nuzzled your neck. “Just because.”

[freddiesaysalright]

Just Like a Woman - Part 10

A Roger Taylor x Reader Story

Summary: You and Roger were once in love when you were young. Only, he went on to be a rock star, and you went on to be a lawyer. Now, quite against your will, you’re representing him in his divorce.

Word Count: 4.3k

Tag List:  @psychosupernatural, @someone-get-a-medic, @bensrhapsody, @deakyclicks, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @minigranger, @crazyweirdocalledfriday, @the-moving-finger-writes, @assembledherethevolunteers, @rose-writes-prose, @queenlover05, @26-7-49, @drowsebaby, @moon-stars-soul, @im-an-adult-ish, @ixchel-9275, @jennyggggrrr, @zyanmaik, @mypassionfortrash, @a19103, @madeinheavxn, @beepbeephardy, @rrogerchxrm, @qweenly, @blisshemmings, @seasidecrowbar, @internationalkpoplova, @ellystone, @takemetoneverland420, @coffeexcigarette, @lookuptotheskiesandsee, @thatpunkmaximoff, @angelkissys, @rocknroll-stolemyass, @simonedk, @anotheronewritesthedust1, @peterquillzblog, @mrfahrenhcit, @joseph-mozzerella, @theprettyandthereckless, @flick-ofthe-wrist, @johndeaconshands, @rogerandhiscar, @queenmaracasandlove, @sunflower-ben, @cubetriangle, @amy-brooklyn99, @scorpiogemini, @kiainspace, @itsabenthing, @bookandband, @makemeyourwife-loveofmylife, @grazessa, @borhapqueen92, @theonsasheart, @vektorivittu, @chanti-frn, @brianssixpence, @dancingcoolcat, @xviiarez, @irepookie, @lnnuend0, @rogerxmeddows If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: Okay so I didn’t proofread the smutty part of this I’m sorry but I get lazy, y’know? I hope you still enjoy. Just ignore any typos lol

Warning(s): Smut in this chapter! It’s romantic and stuff ;)

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9

Part 10 here we go!!!

Your jaw dropped as you watched Roger walk up to the stand and take his oath. When had he agreed to testify? And for the defense? Was he really so desperate to have his say that he would undermine the whole case? You shot daggers at him with your eyes.

“Mr. Taylor,” Glen began. “Can you tell us a bit about what your father was like?”

“Objection!” you interjected. “Relevance.”

Judge Walsh gave Glen an annoyed look.

“You’ll see what I’m getting at, your honor,” he said. 

“Speed it up,” Judge Walsh instructed. “Or I will hold that objection sustained.”

Glen looked back at Roger.

“Mr. Taylor, your father was an abusive man, was he not?” Glen asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with Dominique’s case,” Roger returned, frowning.

“I think it could have everything to do with her case,” Glen retorted. “You and your ex-wife, did you ever fight?”

“Sure we did,” Roger said. “Like any other couple, we had our moments.”

“Ever get physical?” Glen asked.

“What?!” Roger cried.

At the same time you stood up and repeated, “Objection! Move to strike!”

“Overruled,” Judge Walsh said emphatically. “Counsel, you can’t object to questions only because you don’t like them!”

“Your honor, I want it on record that I object to this witness, I object to this line of questioning, and I object to opposing counsel’s being a complete and unmitigated ass!”

“Counsel!” he scolded, banging his gavel. “Sit down and let Mr. Harrington finish! If you raise one more objection today I will hold you in contempt, do you understand me?”

Cheeks red with anger and hatred, you scowled at him. Bill forced you back to your seat. You folded your arms across your chest and once again glared at Roger, hoping he could feel the heat of your rage.

“To answer your question,” Roger began again. “No, any disagreements between Dominique and myself have always been resolved with words.”

“Until you had to bring lawyers in,” Glen remarked.

“That’s not fair,” Roger said. “When it comes to issues of money -”

“And the cheating?” Glen pointed out.

“I cheated,” Roger admitted. “Dominique was faithful until that day she went on this date. But at that point, our marriage was effectively over.”

“You didn’t like that, did you?” Glen asked. “The fact that she had a date?”

“Who would?” Roger replied. “It was a pretty harsh reminder that my marriage was done.”

“Did it make you angry?” Glen pressed.

“Yeah, a bit,” Roger said, rolling his eyes.

You squeezed yours shut. If the jury didn’t think Roger was taking this seriously, it would look bad. You saw where this was going, and you knew it would only make him angrier.

“Angry enough to behave like the late Mr. Taylor?” Glen asked.

Roger stiffened. His jaw clenched. You could hardly look at him. You saw the hurt and fury slowly overtake his body. But he was remaining impressively calm. He took a deep breath and then looked icily at Glen.

“No,” he said.

You could tell how much will power it was taking for him not to spit at Glen in that moment. You felt the same. Angry as you were with Roger for doing this, you hated Glen right now more than his client. He turned and looked at you, a slimy smile on his face.

“Your witness,” he said.

Bill looked at  you questioningly. You composed yourself and nodded, letting him know you had this. You stood up.

“Mr. Taylor, have you ever once put your hands on your wife or any woman?”

“Never,” he said.

“No further questions.”

You sat back down. 

After Roger’s testimony, you were released for lunch. The trial would continue the following day. You and Bill stormed out of the courtroom, each on one side of Dominique. You didn’t bother to wait for Roger, but he jogged up to you anyway. You retreated into a chamber down the corridor.

“I can’t believe you!” you shouted at Roger as you slammed the door behind the group. “I told you yesterday that you aren’t a relevant witness! Why would you agree to testify for the opposing side?!”

“I wanted an opportunity to stand up for Dom, I didn’t know he was going to ask me all that!” Roger shot back.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?!” you cried. “All the jury needs is a little bit of doubt to find him not guilty, and you’ve just given it to them!”

“Oh, please, my alibi is totally secure,” he returned.

“We wouldn’t have to even worry about it if you didn’t get your dumbass on that stand in the first place!” you almost shrieked, completely exasperated. “You’ve hurt us, Roger, you could at least be sorry for it!”

“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me testify on our side!” he yelled. 

“Because I was doing my job, you daft -”

“HEEEEEEY!” Bill bellowed, banging his fist on the table.

You and Roger looked at him.

“Everybody calm the fuck down,” Bill said. “This was a setback, but we still have a strong case. What Glen did in there was a desperate, Hail Mary attempt to throw us off. We still have Dominique’s amazing testimony, Miss Thomas’s, and all the forensics. So both of you just relax, alright?”

You shot another harsh glare toward Roger and then took a seat. The shock of Roger’s testimony left you winded, but you were also terrified. If the jury now had a doubt that Nick was the culprit behind the attack on Dominique, you knew Roger would never forgive himself.

Just then, Glen burst into the room.

“What the fuck was with that witness?” he demanded. “Calling me ugly? Are you just trying to make me look stupid?”

“Hey, don’t you come in here making demands like that after what you did!” you retorted, jumping to your feet again. “You called Roger up just to try and frame him when you know that was rubbish!”

“God, you’re sexy when you’re angry,” he replied, tone softening. “Sure I can’t convince you to ditch blondie and grab a drink with me?”

“Alright!” Roger intervened, stepping closer.

“We are in the middle of a trial,” you said to Glen. “Could you act like a grown up?”

“Believe me, after seeing your legs in that skirt, my thoughts are entirely adult,” he said. “I actually started to get jealous of blondie since he gets to put his face between those gorgeous thighs every night.”

You opened your mouth to tell him that he’d gone too far, but Roger lunged past you, going for Glen. You and Bill each grabbed one of Roger’s arms, yanking him back. 

“Roger!” you cried, incredulous. 

“He crossed a line!” Roger bellowed. He glared fiercely at Glen. “Don’t you EVER talk about her like that!”

“HEY!” Bill interjected again. “Roger, settle down. Glen, get the fuck out.” 

“I still want to know about that witness,” Glen said. 

“She was the one who found Dominique, how could we not call her to the stand?” Bill argued. “Lucy Thomas is just a cold bitch by nature, we can’t help that.”

Roger was still glowering, breath heavy and chest heaving. 

“Alright, I’ll go,” Glen. “But I’m not going to take any more of that nonsense.”

“Oh, but you expect us to tolerate yours?” you retorted. 

“Y/N, that’s enough, we’re not doing this,” Bill said. 

“Bloody ridiculous,” Glen muttered as he swept out of the room. 

The door swung shut behind him. You rounded on Roger. 

“What’s got into you?” you cried. “Are you trying to make this worse?”

“I was defending you!” he argued. 

“OH MY GOD BOTH OF YOU SHUT IT!” Bill interrupted once again. 

All eyes were on him. 

“Emotions are running high right now,” he continued. “I’m going to get some lunch. Y/N, you’ve got the rest of the day off. Roger, do whatever the hell you want.” 

You blinked. “You’re sending me home?”

“Yes,” he said. “You’re riled up and snappish and frankly, I don’t want to talk to you for the rest of the day.”

You flared up, offended, but he stopped you from speaking with a look. Then he turned to Dominique. 

“Dom, can I get you some lunch?” he offered. 

“Throw in a drink, and I’m there,” she said.

She took his arm and they left together. The door snapped closed once again and you looked at Roger. 

“I appreciate you defending me, but after the argument he made in there, you can’t act like that, Rog,” you said, as calmly as you could. Inside, your emotions were swirling around like a hurricane. 

“What I did was human,” Roger replied, voice also steadying. “All I want to do is defend the people I love.”

“Well, don’t,” you said sharply. 

“Fine,” he snapped. “I won’t, then.”

From the look on his face, you knew you’d struck a nerve. Roger had never looked at you with so much disappointment and anger in his eyes. Not even during your worst fights. This was a new level. It made your heart sink. But when he went for the door, you didn’t try to stop him. You watched him go, feeling like a bad lawyer and an even worse girlfriend. 

You walked home from the courthouse. All your frustration was gone by the time you opened the door. You half hoped that Roger would be there and you could both apologize and make up. But he wasn’t. Your flat was as empty as you felt. With a heavy sigh, you set down your work things and went to go change. Only, when you got to your bedroom, you had no energy to do so. You kicked off your shoes, flopped face down on your bed, and let out a sob. You cried yourself into a deep sleep. 

You woke a couple hours later to a knock on your door. Brushing your fingers through your surely mussed up hair, you forced yourself from the bed and went to answer it. You knew who you hoped it was, but you couldn’t be sure Roger would be standing there. You left things so tense. 

To your shock and pleasure, it was him. He looked rather like a dog with his tail between his legs as you opened the door. You felt the same. You had behaved no better, in your opinion. 

“Hey,” he said awkwardly. 

“Hey,” you returned. 

A beat passed. 

“I’m so sorry,” you said in unison, and you both chuckled a little bit. 

“Come inside,” you offered. “We should talk.”

“Definitely,” he agreed. 

He came in and you went to the kitchen. You made some tea and handed it him a cup before sitting down across from him. 

“I’m sorry I testified for them,” he said. “Glen called me and asked me if I’d be willing to tell my side of the story. I had no idea he would go that direction.” 

“You can’t trust opposing counsel,” you said. “Especially the likes of him.”

“Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson,” he conceded. “The last thing I want to do is hurt Dominique’s case, I just…”

“I know you want to protect people, Rog,” you said, reaching over to take his hand. “That’s your natural instinct. And I admire that about you. Few people are as selfless as you are. But you can’t always be the one in the ring, okay?”

“I know,” he said. “And again, I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you,” you returned. “And I’m sorry too. I just got scared because Dom means a lot to me too and I don’t want her to go through all this only to lose.”

“I get it, I feel the same way,” he said. “I think we both forgot ourselves today because we care so much.”

“I told you having me might backfire,” you joked. 

He smiled. Another pause passed between you. 

“About Glen,” he said. “I’m also sorry I exploded like that. But I won’t apologize for defending you, he -”

“No, I agree he crossed a line today,” you cut across him. “That was way too far. Especially since we haven’t….y’know…”

“I know,” he said. “And when he said that today...just talking about you like that - even him thinking of touching you - it made me absolutely mad with rage. Because that connection we had...even back in the day...it was practically sacred to me, Y/N. To hear him say that, and make a mockery of it….I just couldn’t take it.”

You looked down to hide your blush. The sex was that meaningful to you as well, but you never thought he was so sentimental about it. 

“D’you remember when we used to?” he asked. “How you’d look me in the eyes?”

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat. The memory made heat stir in the pit of your belly. 

“Yeah,” you said, finding the courage at last to look at him. “Of course I do.”

“No one else has ever looked in my eyes, y’know, during,” he said. “I felt like I could….I dunno, see your soul or something. I’ve had sex with plenty of women. But I’ve only really made love to one.”

You were certain your cheeks were redder than cherries at this point.

“Roger, I….” you trailed off. “I don’t know what to say. I had no idea it all meant so much to you. Especially with the way you left.”

He hung his head. “I know. But I hope you believe me.”

“I do,” you assured him. “I just wonder what made you think of all that?”

“Glen’s comments today were a part of it,” he said. “But also, a few weeks ago, you said we couldn’t because my divorce wasn’t final. But, it’s final now, and I’ve been thinking about being with you ever since I signed that paper.”

Your blush impossibly deepened. 

“Plus, seeing you in that courtroom is incredibly sexy,” he added with a laugh. 

You laughed too, relaxing you a bit. 

“I’ve been thinking about it too,” you admitted. “I’m just nervous.”

“Why?” he wondered. “By my memory, we were very good.”

You smiled. “I think I’m just afraid that if we try, then what we had before might not be there. And then what?”

“Y/N, it’s gonna be there,” he said, squeezing your hand. “I love you and you love me. That passion is there. Which is especially clear after today.” He took a deep breath. “But if you’re not ready, we can wait.”

You didn’t reply right away. Honestly, seeing him leap to your defense the way he did had turned you on, though you didn’t want to admit it. And every time he kissed you, you remembered how good it felt to go further with him. But your fear was real. What if it wasn’t the same as it used to be? There was only one way to find out. 

“Roger?”

“Yes, love?”

“Kiss me.”

He almost jumped out of his chair to come around the table to take you up in his arms. He lifted you to your feet and claimed your lips in a tender embrace. He moved slowly, giving you the opportunity to stop him if you wanted. But you wanted the opposite. 

You opened your mouth against his, and he reacted immediately, slipping his tongue between your lips. The kiss was heavy with the pent up desire you had both been feeling. Your mind was fuzzy, like getting drunk, but you were acutely aware of his hands sliding up your sides. His thumbs brushed your ribcage, just barely touching the underside of your breasts. 

You whimpered into his mouth and reached for the buttons of your blazer. He helped you shrug it off your shoulders and it fell to the floor. Beneath, you had just your plain white tank top and pencil skirt. He stopped kissing you to look over your body in the form fitting clothes. You saw the hungry look in his eyes and bit your lip.

Your lips already itched to feel his again. All of your skin was tingling with the desire for his touch. You watched him observe you, chest rising and falling with your deep, desperate breaths. 

When he met your gaze again, you couldn’t contain it anymore. You crashed upon him. Pressing into him to be as close as possible. His arms snaked around your waist to hold you there, his eagerness to be close as evident as yours. Then his hands made their way south and he gripped handfuls of your ass. 

You gasped and let out a husky breath, pushing even further into him. He groaned and you felt his hardness pressing into your lower stomach. You stopped kissing him to catch your breath and reach for the buttons of his shirt. 

“Fuck that,” he panted, and he pulled it over his head while you giggled. 

When his shirt had joined your jacket, you had your turn to admire him. You ran your fingers delicately down his torso. His skin was warm. 

“I guess we should be matching,” you teased, and you tugged your tank top off as well. 

Roger’s eyes on you as you reached back and unclasped your bra had you reeling. That was what you missed about making love to him. No one else had ever desired you so passionately.

With your breasts free, he took direct action. He cupped one in each hand and squeezed gently, massaging them before tweaking each nipple between his fingers. Your head fell back with a groan as the sensation sent more heat straight to your core. He attached his lips to your neck, whispering into your skin.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, love. God, I’ve missed you.”

You whined in returned, arching your back toward him. He pulled you close again. The heat of his body sent a chill up your spine.

“Wanna move to the bedroom, love?” he asked.

You nodded. He scooped you up and carried you in there as you giggled. You yelped with surprise when he tossed you on the bed and crawled up to join you. The next kisses were fervent and needy. You moaned again.

Roger’s fingers moved down your front and nimbly popped the buttons of your skirt before tugging the zipper down. You did not wear panty hose. You liked the way your legs looked without them, and you knew you could distract an opposing male lawyer if need be. You played dirty too sometimes.

You pushed your thong down your legs as Roger worked off his jeans. He groaned at the sight of you bare before him, sprawled out and breathless from his kisses. You smirked at him with cat like playfulness as you sat up. You gently pulled the waistband of his boxers down, slowly, watching his face as you went. Beads of sweat formed at his hairline from your torturous pace.

“Fuck, baby, I need you,” he sighed.

With a grin, you swiftly removed his boxers, and he kicked them off the bed. Then, you took hold of his hips, rubbing soft little circles into the slightly protruding bones. He hissed with anticipation.

Then, you gave him what he wanted. You licked a stripe up his cock. A loud groan came from his throat. You swirled your tongue around his tip before wrapping your lips around him and taking him down. He let out such a delicious moan your mouth watered around him.

You began with a slow pace. Dragging your mouth forward and back, teasing him. His short, eager breaths egged you on. You saw him trembling trying to maintain control, but after you hollowed out your cheeks and really sucked, his hips jerked forward. You almost gagged, but held back.

“Sorry,” he choked out. “God, it feels so good.”

He buried his fingers in your hair and pulled you off of him. That was typical. Roger preferred not to cum in your mouth, and he refused to finish before you had gotten one or two orgasms of your own. Usually more.

You licked your lips and looked expectantly at him. He took your shoulders and lay you back. Your legs fell open for him. He got onto his knees there, but didn’t settle on top of you. Instead, he kissed you again. He teased your lips with his tongue, and you opened up. He explored your mouth, getting you all hot again, before pulling away. 

He nipped and sucked along your jawbone and down the soft skin of your neck. He trailed across your collarbones, down your chest - briefly stopping to suck on each of your nipples - and then made his way down your stomach. He slowed down the closer he got to your pelvis. Roger was not an explorer trekking out into new territory. He was coming home. He recalled every sensitive spot on your body. What made you moan, sigh, and giggle. He exploited this knowledge to the full extent as he made his way down. It made your whole body light up with excitement and need. Finally, you whined impatiently and pushed your hips up. 

With a cocky chuckle, he took his tongue to your folds. You gasped sharply as your back arched. He wrapped his lips around your clit and sucked lightly, just how you liked it.

“Oh! Roger!” you cried, heels digging into the mattress.

He moaned into you, the vibrations sending an extra thrill all the way up your body. You’d almost forgotten how extraordinarily well he used his tongue and mouth. He was zeroed in on your clit, making you writhe around as you released pathetic whimpers and soft cries of his name.

The pressure was building inside you as he worked your core with his mouth. Your voice raised several octaves and your legs quivered as you hurtled toward the sweet release. When you were on the cusp, he sank a finger into you. You groaned so deeply you felt him smile against you. He curled his finger toward himself, pushing on your g-spot with expert precision. 

“Rog - oh fuck!” you nearly sobbed.

He added a second finger, stretching you just slightly. Your walls clamped down around him as he drove you further toward the edge.

“Please, please,” you begged, panting.

He sped up, knowing just what you needed. Between the flicks of his tongue and the thrusts of his fingers, you were there. Your legs stiffened, your back arched high off the bed, a scream tore from your throat as it hit you. The wave of pleasure crashed over you, and Roger did not relent as you began to come down, shaking with the sensation of it all.

He eased you down, slowing his pace before removing the contact. Your body quivered. He smiled, pleased with himself, and he crawled back over you again to help with the shivering. Hot as you were during, you were always cold after an orgasm, so he held you a moment.

You were panting too hard for him to kiss you properly, so he peppered your face and neck with pecks. When you giggled, he knew you were okay.

His hips settled between your thighs, and you gasped as his cock brushed your entrance. Then you moaned.

“Ready for more, sweetheart?” he asked, running his finger along your jaw.

You nodded. “Please, more.”

You didn’t even worry about sounding pathetic. You could be anything with Roger - strong, weak, pathetic, needy, vulnerable, bitchy, sweet, sexy - all of it. Any side of yourself was accepted and loved by him. 

He rested on his forearms, cupping your face between his hands, and he slid into you. It was like magic. He fit so perfectly inside you - with just enough stretch to make you whimper with need. You both took a moment to revel in being together again. Being completely united. 

You locked eyes. You understood what he meant earlier. Your souls met behind your irises. You had never felt more connected to him. And from the soft look in his eyes, you knew he felt the same.

“I love you so much,” he sighed.

“I love you too,” you returned.

You turned your face and took his finger into your mouth, a weakness of his. His eyes fell closed and his hips rutted forward, deeper into you. You squeaked with surprise and then chuckled, moving to match him.

You fell easily into a rhythm together. It flowed as naturally as the tides. Roger filled you with each thrust, and you climbed slowly together back up to the edge. His name escaped your lips as he rocked into you. Delicate declarations of his love and your beauty swept off his breath. You didn’t hear them, but you felt them.

He sped up and it was like coming out of a fog. Each snap of his hips shook you and you clutched onto his shoulders for dear life. Your moans rose in volume and octave as you found yourself clenching around him again. 

“Oh - Roger - Oh God -”

“I’m so close, baby,” he grunted. “Please, one more for me.”

He removed his hand from its proximity to your face and slid it between your bodies, finding your clit as if it were magnetized. He rubbed tight, fast circles on it, and your vision began to blur. 

The second one hit you harder and more suddenly. White exploded behind your eyes as your walls fluttered around his cock. Roger cried your name once more and spilled into you, slowing down his thrusts as you peaked together. You twitched against him as he guided you back down steadily. He slowed to a stop and watched you panting beneath him.

He inched himself out of you. You still winced at the feeling. Once he was able, he rolled off you and you crawled into his arms. You needed his warmth.

“Mmm, Rog,” you hummed, pulling him closer.

“Good?” he asked.

“Incredible,” you replied.

“I don’t wanna speak too soon, but I think we’ve still got it,” he teased.

You smiled lazily. “We do.”

“What do you need now, love?”

“Sleep,” you said through a yawn.

He chuckled. “Of course you do.”

He kissed your forehead and you both drifted off. All worries about your relationship and the trial were forgotten. For now, you could just be.

[wonderful-writer]

25 - Trap

Summary: A week after Y/n almost brought Clarke home, her father and Abby head to Polis for a Summit Delegation, and send her and the group to Mount Weather, where the rest of Farm Station are being held. Azgeda attacks the mountain, leading to the deaths of 37 people.

Word Count: 2.55k 

Warnings: Character death, violence, explosions, etc.

Based Off: 03x03, “Ye Who Enter Here”

In the week since you almost found Clarke, you were stuck with inventory checks. Of course, when that wasn’t happening you were arguing the recent decision to put the people of farm station who didn’t fit into Arkadia into Mount Weather. It was a stupid decision in itself, but apparently only you and Bellamy could see that.

Today, however, was the day that you would be travelling to Mount Weather with the others, a list of things to fix and do from Abby. You spent the ride lost in your thoughts about the outcome of the Summit. Clarke was there, in Polis, and you knew you could help with the delegation. It barely registered for you that you had arrived, only noticing when you heard the metal creaking open.

You stepped out, noticing Bellamy staring off into the forest. Walking up to him, you put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “Hey,” You said. “What’s going on up in that pretty little brain of yours?”

“The delegation; I should be there. We both should.”

“I know, Bell. But I’m sure everything will be fine by the time they get back, and maybe Clarke will be with them when they do.” You assured him. “It just sucks that my dad thinks he can teach me a lesson by benching me. Him of all people should know that it won’t work,”

You smiled at your boyfriend, who was chuckling at your words. He moved past you to grab one of the bags filled with gear to fix up Mount Weather, handing it to you with a kiss to the cheek before grabbing his own. As you walked up to the doors of Mount Weather with Bellamy and Octavia on either side of you, Raven told Gina about how she saved Sinclair back on the Ark, although you weren’t really listening.

Hers and Gina’s words faded as you closed in on the mess hall, hearing the music, chatter, and clanging of utensils against plates. You tensed, the familiarity of it all reminding you of the previous inhabitants of the mountain and what they did to get to the ground. Pike welcomed you, inviting you to join him and the others. You knew you would never live comfortably in these halls, not like them.

“Someone’s made themselves at home,” Raven commented.

Octavia swept her eyes across the room before speaking. “There must be 30 of them in here,”

“36, but the more, the merrier,” Pike said, shaking Bellamy’s hand.

“36? Wow, the grounders are gonna think we moved in,” You commented sardonically. The thought alone of them living here permanently scared you, knowing that it could possibly cause a war in itself with the grounders. Again.

Bellamy gave you a pointed look as Pike spoke. “Well, there was no room at the inn.”

Octavia spoke once again and Bellamy cut her off with a stern look, leading her to hand ehr bag to Raven and leave the mountain. You were tempted to follow her, but Sinclair came through one of the doors and caught your attention.

“Reyes, you’re 3 hours late,” Sinclair reprimanded. “We’ve got no power to medical, fluctuations on levels 2 and 3, and blown fuses all over the place. Get on it.”

“You can do no wrong, huh?” Gina commented lightly as Raven walked away, you and Gina following after her to help with the electrical issues. You could barely fix a few of the blown fuses when Pike radioed Sinclair and called off fixing the power, saying they were needed back in the mess hall.

“Why the hell are they calling us off?” Raven asked. “I’ve got tripped circuits all over the grid.”

“Oh, whatever it is, it supersedes fixing the power problem.”

As soon as you were in the mess hall with the others, Bellamy spoke. “Alright, listen up. If we want to get to Polis before the attack, we have to move.”

“I’m sorry, attack?” You shook your head, not believing what you were hearing.

“Attack? Do we have confirmation of that?” Sinclair asked.

“We radioed, but no answer.”

“They may already be dead, for all we know,” Pike said, striking a chord. “And if they are, we need to be ready to respond.”

“Don’t make this about the missiles,” Sinclair told him.

“This is about survival,” Pike argued. “We don’t have the numbers, but the missiles in this mountain even the playing field, and you know I’m right.”

“Even if I did agree with you, we still don’t have the launch codes.”

“No, but we have me,” Raven spoke up.

At that point you didn’t bother to listen anymore, instead turning to Bellamy to see what he thought about using the missiles. He was looking at Raven, however, and you couldn’t read his face. He almost seemed okay with using the missiles, as if they didn’t almost kill his sister. Raven and Sinclair walked over to the entrance with Gina, waiting for you to join them.

Bellamy moved over to you and spoke. “You should stay here with them,”

“Bellamy, I’ve already decided. I’m going.” You told him, watching as he formed a response.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am, Bellamy! My dad is in Polis, if he gets hurt because of this, I need to be there.” You persisted. “And if you get hurt, then what am I gonna do?”

“That’s exactly why you can’t go. I need to keep you safe,” Bellamy’s eyes showed you that he wouldn’t be giving up any time soon. You weren’t either, but you knew this would get you both nowhere.

“Fine, I’ll stay. But I will be groveling and complaining that I didn’t go the entire time.” Bellamy laughed and pulled you into his arms, giving you a kiss. “Just, don’t do anything too stupidly heroic, please.”

“Got it, averagely stupid heroic.” You laughed and pulled him into a tight hug before parting ways. You towards Sinclair, Raven, and Gina, Bellamy in the opposite direction. You followed the trio to level 7, where the command center is, hoping to find the codes in there. After hours of you trying to make sense of the coding in the silent comms room, Raven spoke to herself.

“Damn it,”

“What happened to that Raven Reyes confidence?” Sinclair asked from behind her, eyes glued to the screen.

“It’s a 12-digit code, there are a trillion combinations.” Raven said frustratedly. “It’s gonna take me a minute.”

You looked up from your screen across from Gina as she did, glancing at the angry woman and thinking over a few different ways you could find the code. “Gina, Y/n, what do you got?”

“Don’t look at us, we’re just grunts.”

“Oh, come one, guys. It’s gonna be dark soon.” Sinclair said, pacing lightly. “We’re working analog, we’re working digital. What are we missing?”

“How is the president going to remember a number that long?” Gina questioned.

You thought about Dante and how old he was, knowing that there was no possible way for him to remember that long of a number for too long. “Not that well, he was old.”

“Wanna bet he wrote it down somewhere?”

“Oh, come on.” Raven turned around. “That’s like setting the launch codes to all zeros.”

“And yet, it’s better than anything we’ve come up with.” Sinclair countered.

“Y/n and I will check the president’s office.” You stood and grabbed a walkie from beside you as Sinclair tossed one to Gina.

“We’ll keep working the tech angle. Hopefully one of us will get lucky.”

As you walked down the hall to the president’s office with Gina, you spotted something on the end of the hall. A sign, with an arrow pointing to the left that read ‘record’s room’.

“Hey, Gina, there’s a records room down the hall. I think I’m gonna check it out, see what I can find.” You told her as you stopped at the president’s office door.

“Sure, I’ll see what I can find in here,” She nodded towards the office. “Just keep your radio on channel 5, holler if you need me.”

You nodded and continued down the hall, following the path to the record room, pulling open the door to reveal floor to ceiling filing cabinets, lining the walls and in the middle. You studied them, seeing that each drawer was dated with the year. You went to the first cabinet to your left, near the door, seeing it was dated 2188, which was last year.

Pulling the drawer open, you took the files from it and placed them on the ground, sitting with them to get a little more comfortable. You flipped through each file carefully, and when it didn’t give you any useful information, you put it on the other side of you and started with a new one. Your radio was sitting right in front of the filing cabinet you were sitting in front of, for easier access.

By the time you’d poured over most of the thick files in the first drawer, your radio cut in. “Gina to Raven, come in.”

“Go for Raven,”

“I’ve got nothing.” Gina sighed. “No launch codes. I guess our luck is still holding.”

“Same here,” You sighed. “You’d think a records room would keep track of the launch code, but it’s all just population count and radiation tolerance.”

Your radio crackled and Raven’s voice came through. “Okay. Keep looking, we’ll do the same.”

You set your radio back where it was when it crackled again, a muffled scream passing through it. Raven called out for Gina and you did, too. When Gina didn’t respond, you pushed the heavy file off of your laps and got up from your position, hurrying back down the hall to the president’s office. The hallway had never felt as long as it did now, feeling like centuries had passed before you reached the glass doors.

As soon as you were in front of them, you made eye contact with a grounder in white war paint, making the connection in your head moments before he attacked you. Ice Nation’s attack. It wasn’t Polis they were going after, it was Mount Weather. Once you finished your thought, he charged at you with a bloody knife.

You attempted to block his hit as best as you could without taking the time to pull out your sword, and he missed his target, hitting your left shoulder instead. You screamed in pain, but that fueled your will to fight even further. He removed the blade from you and you fell to the floor, but as he leant over you to finish you off, he left himself open for an attack.

You pulled your leg up and smashed it into his groin, watching him fall as you struggled to sit up. You pulled your dagger from your holder and got his shoulder as well, pulling it out and leaning forward to hit him in the side of the head with your elbow. He takes the blow and stands after a few moments, looking over at the desk and taking off down the hall. You followed his line of sight and gasped, seeing Gina slumped onto the desk with blood pouring from her mouth.

“Gina!” You rush over to your friend, pulling her up to see her shirt stained red. “Oh my God, Gina. What the hell happened?”

“The code, it’s on his arm.” She said slowly. You knew what she was talking about, but only gained a full perspective when you looked at the timer on the desk.

You pulled her radio off the desk and spoke to Raven. “We have a problem. A grounder attacked us and set off the self-destruct sequence. The codes, they’re on his arm. You have to get them,”

With that, you lifted Gina’s arm and put it around you. “Let’s go, we’re getting out of here.”

“No,” Gina protested. “I’ll be fine, go get the codes and come back for me after,”

You looked at Gina sadly, putting her back down. “I will be back for you, Gina.”

She sent you a smile and you took off towards the stairway to the emergency exit, knowing that the elevator wouldn’t be fast enough. You heard the thumping of footsteps and knew Raven was just up ahead, hearing Gina tell her through the radio that there was only 45 seconds left until the mountain came crumbling down.

Speeding up, you caught up with Raven and made it up the stairs, through the exit. The grounder was on top of Sinclair and Raven acted fast, pulling out her pistol and killing him. Sinclair pushed the body off of him as Raven shouted to get the codes from his arm. You ran with her, pushing past the searing pain in your shoulder and ripped the sleeve off of one of his arms as Raven practically screamed into the radio for Gina.

Raven started to make her way back to the entrance and Sinclair chased after her, as did you, but the building blew up before you reached it, sending all three of you flying backwards. The landing winded you and sent a shockwave of pain through your body. Once you were able to sit up, you helped Raven and you went to Sinclair, but he was unconscious. You both sat by him as Raven grabbed her radio to contact Bellamy.

“Bellamy, Bellamy come in.” She said. “The grounders attacked Mount Weather.”

You looked at the smoldering remains of the mountain and although you were grateful it was erased from the earth and you would never see it again, you knew that 37 of your people had died there today, one of which was your best friend.

Bellamy’s voice came through the radio. “What are you talking about?”

You were quick to take over the radio to give a response. “It’s all gone, Bell. They- they set off the self-destruct, I got hit in the shoulder, and Gina... she’s- Bellamy she-”

You managed to compose yourself a little longer. “Raven, Sinclair and I are the only ones left.” The adrenaline wore off quickly and your tears couldn’t be subsided this time. You broke down alongside Raven, the tears and pain taking all of your energy and soon enough, you collapsed into the darkness of sleep.

Taglist:  @soullessbabee​​ | @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis​​ | @dummythiccwitch​ | @sireddobrev​​ | @gxvrielle​ | @hurricane-abigail​ | @holyhumorliteraturelight​ | @lilacs-lavender​

[oboevallis]

trying

“Hey, I’ve gotta get to work. Are you sure you’ll be fine here?” Link asked his girlfriend who was watching the TV.

“Yep.” A distracted Amelia responded.

“Mkay, love ya.” Link pressed a kiss to her forehead, and one to her swollen abdomen which she pushed him off of her.

“Link, you know I hate it when you do that.” The neurosurgeon sighed dramatically.

“I know I’m sorry.” Link apologized as he made his way towards the door.

“You know you keep saying your sorry, but continue to do it.”

“Bye Amelia, have a good day.” Link smirked as he closed the door behind him.

“Whatever.”

________________________________________

“Oh hey, Maggie.” Link greeted as he walked into the scan room. “I was hoping I’d run into you I need some advice.”

“Sure, what can I help you with?” She asked spinning in her chair to face him.

“I’m just worried about Amelia. I mean she told me about her son once and hasn’t talked about it since, and I think she’s just shoving down a lot of her feelings. I just want her to feel okay, I understand it’s difficult for her but maybe if she would just talk about it she’d be able to feel better. I don’t mind being her punching bag, but she’s just going off on the littlest things.” Link ranted, he’d never thought it was a thing, but you really do pick up on your spouses mannerisms.

“Wait what?” Maggie asked confused.

“Wait what, what?”

“Amelia’s had a baby before?” Maggie asked confused, Amelia always talked about everything how did this never come up?

“Wait, you didn’t know? Crap sorry, I probably shouldn’t of said anything.” Link was internally beating himself up, of course if she so grudgingly told him, she probably wasn’t quick to tell anyone else. His pager then went off with 911. “Sorry I’ve got to go.”

This left a very confused Maggie, how did she never know about this? she knew it was an invasion of privacy and most likely illegal. But that didn’t stop her from pulling up her sisters medical records on her tablet. She scrolled past the time she would’ve been in Seattle, she would’ve known. She slowed down once the hospitals and practices she was admitted in when she was down in LA. She tapped on the last visit she had while she was there, and a ‘locked’ notice showed up on her tablet. She knew if she requested access that’d send a message to her doctor to her allowing for consent to allow another doctor to look at the information.

“Any good cases?” The door opened, causing Maggie to jump.

“Are you okay?” Meredith asked concerned.

“Oh yeah. I don’t have any good cases.”

“Really? Then why’d you turn you tablet over abruptly when I walked in? Oh, please don’t tell me your planning to commit a crime to save someone’s life, we can’t have you in the verge of jail as well.” Meredith jokes with her twisted sense of humor.

“W-what? Nothing I was just d-diverting my attention to you.” She’d always been a terrible liar.

“Ooookay then. Hey could you possibly get the kids from daycare tonight? I maybe late getting home.”

“Sorry I can’t tonight.” Maggie apologized, she was now planning to go see Amelia.

“Hot date?”

“Oh no not tonight.” She looked down at her watch, her shift was about to end. “I’ve got to go, bye Mer.”

________________________________________

A knock on the door interrupted Amelia from the reality show she’d been binging. She slowly got up to answer the door whilst still paying attention to what was happening.

“Hey! I saw you were off today and tomorrow, sooooo I thought I’d come over with some fries and ice cream.” Maggie cheerfully smiled holding up the bags in her hands. Amelia distractedly welcomed her in then she made her way back to the couch. It was nearing the part where an obviously staged fight would take place, it was her absolute favorite part. But once the episode ended Maggie got hold of the remote and turned off the TV, which caused Amelia to let out an irritated sigh.

“Maggie what is your deal? You come over unannounced and then turn off the Tv?” Amelia was letting her hormones get the best of her.

“Well, since you’ve moved out I haven’t seen you as much.I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, but it’s not normal for you to show up to somewhere without clarifying your plans ten million times. Are you okay?” Amelia asked less annoyed but now concerned with her sisters surprise visit.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know you’ve just kind of been kind of quiet lately and your definitely not a quiet person and when you do have conversation with someone your kind of snippy.”

“I’m hormonal, Maggie.” Amelia said as she hoisted herself off the couch, and went into the kitchen.

“Amelia.” Maggie said with concern tainting her voice. “I know your not okay, and that’s fine. You need to talk though.”

“I appreciate your concern but I’m fine, just hormonal.”

“Link told me.” Amelia froze as she scooped ice cream.

“Told you what?” She faced away from her sister, she didn’t want Maggie to see her cry.

“That you’ve had a baby before.” Maggie cautiously said, trying not to upset her sister any further. “You’ve never told me that.”

“It’s not something I talk about.” She handed Maggie a bowl with ice cream and slowly lowered herself onto the couch. They sat in silence eating ice cream. She knew she couldn’t go through telling the story right now, so she grabbed her work tablet from the coffee table and opened up her OB files, handing the tablet to her sister. Maggie silently read over the information she was just handed. “Ironic right?” She chuckled trying to make light.

“Oh Amelia.” Maggie didn’t quite know what to say, she couldn’t imagine what that must of been like. As Maggie tried to find the words to say Amelia spoke up.

“I feel guilty.” Maggie tried to speak up but Amelia cut her off. “I know I shouldn’t but I do. Don’t get me wrong I’m so so so grateful this baby is healthy. But I just feel guilty, and I know I should talk about him I just can’t muster up the energy. So I’m just crappy to Link and he doesn’t deserve that.”

Maggie didn’t know what to say in the least bit. So she placed the bowl onto the coffee table and brought Amelia into a hug which she tried to push off at first, but eventually complied. She let the neurosurgeon sob, while assuring her it’d be okay. Even though that probably mean nothing, because everything was obviously not okay. But eventually she cried herself to sleep, but Maggie continued to hold her.

“Hey.” Link greeted, and then turned around taking in the situation. “Is she okay?”

“I think she will be.” Maggie whispered. “I had no idea she went through any of that.”

“Me either until she told me.” Link whispered in response. Going over to the couch to pick up his girlfriend and bring her to bed. “Thanks for coming over. It really means a lot.”

“Of course.” As link walked out of the living room carrying his girlfriend Maggie headed for the door.

“Thanks for carrying me to bed.” Amelia whispered as Link was almost at the doorway, this caused him to turn around and lay on the bed facing his girlfriend.

“Do you want to talk about Christopher?” Link said in barley a whisper.

“Not right now, but maybe later.” Link kissed her forehead.

“May I?” Link asked a hand hovering over her bump. To this Amelia nodded yes, he traced soothing circles onto her abdomen.

“When i was pregnant with Christopher, I never had this. The father just being there. It’s just new, and I just feel guilty. I’m sorry I’ve been so crappy to you.”

“Don’t apologize. Not for a second should you apologize.”

“God, have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Only everyday.” Link smirked. “And for the record I love you too.”

i got a prompt form an anon asking for a fic where amelia is annoyed with people touching her bump i feel like this wasn’t what they were looking for so sorry about that ill probably do a fic more around that,but i hope everyone is doing well and staying safe

[wayward-mikaelson]

Winter’s Doll--Chapter Five

Word Count: 2052

About: Nadia learns the government won’t release documents to the Avengers and she tells the story about the night her brother died

Characters: Nadia, Bucky, Steve, Bruce, Tony, Natasha, Nikola (flashback) and Fury

Pairing: None

Warnings/Trigger Warnings: Language, Implied Sexual Encounter (Flashback), Mention of Character Death, Mention of Government Corruption

A/N: Sorry this is out late. I’ve been dealing with my mental health these last few weeks. I’m doing better a bit more myself. I also have a mini series coming very soon! 

*This contains content for the 18 and up crowd. Read at your own discretion

**Please do not copy and paste my work anywhere. You, however, are allowed to copy and paste and reblog the link

***This work is posted on WattPad and Archive of our Own. Links can be found in the pinned post on my profile

****Follow my other accounts. Links can be found in th pinned post on my profile

*****Currently NOT taking requests

******Feedback if welcomed

Forever Tags: @hobby27 @donnaintx @myinconnelly1 @elansaidaris @magssteenkamp @440mxs-wife

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Chapter Four

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Two weeks after the fake mission—that was a success by the way. If it weren’t for your quick thinking and thought process, Natasha would have gotten away with the flash drive. Nadia sat in the training room staring that the punching bag that hung in front of her. She passed all her tests. She was officially now an Avenger. She should be happy and stuff, but part of her wasn’t for some strange reason.

Nadia had been avoiding just about everyone since it was made official. Nadia dug down deep in her thoughts to try and figure out why she was the way she was. The only thought and person that she came to was Nikola. Her brother.

His death had drove her to become who she was now. The thing he died for, weather it was true or not, was shady all the way around. She had woken up discharged in a VA hospital back in the states. No one would tell her why but that it was a medical injury. She called their bullshit. Nadia was smart and she wanted to figure out what the hell happened to her brother and why they, the government, killed him.

***

“Nadie,” Nikola pulled his sister aside and pinned her against the wall. “You have to miss a few rounds, today. Don’t show them how good you are.”

Nadia coked her head the side. “Why not? I’m one of the best and if I screw up now, I will be relieved of my duties.”

Nikola looked over his shoulder and back at his sisters dark eyes. They were full of question and in a very need of answers. “Just trust me,” Nikola said. “I can’t have them doing what they do to others, to you. I wouldn’t forgive myself.”

Nadia pushed her brother aside. “Okay, whatever you say Nik.”

***

That should have been Nadia’s first red flag. But it wasn’t. Nadia was too busy trying to prove herself and sleeping with her commanding officer. Nadia shivered at the memory of sleeping that man. That man almost ruined her life after Nikola died. But they were over seas and many of them were in desperate need of some sort of relief.

“Hey,” a familiar voice started Nadia.

“Oh, hey,” Nadia said once she realized it was Bucky. “What’s up?” she asked casually, trying to mask the unhappiness with a fake smile.

Bucky rose an eyebrow. Damn, Nadia thought, He sees through that. “Is everything alright?” He sets his gym bag down and walks over to Nadia. “You’ve been a little off lately.”

Nadia hugged her arms around her body. “I guess I’m missing my brother a bit lately.”

If it were possible, Bucky’s eyebrow rose higher. “Is that all?” He asked looking deep into her eyes.

“Yes,” Nadia said confidently. “My brother is supposed to be here but he’s dead. That’s all Bucky.” Nadia dropped her arms. “When we were in the military we actually talked about who would make it here first. My money was actually on him.”

“I’m sorry, Nadie,” Bucky softly said. “You guys were close, I assume.”

Nadia smiled and chuckled. “We were. It was just us two growing up. We were each others best friends. Nik, my brother, always had my back and I had his. We lost friends for it but we didn’t care. We joined together. We were stationed together a few times. We knew each others strength and weaknesses. He even knew that I was being stupid when I slept with my commanding officer.”

Nadia looked up at Bucky who just stared at her. It looked like he was about to say something but a cough had the both of the looking in the doorway. There stood Steve leaning on the door frame. By the way he stood it looked like he had been there for awhile. He pushed himself off the frame and walked in.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” Steve started to say and both Bucky and Nadia noted a tone in his voice that meant he had more to say. “I’m afraid I have some bad news that concerns you and the death of your brother.”

***

Nadia sat in the conference room. All the blinds were drawn to give some sort of privacy but given that Wanda could read minds and stuff, there really wasn’t any sort of privacy. Tony and Steve sat next to each other. Natasha sat next to Nadia and patted her back at the news that had been delivered. Nadia had wished that Bucky was allowed in the room as it didn’t concern him. Bruce, who was in and out of the compound lately, stood in the corner. Nick Fury was on the phone.

“Nadia,” Tony called Nadia by her actual name. Under different circumstances she would probably be petty and teased him, but this wasn’t the time. “Why would the government not give us files related to the night your brother died or most importantly why you were discharged?”

Nadia took a deep breath and looked down at there folded hands. She could feel the shaking of her hands. Nadia took a few deep breaths and quickly threw her hands under the table and looked up.

“We went AWOL that night,” Nadia started to say.

“I knew there was something fishy about you,” Fury said over the phones speaker. Nadia’s eyes dropped down to the table top. Fury wasn’t making this any easier.

“Fury,” Natasha’s voice was firm. “Give her time to talk.”

“Why should I?” Fury’s voice rose an octave. “I didn’t want to hire her but Steve and Tony wanted us to take a chance on her. Now some shady dark shit is popping up. I saw we get rid of her.”

“Fury,” Steve’s voice. “Say another word and I’ll hang up this phone and block you number until we are done. Nadia, you can continue.”

Nadia licked her lips, her eyes not leaving the table top she stared at. “My brother thought the military was corrupt. He was in the process of convincing me when the building we snuck into blew up.”

“Why would your brother think that?” Natasha looked at Nadia.

Nadia fidgeted in her seat. This was the first time she was talking about this with anyone. She thought that she had given it time to settle in her being to talk about Nikola’s death. But Nadia guessed wrong. She felt like her brother was dying all over again.

“It’s okay,” Steve’s soft tone had Nadia looking up from the table. His eyes were softened and  the small smile on his lips told her that it was okay.

“Okay,” Nadia whispered. “My brother and I, we weren’t just Special Forces. You see there was a small program that is off books for those who are better. You don’t know it exists until you’re in it.”

Steve nodded and leaned back. “So your brother and you were apart of this program? What did you do?”

Nadia made a face. “We did everything that the US Government wouldn’t let other military branches do. We did stealth missions to retrieve whatever information we needed—whether it was a foreign country or our own. People were killed or hospitalized. Everything was kept off any government record.”

“They why go AWOL and why would they refuse records to us?” Tony asked.

“My brother believed that if we were too good the military sold us off to domestic terror groups,” Nadia continued. She felt the tears stinging her eyes as she got closer to telling her team about that night. “I thought he was crazy because he would keep telling me to slack and fail on things. That night we got into an argument about it and I told him to prove it.”

Nadia remembered in exact detail how her and Nikola snuck off that base. They wore their stealth gear and were armed just in case they had come into contact with anyone. Nadia didn’t realize it but she was gripping the table with such strength that her knuckles were white. She somewhat blamed herself for Nikola dying. But if he was right about any of what she was saying now, then his death saved her.

“What else happened?” Natasha asked.

“We snuck off base,” Nadia hurried to finish the story. She didn’t want to cry in front of her team. She didn’t believe it showed weakness, she just hated crying in front of people. “Nik, my brother, lead us to a building that had secure computers. He was smart with computers. We snuck in and he went away to hacking the computer files to get what he needed.” Nadia looked back on those final minutes before the blast. “He said he was close when we heard alarms go off in the building. He wanted me to leave but I said no.” Nadia’s voice broke. The long awaited tears fall down Nadia’s face as she buried her face in her hands.

Natasha rubbed Nadia’s back. “I know it hurts and that it sucks, but we need you to talk a little more.”

Nadia nodded and wiped her face. “He said that whatever happened to him, he was right. Then the building blew up. I woke up in a VA hospital to the news and discharge papers.”

“Discharge papers?” Bruce’s voice startled everyone. They had forgotten he was standing in the corner of the room.

Nadia nodded. “No reason too. The papers stated that I was just unfit to serve any longer.”

The room was then quiet. Nadia swore she could hear deep breathing outside of the room and was convinced that someone, maybe Bucky, was trying to eavesdrop. Nadia watched the blinking light on the phone. Fury hadn’t said anything at all. But she spoke too soon.

“Rogers, you know what that sounds like?” Fury asked.

“Hydra,” Steve answered.

***

Nadia sat in her room alone. She knew of and about Hydra. The secret evil organization that infiltrated SHIELD some years before. Nadia was certain it wasn’t Hydra but then part of her knew that it could be them.

She went to her closet and started to pour through box after box. Looking at old pictures and and stuff very closely. Looking for that one thing that would give it away that it could be them. But nothing showed up. It was possible that to avoid detection was to remove the Hydra symbol and blend right in with the real world.

“Fuck!” she threw a shoebox of photos across the room in time to hear a knock at the door. “It’s open,” she called out.

Steve opened the door. In hand was a sandwich on a plate and a two beer bottles. “I thought you would want something to eat. What’s all this?” he noticed the mess all over Nadia’s floor.

Nadia took the plate from Steve and took a bite of the sandwich. “I was trying to see if there was anything that could actually tell us if it was Hydra. I remembering taking so many photos over the years while over seas. I thought maybe I would have caught something without knowing.”

Steve was nodding his head. “Smart, did you find anything?”

“Nope,” Nadia took another bite. “My guess, they probably dropped the creepy octopus and stuff and blended in.”

Steve handed her an opened beer. “That’s smart too. After what happened to SHEILD, whatever is remaining of them, they could be trying not to be detected. They could be just about anywhere right now.”

Nadia and Steve poured over more pictures until late that night. Steve was a good person to talk to about this. He was calm and cool and collected about it all. Nadia would hand him one picture after the other. He would looked at them closely for anything that would spark something familiar to him.

Nothing.

“Here,” Nadia shoved all the photos into a single box and handed it off to Steve. “Maybe you can have someone else look these over just in case we missed something.”

Steve took the box and walked to the door. “You know,” he turned back. “If your brother is right about all of this, he save your life. You’re alive to make sure this is exposed. None of this is your fault.”

“Thanks, Cap,” Nadia smiled.

[maraudererasmut]

Experiment MJ001

TW: Drug and alcohol use. Mentions of drugs and alcohol use by minors. 

Marjiuana is legal in my country. It has been for a while.

I’ve always been very nervous about things in my life. Not anything in specific, just things in general. I had spend so long being repressed by my parents, I had cotten it in my head that drugs = bad and since marjiuana = drug, QED marjiuana = bad. 

Today, I decided to do something out of the ordinary and purchase a (legal) chocolate bar from the pot store and try it out!

So, I am currently high for the very first time in my life! (I’m in my late 20s)

I had an idea that I thought was brilliant at the time to write Wolfstar fan fiction about Remus getting high for the first time WHILE I was high and see what happened!

I also decided that I’m going to POST IT. Without editing it! (Pure, unadulterated chaos!!!) Now, for your viewing pleasure, the ramblings of a T on Pot. I have no idea if this is good or not. I haven’t read through it yet. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow, read this, regret it and delete it. But until then... enjoy!

((I’m sorry if it’s terrible!!!))

((I am also currently still high while typing this, so I apologize for any errors!!))

Remus had never consumed marjiuana before. Growing up, his parents had been very strict with what kinds of medication he was allowed to consume, particularly in regards to his lycanthropy. “You don’t know how it will affect the wolf, Remus.” “You don’t know what will happen…” “We can’t predict how the wolf will react…” 

Magic had always been the go-to remedies for colds or maladies; Muggle drugs were never to be trusted in the LUpin home.

So when Remus got drunk for the first time, he made sure that his friends were around to help him through the experience. 

Now, in his seventh year of school, Remus finally built up enough courage to ask his friends to, once-again, monitor Remus while he was testing the waters.

Remus sat with the three other Marauders, staring at the brownie in his hand.

“Are you sure this is safe?” he groaned, internally terrified of what may happen. The scent of the brownie wafted through the air, and Remus cursed his wolfish senses as his mind began convincing him that this might be worth it for the chocolate alone.

“”Yeah, I’m sure, Moons…” Sirius teased, licking his lips like a cartoon wolf sizing up a prized pig as he stared at his own brownie.

“Yeah, Pads and I have done this hundreds of times!” James chimed in, already  half way through his. “It’s fine!”

“You’re not werewolves,” Remus grumbled as he turned to Peter. “You’re the sensible one, Wormy. What do you think?”

Peter stared at Remus for a moment before breaking out into a smile. 

“I say fuck it!” he said, taking a bite out of his own brownie. “You only live once, Moons!”

Remus closed his eyes, took a bite from his brownie, chewed and swallowed. 

Nothing happened.

No big bang, no swirling in his brain, no sudden rush of feeling. 

“It’s… not working?” He said, turning to Sirius.

“Give it a bit, Moons! It takes time to work! It’s like alcohol!”

“Okay,” Remus said with a shrug, finishing the rest of his brownie. “So… what do I do until then?”

Sirius shrugged, but his smirk gave him away. He sat back onto the pillows and blankets that they had dragged to the ground, his head resting precariously close to Remus’ lap. He grinned up at Remus before reaching for his wand and giving a lazy flick into the air. 

Sirius’ record player began to spin, and All Along the Watchtower began playing, filling the entire room and seeping into Remus’ bones.

Remus laid back on the pillows, his head next to Sirius’. He closed his eyes and let Hendrix drift through his mind, trying not to let Sirius’ scent drive him crazy. 

Remus didn’t feel anything.

Not for a while.

He didn’t think it was even working.

The boys had spent the next hour talking, chatting, chilling, as they usually do on Saturday evenings. They talked about girls (James complaining about Lily), boys (Sirius’ trists with that Ravenclaw boy), and everything in between (Peter’s insistence that, yes, James, he is still Asexual. And no, James, he doesn’t need to double check.) 

Remus didn’t notice the time passing as he laid on the pillows next to his friends, for the first time in his life actually being able to participate fully. They normally spend evenings hanging out in the middle of the room. James and Sirius always got high. They had since they had discovered Muggle weed last year. Peter had partaken on occasion, but usually insisted that he preferred a couple of beers over weed. Remus, on the other hand, remained sober all night, watching his friends fall into various states of inebriation, testing their limits, seeing new sides of themselves. 

This was his first time.

Remus smiled to himself, thinking about how much fun it is to participate, even if he didn’t know what being high felt like yet. 

“What’re you smiling about?”

Sirius’ voice was practically a purr in Remus’ ear, and he felt his heartbeat quicken. 

“M’not… Not really. Just… happy to be here with you lads....”

“Mmm, same, Moons. Happy to be here… Today’s a good day to be alive…”

“That’s a weird thing to say…” Remus rolled over and looked at Sirius. 

Was Sirius always that handsome? Did his eyes always sparkle silver in their conjured lights? Did his hair always look that soft and touchable? What would happen if Remus touched it? Was his skin always so pale, so milky while, Remus had to resist leaning over and tasting it. Remus edged his arm over slightly, comparing his own freckle-dusted arm to Sirius’. One was slender and perfect and tattooed and lovely. One was broken and scarred and ugly. 

It was no wonder Sirius never noticed Remus.

“Whatya thinkin’ ‘bout?”

Sirius’ voice distracted Remus from his thoughts. 

“Mm? What’d’ya mean?” 

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles…

The Who was playing in the background and Remus watched as Sirius’ head bobbed up and down to the music, a wide grin spread across his perfect cheeks. 

“I mean you’re thinkin’ of stuff. We all are… I am… That’s what makes things so cool when you’re high… You think of stuff…”

Remus blinked. What was Sirius even saying? What had he been doing? Was he thinking? He seemed to be thinking…

His brain felt like the needle was skipping across the record. Or that more than one record was playing at a time. Everything that was said out loud was one record in one player, and a vision of him talking to Sirius from a bird’s eye view was another record. And the way the music blended into his brain was another record. 

Was this what being high was?

“I’m thinking of the music… I guess. And… Mrs. Robinson…”

“Ha ha! That’s that one Hufflepuff chick, ya?”

“What? No… it’s… coo coo ca choo?” Remus closed his eyes. His mind was feeling a bit foggy. 

Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes…

“Oh! Yeah! Jesus holds a place for those who pray…”

“Hey hey hey!” James’ voice came from miles away. Or across the room. To Remus, it felt like both at once.

“Yeah,” Remus said with a grin, rolling over onto his left side to face Sirius. “Coo coo choo, Mrs. Robinson….”

“BOYS!” Peter hollered from the other side of the room. “Hot Blooded! This is my jam!”

Remus grinned, listening as the sound of guitar filled the room. He tapped along to the song, watching Sirius watch the ceiling.

“What are you thinking about, Pads?”

Sirius tilted his head towards Remus and gave a wink. 

“That I’m hot blooded,” he said, his tongue resting on his fang. 

“Pfftt… You’re just a horny mutt…” Remus teased. He felt an immediate pang of regret as Remus realized that Sirius was likely horny for a certain Ravenclaw boy. 

“Mmm, bet you are too. Not that you’d ever date anyone… But I bet you’re real bad, Moons… “

Remus rolled his eyes, trying to keep his heart from exploding from his chest with terror. Why was Sirius talking about how horny Remus was? That wasn’t something Sirius ever talked about. 

“You know how it is… not allowed. The whole… furry little problem…”

Oooh, I’m picking up good vibrations, oooh she’s giving me excitations…

“I’ve told you, just date one of us…”

Remus chuckled, trying not to show how much he wished he could. 

“Oh yeah, James would totally ditch Lily for me,” Remus teased, listening to the Beach Boys suddenly start the quiet part of Good VIbrations. 

“I didn’t say date James…”

“Oh, Sorry… Peter then… Yup. That seems like a great idea…”

Good good good good vibrations!!

“Are those really your only choices?”

Sirius was on his side at this point, facing Remus head-on, giving a sly grin. 

Normally, Remus would laugh this off as a joke and change the subject. Perhaps talk about the fact that Sirius had American Woman on his magical mixed-record. 

Today was different though. Today, Remus was feeling a little bolder. A little dizzier. A little more capable of looking at the situation differently.

Most days, from the very beginning of his life, Remus had been taught to be small, demure, less than other people. He knew not to make waves or say what was on his mind, because he was not to draw attention to himself. Today, for the first time in his entire life, Remus was starting to understand what it felt like to be a normal person. Someone who wasn’t a werewolf. Someone who didn’t grow up being told that they had to hide themselves because of societal pressures. Today, he could suddenly just say whatever he thought and felt and there was absolutely nothing keeping him from saying it. 

“I can’t very well date you, Padfoot. What would that poor Ravenclaw boy do without you in his life?”

“Who, Spencer? Nah, we were never an item. Just fooling around…”

“Fine then,” Remus said with finality, trying to shrug while on his side. Whoooo are you? Who who, who who? “I suppose you’re the only person in all of Hogwarts who I can date.” 

Sirius grinned his wicked grin, inching closer to Remus, his eyes positively smouldering. 

“I suppose so. Guess we’re to call it, then. We’re dating now…”

Whooo are you? Who who? Who who?

Aaaawww, who the fuck are you?

“Hear that Prongs,” Remus said, playing along with the joke. “Sirius and I are dating now.”

“Well it’s about goddamn time,” James yelled back.

Remus chuckled to himself, but when he opened his eyes, Sirius was there. In front of him, their noses almost touching… There was a moment…

Whoooo are you? Who who? Who who?

Remus inched closer, rubbing his nose to Sirius’, just playing along, just being silly, just keeping up with the game.

Sirius closed the gap.

Remus sank into the kiss, feeling Sirius’ lips against his own, Sirius’ tongue tasting like chocolate and pot, Sirius’ hands suddenly around his waist. 

Then Remus pulled away.

Who are you? Who who? Who who?

“Who the fuck are you?”

Sirius laughed, pulling himself slightly away from Remus.

“I just wanted to see how far you’d be willing to play along! I didn’t realize you’d actually let me kiss you!”

“Fuck…” Remus swore, starting to feel angry at Sirius. “Shit... I thought maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Nothing…”

“Maybe what, Remus?”

“Nothing, Sirius.” Sirius’ lips were against Remus’ again, but the werewolf knew better this time. He pulled away, his eyes narrowing. “Stop dicking around.”

“I’m not dicking around…” Sirius whispered, his voice dropping low and rumbly. Remus felt a chill down his spine as House of the Rising Sun played in the background.  

“Don’t kiss me if you don’t mean it,” Remus grumbled, before he had a chance to think about his words and and regret saying him, Sirius was kissing him again. Remus tasted his tongue and lips and the thrill of kissing someone he had wanted to kiss for as long as he could remember. Sirius pulled away, his eyes gleaming and ravenous. 

“I mean it,” he cooed. “I—”

Before he could continue, Remus was pressed into Sirius, taking advantage of his inebriated state and lack of over-thinking. 

“Get a room, you prats!” James called across the room. Remus didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything except the feeling of Sirius’ body against his own, Sirius’ hands around his hips, Sirius’ tongue in his mouth, Sirius’ teeth nipping his lower lip. Everything was Sirius.

Remus closed his eyes and lost himself in his Padfoot. He silently prayed that things could stay this easy forever, but deep inside, he knew that would be a dangerous path to head down...

[knovesstorytelling]

Murray Mysteries Transcript - S1E12

Episode 12. The Long Night

Written by May Toudic

Mina: Welcome to Murray Mysteries.

[Theme music plays.]

Jane: Hello listeners.

[A chair creaks and papers rustle.]

Jane: Apologies I— Ow!

[The chair creaks more.]

Jane: It’s been a long night and I’m running late for, well, just about everything but I promised I’d keep this log up to date and I always, always keep my promises. Last night I was sitting in my office, catching up on paperwork so I could get on with my research. I kept my door open because I like to think an open door policy will help the staff and patients see me as a more accessible figure, and well, it, it doesn’t matter. 

Jane: The point is the door was open and R came running in and it took me about a second to realize he was holding one of the knives from the kitchens but it was a second too late. I tried to use the desk as a barrier but he managed to reach forward enough to cut one of my wrists quite badly, but I managed to get a hit in, which bought me enough time for security to get here. 

Jane: R didn’t look like he wanted to attack again though. He was just lying on the floor and… licking it. Where my blood had fallen. This isn’t something I’ve seen from him before. He kept saying “the blood is the life” over and over again as they took him back to his room. 

Jane: I’d normally be very keen to start looking into a new symptom like this but my mind hasn’t been on work with everything that’s happened to Lucy and I did have a slightly bleeding wrist that needed attention.  I got escorted to our medical office and the resident nurse patched me up. Which was very kind of her up to the point where she refused to discharge me until I had a nap. Can you believe it? Forcing my hand like that, it’s like I have no authority here. “Severely sleep-deprived.” It’s none of her business, I’m doing just fine.

Jane: I lost some precious hours to that little nap and now I’ve got no work done and I’ve got, God. 12 missed calls. That is not good. That is really, really, not good. Hold on.

[A phone rings.]

Voicemail: You have three new messages.

[A beep.]

Lucy: Hey Janey! I can’t believe you’re making me leave a message, an actual message. Answer your phone! Answer your texts! Nobody leaves voicemails anymore, this isn’t the 90’s. Anyway, I thought I’d tell you I’m doing fine. Since I know you’re always desperately worried about me, but it looks like…

Lucy (crying): you’re too busy to think about me much anyway.

[She fakes a sob.]

Lucy: You’d better be on a hot date, or a spontaneous quest for pizza or something, because if you’re ignoring me for work, I’m going to be real offended. Last night went well, since you’re asking. Like the night before and the night before that one. Prof isn’t quite as fun to tease as you are, but she’s surprisingly good at poker. She said she had to go to London overnight to check out some books, the old’s Kings College library won’t send them. So looks like you’re on Lucy duty today! Lucky you.

[A beep.]

Van Hellsing: Jane! Hello. Listen, I’m sorry for the last-minute call, but I have to London tonight. You know how those university librarians are. Could you watch over our patient tonight? She’s doing much better but this isn’t the time to relent. I’ll check in tomorrow as soon as I come back. See you then!

[A beep.]

Lucy: Guess your hot date went well. Either that or you’re eating all the pizza without me. Good for you. Don’t worry about me, alright. I can handle it one night on my own. Just me, Mum, and the garlic. I’ll make sure to keep the stinky shield up. Nighty night.

[A beep.]

Jane: Shit. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I have to go.

[A beep. Silence, then a beep. Footsteps on gravel continue throughout.]

Van Hellsing: Let’s give this a shot. I was inspired by Dr. Seward’s habit of recording her notes orally. It does seem faster than writing them down and one isn’t tempted to cut out on things that seem insignificant first thought but might be important later on. A brilliant idea, really. 

Van Hellsing: I’m currently walking from the station to Miss Westenra’s house. This has been a successful trip. Most of the books I tracked down to the King’s College library turned out to be irrelevant. But one of them did contain information that could change—

[Bushes rustle.]

Van Hellsing: Jane! Hello!

[Another set of footsteps.]

Van Hellsing: Out to get breakfast? What happened to your wrist?

[Jane pants.]

Jane: I’m not— I’m so sorry. A lot happened last night. And I only just got your message this morning, I was just about to check on Lucy.

Van Hellsing: You mean—

Jane: I didn’t spend the night there! I know, I know I’m sorry. 

Van Hellsing: No need to apologize. I’m sure it couldn’t be helped. But we need to go in now. Anything could’ve happened in the past 12 hours. 

[They walk to the house and knock on the door. They knock louder. The chain on it rattles as it creaks open. They go inside. Jane gasps.]

Jane: Oh God.

Van Hellsing: No.

Jane: Is she— Should I call the police? An ambulance? What do we do?

Van Hellsing: Ambulance. She’s still breathing. Barely.

Jane: Right.

[She leaves to call EMS.]

Van Hellsing: Come on. Stay with us. Just a little bit longer.

[Jane comes back.]

Van Hellsing: Is that—

Jane: It’s done, they’ll be here in 5 minutes. What’s this?

Van Hellsing: I believe this is a tape recorder.

Jane: And?

Van Hellsing: She must’ve left a message. Before…

Jane: Oh.

Van Hellsing: We should play it.

Jane: What? We need to make sure she holds on until the ambulance arrives.

Van Hellsing: There’s nothing more we can do except wait, Jane. Whatever’s on that tape, she wanted us to find it. She wanted us to know.

Jane: Fine then. You play it. I just… can’t.

[The tape recording whirls to life. It buzzes.]

Lucy: Hey, hey Janey. Listen I… I don’t want you to feel guilty, okay? Whatever happens next, none of this if your fault I just— I want you to know that. I went to bed at the usual time, but I woke up to that flapping sound at the window. You, you know the one. When you and Van Hellsing are there, I just ignore it but when I’m alone? I was kind of freaked out. I, I, I got up to look out the window, and I saw it was just a big bat so I went back to bed. Mum came in a couple of minutes later, she said she wanted to check on me.

[She sniffs.]

Lucy: I asked her to stay for a bit and we were almost asleep but it crashed in the window. It was a wolf Jane, an actual wolf. I didn’t even know we had wolves in England. Where the hell did it come from? Mum and I  just ran as fast as we could, I tried to knock it away but the garlic, it fell off and Mum she—

[She sobs.]

Lucy: She—

[She sob and sniffs.]

Lucy: She stopped moving before we could get to the door. She made this weird, choking sound and then she fell. It was so slow. But I still couldn’t catch her, I tried to drag her by the ankle, to take her with me. But she wasn’t moving and I wasn’t strong enough and—

[She takes a shuddering breath.]

Lucy: I think it was too late anyway. I think her heart just gave out, or maybe… I’m just telling myself that if it didn’t, maybe she just fainted or something. It means, I left her there. And it’s my fault she’s dead. Of course, my phone was on the bedside table and it was too late to call for help now. I’m in the kitchen now, I found this old tape recorder in the drawer.

Lucy: I can’t believe she kept it, I always tell her she should Marie Kondo the place and throw out all my stuff and she says… said. She couldn’t bring herself to do it. I used to carry this thing around everywhere. I’d pretend to be a reporter and interview everyone in the neighbourhood and ask them about their dark past. 

Lucy: Mrs. Andrews got really offended when I asked her what she was doing during the war. Said it was rude to assume a lady’s age.

Lucy: I can hear it pacing outside. I made sure the back door was locked, but I don’t know if it can hold, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m going to make it through tonight. So, Jane, this isn’t your fault, remember. Would, would you tell Art I love them? Don’t let them listen to this, it would just upset them more. I don’t, I want to make this any worse for them. So just, tell them I love them, okay? And it’s not their fault either, or Van Hellsing’s, and I just want them to be happy. 

Lucy: You too Jane. You just have to be happy. Get out of your office once in a while, meet people, fall in love with someone who deserves you.  If not for you, do it for me. You can’t say no to your dead ex, right? I should go. I want to keep talking. Talking helps. But I don’t know how long this old thing will hold and I can’t risk ruining this tape. Take care of yourself, Jane, take care of Art. I mean it, but. Please don’t forget yourself. You’re important too.

[The tape recorder clicks off.]

[Credits music beings.]

Credits: Murray Mysteries is a Knoves Storytelling production. This episode was written and produced by May Toudic and featured Bebhinn Tankard as Dr. Jane Seward, Rebecca Krause as Professor Van Hellsing, and Megan John as Lucy Westenra. If you like our work and would like to support us, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/KnovesStorytelling or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. Thank you for listening.

[strawberrysoup]

Let’s Review || Chapter 11

Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit/18+ warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-con/dub-con elements, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, very dark 

There was a weird sense of urgency and purpose when the soldiers appeared to collect her from the kitchens. They weren’t frantic per say, but she was definitely aware of a certain energy around them. As soon as Bucky walked through the doors, he made a beeline for her and swept her up into his arms. The pair were pretty touchy feely with her as a rule, but this was different for some reason. 

Most of Penny’s irritation had dissolved with the excellent meal she’d received. Chef Cohen had prepared Shakshuka, a very traditional dish that she hadn’t eaten since her mother had died. She’d burst into tears at the first bite and thanked him profusely through the meal. He was a very kind man in his late 50’s who explained that he was at her disposal whenever she was hungry, literally at any time, and would make whatever she asked for. She didn’t even have to know what she wanted specifically, all she had to do was ask for food and he would whip something up in less than an hour. 

She wasn’t sure if he understood her circumstances. He never let on that he had any idea what the situation was and she was too afraid to tell him and potentially put him in danger. He was so nice, had told her about his family— she couldn’t do anything to jeopardize him. And if he did know, she decided she’d rather him not tell her. He felt like he could be a friend if not a confidant and she couldn’t ruin that. 

“Did you have a good breakfast precious?” Bucky’s voice was nearly a coo, burying her into his arms and nuzzling against the side of her face, “I’m so sorry, baby, I’m so sorry we didn’t realize how hungry you were. We should’ve noticed, we should’ve taken better care of you.” 

Penny didn’t get a chance to answer before Steve came up behind her, pressing against her back and wrapping around the both of them, “we’re gonna do a better job from now on, doll, I promise.”

“We’re gonna take you to see Bruce for a check up, okay?” the brunet pressed against her brushed his lips over her temple, “Peter said you haven’t been to the doctor in a while, he’s just going to make sure you’re alright. If there’s anything you want to talk to him about, we’ll step out of the room.”

For a moment, she considered not answering. She hated that they were making her do anything, that they were telling her what was going to happen instead of asking, but she hadn’t been to a doctor in nearly 10 years. In fact, her desire to go to the doctor was outweighing her irritation. The food had helped too. 

“Yeah, okay,” she nodded in agreement, ignoring their mutual smiles as Bucky pulled back and wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her close before beginning to walk back towards the elevators. 

It didn’t take long to get to the doctor’s office, which was actually a lab. In the back of her head she remembered Tony saying that Bruce was a scientist that Peter liked to learn from. It would’ve endeared the man to her, if he wasn’t so fucking complicit in her kidnapping. The same thing had happened with Clint; he seemed like such a decent guy, they could’ve been friends in any other situation, and yet he wasn’t doing anything to help her. 

“Hey guys, come on in, I’m just finishing this up,” Bruce called from behind a computer, gesturing towards a table that almost resembled the chair from a doctor’s office. 

Steve lifted her up, setting her on the edge and giving her what was—fuck that was winning smile. She refused to let her heart race, remembering back to once upon a time in the coffee shop when she’d thought he was incredibly attractive and so, so nice. It was almost distracting. He leaned down and brushed his nose against hers sweetly, pressing a kiss there a moment later before backing away. 

“Alright Penny, I went ahead and pulled your medical records,” Penny didn’t want to know how he’d done that, what an invasion of privacy, “but we’re going to need to go through a lot of it now since you haven’t seen a doctor in so long and you’re a lot older now. If at any time you’re uncomfortable answering questions in front of Bucky and Steve, all you have to do is let me know and I’ll send them out, okay?” 

“Okay,” nervousness was thrumming through her a bit more now- God she hadn’t been to the doctor in so long, she wasn't sure what to expect. 

An arm came around her shoulders, a metal hand settling over the top of her arm. Bucky had saddled up as close to the table as possible, trying to offer comfort through his presence. She would absolutely never admit that she leaned into his heat a little, or that the attempt was even fractionally successful. 

The appointment wasn't as nerve wracking as she'd expected; there were a lot of questions about her past medical history and family medical history, her habits regarding smoking and drinking and exercise, he looked in her eyes and ears and listened to her breathing, did she have any allergies or take any medications? It was a lot of things she remembered from going to the doctor as a kid.

There was only one time when her heart felt like it might burst out of her chest: Bruce mentioned wanting to do a blood test. It was important in part because she hadn't ever had one, but also because she was Jewish and there were dozens of diseases passed genetically through the population. She knew of them of course, Tay-sachs and Gauchers and a slew of other things, but she'd never considered she could have them— there was no time. 

Luckily, he'd decided it wasn't a good time since she had barely been eating. Escape had been on her mind almost constantly since waking up in Stark's home but never so critically as when she thought there would be needles involved. Penny's fear of needles had started as a child and overtime had become an overwhelming, if irrational, phobia. The kidnapping via injection certainly made it worse too. 

Bruce finished up, continuing to address her rather than Steve or Bucky. It seemed peculiar for some reason, that he was being sure to treat her like her own person instead of the soldiers' property. 

"Have you ever had blood drawn Penny?" 

"Uhm, no," she did her best not to shift, not wanting to show weakness, "I'm sure it's not really necessary. I feel completely fine and—"

"There are certain genetically linked diseases I can test for with a blood panel. The fact that you probably have anemia is a little worrying because of your heritage. Now we can’t do the test today, you haven’t been eating or drinking enough, but we’ll keep an eye on your recovery over the next few days and schedule one. That being said, I want to hook up an IV for a few hours, you’re very dehydrated.”

“No, thank you,” Penny stood up from the table, composing her face carefully and putting her hands on her hips, “I’d rather just drink water.” 

“Penny I can tell you haven’t been getting enough hydration for days,” Bruce stated, ignoring the semi-panicked looks the soldiers sent each other, “Whatever your reasoning was, it’s hurting you. A drip will rehydrate you relatively quickly and you can get on with your day.” 

“I’m not in any critical danger, drinking water will be enough,” usually she wouldn’t argue with a doctor but if he came near her with a needle she would throw down. 

“Doll, it’s not an option.” 

God, how many times had she heard that. It’s not an option. It’s not an option. Nothing was ever an option. She’d been kidnapped, was being held against her will— fuck, she refused to list their sins against her again.

"I'm an adult, I get to decide what medical procedures I do and don't consent to."

"Baby, did you hit your head again? I think we're a little past consent." 

How many times would she have to physically fight these motherfuckers before they gave up. 

"I hate needles," she snapped, glaring at Steve with as much rage as she could muster, "no blood draws, no IVs, no vaccines, nothing."

Bucky stepped closer to her side, an imploring look on his face, "your health is suffering right now sweetheart, if Bruce says you need an IV, you're going to get it. We're going to take of you, Penny." 

They'd done a real stand up job of taking care of her in the last several days for sure. She'd only ended up drugged, concussed twice over, half starved, dangerously sleep deprived, and enraged. The skepticism must've shown on her face because Bucky visibly winced at the implication while Bruce had to turn and pretend to cough to cover his laughter. 

"Sweetheart, I understand that it makes you uncomfortable," Steve somehow managed to manifest in front of her in the blink of an eye and she startled backwards a step. 

The blond was freakishly fast and Penny was beginning to suspect that everyone calling him and Bucky 'super soldiers' weren't just mocking their demeanors. Steve had been strong enough to snap the lock on the bathroom door like twig, could bodily lift her with just one arm, and he moved a fraction of an inch too fast to be normal. Bucky was similar in the strength department, plus he had that arm. But instead of nearly vibrating with restrained power at all times, Bucky was almost preternaturally still. Even when she moved in the middle of the night and startled him awake, the only way she knew was because his eyes would open. He was so still sometimes she wondered if he even had to breathe, was his heart even beating? 

The brunette's arms came to wrap gently around her shoulders from behind; the way he held her was more reminiscent of a loving cuddle than a restraint but it worked all the same. If they didn't want her to go anywhere, it was going to be very hard to run off. The doors to the lab swept open abruptly, as if beckoning her to escape, but no one came through. JARVIS, always looking out. 

"I'll make your lives hell," she hissed through gritted teeth, eyes locked on the blond in front of her while Bucky backed them up and sat on the exam chair, tugging her into his lap, "if you come near me with a needle I'll shove it through your eye." 

"Penny, be sweet," Bucky's tone was firm, his arms squeezing around her in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting gesture, "it'll all be okay and you'll feel so much better after."

Penny's eyes were dragged away from Steve when she caught movement, zeroing in on Bruce. He was fiddling with something in crinkly plastic and her blood froze in her veins when she realized it was a sterilized needle. He was preparing an IV despite her protests and panic began coursing through her like poison. 

"W-wait, wait I don't need an IV, I swear I feel fine, I'll drink a ton of water, don't do this—" 

"It’s gonna be alright babydoll," Steve cooed, understanding that her anger in this case was 100% a result of sheer terror, "Buck's gonna hold you the whole time. Bruce will give you a shot to numb the pain and—" 

"No, n-no, no, no please," Penny could barely move as Bucky locked his arms in place, holding her steady while Steve moved to block her view of Bruce, who was filling a syringe with lidocaine. 

"Shhhh, just watch me, baby," the blond brought his hands up to cup her face, manipulating her head to face him dead on, "don't pay attention to Bruce, just keep your eyes on mine." 

Tears of panic and fear began falling from her eyes, overwhelming terror beginning to consume her. There was no rationalizing the phobia, no talking herself through the fear, all she could think was I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. When she could hear the doctor's footsteps shift in their direction, she opened her mouth and started to scream bloody murder. Thrashing wasn't effective in the least but she did the best she could, jerking every inch of her body as violently as possible. She couldn't hear anything any of them were saying, she couldn't even hear her own screams; all she could hear was the blood rushing through her ears and the mantra, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die over and over again in her head. 

"Dr. Banner, sir is currently on his way and asks that you wait to perform any procedures until he arrives." 

Bucky tensed under her but Penny barely noticed. The edges of her vision were going dark and Steve wasn't so much holding her face in place anymore as trying to caress her cheeks and jaw. She could see the doors to the lab, still open as if waiting for her to run.

Instead, Stark came through them. There was a tightness to his usual swagger and she wondered if she was imagining the irritation in the lines of his face. 

"You know I thought I had sound proofed all of the labs, but I can hear my poor girl screaming from three floors away," he commented casually as he swept in, easily pushing past Steve and stealing Penny from Bucky's lap,  pulling her into the cage of his arms, "now this is over an IV, correct?"

"Please, please, please—" Penny's voice choked off in a sob as she tried to tug away and make a break for the door. 

"Shhhh, angel, look at me," Tony carefully manipulated her head, making her look up at him through her panic, "you're going to drink plenty of water and relax all day, understand? You're going to eat plenty and drink so much water you have to pee every thirty minutes." 

"N-no needles—" 

"That's right baby, no needles," he pulled her into his chest and hushed her, stroking her hair gently while giving the three men behind her a careful look, "with supervision you'll be fine without an IV, but you have to be good, do everything you're told. Can you be a good girl for me, Penny?"

Steve and Bucky watched as their girl nodded against the man's shoulder, still crying. This wouldn't be strike two, not quite since she'd gotten so upset as a result of them trying to take care of her, but apprehension was setting in. Tony was their friend, but he wouldn't put their feelings before Penny's and that was a dangerous position to be in. Especially considering JARVIS had all but jumped ship on them and was firmly on Penny's side. 

"Now, is there anything else Brucie Bear? Because I think Penny here is gonna come with me to the labs and watch Peter try to make a robot." 

Somehow, despite the fact that they knew Penny hated Tony just as much if not more than she hated them, he was the one who managed to get through to her. Tony Stark was her mortal enemy, the kidnapper, the pedophile, and yet he was the one holding her while she cried in distress. Bucky and Steve watched on in amazement and disbelief. 

There was something about Tony that was just a touch unnatural. The way he could manipulate people was almost beyond comprehension. It showed in his friendships, the way that people who were sent to kill him were so easily turned to his side. People who didn’t want anyone, who didn’t want friends, found themselves enfolded in his presence. It was also apparent in the way that Peter had almost accepted his new situation, how he was so quickly coming to terms with the way his life had changed. Tony Stark was, as far as anyone knew, not enhanced in any way, but some of his companions had started to wonder. 

They watched as the older man spirited her away, talking loudly and keeping her tucked under his arm as they walked. Steve and Bucky were left in the dust, feeling dejected once again. 

“Leave it to Tony to decide he has more medical authority than me,” Bruce gave a low snort, rolling his eyes, “does he have 7 PHDs? No, he doesn't.” 

“We keep fuckin’ it up, don’t we?” Bucky groaned, watching the doctor step back towards his computer system, “We’re gonna end up dead. World War II and HYDRA couldn’t kill us but Tony fuckin’ Stark sure will.” 

“Hard to compete with a Goddamn witch,” Steve muttered, running a hand through his hair before crossing his arms over his chest. 

“You two need to be doing what Tony is with Peter,” Bruce interjected before the super soldiers could continue to lament their situation, “he panders to him just enough to keep him happy. He can give an inch and Peter thinks its a mile. You’re strategic geniuses, master interrogators, use your strengths.” 

The ‘dumbasses’ was implied at the end of the statement. In all fairness, he was right. 

Steve exhaled through his nose, a stabilizing breath, before turning to regard Bucky, “A garden, to start. She had a lot of things on her Pinterest account, we’re gonna look through there. JARVIS? Can you please make sure our kitchen is stocked with plenty of kosher foods?” 

“And is there anyway we can get the extra room in the apartment turned into a garden? Maybe a rooftop garden?” 

“Sir has given me full discretion to green light any construction projects that will aid in Ms. Parker’s adjustment. A section of the roof can easily be cleared for a garden and greenhouse. The east facing wall of the spare room can be replaced with floor to ceiling windows and UV lights can be installed. Might I also suggest a knitting area?”

"Yeah, that," Bucky nodded, "any other suggestions JARV?" 

"On her Pinterest Ms. Parker has shown interest in softball, soccer, crocheting, yoga and video games."

"Can you have everything she needs for those things sent for and brought to the apartment? And have everything set up as much as possible considering the renovations that'll be made for the garden room?"

"Yes sergeant, although I would suggest making room in your personal gym for Ms. Parker do to yoga."

“Good idea JARVIS,” Bucky felt a bit of relief that the AI was willing to help, even if it was only because it would help Penny in the long run, “I know we talked about keeping her secluded but I think we should show her the game room, introduce her to Thor and Sam so she can play video games with them.” 

Steve looked hesitant. The brunet knew why; they’d waited what felt like so long to find a girl who appealed to both of them. They were possessive by nature and having so little over time, growing up in the Great Depression followed by fighting in the war, only to suffer a hellish betrayal and go into the ice for so long, meant they were covetous. Sharing their girl so soon was uncomfortable and just the idea made both of them chafe. 

“Yeah, we should,” he choked after a moment, clearing his throat. 

“We’re gonna build a life, Stevie,” Bucky said quietly, stepping closer to the man and putting his hands on his shoulders, “we’re going to work this out with our girl and eventually, she’ll want to be with us as much as she can. But until we get to that point we have to make some concessions.” 

“But she’ll still sleep in our bed.”

“Yes Stevie, she’ll still sleep in our bed.”