#I have more to say about this episode but ya know. this for now

[silvermasquerade]

Everyone placing bets Collin will die first? I’m betting now is WRONG. Collin is pulling a Melanie I’m calling it now. He’s making it to the END (or at least not dying first. )

[unproduciblesmackdown]

billions is really on one constantly like you gotta love how there's the wordless presentation of This Man & This Woman as like an image of epic power couple &/or pr for the Wholesomeness of this man to have the Family Values in having a wife & possibly even kids, and being fictional media, most of the time this comes up as Staged Material from actors for this Media, especially given that generally both parties will be preexisting Roles With Dialogue. and then when it comes to winston & their granting us their clearest most elevated least questioning/critical exercises in "this is Telling you that winston is inferior" in a) successful violation &/or b) successful-violation-born information that they recognize as Inferior & expect you will too....really a moment's pause sometimes remembering that since they couldn't be bothered to stage anything for winston & instead we got a) photos provided from will roland of himself from his real life or b) pics they didn't need to get rights to, in this case they show us selfies from a real-life-and-by-then-married-couple, and it's This that gets "well so of course this is another Recognition Of Inferiority presentation" and not "well isn't that nice, epic, &/or wholesome, or even just matter of fact" like. really unbelievable of them and steph wessels gets to cameo as someone who Of Course dumped this guy because [well just look at him we're right back to exactly 4 seasons prior in 3x03 where we're supposed to know winston isn't epic b/c if wags is there you're supposed to be projecting on him, thanks, & when the one thing you can take issue with being an apparently accidental misgendering, there's Nothing to take issue with in that in the face of this it's crickets from wags who's otherwise dying to kill winston already. awesome. but i mean. well just look at him. we Hate winston.] like and billions is off the rails like "b/c he's so bad at sex" like yeah i think nothing says Good At Sex like the nexus of "has never tried learning anything about sex" & "has never been told their sexual partners might benefit from their learning about sex" Hell yeah. but only those born with the good bodies (winston wasn't! btw! which we all Knew 500 thinking emojis) deserve to have sex and this is also an extremely epic thing to say in this zero critical lens Celebration of killing the autistic guy for not sufficiently staying an exploited object kept silently shut away in your possession but out of sight & mind.

literally unironically Extremely Normal of them where "normal" is expected to be synonymous with a [neutral to good] context, as it "normally" is lol, but we Do have a critical lens out here. just like amazing you brought his real life then even all the more recent marriage into things held up for us as more fodder for Why We All Hate Winston & Want To Kill Him which also always hinged on "well just look at him" which necessarily hinges on a real life person's form to be looked at (or heard, given that we know people don't always react to his speaking voice as "neutral" and this is just another aspect of people's bodies) while meanwhile it's like yeah delightful stuff actually. or who cares b/c the Context doesn't have to be "does this role seem personally appealing?" for the Question that doesn't need to be "do we want them dead or are they someone who can do whatever they want or someone who has to forever endure and support the previous and can do whatever they want that doesn't conflict with this" and then 500 zillion words to say about this actor who was only supposed to be Quant Kid 2 Who We All Hated & Killed for one scene in one ep getting a recurring role (to still only ever be hated & killed as far as the writing was concerned, for the overwhelming Mostly) b/c of this je ne sais quoi & of course still Acting as though this role is as much a person as any of the other roles, wow, can't believe this was found to be so Talented & Delightful & Essential despite still only seeing the role as [guy we hate & kill] & having no intention of like giving him an arc ever but we really want more of this. and then inevitably be really preoccupied about his dick like not in a "haha. pwned them in turn b/c that's gay" but like of course in being Superior it's like yep preoccupied with the inferior parties' sexuality & your own being superior too. his dick is bad and he's not tall enough and well just look at him, no wonder he was dumped [shows you an image from actually having good times with his eventual wife] like obviously. billions with their autistic character like how do we step it up from the episode where some guy yells the r word at him amidst like the threats and harassment and assault? well more of that plus surveillance and even more personal intrusion but also someone says he's effectively a child and then we enjoy validation of our eugenicist presumptions i guess about his sexuality and body and most like random details of personality (never stop pointing out that somehow that He Likes Puns is more evidence for how Objectively Hated he is) and this episode has no other point than revelling in all of this and considering this to also be like "yes this all makes wags look Epic, which is worth an episode ever, all the more so as 1/12th of a series finale season"

[usuallydyinginside]

TLDR: Francesca Bridgerton is Autistic. Fight me.

Okay so I did not go into Season 3 of Bridgerton expecting to have any feelings about Francesca Bridgerton. We have seen her only in glimpses in the show and I have not read the books, so I knew basically nothing about her before binging the first four episodes.

But guys. GUYS. I will die for this autistic queen.

Okay, so starting with first impressions. We know that on her big day, Francesca went out of her way to avoid her nosy, loud family by having a very early, quiet breakfast by herself and then calming down via playing the piano (clearly a special interest of hers).

In her first balls, we see Francesca light up any time she talks about music (clearly her current or forever special interest) but as soon as men try to take it to a flirting place she IMMEDIATELY shuts down. It's clear that even as she states very matter-of-factly that she plans to marry this season, she also is baffled and uncomfortable any time someone tries to actually, ya know, court her.

At one of her first shindigs, she got attention and then went up to her brother and (while making almost no eye contact) told him (rather than asked him) that she needed a sec.

She then sat by herself in the side of the ballroom.

Later on, she left a ball in search of quiet and solitude to fix her sensory overload, so she went outside this time. (A thing that we know from pervious seasons is a HUGE no-no, particularly unchaperoned. But she was very respectfully near the door so maybe that's fine?) The point is that she cares very much about staying respectable so she can get this marriage thing over with and get people to stop perceiving her, yet she risks some scandal by going outside just so she can be somewhere quiet alone.

Enter: this absolute (also autistic) Prince Charming.

He says hello (so she knows he's not like trying to sneak up on her in the dark like a creep) and then just stands there. 10/10, no notes, best way to flirt I have ever seen in my life.

Seriously just look at this. I'm in love. Never before has there been a greater sign of love at first sight than in this "standing politely five feet apart in total silence in the middle of a ball and enjoying each other's company."

I need to go watch these first four episodes about a hundred more times, but I THINK this might be the first sincere smile we see from Francesca??!? I at least got the impression immediately that this is the first time she's felt genuinely comfortable and happy while not entirely alone this season.

Like, these nerds did not even exchange names. They barely exchanged a word. Yet you can see them falling head over heels in love right there in that moment. I don't even LIKE love at first sight tropes and they have my whole heart. They are the only exception.

Then, of course, you have this second absolutely iconic Scene of Silence where the entire Bridgerton family stares in neurotypical confusion a these two amazing weirdos. The way these two do not know each other but they DO know each other. The way they are both so happy and so comfortable but also still playing the whole society game the way they were told they had to?? I just don't have words right now.

LOOK AT HER SMILE, GUYSSSSSSSS.

Look how happy this tiny, silent moment is making her. How she understands immediately what he's doing and is absolutely delighted to participate too even knowing her entire family is hardcore judging them from not that far away.

And then you get this smug little look from him and it's like you can see his autistic ass thinking, "Yes. I calculated correctly. This was the correct romance option. Gold star to me." (Okay, maybe that's just how my brain works but shhhhh)

Which, of course, brings us to this absolutely hilariously awkward ND attempt at flirting. We start off with some fairly normal "whoops, I'm flustered cause you make me nervous" sort of moments, but notice how little eye contact she makes. How she only looks in his eyes very briefly and it seems like she almost has to remind herself to do so when she's doing the "polite" answers (OR later when she's genuinely interested in a topic).

So as soon as Francesca is like "oh shit, I ruined it. I forgot how to neurotypical. It's over" then she loses patience with the practiced social niceties.

I spent like 30 minutes trying to find a GIF and I should already be asleep so I'm not going to go learn how to make one BUT I needed to look up exactly what happens next cause it's basically the most autistic thing I've ever seen.

WHICH IS that in response to the second awkward silence after Francesca shares all of this, John's response is, "That is helpful. If you'll excuse me."

Then dude bro just WALKS AWAY WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD.

Like it would be awkward anyway but now Francesca thinks she misread a social cue so she's feeling sad, and meanwhile this absolute king is over here on a romantic mission no one asked him to do because he is that set on showing her he's listening and cares.

The man shows up at the ball and as soon as he had a paper we were all screaming "he wrote her a song!!!"

Again, notice the eye contact (or lack thereof). I think with period dramas and women, it's easy to just go "oh she's just shy" or "she's just being demure like she's supposed to" but like NO. This girl does not want to meet anyone's eyes.

Until she does. Because in moments where she's talking about music or enjoying quiet, it's worth it to purposefully meet his eyes and see how he's feeling too. To make sure he can see she's happy.

ANYWAY, it was so much better than him writing a song for her.

SO. MUCH. BETTER.

Because he didn't just give her any ol' music. He sought out the music they'd specifically heard in the street, and he took her exact specifications on what was "wrong" with the music, and he FIXED IT. He then put the whole thing on sheet music and handed her a copy with no further explanation than this.

Our autistic lass was so excited she basically sprinted out of that ball so she could find a piano. (Which, the fact that she does this rather than try to stay and flirt/dance with the man who just gave her this incredible gift ALSO says a lot, just saying. Daphne could never.)

So our girl finds a piano and GUYS. LOOK AT HOW HAPPY SHE IS.

I'm pretty sure this woman would accept a proposal right this second. Maybe make one herself. She is so head over heels in love with this man that it's absurd. We have watched her mask in these first four episodes, but the last two where she's interacting with John are the first times she seems genuinely happy and like the real her is shining through.

Like, does she enjoy her family? Sure. But it's obvious (and she even tells us) that she finds them overwhelming and generally to be A Lot. But these scenes? This gesture?

You can just get how seen she feels. How weird and wild and amazing it is to her that this man can see who she actually is and wants to join her there instead of making her play some part of the perfect Bridgerton who likes to be the center of attention.

(And even here - the EYE CONTACT. She glances at people when she's talking to them, but the way she looks at the sheet music is so much more intense and intimate and personal than anytime she's looking at the average person in the show. She still even in places she's most comfortable, such as sitting at the piano, makes very little eye contact and only at very specific moments.)

Anyway I'm going to sleep now but I'm sure I'll add more thoughts as they come to me. Feel free to add your own case for why Francesca is autistic and/or otherwise neurodivergent. I want to hear allllllll the thoughts.

[luveline]

Hi Jade ! I loove your sunshine!readers, could I request one for Carmy ? Maybe someone calls her to get to the restaurant when hes feeling anxious to calm him down idk if thats good lol love ya !

ty for requesting <3 fem, 1.4k

Is it The Beef or The Bear? In your head, despite the wishes of everyone who works there (except for Ebra, who seems to have mixed opinions), you always call it The Beef. But the sign brags otherwise, and when you push open the doors, nothing inside is left to remind you of the old restaurant. It was a total gut. 

“Hi, gorgeous,” says a familiar, warm voice. 

You almost walk straight into her table, distracted looking for brown curls through the kitchen door’s little window. “Hey, Tina.” You grin at your second favourite chef. Your most favourite Sous. “You taking a break?” 

She offers you a round butter cookie from a sleeve of them. Her cup of coffee billows with steam. “Uh-huh.” 

“Hiding from a meltdown?” you ask, taking a cookie, fingers oily with butter, sugar grains falling to the floor. 

“It’s not like that,” she says. 

Well, what is it like? you think. 

Richie’s text wasn’t exactly descriptive. Need ur help with the little Bitch, he’d said. Then, when you didn’t answer, ASAP!!!!

You figured it must’ve been another rant. He’s prone to these… episodes of anger where he doesn’t realise he’s spinning out and hurting people who really care about him. You try to bring him out of it, but he’s a Berzatto. They’re all the same, sort of. Everything that’s wrong with them has been stamped into them a long, long time ago. 

He’s been better since Nat steel armed him into AA, but still. You tilt your head to one side, sugar cookie between your fingers, listening for the goings on in the kitchen. “Sydney’s here?” you ask. “I thought she was sick.” 

“Sydney gets sick, but she doesn’t take sick days,” Tina says with a loving shrug. 

You smile at her in brief goodbye for now and make your way to the kitchen, where you push in quietly. All their ‘Behind!’ and ‘Corner!’ and ‘Hands!’ makes you laugh, and you can’t take it seriously so you don’t, but you’re not trying to be dangerous in there either. 

“Hello?” you ask. 

Sydney and Richie look up from a cramped notebook at the table nearest to the door. There are employees you're unsure of prepping vegetables along the wall, but Carmy isn’t anywhere to be seen. 

“Fucking finally,” Richie says, before rubbing his face regretfully. “I’m sorry, it’s just– I texted you an hour ago, babe, you’re letting me down.” 

You laugh. “Sorry, babe,” you tease. “I have a job, just like you.” Your hands are cold where you tuck them under each armpit, crossing your arms. “Hi, Sydney. You feeling okay?” 

“No. He’s stressing me out.” 

“Which one?” 

“Both of them.” She looks like she might rub her face too. “I need him to be in here right now, he should be doing this, but he keeps walking away and– and not saying where he’s going.” 

“He is stressful,” you agree, though usually Carmy’s stress tends to bounce right off of you, “I’m gonna find him and strap him down for you.” 

Sydney just frowns. 

“I’ll see what’s up,” you say more seriously. “In the office?” 

“Out the back,” Richie says. “Smoking like his mother. He’s a fucking steam train lately.” 

It’s like they want to worry you. You give them grateful nods, sorry nods, and start to make your way out of the main kitchen, past the dishwashers and the dessert station to one of the back doors. Carmy isn’t your responsibility. You don’t have to apologise for him, you don’t have to mother him, he should commit to his responsibilities all on his own, but… it’s hard. You like apologising for him because his behaviour isn’t always on purpose, and he struggles with commitment for similar reasons. There’s this aching, stagnated grief in him that’s reawakening, there’s the stress of the restaurant, his business, the scars of the last ten years, and before that. You know it isn’t your job to come here and make him feel better, but isn’t it? When you love someone, it’s half the deal. 

Carmy shouldn’t yell at his friends, or employees. He shouldn’t chain smoke, and he shouldn’t be sitting on the low wall by the dumpsters shaking so hard with his head so low that you can see the first notch of his spine in his shirt. 

“Carmy?” you ask. 

His head ducks further down. You can hear him breathing, not too hard as to alarm you, and yet unrelaxed. 

You smile without thinking. You hate seeing him like this, but looking after him is a pleasure. “Hey, Carmen. Can I sit with you?” 

He forces his face up. “What are you doing here?” he asks. 

Trying to make sure he doesn’t tear another chunk out of Richie. “It’s my lunch break.” 

You perch on the wall beside him and snap your nearly forgotten cookie into two pieces, one side bigger than the other, which you offer him. 

Carmy takes it. Looks at it without expression, though that slowly turns to a dry ire you’ve felt directed your way a hundred times. “What the fuck is this?” 

“Cookie.” 

“I don’t want this.” 

“Could you just eat it?” You put your own half in your mouth in its entirety, all aligned to your teeth. It shatters into sweet, soft crumbs between your teeth. You talk with a hand over your mouth, “It’s not gonna kill you.” 

Carmy looks at it for a long time before he eats it. 

You watch him. He’s more tan than you’d think, that Italian gene kicking in, skin clinging to whatever sunshine it finds. He spends enough time inside that you’re surprised it can muster the energy. He looks better with it though, his curls look gold toned under the sun, and his clenched jaw doesn’t seem so harsh. 

“What’s wrong?” you ask eventually. Almost conversationally. 

“Nothing.” His hand shakes on his thigh. He turns his palm down to clasp his knee. 

“You sure?” 

“No.” 

“That one’s my favourite.” 

“What?” 

You poke toward a tattoo on his hand. It’s a simple flower, same style as most of his tattoos. “I like it ‘cos it’s just a flower.” 

“My least pretentious,” he guesses. 

“Something like that.” 

He tips his head back. 

“Richie texted me. He thinks I’m gonna… like, I’m gonna calm you down, I guess.” 

“You always do,” he says. 

You give him a long, smiley look. “So you’re in love with me?” you ask warmly, pushing up into a knee to wrap your arm behind him, hugging him before he can move away. “You’re totally fucked for me, Berzatto, that’s fucking crazy.” 

“Fuck off,” he laughs. 

You rub his arm, his skin hot in your hold. He touches your waist very, very lightly. “What am I supposed to do, anyway? I can’t cook. You and Syd are on your own.” 

“You already… already did enough.” He grabs your waist where you wobble on the brick wall, grit biting your knees, his hand comparatively soft. 

“Such a crush on me,” you tease in a whisper, his hair crushed under your cheek. 

You’re tempted to kiss his temple, but affection with Carmy is like oil and water sometimes. You give him a last protective squeeze and sit yourself down again. 

“Carm,” you say, “you know you can call me, right? Like, if you don’t feel okay.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I know.” 

“Or text me. If that’s easier. It’s hard to say hard things out loud.” 

He laughs again. “Sorry.” 

“I know, I don’t– I don’t seem like I know what you’re talking about, I get it, but I do understand. N’ even if I didn’t, I don’t mind listening. Or laughing at you.” 

“What’s that about?” 

“The laughing?” you ask. “You tell me.” 

His hand slides behind your back in half a hug. “Guess it’s funny.” 

“Can I change my mind about the tattoo?” 

“The flowers not your favourite?” 

“No. You know which one I like best?” 

His thumb rubs into your back. “The snail.” 

“Absolutely the snail. You’re so fucking silly sometimes, I’m supposed to take you seriously when you’re yelling and red in the face with a snail on your arm?” 

You can’t see his face with your cheek to his shoulder, won’t know that he’s smiling at you with a rare aura of peace. Can’t see the wanting, either. 

[the-dumpster-fire-of-life]

just imagining that the thought Vi has with how Jinx treats the reader (season 2 bc they think powder is really gone) makes her think that powder is still in there somewhere. Random thought while writing this, what if like how people say ‘if something bad keeps happening there will be good eventually’ so I like to think that Jinx has the reader who for some reason is never killed or anything. Just Jinx’s one good thing. Lol

Idk if this is a request but it inspired me

If ya want listen to Wildflower by Billie Eilish for this cause it also inspired me

Wildflower

During season 2, Vi felt all hope for Powder still being in there fading away

She loved her sister more than anything and she wanted nothing more than to get back to hurt during her time in prison

But when she got out and saw what her sister has become, what she helped her sister become, it aches deeply in her heart

To see her sister root herself so deeply as Jinx, the way her mental state has depleted so much, and how much her sister has changed hurts

It’s so hard that after episode 9 where Jinx blows up the council, Vi finds herself giving up entirely

She forced herself to accept that Powder is gone and all there is now, is Jinx

She denies her sister being there cause if Powder was still in there, why would she show herself to her big sister?

Why would she hide herself from Vi?

Vi only knows Powder is in there when Jinx is with you

She sees Powder in the way Jinx holds your hand

Vi sees Powder with the way Jinx runs to find you, how she’s always looking for you in a fight or how she’s always having your back

Be it you met in childhood or after she was taken in by Silco, Jinx and you were stuck together like glue

Vi could tell Powder was still in there with the grin Jinx gave you when you smiled at her, the grin reserved for you when you entertained her sister and asked her questions about her gadgets and weapons

She sees Powder in the small pour in Jinx’s lip when you reprimand her softly, scolding her out of care

The way Jinx cradles your hand, the fear in her eyes when she thinks you have gotten hurt

She hears Powder as well in the giggles you manage to pull out of Jinx

In the way her sister shields you from harm, the way her hand is always seekin yours or how you’re never far from Jinx

In the way Jinx protects you and never leaves your side

She sees glimpses of Powder day in and day out whenever she sees the girl

But it’s never because of her, because of Vi, Jinx’s sister

No, Powder only shines through when she was with you

Powder came out when it was safe, and Vi knew that

Powder found a home with you and in your heart, and Jinx accepted that and accepted that part of herself when she was with you

And Vi hated it

She hated how hard her heart aches when she sees her sister so willingly herself when with you

Not her

And she knows why, she knows how you held Powder and Jinx in the palm if your hand

How you loved the both of them, how you’d take both parts of Jinx and cherish them all the same

Powder or Jinx, you loved her

Hates how Powder melts away and hides the moment she makes eye contact with Vi, the grin of her sister and wiping and storing itself away to wherever she stores what was only meant for you

She looks so happy and alike to the girl she knew

Only. With. You.

[crushpunky]

drew tells actress!reader how he feels

masterlist | actress!reader masterlist

this takes place when they first confessed their feelings + contains some minor references to new girl, but you don’t need to have seen it

Madelyn and Chase sat on one end of the couch, a bowl of popcorn sitting between the two of them and their eyes glued onto the TV. Y/n sat on the opposite end, snacking on whatever snacks they had ransacked the pantry of Drew and hers’ apartment to find. Drew, however, was in the shower, leaving y/n alone with the couple.

“Looking back at it, it was so obvious Nick was in love with Jess.” Y/n pointed to the episode of “New Girl” that was playing on the TV.

“What do you mean?” Chase asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“I mean… the way he looks at her. It’s so obvious.” Y/n said, her mouth full of pretzels. Madelyn and Chase shared a quick glance between each other before giggling.

“What?” Y/n scowled as the couple continued to look between each other and laugh mischievously at some sort of joke she clearly wasn’t in on.

“No it’s just funny because…” Madelyn stirred her drink absentmindedly, “that is exactly how Drew looks at you.”

Y/n couldn’t help but laugh. Drew? Drew Starkey? As in her roommate and best friend? The guy who was almost annoyingly handsome and charismatic? The guy she had been crushing on for the past few months? Haha. No. She knew Drew like the back of her hand, and she knew that he most certainly did not look at her, or think of her, like that. 

“Very funny, Mads.” Y/n said, rolling her eyes.

“What’s so funny?” A voice said from behind the couch. Y/n turned to see Drew, fresh out the shower, his damp hair styled messily and still dripping water onto his topless torso. He climbed over the back of the couch, reaching over y/n’s head to steal a handful of Goldfish. Once he settled, he glanced around at everyone, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“Nothing, Drewseph. We’re just watching New Girl. Quietly.” Y/n said eyeing Chase and Madelyn harshly. The two of them raised their hands in surrender before returning their attention back to the screen. Drew slung an arm onto the back of the couch, his arm perching just behind y/n’s head and hand brushing her shoulder gently. Her body felt like it was on fire, electrified just from his casual touch. She tried her best to focus on the TV, focus on whatever was going on with Nick and Jess, but she just couldn’t.

She spared a glance at Drew for a second, hoping he couldn’t tell how much she was freaking out right now. However, she wasn’t expecting his soft blue gaze to already be looking at her. Their eyes met each other for a moment before both of them quickly turned back to the TV. Y/n heard a small chuckle and peered over to Madelyn and Chase, who both had big grins on their faces.

Told ya. Madelyn mouthed with a smirk and teasing raise of her eyebrows. With a sigh, y/n turned back towards the TV, her mind racing as she felt Drew’s fingers dance along the bare skin of her shoulder.

Once Madelyn and Chase had left, y/n and Drew decided to watch one more episode before heading off to bed, both of them not quite ready to end the night yet.

“What was going on with you and Chase and Mads?” Drew asked, his fingers absentmindedly twirling a piece of y/n’s hair.

“What do you mean?” Y/n asked, silently cursing Drew for being so observant. Admittedly, that was one of her favorite things about him. How he always managed to just know what was going on with her, whether she was sad or happy or hungry or tired, he just knew.

“You guys were like shooting glares at each other all night and giggling.” Drew said, his eyes scanning over y/n’s face slowly, taking in every detail within the glow from the TV. Y/n lips parted for a second to speak, trying to think of what to say.

“I— they—” Y/n stammered before swallowing harshly, her gaze falling to her lap, “they’re convinced you have a crush on me and I told them that that’s not true.”

Y/n could feel Drew’s fingers stop playing with her hair and hesitantly looked up to see his face. His cheeks were a soft pink, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked back at her.

“Would you… like it if that were true?” Drew said gently. Y/n could feel her heart hammering, her eyes unable to tear away from Drew’s.

“It doesn’t matter how I’d feel, Drew.” Y/n whispered, her voice wavering slightly.

“Of course it does. I care about how you’d feel.” Drew replied, his eyes trailing down to y/n’s lips.

“Why?” Y/n said quietly, her voice barely audible.

“Because I wouldn’t want to make myself look like a fool when I tell you how I feel.” Drew whispered. Y/n felt herself let out a harsh breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. The skin of her shoulder where Drew’s fingertips brushed erupted in goosebumps, traveling down along her arms.

“And how do you feel?” Y/n asked, her hands trembling.

“I… feel like I can’t live without you, that you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me and that… I like you. A lot. A lot more than just a friend should.” Drew murmured, peering at y/n’s face nervously. Y/n gulped harshly, her eyes trailing along Drew’s expression.

This can’t be real. Y/n thought, her mind swirling as it felt like time slowed. She had thought of what it might feel like to have Drew look at her like this, to talk to her like this, sure. But that was only in her wildest dreams that she could conjure that up… but yet, here he was. In front of her, his blue eyes so sincere and his lips parted ever so slightly, his breath slow and warm on her face.

“Drew…” Y/n trailed, her voice barely more than a whisper as their lips finally touched. Drew’s fingers entwined in her hair slowly, pulling her closer to him as if she was going to blow away. As if he was going to lose her. Y/n snaked her hands up his bare chest, her thumbs running along his throat before softly running along the sharp angle of his jaw. Her eyes were screwed closed, too focused on savoring the feeling of his lips on her, his arms on her, his breath on her, his taste on her…

They both pulled away with a gasp, their chests heaving and lips swollen.

“How would you feel if I… felt the same way?” Y/n panted, her hand still resting along the hollow of Drew’s throat. A smile danced its way onto his lips, causing the dimple she loved so much to appear.

“I would like that. Very much.” Drew whispered, pressing his lips to hers once more.

[totheseok]

☆ boynextdoor reaction to you biting them

requested: no

genre: fluff ig?

warnings: none that i can think of

word count: 1.1k

a/n: more self indulgent things because I have a biting problem.

sungho:

gobsmacked

yk that really shocked face he makes where his mouth is open and his eyes are wide?

that's his face when he realises you bit him

it's a light bite but it's unexpected

you two are in the lower homes living room just chilling. sungho is playing fifa while you just mindlessly scroll on your phone. eventually you get tired of your phone and now you need your boyfriends attention. but sungho is locked in on the game and you know simply asking for his attention wouldn't work. so naturally you do what must be done. and you bite his arm. you bit him lightly but you've never bitten him before so man was s h o c k e d. he looks towards you eyes wide, mouth open and then looks at his arm, then back at you.

"hi"

"hi? did you just bite me?"

"mhm"

"why?"

you bit him again and cuddled up in his side 😌

riwoo:

goes silent

riwoo.exe has stopped responding

like remember the funnextdoor episode where he went quiet and woonhak was like "riwoo is trying to think of something funny to say"

kinda like that

riwoo gives me yapper vibes so...

you two are sitting at the table in the kitchen just enjoying some snacks while talking about your day. he's probably telling you about a new dance he's learning or something stupid that happened at dance practice. you're just listening and watching your absolute cutie patootie of a boyfriend yap away. as he's doing this you cant help but notice how cute his cheeks look. and how biteable they look.... and so to preserve your own sanity you do just that. you bite his cheek 😌. following your bite all you hear is, well, nothing. sanghyeok is just sitting staring at you with wide eyes, bite unfinished. man is shocked, flustered, flabbergasted and so much more

"riwoo?"

"..."

"baby?"

"..."

"sanghyeok?"

"..."

jaehyun:

menace pt1

bros probably going to start singing bite me ngl

but we know hes a dramatic pookie

so that too

you and jaehyun are in his room. hes studying some english. youre having the time of your life, laying with your head in his lap, watching him struggle to pronounce "yacht". you offered to help him but noooo, he can do it. refuses to let you help because he wants to prove he can do it himself and with any other word you wouldnt doubt him. he's quite good at english and hes improving rapidly but the word "yacht"... its a pain in the ass to learn at first even if english is your first language. i mean look at it it should be pronounced "ya ch t" or something. he had first said "ya ch t" and was convinced that's how it was pronounced until he looked at your face and realised he was wrong. but was going to ask for help? no? but manz could NOT figure out what else it could be.

after about 5 minutes of watching him struggle you got fed up and decided to MAKE him listen to you. so you leaned your head down. and but his thigh. surprised at first, bamboozled even. but once he realised what had happened he started giggling soon followed by you. after recovering from the laughing fit, he did not miss a single beat and started singing in that voice he uses to annoy sungho.

"its you and me in this world 내게로 다시 와 tie me"

"seriously? thats you first response?!?!"

"날 구원할 거라면 just come kiss me and bite me"

"sure but say 'yacht' first"

"HEY"

taesan:

bites back.

thats it

thats the headcanon

jk but fr

i cant find it now but theres a video of taesan biting jaehyun and bro just nommed in jaehyuns arm

which is why im 100% sure he would bite back

honestly wouldnt even be phased

its probably your love language as a couple

you and taesan were at the studio, taesan was working on some new songs while you sat nearby doing some assignments. eventually the words you were typing started floating around the screen and you didnt even know what you were typing so you decided it was a good time to take a break. but if youre taking a break then taesan should also be taking a break because 1. he was probably tired too and 2. how dare he work while youre taking a break instead of giving you attention. so you decided to give him a few minutes so that he wouldnt lose his train of though. plus he looks so cute when hes focused so...

HOWEVER a few minutes turned into 10 minutes. 10 minutes turned into 20. and eventually half an hour passed. you realised taesan wasnt about to take a break any time soon, so you decided to take matters into your own hands. you slowly crept up behind him and attacked. bro did not move. just looked at you smiled and pulled you into his lap. you may not have gotten a reaction but hey, now you get attention from your boyfriend. with no consequences... right? err❌ wrong.

"whats up?"

"you should take a break youve been working for so long. nonstop"

"okay"

"youre just going to listen? that easily?"

"hmm?" *bites you*

leehan:

menace pt2

takes it as an opportunity to flirt

teases you to no end

i keep thinking about that boynextdoor 2night video where while spinning bottle the jaehyun told him he was doing it the wrong way

and he was like ill do it how i want

so like

think abt that

you and leehan were watching a kdrama while cuddling. initially both of you were very invested and you kept fangirling over the male lead (me every time i watch unlock my boss) and leehan would laugh and jokingly complain about it. after about two more episodes you noticed that leehan hadnt said anthing in a while so you looked towards him and saw that he had dozed off. but this was unacceptable how could he leave you to watch people try to kill each other on your own. no absolutely not. this was not allowed. how dare he. you first tried slightly shaking him awake, it woke him up but he just mumbled something unintelligible and closed his eyes again. time for plan b. biting him.

it worked. quite well. too well.

"why???"

"why what?"

"baby i know i taste good but if youre hungry the gummies might serve you better"

"you left me alone to watch mr.oh be mean to my husband 😔"

"hey its ok i didnt hear anything he said about me~"

"oh god you know what go back to sleep"

[mossangelll]

Yandere!Jinx x Reader

Bath Time 🛁🫧

a/n: decided to indulge my weird thoughts…sorry for any grammar/tense mistakes i wanted to write this down so bad i barely proofread 😭

pic from @arcanescreencaps

tw: afab reader, dubcon, improper drug use, smut but nothing too detailed - mdni

Why did you have to be so stupid and sprain your arm? It wasn’t even that bad, just some mild swelling and a touch of discomfort - in the outside world, where you still had independence and freedom, you would’ve handled it perfectly fine.

But you’re with Jinx now, holed away in her den where she treats you like you’re made of glass. In another life her doting care would’ve been such a welcome comfort but here it’s like being stuck under the hot summer sun, stifling and oppressive. She had decided you were too injured to care for yourself so she took over instead. It was finally time for you to have a shower and no matter how loudly you protested she decided that she needed to bathe you to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself even more.

What a load of bullshit.

So, after your ‘tantrum’, she had wrestled you into the bathroom. The tub was almost full to the brim with bubbles and even a…graffitied rubber duck floated along the still surface.

You grip onto your towel and look back at Jinx, who stares you down with a look that says ‘drop it’. You don’t dare challenge her silent demand, you upset her enough by hurting yourself - you’d rather not be punished again.

Your shaking hands let go of the fluffy towel clenched in your iron grip knowing you can’t delay the inevitable any longer. Her eyes seem to darken the second your towel is on the floor, eyes roving your naked body as she bites her lip. Tears well in your eyes at being subjected to something so, so humiliating.

You jump into the tub without a second’s hesitation; all you want to do is sink under the water and drown but you know Jinx would never let that happen. You settle for using the bubbles as a sort of cover to protect yourself from her wandering gaze. She kneels down at the side of the tub getting all the toiletries she would use ready.

She’s oddly quiet as she takes a sponge and douses it with apple scented body wash, her body wash. Her hands are careful as they scrub at your your back, apologising whenever one of her long nails happens to catch on your skin.

It’s not so bad, you think. The water is warm and Jinx had started humming one of your favourite songs. You don’t like the fact that nothing of yours really belongs to you anymore, but you downright despise the way you actually like the way her scratchy voice follows the music.

“Ya know, my sister used to do this for me back when I was little…” Her voice seems so small and pensive as her train of thought wanders off into the heaviness of the humid air as she continues to scrub.

You wait for her to continue but she’s clammed up, focusing instead on getting you clean. The only times you heard about this mysterious sister was when you set her off and she would rampage, letting loose little details her and there in her episodes.

Your heart aches for her but you don’t even know why. She kidnapped and hurt you but still she finds a way to infiltrate every aspect of your being.

Her hands travel to your neck and arms, a trail of suds following her circular motions. Your eyes are closed as you relish in her ministrations before they’re suddenly jolting open, realising where Jinx's hand has stopped.

“Toots, you, uh, don’t mind if I make sure you’re all clean?” Her low voice calls out, eyes glued to where the tops of your thighs would be under the suds and bubbles.

Her fingers tremble under the water, sponge drifting closer to the apex of your legs. You find yourself squeezing your eyes shut out of instinct when you realise how ruddy the apples of her cheeks are, how heavy the pants that rumble out from deep down her chest are. You try to angle your body away from her leering gaze but there’s no point - the tub is too tight and you don’t want to risk her anger at getting everything soaked.

You don’t even bother answering her indulgent question as you know she’s not truly asking you feel about her endeavour.

Your chest is tight with fear and anticipation like ripping off a sticky bandaid that you know is going to sting.

The sponge delves between your legs.

You gasp at the sensation of the porous sponge the feeling so shocking, your thighs tremble in response.

At first she really is just cleaning you and you suppose she would’ve had to do it at some point. You relax thinking you can let your guard down - she’ll move onto your legs and soon you’ll be done. Soon you can forget all about this experience.

But she doesn’t stop. The sponge is now petting you, her delicate manner swapped for harder pressure. Your legs squirm and you try not to keen at the sensation. What is she doing?!

The damp heat in the enclosed room must be getting to your head. You feel a delirious, warmth spreads from the base of your feet and up, up, up; you have to fight just to remind yourself that she is your captor. She is insane and she will stop at nothing to keep you with her, even if it means killing you and taking herself with you.

And still, despite the mantra you repeat, your head feels impossibly heavy and you have to lean your head back just to ease the pressure. She rubs at a particularly sensitive spot and you can’t help but let a small moan slip out from your lips.

Jinx’s perceptive link eyes dart up to look at your contorted face, travelling down your neck and stopping just where the bubbles meet your breasts.

God, you don’t want her to think you’re enjoying what’s happening to you.

But it’s clear she does as the blush on her face travels down to her chest and it’s like she’s a flashing red flag screaming danger but you can’t find it in you to pull away. She lips her chapped lick and grinds the sponge even harder against your clit as your hips cant towards her searing touch.

Jinx has never initiated anything sexual before and now here you are mewling for her as if anything about this situation is normal. You hate yourself so much for giving into her but your brain is so scattered and you’re too tired to revolt against her.

Electricity is sparking down your spine like a live wire in water and you feel yourself reaching your peak so close and just right and-

Jinx pulls her hand out of the water like she’s been burnt. Her eyes blown wide and she seems to be shaking - why has she stopped? She shakes her head as if to clear the stray thoughts that vacate her mind.

How could she do this to? Humiliate you by treating you like a child and then touching you so intimately knowing she wasn’t even going to stick around? Your head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton and you just want to drag her back so she can touch you more.

Her body is stiff as she stands up to dry her hands like nothing even happened between you two.

“I need to uh…finish a job for Silco. You know me, shirking all my work! He’ll kill me if I don’t leave right now at this very second. Yeah.”

Her voice wobbles as she rambles on and you can tell by the way her eyes shift as she avoids your gaze that it’s a lie. You know she knows that you’re aware of this fact. You scoff with a roll of your eyes and splash your foot in the water, booting the rubber duck out of the tub and it plops out with a distorted quack. You feel used, even more so when you realise the fire in your stomach seems to be burning stronger for Jinx.

She scurries over to the exit, hand reaching for the door handle, eager to make her escape before she pauses, turning to look at you one last time.

“You can finish bathing yourself, right sweet cheeks?” Her face is still dusted with pink and her eyes are glazed with wonderment as she stares down. You slowly nod your head yes, anything to get her to leave you alone.

Jinx takes her leave and shuts you in to be alone with your thoughts. She waits for a second to hear for the splash of the water before sliding down the door, long blue pigtails pooled at her feet. Her eyes are closed in bliss and she brings the hand that was washing you to her mouth, taking a tentative lick - as if she’s committing the taste of you to her memory.

A small grin erupts on her face - today was a victory.

She needs to let Singed know that this new shimmer variant was a success, a great one, and she needs more.

masterlist

[sexlapis]

[◉°] …TOJI & Y/N BEING A COUPLE FOR 10 MINUTES STRAIGHT PART 4 … 764k views

—̳͟͞͞♡

ᰋ actor!toji x actor/actress!reader

synopsis: your fans truths delusions about the nature of you & toji’s relationship continues.

a/n: actor!toji is still here guys! ૮ ˙Ⱉ˙ ა

sfw, fluff, crack, ooc toji, mentions of smoking

masterlists

actor!toji masterlist

part one, two, three

*

ᰋ first clip

“hi guys! welcome to ‘baking with y/n, episode two’!” you yell at the camera, grinning, “and today i will be cooking with…” waving your hands out to the side, you announce your guest, “toji fushiguro! come on toji!”

toji’s big stature strolls into view with his hands in his pockets. he makes the entire kitchen area shrink around him due to his domineering size and overall presence.

“alright, alright..” toji chimes, “not too much now.”

“toji. don’t big yourself up too much. this is still my show,” you smile at his dumb, flabbergasted face and turn your attention back to the viewers, “today, we’ll be making cinnamon rolls! mmhmm!”

meanwhile, toji is tying a too-small apron around his torso, tightening it around is cinched waist. his seemingly intimidating demeanour is nullified by the pink, frilly gingham fabric that graces his body.

“‘don’t happen to have any other aprons, do ya?”

“no, why-” you choked on your own spit when you look at the state of toji - wearing a tiny, delicate apron on his large frame.

“toji, wow…you look so nice…”

“you be quiet.”

ᰋ second clip

as a fashion show attendee, and a significant one at that, you were given some of the best seats in the venue. coincidentally, you are placed right next to your friend, toji fushiguro.

when a member of staff leads you to your seat, you seem surprised and happy to find toji there, smiling broadly. toji’s face cannot be seen in the video, but from the way he stood up to greet and hug you, it appears that he reciprocated your feelings!

you both settle in your seats and before long, the show begins. the models walk by. and more models. and even more models.

before you know it, your eyes grow heavy, your head occasionally dipping and shooting back up again. you seemed so tired…

toji looks at you and rubs your knee, speaking a few words to you. in response, you yawn and nod gently. toji leans in a little, whispering words unheard to onlookers and you in turn. you then rest your head on his big, pillowy shoulder, holding onto his elbow as you try not to fall asleep. he rubs his hand over your smaller ones.

you do end up falling asleep. at the fashion event that you were specially invited to by the designer themselves.

luckily for you, the sweet moment between you and toji overshadowed your sleepy behaviour!

ᰋ third clip

when walking on the red carpet of the season two premier of ‘jujutsu kaisen’, you are dragged around for pictures and interviews and speaking with other actors. but one interview with you and toji has everybody talking.

as you answer the question you have received from the interviewer, toji stands beside and he is…not paying attention to your words per say.

his eyes wander from the top of your perfectly styled hair and down to your sharp tailored clothes that fit on your body so nicely.

toji is not at all subtle as he full on checks you out.

“look at their outfit…” he mumbles, shamelessly interrupting the interviewer who was speaking, just to talk about how good you look.

“yea-yeah! they look great!” the interviewer compliments you, a little thrown off by toji’s interruption.

“so, so beautiful…”

you laugh shyly at toji’s words, brushing down your clothes and looking down at yourself, “toji, are you even listening to the questions?”

“what questions?”

ᰋ fourth clip

you are a famous and respected actor. of course you must do a ‘what’s in my bag’ video with vogue.

after going through a couple of your obscure items, you come across some of the more treasured ones that you carry around with you.

“and this-,” you giggle, holding up a small, soft brown stuffed deer toy in the palm of your hand, “this is the little toy that toji got me! i liked the brand that makes these, so we got a toy that reminded us of one another…and he got me a deer.”

you are asked what toy you got for toji.

“i got toji an angry looking white bear. it suits him.”

later on through the video, you pull out a silver, vintage lighter.

“right. so…toji gave me this lighter too,” you flick it on and off a few times, “i told him i don’t smoke and he just say “you say that now but you’ll feel differently after doing this job for five years”” you cackle loudly at the memory, “…yeah, he’s not exactly wrong about that…”

ᰋ fifth clip

blurry footage emerges of you and toji at the after party of an awards show.

the dance area is filled with people dancing and commotion everywhere, but somehow, a fan noticed you and toji in the corner of the room.

a sensual r&b song plays in the background as you dance imperfectly, in between toji’s spread legs, looking at him and promoting him to join you.

he stares at you and takes a swig of his drink. the tie he wears is loose and his hair ruffled.

as you dance along with the song, toji stands and tames your hand in his, spinning you around and pulling you right against his chest and sways the both of you. toji rests his face on the side of your head and closes his eyes as you laugh at his antics.

that one video confirmed every single suspicion that your fans ever had about you and toji.

*

tag list: @tiredslepz | @hayatslife | @shxyxyxxxx | @snowprincesa1 | @laylasbunbunny | @mimiemie | @ncentic | @rosesored | @imover-18 | @gintokhi | @suzuperstarr | @lostgxrlblog | @jallie10 | @nnsav | @bunnyx-sakura | @bubbabobabubbles | @ladytamayolover | @keiva1000 | @morgyyyyyyy | @studiecoherence | @earth2fae | @ce-namonreads | @ib4ryuguji | @hisjaegerist | @basiloverthyme | @sweet-kiwi | @sayitowshi | @iovemytoru | @thecompletechaosmaster | @sugutoad | @inumakiiz | @uzxotic | @1meshugge1 | @kunikuzushisbeloved

a/n: an actor!toji fic after 2 months. he lives!

[traveler-at-heart]

Doctor's In - Part 16

Summary: Your Westview fam reunites with you and Boston as you prepare to leave the city.

A/N: I believe this is what @jerullium and I would call a filler episode but hey! Enjoy if you like Wanda fluff

-

You know what the call is about.

“Hello?” you practically sing, your eyes on the road.

“Stop that” Wanda warns you.

“Stop what?”

“Changing the music. You know I don’t like that girl!”

“Babe, Chappell is great” you play dumb.

“I’m the only redhead you can love”

“Yes, darling. Have you asked the kids yet?”

“Just about to. I’m picking them up before my mother steals my car and crashes against a police car. Again”

You want to laugh at how annoyed Wanda sounds. Honestly, you’re dying to meet her mother.

“Let me know if they agree to come so I can get your tickets”

“I can do that…”

“You’re all flying first class, and that’s final. Gotta go. Love ya”

“Me too… you’re playing her music again!” she says and you hang up, laughing.

“You guys are adorable” Val says, sitting next to you in the car.

“Yelena likes to call it ridiculously corny”

“So, not that this is any of my business… but why are you looking to work abroad if you are in a relationship with Wanda? I don’t think she’d be willing to move, right?”

“Well… that’s why I was curious about that summer program you mentioned with an NGO”

Valkyrie knew enough people and organizations to find something that wouldn’t mean moving to a different country indefinitely.

And as it turned out, you had a few common friends, including none other than Sharon Carter.

She was a couple years ahead of you in college, but you’d always gotten along. Thanks to Val, you knew she was ready to move back home -her whole family was in Boston- and you were hoping she could take an interest in working for Romanoff Medical Center.

After everything Melina had done for you (even if it was out of self interest to provide Yelena with a mentor), you didn’t feel comfortable just leaving without a thought after your contract was up.

As you go meet Sharon at the restaurant, your mind drifts to Billy and Tommy. Would they be excited at the prospect of seeing you? Wanda had only mentioned they went through a rough patch, but you were always too afraid to ask the details.

The sight of Sharon waving at you brings you back to reality.

“Carter girl” you greet like you did in college, hugging her.

“Look at you, all grown up”

“Look at you, working for WHO”

“It’s nothing, really” she shrugs it off, greeting Val as well.

There’s some talk about work, just chit chat while the waiter was hanging around waiting to take your order. Once he’s done and you have some space to talk more freely, Sharon turns to you, a smirk on her face.

“You still a player?”

That makes you choke on your drink, while Val whistles.

“What? Here I was thinking this one was a family gal”

“Wait, hold up. That’s insane. In college, she used to charm every girl. Not even the ones with boyfriends were safe” Sharon says, making you blush.

“I don’t seem to recall…”

“Jean Grey.”

“Ok, got it. No need to go further into detail” you interrupt her, suddenly remembering that yeah, you had been a bit of a player in college. “Now I’m with someone who has two kids, so I’m looking to return to Westview”

“Romanoff Medical is going to need a great Head of Trauma” Val chimes in.

“The pay is spectacular”

“Mhm. Heard Melina can be hard to deal with” Sharon says and you sigh.

“Honestly? Not as much. Not if you do your job and you’re good at it. Like me” you wink at her.

“Well, I’d be looking to start in a month or so, because I really wanna get some rest and be with my family”

“Timing couldn’t be better… except I need someone to cover for me this weekend. Do you mind?”

“That’s going to cost you a mimosa”

“Done” you say, waving at the waiter.

—

Wanda is stalling.

Things were getting better between her and the kids. There was no arguing, even if Billy had decided to quit the soccer team.

She knew they still missed you, but they were starting to heal. And your relationship was going well, but Wanda was afraid of so many things.

Of screwing it up again. Hurting the kids.

Getting hurt.

Though you’d never ever do it, she trusted you completely.

She’s still thinking about how to bring up the trip to the kids when she gets a text from you.

Y/N: Hey, it’s been a couple of hours. If you’re not ready or think it’s not the best idea to bring the kids, I get it. They always come first. Just know that I love you no matter what :)

Wanda smiles at that.

She decides to leave her study and go to the twins’ room, where they’re doing some homework.

“Hey, do you guys have a minute?” she sits in Billy’s bed, and Tommy joins them. “So, I know we haven’t spoken about Y/N. She’s been living and working in Boston”

“That’s where you’ve been traveling to” Tommy says, looking up.

“Right. And we ran into each other… started talking. She mentioned you could join me on my next trip and we’d all go around the city together. There are some cool stuff to do and see”

“Seriously? That would be awesome! Yes, I want to come with you!” Tommy says, excited. Wanda’s about to ask Billy when he jumps out of bed, running to lock himself in the bathroom.

“Wait here, sweetheart” she asks Tommy. “Billy? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t wanna go”

“Why? Are you angry at Y/N?”

“No”

“Then me?”

“No” he says, this time with less conviction.

“Then what is it?”

“You’re only making us go so you both can give us the talk” he says through the door, and Wanda decides to open it.

“What talk?” she sits on the floor next to her son, running her hands through his hair.

“The same talk Emily’s parents had with her when they were getting a divorce. About how it wasn’t her fault and they’d always love her even if they weren’t together”

“No, that’s not it at all, Billy”

“She just wants to say goodbye to us”

“I promise you that’s not it. We’re both trying hard to fix everything, my sweet boy. Have our family back” Billy turns around to wipe his face, and Wanda sighs. “Would it make you feel better if Y/N told you herself?”

That makes the boy turn.

Wanda takes out her phone, dialing your number and hoping you’re not too busy with work.

“Hey, beautiful. Got any news for me? Will I get to see my boys?”

“Y/N!” Billy jumps up, leaning his head against Wanda’s to hear you better.

“Billy? Hey kiddo. How are you? I’ve missed you so damn much”

He’s so excited he doesn’t even notice the curse word that leaves your mouth.

“I missed you too! Do you like Boston?”

“It’s alright. Would be a lot more fun if you guys came over to visit me. What do you say?”

“We’ll do some fun stuff?”

“And eat ice cream”

“This isn’t to say goodbye?”

“Goodbye? I have my ticket to Westview in a couple of weeks, Billy. You’re not getting rid of me”

“Ok, yeah! We’ll see you soon!” he says, excited. You laugh.

“Alright then. Now let me speak to your mom”

He hands over the phone, running back to his room.

“We have thirty seconds before Tommy comes running to talk to you”

“Ok, I’ll take it to say I love you and can’t wait to see you all this weekend”

“Will we stay at the penthouse?”

“I’m not sure it’s very child friendly so let’s get a suite at a nice hotel” you say, knowing the place was full of expensive things that could easily break with two kids running around.

Like clockwork, Tommy shows up, kneeling next to his mother.

“Y/N! Can we go to a Red Sox game?”

“I’ll see what I can do, buddy” you say. He keeps talking, asking questions about the city.

Billy joins in a second later, and this is the first time in months that Wanda’s seen them so happy and excited.

She can’t wait to have her entire family back together.

—

Rumor has it, Fury has found a replacement. He only schedules interviews when Darcy’s away and he asks goody two shoes Kamala Kahn to deliver all the CVs he needs to read.

She’d never move to the dark side, unfortunately.

Darcy is running out of ideas to keep the job open.

There’s one, though.

“Fuck it” she decides, walking to Fury’s office and ignoring his secretary when she says he’s busy.

He obviously isn’t, signing papers.

“Yes, Doctor Lewis?”

“I’d like to be considered”

“Considered for…” he says without look up.

“The position of Head of Trauma”

Now, that makes Fury pay attention. He smiles, removing his glases.

“I thought you wanted Y/N to come back to her old job”

“Well, she’s taking her sweet time and I don’t want anyone else running the ER. So, I’m your girl”.

“I still have to interview you” he says, pulling out Darcy’s file and reading it. “Darcy N. Lewis. What does the N stand for?”

“None of your business” Darcy snaps, forgetting she’s talking to her boss until Fury levels her with a glare. “Nora”

“Alright. Let’s start, shall we?”

—

Melina’s reviewing schedules when she hears a knock on the door.

“Ah, just who I wanted to see” she says when you walk inside.

“Have I done something?”

“Well, we have a pending discussion about your time with us, don’t we?” the woman says, and you appreciate how she goes straight to business.

“I am leaving after the three months we agreed on” you admit, sitting down in front of her.

“I assumed as much, seeing your girlfriend around these past few weeks”

“I’m sorry, I know you wanted it to not work out” you tease, and Melina huffs, offended.

“I’m not some kind of monster! If you’re happy, I am glad to hear it. I just know it’s gonna be incredibly difficult to find someone who can…”

You interrupt her rant by pushing Sharon’s CV in front of her. She skims through it, raising her eyebrows.

“She worked for the World Health Organization?”

“Mhm. Top of her class, outstanding in every way. She also brings a large network and a lot of prestige”

Needless to say, those are things Melina loves. You’re sure she’d be willing to throw another gala just to show off Sharon.

“We’d have to do a trial, show her around…”

“Already arranged it” you say, smiling. Melina keeps reading the file and you know she doesn’t need any more convincing, so you take your cue to leave. But there’s something more you wanna say, as you stand by the door. “Hey. Thank you for taking me in. You gave me a place to stay and a job when I was completely broken. I can’t imagine what I would have done without your help”

“Just make sure… she’s worth it all. That she values you as much as you do her, Y/N. This is your career, and a big sacrifice at that” the brunette says, her tone softer.

“You’re right. Thank you” you leave with a smile.

—

It feels like everyone decided to fly today. The airport is crowded, you can barely find room to walk and you know Wanda must be struggling with her bag and the two kids who are running around everywhere.

“God damn it” you sigh, hoping they’re managing through the sea of people.

You hear them before seeing them.

“Y/N!” Tommy screams. You don’t realise where he’s coming from until he crashes against your back, jumping as he hugs you.

“Hey, kiddo!” you try to turn around, only to see Billy sprinting at full speed. “Oh, oh”

He gives the final push that knocks you down, and you shriek as they climb on top of you.

“Boys! Honestly, what has gotten into you?” Wanda comes to the rescue a second later. “You ok?”

“Come here, you two” you sit up, hugging them. “Missed you like crazy”

“And what about me?” Wanda pouts. You laugh, standing up and kissing her.

“Of course I missed you too, beautiful”

Right on cue, they both groan and complain as Wanda kisses you back.

“I didn’t miss that” Tommy sasses you and you glare.

“In that case…” you grab Wanda by the waist, pulling her against you and peppering kisses all over her face.

“Baby” she laughs, and you silence her a second later with your lips.

“Blegh” they both say, grabbing their backpacks.

“Are they teens now?” you mumble against Wanda’s ear.

“No, teenage years will be much worse than this. Are you still up for it?”

“In it for the long run, baby”

Wanda has to go straight to a work meeting, but you stop by a second to greet Wendy, and make sure she gets a chance to meet the twins.

“I’ve heard so much about you!” the woman says.

“Tell Wendy what was your favorite story of hers growing up”

“Uh, the one where the kids go to space” Billy says shyly.

“And they take their dog! We have a dog too and we’d take him to space with us” Tommy agrees.

“Alright, astroboys, let them work. We’re going to a baseball game”

“Oh, no! I’m sad I’ll miss it. Have fun” Wanda lies.

You knew she’d be bored out of her mind so you decided it was as good a time as any to take them to the game.

“Yeah, those are so much fun” you say, knowing baseball is incredibly boring for you too. As Wanda says goodbye you pull her close and whisper in her ear. “I’m taking one for the team so be prepared to thank me later, babe”

“Stop” she tries not to laugh, knowing exactly what you mean. “And don’t eat a lot of junk food”

“You heard your mom”

“I wasn’t talking only to the kids”

“Rude”

As you expected, you still have no clue what’s going on but the kids enjoy eating nachos and watching men running around after a ball.

“Wow, Camarena is about to bat!”

“Oh, I met that guy in New York” you say, remembering how Zach was so excited about that player.

You really need to plan something in the summer for him to meet the twins.

As Camarena prepares to bat, you decide to FaceTime Zach.

“Where are yooou?” he says, annoyingly close to the screen. “Without me? Traitor”

“Who’s that?” Tommy says, looking away from the game for a split second.

“My brother”

“Hi, I’m uncle Zach”

“You can’t be our uncle. You’re too young” Billy huffs.

You’re about to tell them to settle when you hear the familiar sound of people cheering and shouting.

“Ah, shit. Not again”

Another ball falls right on your hand.

Tommy takes your phone, lifting it in the air and dancing with his brother as the camera pans to you.

Honestly, why are people so happy over catching a freakin ball?

Pretty soon you hope there’s another coming your way and knocks you down, because Zach is arguing over the phone with the boys.

“We should totally keep it!”

“Are you insane? If he asks for it you can get a picture with him and get him to sign stuff, that’s worth more!”

“It wouldn’t be the same”

Anyway, as the game ends you get called just like last time.

“You again?” the team manager recognises you and you shrug your shoulders.

“Hey, I’m just as surprised as you”

“Alright, how about a picture and a signed bat in exchange for the ball?”

You shake your head no and point at the kids.

“You’re asking the wrong person, pal. Negotiate with these two”

Why are you even surprised when they get all demanding? They are Wanda’s kids after all.

In the end, they get one picture each, two signed baseball balls, one of his hats and a glove.

“Come on, your mom’s waiting for us at the hotel. You two need to shower so we can grab some food”

“No shower when we’re on vacation!” they chant as you drive back.

“Nu-uh, you’re both stinky. Plus you hugged that stinky man”

“Can we have burgers and milkshakes?”

“You had nachos and popcorn and soda. Oh, by the way” you turn to look at them at the red light. “If your mother asks you didn’t eat all that. Just some popcorn”

“We can agree if we don’t have to shower”

“Shower and I’ll take you to the F1 arcade”

Billy and Tommy whisper in the back of the car, considering your proposal.

“Deal”

“Fist bump” you say, throwing one hand to the back seat so they can seal the deal.

You definitely missed acting like a kid with them.

—

Wanda was right. You’d never say it out loud because you don’t want her to get all cocky.

But the kids have been hyper ever since they arrived and you’re a little out of practice with taking care of them.

It’s day two and you’re hoping the museum can provide some distraction while you chill with Wanda.

“You ok, detka? Seems like you ran a marathon” Wanda comments with a smirk.

“I’m super fine. Just ate a lot for breakfast” you lie, but still keep her close to your side, hoping you can sit down and watch the kids run around.

And for a little while, everything’s going well. Until you stumble upon an exhibition.

“Hall of Human Life” you read out loud.

It’s like Disneyland for doctors.

“That’s so cool!” you say, watching the model of an artery with high blood pressure. Tommy and Billy pick up on your enthusiasm, following you everywhere and asking questions as they go through every station of the exhibit.

Apparently, there’s a little contest at the end and you join a group of children sitting on the floor.

“Alright” the staff woman says, looking around. “Who can tell me how many bones are in the human body?”

“206!” you shout from the back, making every kid turn to look at you.

“Correct… uh, let’s just raise our hands to answer” the woman asks, thrown off by the sight of an adult in a children’s activity. “Does anyone remember three parts of the eye? Anyone?”

You’re the only one raising your hand, and the woman gives up with a sigh.

“Sclera, iris and retina”

It keeps happening with a couple of questions and Wanda is torn between letting you crash the activity or ask you to join her in the back.

As you get ready to argue with a 12 year old over an incorrect answer, Wanda decides you better get going.

���Come here, baby”

“Ok, what you said is incorrect. 1 in 500 people have a cervical rib” you keep arguing with the kid while Wanda drags you away.

“Here” she pushes you to the back of an exhibit.

“Hey, I was just…”

“We should let the kids enjoy themselves for a bit, don’t you think?” she asks and you’re about to argue when her lips are on yours.

“Yeah, that’s alright I guess” you sigh, a shiver running down your spine when Wanda bites your bottom lip.

“So, wanna discuss anatomy with a kid or show me what you know in this little corner?”

“I’m definitely staying here” you say, making out like teenagers.

You only notice the activity is over when the kids come looking for you.

“Gross” Tommy says.

“Hey, keep that up and we’ll go through the baby section again”

“Nooo” they both run away, traumatized by the drawings.

“How I missed babysitting the three of you” Wanda laughs.

You walk down the rest of the museum, commenting on your favorite thing in each area. As you discuss if they want to go to the aquarium after having some food, Wanda decides to get some souvenirs from the gift shop, Tommy tagging along in hopes of getting a t-shirt.

“You don’t want a t-shirt, beautiful boy?” you ask Billy, and he smiles when you call him that. It’s his favorite thing, from that John Lennon song.

“I don’t want you to be alone”

“I’ll be fine. Go with Mom, help her shop for something for Pietro and Grandma”

“It’s ok” he insists. You hug him and he leans on your side.

“How have you been? Heard you’re not really into soccer these days”

“No, I only went because Tommy liked it. But it’s not my favorite thing. Plus Daniel was being kind of mean” he mutters.

“Isn’t he Dick’s… I mean, Richard’s kid?” you stumble over the nickname.

“Yeah. He was saying that it wasn’t right that mom was with you and that was why I was weird too”

You take a deep breath, turning to look at him.

“You know that’s not right”

“Yeah. Tommy kicked his ass for that. Don’t tell mom I said a bad word” he remembers and his expression makes you forget the anger for a second.

“My lips are sealed”

In that precise moment, Wanda and Tommy come back. Tommy has some dinosaur stuff that he bought for his brother and they’re busy checking everything out.

“Wow, what’s going on?” Wanda says when you pull her aside.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” you whisper, shaking with anger.

“Tell you what? Y/N, calm down”

“I’m going to kill him”

“Kill who?”

“Dick, Richard, whatever his name is. He hurt Billy and I’m going to…”

“I already dealt with it, please calm down” Wanda asks.

“Unless you ran him over with your car, it’s not enough”

“I did threaten him with that” she says, which makes you laugh. “I’m serious. I did tell him I’d do it”

Wanda puts her hands on your cheeks, forcing you to look at her.

“Are you better now?”

“Yeah. You should have told…”

“I wanted to but you weren’t there. So I had to deal with it the best I could” she says and you hang your head in defeat.

You hope one day the guilt of leaving like a coward can disappear.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I pushed you away, remember? Let’s just get something to eat. Ok?”

“Ok” you kiss the back of her hand, sighing.

“Look what we got you!” Tommy interrupts, unaware of the tension between you and her mom.

He shows you a plastic dinosaur with a cowboy hat and you scream.

“Coolest thing ever!”

“Three kids” Wanda laughs, walking away as you alternate between rawr and yeehaw sounds, holding the dinosaur up in the air.

—

The kids wouldn’t get on the plane until you showed them your ticket to Westview. Even then, they complained that two weeks was a long wait.

But still, they got on the plane and you were  seeing Wanda next Thursday, as it was her final meeting with Wendy’s team.

“Love you two”

“Love you three” they answered and how you missed hearing those words from them.

Everything is still the same when you go back to work. But the kids visit has made you look at things differently.

You don’t feel so alone, and you’re more optimistic about the future. Even Lorne has noticed and is taking full advantage of your mood.

Yelena’s the one with the attitude as soon as you come back.

“Anything interesting happened this weekend?”

“Ask your friend” she says without looking up from her notes.

“What did you think of Sharon?”

“She’s fine. Whatever”

“Fine as in attractive or fine as in capable? I hope it’s the latter because Bishop won’t be happy about the other one…”

“Can you stop being so fucking annoying for a second?” she snaps, standing up to leave.

It’s like that the entire day. You ask her to do something and she complains, speaks through her teeth or simply refuses to acknowledge you.

The only thing you can think to do of is bitch about it to Natasha.

“Is your sister in her late teenage years or some shit?”

“She’s just pissed because you’re leaving” Natasha doesn’t look up either, well aware of Yelena’s behavior.

“Well, she knew I was leaving after three months! That’s hardly a shock”

“You were the one that said you’d never move to Boston and here you are” she levels you with an icy glare. “You can’t really blame her for hoping you’d stick around longer than three months”

“I guess, but still. It’s nothing personal”

“She gets attached easily. Ask mom how many strays she picked on the street”

“So now I’m a dog?” you say, and Natasha smiles.

“Yeah, like a retriever. You’re always goofy. Plus you catch all those balls like it’s second nature”

“Heard about the other game, huh?”

“I’m not going to assume what Yelena thinks or feels, but you should definitely talk to her” Natasha looks at you. “And for what is worth, you’ve made a good impact on the staff. They’re gonna miss you too”

“Are you?” you say when she stands up to leave.

“Nope. I’m taking your parking spot”

“Hey!”

She looks back and smiles. You return the gesture, knowing what she’s trying to say.

“It’s a nice parking spot” you admit. “Closer to the cafeteria”

“Exactly. See you later”

“Thanks. For helping me out with Yelena. And for wanting to be my friend even though I can be an ass” you say.

“You’re a nice ass. Wait, that came out wrong” she frowns and you laugh.

“I got the point”

Natasha smiles and nods your way one last time. And as far as you’re concerned, you’d really want to keep avoiding Yelena, but you better go and find her.

She’s in an on call room, and all but groans when you walk inside.

“I’m leaving in two weeks. Believe or not, it’s not easy for me to make this choice, Yelena. I know staying would be better for my career. Your mom is paying me shitloads of money. And the city has its charm, I’m not gonna lie”

“Ok, is there a point or…?”

“I’m coming back to Westview because… I found the one thing I never thought I’d have. A family that loves me. After my dad passed away I didn’t really have a place to call home. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here at all, because it was unfair to create an expectation. But I won’t lie and say I regret it. You’ve grown so much and you have so much talent. I’m really fucking proud of being your teacher”

Yelena looks away, and you sigh.

“Anyways, better get back to…”

“Thank you. Even if it was for a short time, I’m happy you were my teacher” she finally says, wiping a tear and smiling at you.

“Thanks, kid. We are a good team” you sit next to her, nudging her knee with yours. “One could even say we trauma bonded, huh?”

“I hate you”

—

The last thing you want to hear after a very bad shift is Lorne’s voice proposing to play a game.

“I just feel like I never got to know you!” he insists.

“Walking in on me changing clothes wasn’t enough for you? Glad you’re knocking after that, by the way”

To be honest, it was fun to watch him shriek as he saw you half naked. And how he volunteered to take the sexual harrassment course even though it was pretty obvious he didn’t mean to be a peeping tom.

“No, I mean things like, your favorite cake flavor, or favorite color. And are you a balloon girl? Or more of a glitter gal?”

“Neither. I don’t want a farewell party” you say, knowing exactly what he’s doing.

It’s stupid to throw a party to someone who’s been part of the staff for only three months. And from day one, everyone knew you weren’t staying.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he plays dumb and you chuckle, signing forms while you check your watch.

You better get going if you want to pick up Wanda from her meeting.

“Mhm. No parties. Seriously” you hand over the charts, glaring at him.

He nods, but you don’t really believe he’ll give up. If Yelena sides with him, you’ll have to accept your fate.

“Ready to go?” Sharon says, greeting you at the hallway.

She’s been picking up some shifts, to see if she likes the job. Melina made her an offer as soon as she sat down for the interview and you’re convinced the only reason she hasn’t let you leave early is because Yelena would throw a tantrum.

“Yeah, I have to pick up Wanda. How’s everything? You like it here?”

“Very much, everyone’s nice. The facilities are amazing and it’s a very interesting challenge. Don’t tell anyone yet, but I’m accepting the job offer”

“Congratulations. They’re very lucky to have you” you say, smiling.

“Thank you, for recommending me. I’ll let you go now” she says when she gets paged.

By the time you reach the address Wanda sent out, she’s wrapping up the meeting.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt, I’m sorry” you say as you walk in on people chatting around the conference room.

“Not at all, please come in” Wendy says.

“Hello, darling” Wanda greets you with a kiss on the cheek. “We were only talking about tonight. There’s this party with some editors”

“Oh, that sounds nice” you try not to sound disappointed, because you were hoping to spend the evening with Wanda.

“Sorry for the short notice but you’re going to be my plus one” Wanda puts her arm around your waist and you relax against her.

“Can’t say no to my girl”

As you’re saying goodbye, Wendy’s assistant stops by. There’s a wave of excitement as soon as Lily shows off the baby.

“I thought it was a boy” Wanda says, approaching her.

“We did too. Apparently our doctor’s stupid. No offense, Y/N”

“Hey, I just rode in the ambulance. But congrats. What’s her name?”

“Marygold”

“I love that name” Wanda and you say at the same time.

Lily hands over the baby to Wanda, and as she cooes at the little girl, you look over her shoulder, your hand on Wanda’s waist.

“She’s such a cutie”

“You both look good with a baby” Wendy jokes and you smile.

“Babe, they’re conspiring to get us pregnant”

Wanda tries to laugh at your joke, but your closeness is distracting. She wants to focus on Marygold but gives up a moment later, and you intercept the baby before she returns to her mother’s arms.

“You’re gonna have to teach me that move” Lily comments when you sway her gently and lull her back to sleep.

“Natural talent, I’m afraid” you joke.

You’re so focused on the baby that you don’t notice Wanda’s intense gaze on you.

Of course, someone else takes Marygold and you leave with Wanda.

“So, work thing, huh? Sounds fun. Is it more business, casual?”

“Just a small dinner, nothing fancy. And we definitely don’t have to stay for long” she says, looking out the window.

“You ok?” you ask after a few moments of silence, placing your hand on her thigh.

“Yeah” Wanda turns to smile at you.

You miss the way she shivers when you squeeze her thigh, and Wanda’s sure you’re keeping your hand there in an innocent gesture.

But seeing you holding a baby, with your strong arms (that are a lot more buff now) practically made her ovulate on the spot.

She has to be extremely patient, but once you’re in your building and the elevator’s doors close, Wanda corners you, her pupils dilated.

“Wanda?” you say, completely blindsided by the way she has you against the metal walls.

“I want you… fuck. I want you to put a baby in me”

Your attention is split between her words and the fact she’s unbotting her blouse in the middle of the elevator.

“I, technically… biologically, I mean” you stutter as she reveals a black lace bra.

“You’re not even gonna try?��� she taunts, undoing your pants and sinking her hand to play with your clit through your underwear.

“Fuck, not what I meant, bunny” you mutter against her temple, while she edges you. “Can you behave until we get there?”

“No” she says against your lips, swallowing your moans.

The doors open into the Penthouse and you’re about to carry Wanda to the bedroom when she pushes you away.

“Why?”

“Give me five minutes to change”

“You don’t need to change, you’re gonna be naked” you whine, taking a look at her cleavage.

“So you don’t wanna see the entire thing? It has stockings. And a thong”

“Can I rip it off of you?”

“No. They were very expensive”

“I’ll reimburse you” you insist. She laughs and you pout, but let her walk to the room, with an extra sway to her hips just to tease you.

You pace around the kitchen, like a caged animal. To be fair, last time Wanda was here you didn’t have a chance to be alone.

That makes you remember the thing you bought and stored inside the safe, just to make sure no one would find it. If Wanda wants to play dirty, you should surprise her as well.

While you adjust the new toy, the bedroom door opens and you practically sprint inside.

“Oh, my”

Wanda’s sitting in bed, her hair down. You take it all in, starting from the heels she’s still wearing, to her beautiful slender legs, the stockings held by a suspender belt.

You kneel at the foot of the bed, and she’s happy to make room for you between her legs.

“No ripping” she warns you as a hand reaches for her thighs.

“I’m not…”

“I’m serious” she says, gripping your chin between her fingers. “Say you understand”

“I understand”

“Good girl”

“You know, you should be the one begging” you say, your hands going up and down her calves while you kiss the exposed skin. “Weren’t saying you wanted me to get you nice and pregnant?”

“It doesn’t hurt to remind you I call the shots”

“Do you, now?” you smile up at her and Wanda holds her breath. She understands a second too late, that you have something of your own to tease her with.

With a chuckle, you push her thong aside and dart your tongue out, tasting her. You both moan and she places her hand in your head, pulling you closer.

You can tell she’s close when you feel her movig her hips against your mouth, so you slow down, until she’s whining.

“I didn’t say you could stop” she says.

“You better watch your tone or I’ll fuck the attitude out of you, baby” you stand up, puling your shirt up. Wanda’s hands go down your abs, which is amusing. Ever since you got back together, it hasn’t been lost on you how she eyes them and tries to get little peaks when your shirt rides up.

“Did you get a new…?” she says when her hand goes lower, feeling the strap on that you’re packing.

“See? I am putting a baby in you” you smile, pushing your thumb past her lips.

Wanda pulls your pants down, and takes the plastic cock between her hands. It takes you by surprise when she spits on it and then smears her saliva all over it. Before you can do anything else, her mouth is on it, and the pressure goes directly to your clit.

“Come on, let me fuck you” you plead, though you’re on the edge.

“Good old missionary?” Wanda pulls you down with her, your lips meeting in a messy kiss.

“God, yes, I want to hear your pretty moans” you say, lining up the toy against her cunt, and you find no resistance as you slide inside.

“Fuck, yes” Wanda moans, holding the back of your neck. You thrust harder when you feel her heels digging on your back, and she’s everywhere. Her scent is invading your nose, you feel her hot breath against your ear and her moans are all you can hear as you keep fucking her, losing control until she practically screams your name.

“Fuck, that was good” she says, as you keep moving your hips, waiting for her breathing to slow down. “I need a minute”

“Ok, I’ll just stay inside and focus on these two” you say, pulling the bra down and sucking on one of her nipples.

Wanda’s protests die down in her throat as you move to the other nipple, readjusting so you’re buried deeper inside.

She pushes you and you’re about to complain when she flips you over, straddling your lap.

“Alright then. Round two”

“Bring it, Maximoff”

—

It’s a miracle you leave the penthouse at all. Between having sex on every surface, eating and sleeping, it’s time to leave for Wanda’s work dinner.

“You look very fuckable, baby” you compliment her mini skirt, knee high boots and long sleeved sweater.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all day?”

“I mean, I could picture pulling that skirt up and just fucking you against a wall” you say, laughing when she puts her head against the headrest.

“Lets forget about this work thing and go back to bed, please?”

“That’s not very professional of you”

“I know. But you’re not playing fair”

“It will be worth the wait, I promise”

Wanda gets out of the car as you talk to the valet. She walks inside, saying hello to a few people and picking up a glass of wine. She’s about to greet Wendy when a man gets in her way. It’s one of the assistant editors, though she can’t even remember his name.

“Hey, Wanda. Glad to see you made it”

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world” she says, though she would absolutely miss it for more hours of hot sex with you.

“I didn’t bring anyone either, so maybe we could be each other’s date?” he jokes, but Wanda doesn’t smile at that.

“Actually, I…” she tries to say but he completely ignores her.

“As a matter of fact, I regret not doing this sooner, but I wanted to ask you out. And I know this is your last trip to Boston but I was hoping we could…”

You walk in that precise moment, smiling at Wanda.

“Hi there, sorry. Had to make sure they knew how to park the Corvette. I’ll have what she’s having” you turn to the man, who shifts on his feet, clearly uncomfortable.

“Not a waiter. I’m an assistant editor. Working on Wendy’s book. I’m sorry, I didn’t know Wanda was bringing a friend”

“I didn’t know either. Who did you invite, baby?” you play dumb, knowing exactly what was going on.

“No one, my love. This is my girlfriend, Y/N” Wanda leans against you.

“Doctor Y/L/N” you correct her before he can introduce himself. You don’t want to be on a first name basis with this asshole.

“My name’s Bobby. So, what kind of doctor? Eye stuff?”

“Trauma. ER stuff”

“Drunk people and broken bones?” he tries to joke.

“No, more like stab wounds. You’d be surprised how much damage you can do with the tiniest thing” you comment, picking up a tiny fork with a bored expression. “I mean, just the right spot and your entire carotid blows up. Gone in three seconds”

“Oh, darling, not everyone gets your medical humor” Wanda laughs a little too loud, pulling you away. “Anyways, nice talking to you, Bobby”

Bitch ass Bobby.

“Shut up” Wanda nudges your side, but she’s laughing too.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes” she smiles when you pull her close.

“Didn’t like the way he was staring. I mean, you are beautiful and everyone should acknowledge it. But he looked like he thought he had a chance”

“Nothing could be further from the truth”

“Between this and tiny Dick back in Westview I’m thinking I should put a ring on it before they cause any more trouble” you laugh, kissing her temple.

It’s a joke and Wanda can tell, because immediately after speaking you’re gulfing down entrees and talking about your plans for tomorrow, but she still thinks about the ring she found and how it’s been sitting on a box for three months now.

“Everything ok, babe?”

“Yeah, just tired” she says, and it’s not exactly a lie, not after four hours worth of cardio.

“We can relax tomorrow. I’ll cook for you” you promise.

Wendy and other people approach you and you’re charming them in no time. It’s very amusing to learn they all heard the story of Lily’s baby and how you walked in to save the day.

Speaking of which, at some point during the evening, someone calls for a doctor.

“Huh” you comment when you spot Bobby coughing, something clearly stuck on his throat.

“Go” Wanda pushes you, but you lean against the bar, sipping on your drink.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. He has one more minute before it gets dangerous”

But at Wanda’s insistence, you sigh and put your glass down, walking towards the man.

“Alright, here we go” you say, doing the good old Heimlich maneuver on him. Though your grip might be a little too strong as you squeeze his mid section.

Something comes flying out of his mouth and you put him down, looking bored.

“See? He’s fine” you say when you return to sit next to Wanda. He looks anything but, shaking and losening his tie. “I mean, he’s not dying”

Wanda rolls her eyes, but kisses your cheek. You spend the rest of the evening glued to her side, hands wandering down her back and gripping her waist. It’s like you’re addicted to feeling Wanda’s body against yours.

“You’re making it really hard to focus” she teases when you’re finally alone.

“I’m sorry, I guess I’m gonna miss you. I know I’m going back to Westview next week but I…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing” you look away, sighing.

“Detka”

But Wendy takes Wanda to meet some people, and you stay at the bar, looking around the room. When Wanda finally comes back, she can tell you’re tired and she says goodbye to everyone.

“Lets walk for a bit” she asks, taking your hand and pulling you towards a park. You nod and follow her, still thinking about everything you’re feeling.

Your thougts are interrupted by a street musician, singing a song you’re not familiar with.

“I know this one” Wanda says, reading your expression. “Reflecting light”

“It’s really beautiful”

“Come on” she offers her other hand, and you smile, your hands on her waist as she rests her head on your shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” she finally asks and you laugh.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“I know you”

“I just…” you sigh, looking at her. “I’m going back to Westview and I have to undo the mess I left at the hospital. The city will be the same, but I’m not the same anymore… and I don’t know, I’m scared that everything will just feel wrong, or I’ll screw up”

“Sweetheart” Wanda interrupts your rambling. “I don’t think either one of us is the same. But that’s a good thing. It means we learned from our mistakes and we’re stronger. It’s gonna be alright”

“You promise?”

“I can promise you this. I’m here for better and worse”

"Sickness and health?” you joke, but your heart beats faster when Wanda looks into your eyes, nodding slowly.

“Yes, my love. Through all of that” she promises, kissing you softly.

As you sway to the soft music, you both think about the future together.

It’s looking good as long as you have each other.

[lunajay33]

Migraine🕷️

Summary: You get frequent migraines but they’ve been mia since the apocalypse but even since you got to the farm they’ve returned but you didn’t wanna bother anyone until Daryl finds you balled up on the floor in pain

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x f!reader

Request by @avrmee

•Masterlist•

Soul crushing migranes were always a struggle to deal with before the world ended, but there was ways to try and relieve them, medicine, piercings, acupuncture but now that it’s been about a year and there was no more medicine or anything really the migraines came back and almost stronger than before

They’d come on when the heat was high and the sun was near blinding, triggering what ever it was in your head to cause crippling pain that no matter how much pressure you applied to your eyes or the amount of water you drank it didn’t matter, but in this world you couldn’t afford to take a day off especially with all the work the others were putting into the prison it was only fair you pull your weight even through the pain

Walking out of prison, opening the door to the blinding white light that was the Georgia sun stung just hoping it didn’t flair up another episode, walking out to the court yard where Daryl was tinkering on his bike you sat next to him

“I missed you this morning” you said leaning your head against his shoulder as he used a wrench against…..well you have no clue but you loved watching him work

“Sorry ya know I’m an early riser plus ya’ve been sleeping lot longer now, ya okay?”

You didn’t wanna worry him and tell him that after these long days of over exerting yourself in the heat that the pain in your head kept you awake late into the night causing you to wake up later than everyone else

“Oh yeah I’m fine, just tired is all, plus I got a beautiful sight next to me at night it’s hard to fall asleep” you laughed poking his side making him gruff out a laugh

“Well I have to go work on the crowd of walkers around the fence, if you need me I’ll be there” I said leaving his side walking down to the entrance gate, using a pole to take down as many walkers as you could working your way down the fence, working for hours when you felt an aura around your head, the groans and snaps of jaws became louder and overwhelming, your knees became weak, you became nauseous as your vision became blurred and specked with black dots, all topped off by the painful pressure in your head

Losing control you dropped to the gravel clutching your head in your hands, knees tucked up to your chest, whining from the pain, this is one of the worst it’s ever been, in the distance you could hear your name being yelled but everything was so overwhelming you couldn’t even process it until the screams got closer

“Y/n baby what’s wrong” Daryl asked holding your body close to his, your head in his lap as he rubbed your back

“It…….it hurts so much” you whined as you clutched your head more wishing for this pain to fade

He just held you for what felt like half an hour trying to comfort me, the walkers noises started to dwindle someone must have came down with Daryl to take them out, you huffed out a breath as the pain subsided a bit giving you enough strength to sit up, seeing his worried expression

“What happened?” He asked brushing my disheveled hair back

“I get this awful migraines, I didn’t wanna say anything and use it as an excuse but they keep me up at night but sometimes they get so bad, like this and I don’t know how to stop them”

“Darlin ya should have said something, we’d understand, I could’ve tried to help ya at night”

“I know how hard you work all day you need your sleep”

“But if yer feeling sick yer more important, promise me you’ll let me help ya”

You bit your lip hesitant not wanting to be a burden

“Y/n” he said sternly

“Okay I promise”

“Good, ya know yer damn stubborn”

“You love me” you said smiling

“Yer lucky I do”

[aeternallis]

Colin's "entrapment" line was hard to listen to, but it was most definitely a sign of how unhinged he really is for Penelope.

Ok but for reals, I'm not sure how everyone else reacted when Colin said his now infamous "entrapment" line, but I just love how if one looks at this line a little more closely, it was definitely some semblance of an underhanded (and also a bit silly, lol) attempt to actually keep Penelope entrapped. Haha, the irony of it all. Idk, at least that was my read on it!

Like, it was definitely said in anger as well; he's hurting, and he’s hurting badly, so of course he wants to hit back in some way, however he can. Luke Newton absolutely meant it when he said that Colin reacts to the reveal in the worst way possible, alas.

My very first reaction to that scene: //pauses the screen to yell at Colin at 4am in the morning, “Entrapment????! If you feel trapped, then why the hell are you still going along with it, ya dumb ass!!!

Because really, think about it: Colin was definitely within his rights to call off the wedding, especially when he'd mentioned that Violet had noticed that he and Penelope had not seen each other for some time. It would have been the perfect time to reveal Penelope's secret to his mother, if indeed he felt entrapped by the LW of it all. Violet is family; if he wanted to still protect Penelope but no longer wanted to marry her, he would have been able to count on Violet's discretion. I'm sure she and Lady Danbury would have come up with some sort of plan to deal with the aftermath regarding the Bridgertons’ reputation, as we'd seen with Anthony and Edwina's botched wedding.

Furthermore, it would have probably been the better option to reveal it to her, since the existence of LW does put his family in danger; Penelope herself knows this. Every decision she makes post-LW reveal to Colin is due to the Bridgertons being in danger. Lady Danbury makes a point of this when she said in the last episode, “There is only one other person who loves the Bridgertons more than I.”

Eloise was able to keep the secret with no real consequences because although Penelope was her ex-bff, El still loves her, and besides that, nothing legal binds them as Colin's marriage to Penelope would.

Even when he was getting ready to talk to Benedict about getting funds to fulfill Cressida’s demands, he insisted on making up a lie to shield Penelope’s identity as LW. He knows more than anything that fulfilling a demand like this, all for the sake of his wife and at the cost of using a substantial amount of Bridgertons’ financial assets, may not put his marriage in the best light within his family. He doesn’t want to be forced to have to choose between his wife and his family, so he’s keen on keeping the lie going.

So for all intents and purposes, he doesn't tell his mother, or any of his other siblings (besides Eloise, who already knew); this in and of itself is hella fucking risky. The fact that Colin is willing to take this risk of withholding Penelope's secret identity from his family, the fact that he doesn't think to jeopardize this potentially risky betrothal—already goes to show the measure in regards to how much he wants Pen for his wife. We the audience know this because he waits until the very last minute to tell Violet, and even then, it's not Colin who chose to reveal it to her, but Penelope herself.

Another point: arguably, we can also say that Colin has a lot more wiggle room with his engagement to Penelope to call off the wedding, much more than he ever did with his engagement to Marina.

"A man of honor"? Exactly what "honor" are we talking about here? Colin claimed that he would have married Marina had she just told him the truth, yet when push came to shove and the truth of her pregnancy was revealed for all the world to know, he still chose to take the out Penelope gave him through LW. It’s easier to make a declaration like that when it’s all said and done. Lol Sure, he regretted it and apologized for his behavior later on, but he had made his choice regardless. Y’all can just feel Marina and Lady Danbury judging this dumb ass (affectionate) for dwelling in the past. Silly young man! XD What's stopping him this time around?

"We had been...intimate." Are you talking about the mirror scene, sir? Because let me assure you, you and Penelope have long been "intimate" way before you decided to buy a love nest and take her V-card the very next day you proposed to her. In fact, this is where the significance of their first kiss in 3.02 rings so, SO importantly and WHY it was vital that it was Penelope who asked and said that it would not have to mean anything. Colin knows Penelope would never use their first time together and/or the heated moment in the carriage as a way to entrap him. That first kiss alone should have already warranted that they get married, but Penelope makes it clear that it’s simply a favor, nothing more.

Oddly enough, I’m surprised Colin doesn’t bring up the idea of a long engagement (yknow, as he initially wanted with Marina, but who’s keeping track at this point), considering that would have potentially benefitted their situation. 🤔 His dumb ass (affectionate) was more than willing to stick to the wedding schedule…huh.

Besides all that, I don’t think it’s the showrunners’ intent to “taint” those special moments between them by changing the context through Colin’s (very biased) POV; to believe that to be the case would be, imo, just a bad faith argument. The genre is romance, y’all; these intimacy scenes are on an entirely different pedestal.

Because remember, that “entrapment” line of Colin’s only came about due to Penelope starting the conversation with, “Are you going to call off the wedding?”

Didn’t it almost seem like an afterthought, that he just came up with it on the spot? Hahaha.

I can bet y’all Cressida’s fake ass €20,000 blackmail money that before they’d met up to discuss wedding breakfast plans with their mamas, it had probably never even occurred to Colin to cancel their wedding. Angry and furious as he was, it was never a question of whether or not he still wanted Penelope for a wife.

The fact that it’s Penelope who begins that conversation and opens that Pandora’s box possibility is so, so damn important. Because not only does it show how much Penelope truly loves him in that she would never trap him, it also shows her maturity, in that she’s willing to face the consequences of her actions. She’s willing to give Colin the choice to back out, heartbreaking as it would be to face it, even if she herself would not be the one to pursue that choice.

She gives him the choice a good number of times: the wedding breakfast plan scene, the wedding day itself when she hesitates on the aisle, and the annulment offer after the butterfly scene.

Penelope defends herself softly, but truthfully: she never meant to entrap him, because she really didn’t. And Colin knows this; he would not still love her and want her if he honestly believed she wanted to entrap him. Hell, even if she did, the audience knows it’s a desire that comes from a good place: she loves him, so of course she doesn’t want to lose him. She wants to marry him, because she loves him. That’s all there is to it.

But despite knowing this (imo, anyway), we can also say that this conversation may have contributed to Colin’s downward spiral during the majority of episode 7 and 8, and why he becomes hella fucking desperate to be “useful” to her.

Because unlike himself, Penelope has now begun to entertain the idea of living a life that doesn’t include him—at least, not as her husband. Penelope is brave and strong enough to let him go due to the pain she caused him for her lies and her actions as LW, and as for Colin…well…

(I love it, it’s the same conundrum that Anthony faced in S2: Kate is strong enough to leave him behind and return to India, but Anthony…well…)

TL;DR, Colin’s entrapment line was literally an excuse he gave himself to keep his betrothal to Penelope intact. It’s a line that works in two ways simultaneously: it’s a painful, childish, underhanded thing to say in order to hurt Penelope’s feelings, to get back at her for the anguish he’s suffered. Yet at the same time, it’s also another excuse he gives himself in order to push through with the marriage, to tie Penelope to himself forever.

Because unlike Penelope, the very idea of living without her as his wife, of not having her in his life, is and always will be an impossible notion for Colin to ever entertain.

[ahyuanwrites]

HOMETOWNS (Caleb x reader)

Caleb is selected to be a contestant on a popular dating show. You’re devastated.

Modern day AU. Caleb lost his arm and does not have a high-tech replacement. Longing. A bit of angst. Fluff. Jealousy. No beta.

——

Six months ago, when the accident took Grandma, you remember collapsing from relief when you found out Caleb had survived. But now, as you watch Caleb stuff essentially his entire closet into a suitcase, you realize just how wrong you were. Because apparently, you’ve lost Caleb too.

He’s been distant since he was discharged from the hospital — ignoring your texts, dodging your calls, finding excuses not to visit — and the first time you see him in months, he’s sitting you down to tell you that he’s leaving to be a contestant on a fucking dating show?

“It’s not a big deal, pipsqueak.” He sounds completely unbothered. “I told you, Gideon signed me up as a joke. I’m pretty sure they only picked me ‘cause of the arm…” He flexes the robotic prosthetic at his side — more advanced than the prosthetics of years past, but the fingers move slowly. He folds his shirts with difficulty. The ease in his smile grates against the tension in your chest. “Most contestants don’t even make it past the first night, y’know?”

Of course, you know. You’ve watched The Bachelorette before. But Caleb wasn’t most people. What woman in their right mind could resist him? The mirth in his eyes, his boyish smile, the high slope of his nose, his warmth…

“You don’t honestly expect her to fall in love with me, do ya?”

Of course I do, you want to say. Because I love you. I’ve always loved you. Instead, you leave without saying anything at all. You don’t leave your room for dinner that night, not even when he makes your favorite braised wings, and you pretend to still be asleep the next morning when he leaves for the airport.

—

You spend the next two weeks alternating between uncontrollable sobbing and hopeless delusion. Maybe the very pretty, very likeable bachelorette had terrible taste. Maybe she was the only person on earth immune to your charming not-brother. These delusions crumble when you see a post from the show’s official Instagram account — Caleb and the bachelorette, smiling after a one-on-one date. His left arm is around her shoulders. She looks radiant, and he’s painfully handsome, wearing the old suit you remember picking out for him for graduation.

You throw your phone across the room, and the screen shatters. The next day, you get a new phone and a new number, and you don’t bother texting Caleb about it. 

—

After that, you successfully avoid anything to do with Caleb or the show for another four weeks, until a TV producer literally comes knocking at your door. He apologizes, because he couldn’t reach you by phone and had no choice but to come in person. Caleb made it to the top four, he says, and next week will be the hometowns episode, where each contestant brings the bachelorette back to meet their family.

“I’m not interested.” You grit out as you slam the door in his face. First, Caleb abandons you for months, and now, he wants to broadcast your heartbreak on national television? You think you’re going insane.

“Wait!” You hear the producer yell from the other side of the door. “Look, if you don’t agree, he’ll be the only contestant who doesn’t have family there next week. A few of his friends agreed to come on the show, we’ll be filming at a rental house on Tuesday at six.” He slides an address under the door. “Please come.”

—

In the end, you go anyways, driven by morbid curiosity and the visceral ache of missing him. There are cameras everywhere in the room, surrounding you, Gideon, Zayne, and Zayne’s parents. A microphone is clipped to the front of your shirt under the collar, and the rest of it is taped down your back. You feel like an animal in a cage. 

“Okay,” the producer from last week calls from the corner of the room. “Caleb and the bachelorette enter, in three, two…” He silently mouths “one” and points at the door.

She comes in first, and everyone stands to greet her. She’s smiling wide, so pretty, and when she gives you a hug, you note that she smells like flowers. Great. She turns to Zayne’s mom, shyly handing over a colorful bouquet and a bottle of wine. “This is for you, Auntie, I’m so glad to meet you!”

You briefly consider leaving the room to throw up, but when you turn around to make your escape, your entire vision fills with Caleb. He looks exactly the same, which isn’t surprising considering he was only gone for a few months, but for some reason, you expected to see a stranger. He brings you in for a hug, left arm winding around your back to crush you to him, and buries his face into your nape. When you part, he guides you to sit on the couch, completely ignoring everyone else in the room.

“Hi, pipsqueak. Still mad at me?”

“Yeah.”

He chuckles at your response, but there are storms in his eyes. It seems as if he doesn’t know what to say, and you don’t either, but you also don’t want to look away. So you stare at him, trying to memorize his face, in case this is the last time you’ll ever see your Caleb before he willingly gives himself to someone else. Caleb stares right back.

—

You stay in a trance until Caleb is suddenly tearing his eyes away from yours, arm reaching out to grab Zayne’s wrist as it hovers above your shoulder, before it actually touches you.

“Keep your hands to yourself, yeah?”

Zayne looks between the two of you contemplatively, almost suspiciously, the way he did during your childhood when you would cling to Caleb too closely, or kiss his cheeks, or cry when you had to let go of his hand. 

“Excuse me. The producer asked me to sit here, since you’re supposed to be on the other couch with your girlfriend—”

Caleb springs up, pushing Zayne back, his eyes flashing and fist curling at his side. “She’s not my—”

He doesn’t get the chance to finish before the producer is yelling again. “Let’s get ready for the second shot!”

—

When Caleb finally sits down beside her, the anger has been erased from his face and he’s all smiles. They're holding hands, leaning into each other, and telling everyone in the room about their 'once-in-a-lifetime romantic journey’. You think it’s a load of bullshit. 

“Caleb is really special to me,” she says, as if he wasn’t already the most important person in your life, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. “I’m so lucky to be here with him tonight, and I can’t wait to get to know each of you!”

You want to set her on fire.

—

You end up talking to her first. You learn she’s a nursing student, that she’s passionate about helping people. It hurts more that she’s genuinely nice, clearly making an effort to be kind to you and make sure you’re comfortable in front of the cameras. 

Eventually, she starts getting into the details.

“Caleb’s really great." She seems a bit nervous, twirling one perfect strand of shiny hair between her fingers. “He really is, it’s just that I’m worried we’re not as far along in our relationship as I am with some of the other guys.”

For a second, you’re hopeful. “Why?”

“He’s not really open with his feelings. I know that the accident — losing his grandma and his arm — really impacted him, so it’s understandable that he’s closed off. But I’ve already told him that I’m falling in love with him and well,” her long lashes are a bit wet. “He hasn’t said it back yet.”

Then, she’s grabbing one of your hands in both of hers, looking at you with a hopeful smile. “Will you talk to him about it? Get him to open up? Ask him how he really feels?”

Suddenly, want to set yourself on fire instead. 

—

Before you can talk to Caleb alone, the producer pulls you aside for an 'important chat'.

You learn from him that the night wasn’t necessarily going well, because Caleb spent his entire conversation with Gideon talking about sports, and his entire conversation with Zayne trying to figure out how many times the two of you hung out while he was away, what you did, where you went. It was hardly good material for the show.

“Please,” the producer begged, looking as if he were asking you to spare his life. “You gotta help me out here. Please focus on his relationship with the bachelorette and for the love of God, please, do not bring up Zayne, alright? I can’t handle another hour of whatever that was”. 

—

And that's how you end up on the balcony swing outside the house, interrogating the love of your life about some other girl. 

“So,” you ask, trying to sound casual, “how’ve you been?”

“It’s been wild, pips. We went to France and Italy — you’d love it, I’ll take you — and I got you souvenirs.” He doesn't sound as excited as he should be. One hand holds yours, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb. The prosthetic hangs limply from his other side. “I’ll give them to you later.”

“And how’s it going with, uh… with her?”

“She’s nice. You met her, what do you think? Was she nice to you when you talked?”

“Yeah, she said she really liked you.” You clear your throat. “But she didn’t know if your relationship was as far along as with the other guys.” You try not to read into the way eyes follow your tongue as it pokes out to wet your bottom lip. 

There's silence. And then Caleb seems to deflate before your eyes. “I’m not surprised. I have some tough competition, you know.” He sounds defeated, and it hurts you more than the thought of losing him to someone else.

“Not like that, Caleb.” You scoot closer to him, so that your knees are touching, and bring his hand into your lap. “I’m sure she likes you the most. Loves you, even. She’s just waiting for you to tell her you like her, too.”

“Does she?” His eyes are intense, searching yours, and he gestures to the mechanical limb on his right side. “What woman would want this?”

It hits you suddenly - after the accident, you were so overwhelmed with grief, and then relief that Caleb wasn’t dead, that you never stopped to consider how he felt. How painful it must’ve been, how lonely. How debilitating, to go from being capable of doing anything to suddenly losing a part of yourself and having it replaced by a slow, metal imitation of what was once flesh and bone.

You hated yourself for being so selfish about the accident, the show, everything. 

Without realizing, fat tears are rolling down your face and splattering on your lap. Caleb removes his hand from yours and starts to rub under your eyes—the right, and then the left, and then the right again. He’s still smiling in that wry, sad way that you hate. “Protecting you is my life’s mission. Look at me now, princess. I can’t even wipe your tears away.”

Your chest hurts, and you start to sob. He pulls you onto his lap by the fat of your hip, and you bury your face into his nape, shaking.

“Gege can do anything,” you get out between hiccups. You feel so small, as if you’re a kid again, crawling into your brother’s arms for comfort after scraping your knee. “There’s no one better in the whole world. She's an idiot if she doesn't want you."

When you calm yourself down enough to look up at him, he's wearing an expression you’ve never seen before; face flushed, ears red, eyebrows turned up, looking as if you held his whole heart in your hands.

“I love you, Caleb,” you say, and before you can clarify— add ‘as a sister,’ or something, anything, to make the moment less intimate—Caleb is responding, his grip on your hip bordering painful.

“I love you, too.”

—

Two days later, Caleb shows up at your doorstep looking sheepish. He didn't make the top three. You don’t ask for details. He doesn't pretend to be upset, and you don’t pretend to be upset for him. 

[basementloser]

I would've loved an episode in which Danny and Dash switch bodies.

I imagine it happens because Dash is talking to Kwan about how cool Phantom is or something, and at some point he says "Man, I wish I was Danny Phantom!"

Of course Desiree hears this, she appears before him ("So you have wished it, so shall it be!"), and the next day Dash wakes up in Danny's body. Danny Fenton's body. In Danny's room.

At this point he's pretty familiar with Desiree, and he assumes she just heard him wrong, befause Fenton and Phantom do sound alike. ("Huh, how weird! How has no one noticed this before?" We hear Wes screaming in the distance as Dash makes this observation.)

But there is no way in hell that a puny little nerd like Fenton could be Dash's hero, so something must've gone wrong. He decides to find Desiree and correct his wish.

-

Meanwhile, Danny (to his horror) wakes up in Dash's body.

He assumes he overshadowed him for some reason, but when he tries to leave, he finds out he doesn't have his powers. He also doesn't feel Dash's presence in the body.

"I know i asked for a growth spurt, but not like this!"

This isn't good.

-

Dash makes his way downstairs, and is immediately greeted by Jack Fenton, who has a million chores for him.

"Come on, Danno! Those ghosts I fished out of the ghost zone with the Fenton Ghost Fisher™️ aren't gonna put themselves back!"

Before he can object he is pushed into the lab and has to fight a couple of ectopusses. This goes very badly at first, until Dash remembers the bit of ghost hunting training Danny gave him and his classmates, when they had to rescue their parents from that big pirate ship.

As soon as he's done, exhausted on the floor (Damn, Fenton really needs to work out more!), he hears Jack yelling down the stairs.

"Son, don't forget to change the ecto filtrator! You don't want Amity Park to blow up, do ya?"

More dangerous chores keep getting added for longer than Dash thought was humanly possible.

(At some point Jack gave him some fudge, which helped.)

How does Fenton live like this???

-

We switch back over to Danny, who is now looking around Dash's room. He already knew about the cute pink teddy bear collection, but he didn't expect to find what can only be described as a fan shrine to Phantom.

There are newspaper articles, pictures, merch ("Wait I have merch? How come i didn't know that? Who is selling Phantom merch?" it's Tucker), and a poster.

(the b-story of this episode is Sam & Tucker running a Phantom merch line, and trying to stop the Box Ghost from stealing all the boxes of merch.)

Danny keeps looking around Dash's room, and finding out more about him through his stuff.

At some point he finds Dash's diary. He contemplates if he should read it or not, but in the end he decides that since Dash is always such a jerk to him, he doesn't care about morals and reads it.

Reading the diary, Danny starts to feel kinda bad, because in the entries Dash actually seems human. He's insecure, and he actually struggles with a lot. He's afraid to talk about what he's going through.

His parents are very absent, and the A-listers kicked Valerie out when her life wasn't perfect anymore. He doesn't want that to happen to him.

(I personally headcanon Dash as an extremely closeted gay guy with a lot of internalised homophobia, who hasn't stopped trying to convince himself that he's straight, but his struggles could be about anything.)

After reading all that, Danny starts to feel kinda bad for him.

-

Over the course of the day ghosts keep showing up to fight or talk to Fenton, and Dash is incredibly confused by this. Also Danny must have a weird cold or something, because he's been exhaling cold air at random all day.

"I AM THE BOX GHO- Hey! Wait! Why are you running away? You never run away. You always trap me in your cylindrical contraption of doOoOoOm!" (The Box Ghost is wearing a Phantom t-shirt, and is holding a box full of other Phantom merch. After Dash runs away, Sam and Tucker appear, chasing the Box Ghost through the street, trying to get the merch back.)

Later Johnny 13 shows up to fight, because he and Kitty broke up for the 4th time this week, and he wants to let out some steam. "Shouldn't you change for our fight, kid?" Change into what? Wait he wanted to fight, right? Dash puts on his gym uniform, and boxing gloves. Johnny looks at him weird, but doesn't question it. They have a little boxing match in the backyard.

Youngblood came by to play astronauts with him, and was very disappointed that Danny didn't fly up to space with him. (Wait didn't that dead kid kidnap Dash's parents??! Also why in the hell does he think Fenton has the ability to fly?????!! And breathe(!) in space?!!!)

After finishing what seems like a billion ghost related chores (and dealing with way too many ghosts), Dash finally manages to get out of the Fenton house, and starts to look for Desiree.

-

Danny walks out of Dash's room, and runs into Dash's dad. He opens his mouth, but he doesn't seem to care about what he's going to say. "Son I am so incredibly disappointed in you." the dad starts, then continues to list all the reasons he is a huge disappointment who should try harder. "Those weird little bears in your closet!" and "Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"

The whole interaction is horrible, and makes Danny appreciate his own parents (weird as they may be) so much.

Dash's mom also berates him about being a disappointment, because they found his Phantom collection ("He is a GHOST, Dash! He's dangerous!"), and because his grades are so low. ("What do you mean tutor? Just study harder!")

They threaten to take Pookie away if he doesn't get his shit together.

-

At some point Danny has deduced that this body situation must be some ghost bullshit, and he decides to go to Fentonworks.

Then he runs into Dash in his body, and they have a little spiderman moment

After the internal shock and "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BODY GET OUT!"s have gone around, Dash tells Danny what happened.

Danny informs Dash that most of Desiree's wishes become permanent after 24 hours. They decide to team up to get Desiree to undo this wish before that happens.

It's noted that Dash didn't say the word "puny" or any other insult, when he says "I really don't wanna stay in your body.".

We see a compilation of Danny and Dash searching Amity Park for Desiree, and other wishes she has granted. They fight off a couple of small ghost things together.

(during this compilation we see Sam and Tucker chasing the Box Ghost around. "How is he this hard to catch?? We've done this millions of times already!!!" -"Well maybe if you didn't drop the fucking thermos!")

After the fight, Dash sighs and says "Man, I had no idea how difficult your life is, Fenton. I've only been living it a day and it sucks."

they have a little heart to heart, and Dash sincerely apologises for bullying Danny so much.

"why did you want to be Phantom anyway? I assume his life isn't that easy either." Danny says.

"I dunno, man. I just thought it would be cool to be, y'know, going ghost."

White rings appear around Dash. He turns into Phantom.

they have another moment like this:

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"I"M- I- YOU- YOU'RE PHANTOM??!!!"

"NO! YES! NO TIME! FIGHT HER!!!"

Because of course, this is the moment that Desiree appears, and starts fighting them.

"I dont know how!!!"

The beginning of the fight is very awkward, with Dash not knowing how Danny's powers work, and Danny not being used to fighting Desiree without his powers.

Eventually they get the hang of it, with Danny telling Dash how to activate and use certain powers in the moment, and they defeat Desiree.

All the wishes get undone, and they suck her up into a thermos.

After that, they talk about Danny being Phantom. Danny tells Dash the story of how he died got his powers, and Dash shares some of his secrets with Danny so they're "even". (it's some stuff that wasn't in Dash's diary. Danny doesn't mention that he read that, but that can be conflict in a later episode)

They aren't friends yet, but it's a start. Now that he walked a mile in Danny's shoes, Dash feels so bad about bullying him all those years, and he starts to question his life choices. (start of a Dash redemption arc i guess). He promises to stop bullying in general, and help out Danny however he can. (He also promises to not tell anyone about Danny's secret identity.)

(The episode ends with Sam and Tucker, having finally caught the Box Ghost, only to realise that in the chase/fight all the merch got way too messed up to sell, so it was all for nothing. Tucker throws the thermos down in frustration, the Box Ghost gets free, grabs the Phantom shirt he wore earlier, yells "BEWARE!" and flies off. Sam sighs and gets ready to start chasing him again, but Tucker stops her. "I give up. Let him have the fucking shirt.")

[damn-stark]

Chapter 10 Past the point of no return

Chapter 10 of Tragedy at the Miller’s

A/N- I really hope you guys like it! Thank you for tagging along and or coming back :) I love you all

Warning- fluff?, ANGST, VIOLENCE, DEATH, spoilers for season 2, Remember this is a rewrite not an AU, so the major stuff that happens in the show will happen here :)

Pairing- Joel Miller x daughter!reader (platonic of course :), OC x Fem!reader

Episode- 2x02

(If you want to be tagged let me know!)

————

*25 YEARS AGO*

Without waiting for an answer, the door creaks open, and in slips a tiny figure that casts a mighty shadow over the bed while the barely conscious man struggles to see through the darkness of his room.

“Daddy,” you whisper shakily and stay under the moonlight peeking through the window to avoid being taken by the monster lurking in the shadows. “I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you?”

There’s no use arguing or trying to reassure you, you would either crawl into his bed or go crawl into Sarah’s bed. No matter how many times he’s told you they’re only dreams, you still mistake them as real and you are a rather fearful child, so he just gives in.

“Quickly,” he mumbles and lays his head back on the bed. “Or the monster is gonna get ya.”

Your eyes widen and without needing to be told twice, you scurry over and hide under your dad's blankets.

“You didn’t close the door,” he grumbles with his eyes closed and you peek one eye out to look at the hall hiding the monster that visited your dreams.

“Daddy I dreamt a big moth came and picked us up to eat us,” you share and turn to solely look at him as if the barely visible sight of his face was your sole savior.

“I told you not to watch that movie with your sister,” he reminds you sternly before he can’t help himself; he spoils you by wrapping his arm around you and pulling you close so your face is against his chest, letting you find comfort in his slow beating heart.

“Now go to sleep. No moth monster is comin’ to eat us,” he assures you and with that alone, you let out a relieved breath and nuzzle yourself against him to use his beating heart as your lullaby and fall back asleep in his arms.

——

*NOW*

“Ah. Ah. Open your mouth Teddy,” you try to get your son to cooperate, but no matter how many funny faces you do he’s quite grumpy in the mornings so he’s hard to deal with.

“Mornin’ Sunny, Apollo, Teddy. Brother,” your uncle greets as he and his family walk over and join you around the table in the restaurant. “Why are you here so early I thought you’d be hungover”

“Ha,” you feign a laugh and keep trying to feed your son, but he keeps finding his wooden horse more interesting. “Dad said getting hungover is a sign of old age, me and Apollo are still young and thrivin’.” You say smugly and flash him a cocky smile but lose your smile all too quickly when your uncle steals a sausage off your plate—“That’s mine old man.”

“Not anymore,” he quips and takes a big bite from the sausage, making you roll your eyes and respond to his question instead. “We decided to grab breakfast here since you told us you wanted to have an early meeting, and since I have early patrol we thought why not,” you share as you watch Maria and Benji walk away to grab their hot breakfast plates. “And since we found my dad here, we decided to join him.”

You offer your uncle a genuine smile and focus back on trying to feed Teddy his blended fruit and cereal, but he keeps turning his head away.

“I’m about to head out,” your dad interjects as he drinks his last sips of coffee. “Is that something I should still do? Maybe I should stay here,” he suggests since they put the town on alert for a reason you have yet to know.

“No, I prefer you go to your patrol,” your uncle lets your dad know before he leans forward so everyone around the table will hear. “Last night Kylie and Max found a pile of dead infected near Seven Cabins. Wouldn’t have been a problem but turns out they were hiding 30 live ones underneath.”

Well, there’s the answer to your question and the foil to your plans.

“If that’s so maybe the patrol groups should be bigger,” Apollo suggests as you share a worried look. “Going out in pairs is perhaps too dangerous.”

Your uncle sighs and sits back with his arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah, I thought about it, but the patrol groups will be avoiding the Seven Cabins area. Their routes shouldn’t be infested. It’s that growing storm that worries me.”

“Ellie is going to join me and Jesse,” you mention and put Teddy’s food down to pass your husband a reassuring look. “Three is better than two, plus if that storm gets any bigger then we know where to lay low until it passes or gets small again. Plus we need as many bodies here if anything does happen, and we can’t risk not going out either.”

“Sunny is right. The patrol groups will go out. Just take more precaution than usual,” your uncle interjects, making you reach over to give Apollo’s hand a gentle and assuring squeeze.

“Who’s staying with Teddy?” Your dad asks with concern. “When I come back I can still take him. Keep home where it’s safe, but what about now?”

“I changed my shift,” Apollo tells your dad. “I’ll have Teddy with me while she’s out on patrol. It’s better being safe than sorry.”

You nod in agreement and your dad sighs with relief before he parts his lips with the intention of saying something. Albeit before he can share what he wanted Jesse walks over and joins the table at the same time Maria and Benji return with their plates of food.

“Good morning everyone,” Jesse greets the group, earning warm smiles from everyone except your dad who just offers him a stiff wave.

“Mornin’ Jesse, ready to go?” You ask as you see he’s in his jacket and carrying his backpack of supplies already.

You have your stuff with you but your jacket is hanging on your chair and your backpack is by your feet.

“Almost, we’re just missing Ellie,” he says as he looks around the table. “Is she not here?”

Your dad shakes his head and responds for everyone. “No. I wanted her to come with me on patrol but I decided to let her sleep in instead.”

Your gaze lingers on your dad as you feel quite surprised that he’d want to take Ellie. It’s just he knows she’s trying to avoid him so he usually just rides with someone else. You have to wonder what made him so daring as to want to patrol with her.

“Oh, okay.” Jesse nods whilst your dad looks at the clock on the wall across from the table, and then gets up abruptly.

“I’m going to head out now. Be careful everyone.” He says simply and starts to walk around the table with the empty cup he’s going to discard on his way out.

“Be careful,” you tell him as you follow him with your eyes.

“You too,” he says back and caresses Teddy’s head as he passes by him. “Talk through the radio if you need help. We’ll try and get there as soon as possible.”

You nod in comprehension and before he walks away completely you face Teddy to address him. “Wave goodbye to your grandpa, Teddy. Say Bye-Bye,” you try to teach him while also slowly opening and closing your hand. “Bye-bye.”

“Bye, Teddy,” your dad stops to try and get a response.

Thankfully, your son raises one hand and mirrors your actions by opening and closing his hand.

“Bah,” he tries his best to say what you did, earning a grin from your dad and a laugh from everyone else.

“Good job buddy,” Apollo praises him.

“Bye Teddy,” your dad says one more time. “I’ll see ya later, cowboy.”

Teddy waves his hand wildly now that he started and doesn’t stop until he no longer sees your dad. After that, he drops his hand and pouts his bottom lip as his eyes fill with tears.

“It’s okay, look,” you try to distract him so he doesn’t cry for your dad by trying to offer him a small spoonful of food, but when he meets your eyes he keeps swerving every attempt, making you sigh and making Benji giggle as he watches every attempt with amusement.

“Still having a hard time,” Maria asks from across the table.

“Yeah.” You nod. “Mornings are still a fuss.” You say and put his food down to continue eating yours. All while Benji walks over and offers Teddy a spoonful of his soft food and actually gets Teddy to eat his food with glee.

“Of course,” you retort lightheartedly and scrunch your nose at your son.

Benji tries to offer him another spoonful of food but he’s stopped by his dad. “No more Benji, he has to eat his own food.”

Said boy walks back in defeat and plops himself back in his own seat, whilst Jesse takes your dad's seat while there’s still plenty of time left before you have to leave.

“What happened last night after I left?” Jesse asks, causing you and Apollo to share panicked and knowing looks.

You almost don’t want to share that Dina and Ellie kissed, but if you tell him that your dad shoved Seth, then you’ll have to tell him why he did. It’s just…it’s too complicated.

Why do they all have to kiss each other? It’s a good thing your friend group wasn’t so complicated.

“Well,” Apollo sighs as he finishes his breakfast and tries to get Teddy to eat in your stead. “There was quite a commotion actually.”

Jesse’s interest piques and Apollo leans in closer to share quieter since Seth is in the same room. “Ellie almost fought Seth, but ultimately got interrupted by Joel when he came in and shoved the old man to the floor.”

“No way,” Jesse gasps as he holds on to every word. “Why? What happened?”

Once again you and Apollo share a look before you interject this time. “Seth reacted badly to Ellie and…Dina kissing. I’m sorry Jesse.”

Said man seems to grow uninterested now and instead seems to be in his own mind for a moment.

“We shouldn’t gossip in public,” Maria warns the group of you, so you sit back and continue to eat your food while Apollo waits a moment.

“Are Dina and Ellie okay?” Jesse asks now with no sign of a grudge or anger, which you admire. You don’t think you would be as comfortable if you heard that one of your best friends kissed your ex, but that’s just you, so it’s a good thing that didn’t happen to you.

“Yeah,” you assure him. “Everyone is fine. Seth was just embarrassed. That’s all.”

Jesse hums.

“You should eat Jesse,” Maria tells him. “With this brewing storm, we don’t know if you’ll be out long. We’re hoping you won’t, but we never know. So eat and then if you could go get Ellie for me and tell her I need to talk to her before you leave, I would appreciate it.”

Without a fault Jesse nods and accepts Maria’s favor before he listens to her suggestion and goes to grab his breakfast, letting you comment on the messy relationship part.

“He’s a very good guy, I don’t think I could be so easily okay with my friend if they kissed my ex.”

“What did I just say,” Maria whispers her warning, but Apollo still chimes in nevertheless.

“Me neither.”

You look at him and find his gaze. “Oh?” You question teasingly with a questioning look.

“Oh.” He teases back before he leans in towards you. “It's a good thing we didn’t have to deal with that.”

You snicker. “You said it.”

He smiles with amusement and then strokes your chin, ending that conversation there since Jesse comes back and neither of you want to tease him. He’s too good for either of you to pick on him about that matter, so you let him be and instead focus on other unimportant matters that take up the time while you eat. Eventually, he leaves to do as Maria told him and you don’t waste a second of your time.

Breakfasts with your family aren’t uncommon but it’s the thought of mortal danger lurking nearby that makes you try and cherish this morning more than others, fearing in the back of your minds that it could be your last.

“You should take Hermes,” Apollo suggests, taking your attention away from an old couple carrying your son after they said he reminded them of their late son when he was a baby.

“With these infected under the snow she’ll sniff out any danger before you can be surprised by it,” Apollo adds, letting you know he hasn’t had a moment's peace since he was told the news and remembered you had to go out today.

“What about you and Teddy? You’ll need her with you too,” you argue softly, but he quickly rebuttals.

“I’d feel more comfortable if I knew she was with you and the others, so take her with you.”

Finding no stronger argument to use without ending up going back and forth, you offer your husband some peace of mind and give in. “Okay, I’ll take her…is that why you brought her with us?”

He chuckles softly and admits his intentions, making you smile with amusement before your attention drifts to the old couple as they hand you back your baby as your Uncle Tommy gets up on a sturdy chair to steal everyone’s attention and start the meeting.

“Now you're all probably wondering why we’re here after rumors have started spreading, so as to stop misinformation from spreading…yes, Kylie and Max ran into a group of infected that came out of a pile of their own dead and snow,” he pauses to let the people collect their thoughts amongst themselves.

Once the room silences again he continues. “We can’t be sure how many more there are, but we know we can’t ignore them. That’s why the town is on alert. Now, the most likely outcome is none of this is necessary, okay?”

You really hope so. You’ll have a knot in your stomach the entire time you’re out and unsure of your family’s well-being.

“You wanna remind me next week how I made y’all go through all this crap for no reason?” Your uncle continues to say. “Nothin’ will make me happier. But you know the drill. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Now half y’all is hung over and want me to shut up. But, uh,” he pauses briefly as you and the crowd laugh in response to his remark.

“I’ma go through this anyway ‘cause it’s been a minute. If you see flares, if you hear bells, stop what you’re doin’. You follow the plan. What’s the plan? Vanessa, what’s the plan?” You catch him pick on someone in front of the crowd.

“We go to the forest?” The little girl answers cluelessly, making people laugh and your uncle smile.

“To the forest?” Your uncle retorts. “Do not go to the forest, sweetheart. Be such a bad idea. Now, young ones, old ones, right quick into basements and cellars. You lock the doors, you reinforce, shelter in place ‘til we tell you it’s safe to come out. Now for the rest of us, where do we go?”

“Up,” the crowd says altogether.

Your uncle nods. “Up, that’s right,” he agrees. “Rooftops, second floors. What do we bring?”

“Guns!”

“That means—”

Before you can finish hearing what your uncle is going to say your attention is stolen by the sound of Ellie’s voice. “You wanted to—“

Before she can finish albeit, you see that Maria cuts her off to shush her so she can listen to your uncle. You however, make it hard for Ellie since you lean forward with your child in arms and wave his little hand at her whilst you offer her a warm smile.

Ellie smiles and waves at Teddy, but when she meets your gaze her smile fades slightly and she offers you a greeting nod, letting you then continue listening to your uncle.

“….Keep ‘em on you. Safeties. Please. Somebody shot themselves in the leg last week.”

“Earl!” Apollo and the rest of the crowd reveal with teasing laughs.

“Alright,” your uncle nods with a smile. “Don’t be Earl. Now, bigger weapons,” he moves on. “Security team will handle those. For the rest of you, if there’s a breach…god forbid, stay off the Main Street. Last place you wanna be, trust me on that one.”

You sigh with worry and hold onto Theo just a little tighter.

“Any questions?” Your uncle asks the crowd and waits. When he sees and hears nothing he finally finishes the meeting. “Alright then. Get with your group leaders. Spread the word to your neighbors. Let’s get everyone in the loop.”

“Go hug daddy,” you hear Maria tell Benji, and as a result, he’s quick to slide off the bar table. “Tell him he did good.”

Once Benji passes by you you address Maria before she can take Ellie with her. “I’m leaving soon. I hope nothing bad happens but either way, take care.”

Maria nods in comprehension. “Keep your ear open for any updates and be careful.”

“Of course,” you assure her and offer her a smile before you look at your partners. “I’ll meet you guys outside.”

Ellie nods while Jesse offers you a verbal response. “Yep.”

Without another word you and Apollo start to head out, but before you can make it outside, as you’re in the middle of the restaurant you throw up your hand and blurt out. “Bye Uncle Tommy!”

“Bye Sunny! Take care ya hear?!” He yells back and you throw a thumbs up before you finally make it outside without any more interruptions, catching your dog Hermes walking over to join you after she patiently waited for you to come out again.

“Hey, girl,” you greet her and crouch to pet her head. “I hope you ate all your breakfast we’re going out today. How does that sound?”

Hermes lifts her ears and tilts her head before she walks around you to rub herself against you wanting to be pet.

“Well, only ‘cause you’re so cute,” you tell her and gently scratch her side for just a little bit because time is something you don’t have anymore.

“Here,” Apollo interjects as you’re standing back up and when you face him you see him holding onto his old Firefly pendant. “My dad found it the other day stashed away somewhere. I know you fidget when you get nervous, so another pendant to add to your chain,” he says and closes the small gap between you to hang the metal chain around your neck, causing an immediate awe-struck smile to appear on your lips.

“Are you sure it’s not so I have you around my neck,” you poke fun and lean your face closer to his while Teddy grabs the pendant and studies it with fascination.

“Well,” he scoffs lightheartedly. “That’s exactly it. Actually.”

You giggle and press a small peck on his lips before you just wrap your arms around him and pull him in for a tight embrace.

“Be careful please,” you whisper nervously now.

You had been nervous ever since you heard the news about the Town being on alert, but you’ve been trying to put on a brave face as you told yourself over and over again that nothing is going to happen. Yet now that you’re so close to leaving, you’re so scared that something will happen while you’re away.

“I will be,” Apollo assures you as he rests his chin on the top of your head and rubs your back. “We’ll be okay. Don’t worry too much about us.

You let out a shaky breath and hug him tighter.

“You be careful out there too,” he says against your head as he presses a kiss on it. “If things get bad here and there, don't rush home. Don’t risk your life. Put yourself first and once the storm has passed come home. Otherwise don’t risk it. You know I can protect Teddy and myself.”

You want to fight him because even now every muscle in your body wants you to risk your life to come to their side if anything bad does happen, but you need to believe that this town won’t crumble.

“We’ve been through hell, it’s not anything I’m not used to. And you…you’re the strongest person I know,” he speaks sweetly, and with every word a part of you feels relieved while another feels more worried—“We’ll see each other again.”

You pull away and he brings his hand down to cup your cheek and offer you a charming smile before he leans in and steals a short yet passionate kiss.

“I love you,” you tell him words you’ll never tire of repeating.

“I love you too,” he redirects without hesitation.

You take in his words and keep them close to your heart as a form of comfort when you’re out.

“I love you to my Theo,” you now direct at your son who's distracted by trying to eat your pendant and making noise with the chain. “You be good and brave, okay?” You ask rhetorically before you press him against you and snuggle him for a good and long moment until you see Ellie and Jesse coming your way.

“Apollo!” Ellie exclaims before she runs over. “You’re not joining us?” She asks simply because he’s lenient with her when they happen to go on patrols together. It can be a real pain in the ass, but it’s also sweet that she ended up liking him after she told you not to give up your freedom for a man.

“Not today,” he lets her down. “I will soon though. I’m missing the action.”

“Yeah, you are,” she laughs

“Ah yes the action that comes after not following rules,” you quip and put your hand up so Jesse can give you a high five.

“You know what? The last time you guys lost the game, so it sounds like you’re both just sore losers,” Ellie remarks smugly. “So I’m choosing not to listen.”

Apollo clicks his tongue and shrugs with the same air of smugness Ellie was imbued with.

“Whatever, let’s go now, shall we?”

“Please!” Jesse agrees and with that, you set off to the stables where your horses are already waiting all saddled and everything. The only thing that’s missing is you to climb on, but first, you hug Teddy one last time, and then you throw your arms around Apollo to breathe in his scent and appreciate his warmth as if you’ll be leaving for months when it’s only a couple hours out of the day.

“I love you. Take care, okay?” He repeats as he holds you just as tight.

“I love you. You take care too.”

You draw in a heavy breath and linger in his embrace for a moment longer until you force yourself away to hand Teddy to Apollo. Albeit rather than mounting the horse right away you hold Apollo's gaze for a second longer before you finally climb on your horse.

“You take care of them, Hermes,” Apollo orders your dog and she watches him seriously for a moment as if locking on to her task before she runs off and waits in front of the gates.

“Say bye to your mommy,” you hear Apollo tell Teddy, and when you look over you see him trying to get Teddy to wave. “Bye-bye Mommy!”

Teddy watches Apollo’s hand and then looks over at you on top of your horse and doesn’t do anything for a few seconds. Albeit before you can walk away he opens and closes his hand as he tries his best to offer you a goodbye. “Bah!”

You grin and wave at him. “Bye-bye, baby!”

He waves his hand frantically and shows off his bottom teeth with a smile, causing Apollo to smile in adoration, and letting that perfect and beautiful moment be the last image you choose to hang onto before you turn your horse and walk toward the gate.

No matter if Apollo’s worried face, and Teddy’s sad face as those gates open and welcome the sight of a dangerous horizon hurt your heart, you still cling to that perfect image of them.

“Bye,” you wave at them one last time and watch Apollo wave back before you draw in a deep breath and look ahead, noticing Hermes excitedly run past the gates first before Ellie and Jesse follow, leaving you behind to draw out a deep breath and then follow.

As to if that breath was relieving? It wasn’t. In fact that knot in your stomach grows in size as those gates close behind you, cutting off the connection to your family.

You know you won’t feel better until the town is no longer on alert, so until then you’ll live with that knot.

“Are we worrying about that?” You hear Ellie ask and when you follow her line of gaze, past Hermes is a dark storm in the distant mountains.

“Nah, it’ll just be up in the mountains,” Jesse offers Ellie some consolation.

“Fucking hope so,” Ellie retorts. “Ten seconds in, I already can’t feel my ass.”

“What ass?” You quip and slowly churn your head with a smirk, meeting her squinted gaze immediately before receiving the middle finger.

“That’s why she can’t feel it…because she’s got none,” Jesse joins, making you snort and making Ellie look offended.

“What? Why are you ganging up on me about my ass? And aren't you supposed to have a stick up your ass when we’re out here,” Ellie snaps at Jesse, so he slowly glances at her and shakes his head.

“I can take things lightly when my partners listen and follow the rules,” he counterattacks, making you only laugh harder.

“When my partners listen and follow the rules,” Ellie mocks him in a deep voice before she snaps her head toward you and points her finger at you. “Aren’t you supposed to be sulking?”

“Hey!” You and Jesse both remark in sync.

“Not cool,” Jesse interjects while your smile completely falls.

“Right,” Ellie sighs as she sees the error of her ways right off the bat. “Sorry. Sorry.”

You didn’t actually get offended by her comment but you still appreciate her apology.

“For whatever it is worth…I'm sure when we make it home, the town will just be more reinforced,” Ellie offers some consolation. “I’m sure only that storm will be the most of our worries.”

You look over at the storm and nod slowly. “Yeah, it’s just…the news has me all nervous. That’s all.” You say and lead the group into a silence that turns out to be quite the companion.

Having Hermes leading the patrol is of immense help, she is able to take some stress off all three of you since she has the advantage of smelling the infected before you can see them, but the further you walk the darker the sky is until thick grey and white clouds completely cover the sky. The howling winds turn from cold to icy, and the snow goes from graceful to feeling like it’s attacking you.

Even so, you keep going on and finally break the silence. “So…my dad wanted to take you with him on patrol,” you say loud enough so you can be heard over the wind and over your scarf masking your mouth and nose. “Why is that so? He’s been good at giving you your space when it comes to partnering up for patrols.”

You glance at Ellie and wait for her to respond or at least spare you a glance, but her eyes are locked ahead, and Jesse actually answers.

“Don’t, I tried. She says no one should worry about her and Joel.”

You nod slowly. “Oh! Okay…” You trail off and steal one last glance at her because you know you’ll get some kind of response later on when Jesse is not around. As to what you’ll talk about now?

You can’t mention her kiss with Dina with Jesse around, that’d be weird, but the silence will only have you thinking about this cold more than you already are, so you share something that comes to mind.

“Apollo and I decided last night that we want to try for a second baby.”

Jesse and Ellie glance at you and they both offer you a nod that says good for you but their smiles vary, whereas Jesse offers you a sweet and proud smile, Ellie offers you a small and tight-lipped awkward smile that you know is far from sarcastic and filled with genuine joy. It’s just awkward.

“We both want Teddy to at least have one sibling,” you add. “We both have siblings and we want Teddy to have that same connection too.”

“That’s good!” Jesse says. “I would have loved to have a brother. I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thank you, Jesse.”

“I’m sure you will get what you want,” Ellie offers her kind words. “But if you do have a second kid I think I’m going to start charging you for babysitting.”

“Ha!” You laugh mockingly.

“I mean Teddy loves me,” Ellie argues. “And I’m great. There’s no one better than me.”

You flash her a happy look but nothing else because then a voice breaks through your radios. “Cottonwood patrol…”

“Hold that thought,” you direct at Ellie before you pull your scarf off your face and look at Jesse. “You make any of that?”

Jesse shakes his head and chooses to talk through the walkie for the both of you. “What? Repeat.”

You bring your radio closer to your ear in hopes you can hear better this time.

“Cottonwood patrol, return to Jackson ASAP.”

You swallow thickly and thoughtfully glance down at your hand grabbing your reign while Jesse answers back. “Yeah, alright but I think we’re too far out to make it back.”

You then look back at the path you came from before looking at a different path and finally over at Hermes sticking closer by now.

“I know a spot, we can hole up there,” Jesse lets Amy know through the radio.

“Copy. Shelter in place until we contact you. Stay warm.”

“Yeah, you too, over!”

“What spot?!” Ellie asks after Jesse puts his radio away.

“This way!” He says without giving anything away and leads the group into a trot. Well just Ellie and his horse, you have your horse fall behind as you can’t help but think about one person out on patrol too through this terrible blizzard.

Your dad and Dina will most likely not try to go back to Jackson with the storm being this out of control, but there’s also hardly any places warm enough for them to stay at to wait out the storm, and only a few people know about Eugene’s 7/11 hideout.

If you guide them here it won’t take too long. You know your way around without fear of getting lost, and with the reports of an increase in infected around the area, it will be better to be in a bigger group and have more guns. Moreover, if something dangerous does wind up at Jackson then it will be better if you arrive together when you go back home, it’ll help with potential plans.

Plus it’s doubtful your dad's radio works so high up where they are which means they most likely didn’t get the news to go back home or find shelter…

You should go get them—no you will. It’s better to be together than apart, and it’s better to be at a lower altitude to catch any incoming news.

“Jesse! Ellie!” You call out for them over the wind before you make your horse run to fall at their side and gain their immediate attention—“I’m going to go get Dina and my dad to bring them down here! They’re still out there it's impossible to get any signal with this storm and them being higher up. Plus it’ll be safer in numbers just in case anything happens!”

Ellie’s eyebrows knit and Jesse doesn’t try to stop you, he just questions one thing. “Are you sure? It’s hell out here!”

You nod. “I know my way around and I have Hermes! We’ll be back quick!”

“I’m going!” Ellie exclaims and you quickly shake your head.

“No! Don’t leave Jesse alone! Stay! I’ll be okay! I’ll bring them over here!”

“Wait! Do you know where we’re going?!” She asks.

You nod. “Yes! Go! I’ll be right back!”

Ellie seems hesitant and like she wants to disobey, but Jesse agreeing seems to change her mind. “Okay! Be careful!”

“You too!” You say back and then look at your dog. “Hermes, follow me to Copper Mine, girl!!”

Said dog barks and quickly changes course along with you, not daring to miss a beat as she continues to navigate with you at a quicker speed. Almost becoming one as you travel through strong winds and over the growing blankets of snow. Except she has killer instincts you don't which keep her completely in tune with her surroundings in a way you never could.

It’s why you love having dogs. Like Austin, your previous dog that didn’t make it back home, Hermes is reliable and loyal, not daring to leave as it all may seem terrifying and you get further away from home.

You only hope you can lead her to your dad and Dina and not have a failed mission. What would you do then?

You’ll be stuck in the same dilemma you want to help your dad from…

No! You can’t think that way! You can’t get in your head in general, home will be there when you get back. Apollo and Theo will be safe, so will your uncle, Maria, and Benji, and this storm will pass.

Yes, that’s what you need to focus on.

You can’t let the knot in your stomach grow or it will consume you.

Thus with a deep breath and after tucking your flying pendant under your jacket you nudge your horse to run faster, resulting in almost catching up to Hermes, but not quite, and then not at all when she strains every muscle to sprint away.

“Hermes!” You yell out. “Wait!”

You lose sight of her, so you have your horse sprint after her.

The falling snow hides her tracks, making it difficult to follow her every step, but then through the wind, you hear her bark again and again, louder and louder until you find her after she’s come to a stop just at the foot of a hill and a mystery girl.

Yes, it’s no illusion, it’s a real girl. Not infected. A human girl standing on top of a dangerous field of dead infected like a freighted animal stuck on a frozen pond cautiously yearning for help, but waiting to see if you’re friend or foe.

“Hermes,” you whisper sharply and snap your eyes to your dog. “Quiet.”

Said dog immediately goes quiet and stays put, darting her eyes from the field of dead infected and to the girl you don’t hesitate helping. How could you when you see her stuck in such a dilemma?

“Slow,” you warn her and immediately offer her your hand to let her know you’re a friend. “Infected,” you warn her of what you heard just this morning. “Under there.” You point and move your other hand to grab your revolver. “Come slowly.”

The mystery girl's eyes fall to the ground to inspect the field of corpses for a moment too long.

“Hurry,” you press as quietly but as loud as you can be, making the girl's eyes finally fly to you before she does as you said, moving slowly towards you in hopes she didn’t already alert the infected of her presence.

“It’s ok,” you assure her. “I got your back.”

The girl watches where she steps and makes sure that something doesn’t pop out of the snow and takes her down with them, while also looking up at you in hopes you won't suddenly vanish like a dream and if she’s any closer.

Thankfully, she makes it more than halfway, but unluckily she was not undetected. From one moment to another, the ground beneath her begins to sink, causing Hermes to start barking, giving warning of the approaching infected and hurrying the mystery girl she found.

“Just run,” you bellow and wave her over before looking at the sinking field of snow and at the dead with horror. “Run Hermes. Ahead!”

Without being told where to go now, your dog doesn’t hesitate, she turns and sprints away, leaving you behind like you told her to so she can be ahead of the incoming herd, while the girl gets closer, but all too quickly like a breaking ice lake, the blanket of corpses completely breaks apart and outcome living infected.

“You’re gonna have to jump on! I got you!” You yell and hurry her up with more urgency until she finally reaches your horse and trusts you by giving you her hand and letting you help her as she jumps on.

Before you can check if she’s secure as the ground looks like a sea of infected, you urge your horse forward and she quickly breaks into a sprint after Hermes’ trail.

“There’s an old mining place up ahead!” You let the girl know louder than before because the sound of the infected grows louder than the howling wind as you hear what could be more than twenty of them rise from the ground and run after you ravenously.

Luckily, the mining place is close, you’re able to reach it rather quickly, but since you can't follow the path to the gate you end up approaching the wall and find Hermes too, but she’s smaller than a horse and she doesn’t wait. She goes ahead to try and find a way in without you, leaving you to try and navigate through the thick of the woods to reach the gate or find another way in.

You could’ve gone around but the herd of infected is coming at you too fast, they’ll cut you off way before you can even circle to the gate. Moreover, cutting the woods will slow you down and the infected will be able to surround you, so there’s no other choice. You have to climb up the wall, and luckily, you come across the wall with the fire escape.

“We’re going have to jump and climb over!” You let the girl know. “There’s no other way around unless we want to get surrounded by those infected! Do you understand?!”

You look back at the girl to get your answer some way or the other, but you see her looking back at the quickly approaching herd.

“Girl! Do you understand!”

The girl's eyes snap to you and with her lips slightly parted in disbelief she nods.

“Okay, now!” You order and swing your leg over to jump off. The girl quickly follows suit so you’re able to smack your horse's side—“Go girl! Run off!”

With fear and a task, your horse runs off through the forest, letting you lead the girl to the fire escape, and be the first to use the wall as an advantage to kick off the wall and gain momentum to jump and grab that last step. Thereafter, without looking back, but hearing the ravenous herd you quickly ascend the stairs in a panic. When you reach the top you finally let yourself peek down and other than seeing the girl climbing up fast, you also see the infected finally catch up and throw themselves against the wall in desperate attempts to reach you.

“Give me your hand!” You yell at the girl and throw your hand down.

The girl looks up to see where your hand is before she turns her head away from the falling snow hitting her face, and hops to be able to get ahold of your hand so you can help her up.

Albeit, when you’re pulling her up, suddenly you feel a tug, causing you to slip and causing the girl to sink towards that hungry herd.

“I can’t reach my gun! Get it off!” You exclaim and drag yourself back, but the force of the infected is strong and it manages to drag the girl down more, causing you to go forward as you refuse to let go. Which, you could've and you would have been able to escape, but even if you don’t know her, leaving her to die would weigh on your consciousness, so you keep pulling until finally she manages to get herself free and lets you pull her over the wall with ease.

When you land on the floor on the other side, you continue to run because you know that the herd will try to find a way in one way or another, and where you are now is a dead end.

“No use trying to find a way in through those buildings,” you tell the girl and continue to lead the way while stealing some glances at her. “Just follow me.”

The girl glances at the quiet buildings as she most likely doubts you, but she follows you around the corner regardless, and you come across a narrow path in between a wired fence and the side of a building.

It’s a real fucking ballsy risk going through that with the infected finding their way around, but fuck it you have no other choice, so you lead the charge without looking back even if you hear the approaching herd. You just make sure the girl is behind you and push your way through with your breaths growing heavy as your heart only seems to race faster. It was already pounding when you thought you were simply coming to find your dad, but now your chest hurts with how fast it’s running with fear, and determination not to die.

Moreover, that already overworking heart jumps when the infected find their way around and throw themselves against the fence, managing to bend it with the strength of their piling bodies, and forcing you on your hands and knees as the weak fence folds over you and the girl.

Now besides trying to outrun them, you’re forced to try and avoid their reaching hands trying to grab what they can. Which is hard to do when the fence is squeezing you further as they keep pushing and piling on.

It almost seems like they’re going to manage to grab you and the girl as the fence falls over you, but before any of them can manage to catch you, you make it across to the open space.

Yet when you shove yourself to your feet, suddenly something grabs a hold of the back of your jacket and yanks you back.

You scream out and reach for your gun, but when you face your attacker, you see your dad.

“Inside now!” He bellows.

You shake off your surprise and relief and argue. “No! Wait! A girl…” you trail off as the person you’re talking about finally makes it to the open space. However, after her is an infected that quickly tackles her to the ground when she tries to push herself to her feet, causing you to raise your gun to kill the runner, but your dad is quicker and beats you to it, letting the girl crawl back with shock.

“Give me your hand!” Your dad tells her as she keeps backing away from the infected. “Give me your hand!” He insists louder and manages to snap her out of whatever stupor she was stuck in.

“Can you run?” He asks the girl after he helps her up.

“Yeah,” the girl says between pants.

“Run! That way!” He exclaims and turns her around, making you finally turn to round another corner and run inside where you know he came from, and where you hope Dina is, but you don’t take your time to check. You wave the girl in and then after when your dad runs in and closes the door, you help him find something to barricade the door to hold back the infected for at least a few minutes.

“Joel?” You feel relief when you hear Dina from the ground. “Joel?!”

“Up here,” your dad says after the second call. “I’m comin’. I’m comin’.”

“This, this,” you say as you find a thick slab of wood.

“Apollo?!” You hear Dina shout your husband's name.

“No!” You correct her. “It’s me! It’s me!”

“I got it, I got it,” your dad says in a panic before adding something else. “Your horse and your dog are down there,” your dad assures you as he snatches the slab of wood from your hand, letting you then turn to do as he said.

However, first, you finally address the girl as you find her sitting against a pillar not far from the door.

“You good?” You ask her with genuine concern, noticing that she still looks frazzled, so you press again. “Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good!” She finally answers still between pants.

“Any bites?”

She shakes her head so you wave her over.

“Okay, good, come with us. We can help you.”

The girl doesn't move but the force against the door sounds louder so as your dad passes by he interjects with urgency. “Now!”

You reach over for the girl's arm and help her to her feet before you pull her with you as you run to the stairs.

“Hey, are you okay?” You hear your dad ask behind you after he fell behind on purpose. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no,” you assure him as you let the girl go as you descend to the second floor. “I’m okay. I’ll explain everythin’ later. Just know I’m here for you.”

Before he can answer Dina calls out your name with surprise even after you made yourself known.

“I’ll explain later,” you repeat yourself and muster a relieved smile when you see that Hermes and your horse managed to find their way around without getting hurt or caught by the infected.

“What do we do?” Dina asks your dad now as she hears the infected trying to get in.

“Good girls,” you praise your horse and Hermes as you reach them. “You did good.” You offer them a smile.

“We leave!” Your dad shouts without thinking too much about it.

“Back to Jackson?!” Dina quips as your dad reaches his horse. “It’s too far! We’ll freeze before we get halfway.”

“I’m aware,” your dad says as he mounts his horse.

“Where the fuck did they even come from?” Dina quips. “Where did you come from?” She directs at the girl now.

“The mountain,” the girl deadpans.

“I helped her,” you explain as you jump on your horse. “And the infected came from under the snow and a pile of their dead. What Max and Kylie said is true.”

Dina bats her lashes with shock before all your attention flies to the banging and shrieking that grows louder.

“Hermes,” you grab your dog's attention. “On girl.”

With some hesitation your dog backpedals before she hops on your lap, making your horse walk back as she’s caught off guard.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” you try to calm her down.

“Okay, guys,” Dina interjects, directing her comment at you and your dad. “If we stay here, we die. If we go out there, we die.”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m thinkin’!” Your dad snaps.

“Where were you?” Dina now directs at you.

“I was with Jesse and Ellie, but my plan to get you two to join us at the 7/11 won’t work now with the damn infected. They’ll swarm us there in seconds.”

“The lodge,” the girl cuts in, making you and Dina both look at her right away—“My friends are holed up in a lodge halfway up the mountain. Not far. If the infected are down here, maybe there aren’t any more up there.”

“Yes!” You agree right away. “We’ll be at an advantage in that lodge. That can work!”

Your dad's eyes linger on you before he looks back at the infected still trying to force themselves in, and then lastly he faces the girl with the plan. “Fuck it, it’s all we got. Are your friends armed?”

The girl nods. “Yeah.”

“Good. We're gonna need ‘em. Get on.”

The girl looks over at you and sees that you’re carrying your dog now so she has no choice but to ride with your dad.

Thus right in the nick of time as the infected finally barge in, the girl mounts the horse with your dad, letting you all depart and run back out to the cold with no other option. It’s either get chased through the storm or stay here and die.

Which doesn't sound good, both options are quite morbid, but you have a better chance at surviving running to that lodge. The high ground will let you get a view of every infected that will go after you which is something that wouldn’t even be possible if you met up with Ellie and Jesse.

It is true that perhaps the ammo won’t be enough, even if you join forces with the girl's friends, but when you're at that lodge you can ask for help from Jackson, or even Ellie and Jesse. You just need to make it there.

You cut through the storm as fast as your horses can take you. You avoid thinking of the worst, but when you steal a glimpse back, or when you focus on the sound of the infected, it sounds like more than you’ve ever faced before and your hope threatens to dwindle.

How is it even possible that so many have been hiding around Jackson? Has every patrol been for nothing? Was your plan to lead them away even going to work if you were able to go through with it?

What if they change their course to home?

But how would they, right? As long as you’re not leading them there they won’t think of running toward Jackson, right?

Right!

Right.

Right…

After a while of running, that intense and annoying sound of the infected no longer seems to infiltrate your ears. All you hear is that same howling of the wind, so you look back to try and see if you can still catch a glimpse, but the snow clouds your views, forcing you to only see screens of white.

It’s not until your dad brings everyone to a stop at an overlook near the lodge that you see that your fear has come true…

The gate blocking the dangers of the world from your home and your family is burning. That’s why…that’s why you stopped hearing the infected.

“What?” Dina gasps before she sees it too. The fire. “Oh god.”

“Daddy,” you whisper with concern and fear creeping up trying to poison your thoughts, but you don’t let yourself focus on it. You push it away and in doing so, as you’re lost in your mind you miss the way the girl's eyes bounce between you and your dad with surprise.

“They’ll be okay,” your dad quickly throws back at you to try and assure your already weeping heart—“but I have to go back.”

“We won’t make it,” Dina shouts what you know well enough.

“If I don’t make it, I don’t make it.”

“We have to go,” you support his decision as you think about your son Theo, your husband Apollo, and your Uncle and his family. “We have to help. They need us. Teddy—”

“No, you and Dina go to the lodge and get the reinforcements,” your dad barks back as he looks over at you to try and offer some consolation.

“We’re almost there!” The girl interrupts before anyone can make up their minds. “The lodge is just up ahead. It’s like a minute.”

You look at the girl and then look back at Jackson in the distance.

Maybe she’s right, but your family is there and you can’t see any waves of infected, which means they’re inside.

“But,” you protest and keep looking at the town imagining your family.

“We can help,” the girl keeps insisting. “We got blankets. Ammo! My friends can help you get back. We can fight.”

You look away from Jackson and meet her persistent gaze.

“You helped me,” she says as she sees the worry and distress written clearly on your face. “Let me help you. I owe you that.”

You hold her gaze for a moment and she nods to press what she said. Yet no matter how kind her words are she’s not the one who wins you over. It’s your dad.

“There’s no other choice. We need more guns if we want to go,” your dad tries his own way to reassure you as he makes up his mind. “Teddy and Apollo will be fine. You have to put yourself first in order to help them though.”

He’s right…thus you nod to let them know you finally agree.

“Fast!” Your dad exclaims and makes his horse break into a run to lead you and Dina to the lodge.

A great and deep concern still nags at your heart, but you choose to trust the girl.

You honestly didn’t expect anything in return for saving her, but you still appreciate her offer, and charge toward the lodge with that gesture warming a piece of your worried heart.

Eventually, when you reach the lodge the girl's friends are outside, seeming to have been guarding or looking for her, whatever it was, when they spot all the horses charging their way, they don’t greet you with guns.

Perhaps it was only because the girl is easy to spot riding with your dad, but either way, they help dismount your horses before the girl could even tell them.

The girl that helped you even pets Hermes when she jumps off you, further spreading that warmth in your heart.

“Inside!” You hear the girl say. “Inside!”

You watch the girl be led away by a tall guy and then catch the others tying the horses to the broken gate before you lastly notice your dad reach Dina’s side as she’s slumped over cradling her shivering body. Hence, you quickly run to her and mirror your dad's gesture by wrapping your arms around her as well to pass her as much warmth as you can offer.

“Inside Hermes. Quickly,” you order your dog and watch her quickly run off to get out of the cold. After that you turn to face Dina, seeing how much she’s suffering.

“Oh god Dina,” you gasp with worry and rub her arm harder to try and pass her more warmth.

“Are you okay?” Your dad asks you as he leans forward to try and study you.

“Yeah,” you assure him. “I’m fine. Dina though,” you mention and let her go to slip your scarf off your neck and wrap it around her. “Just remember not to close your eyes okay?”

Dina nods almost weakly and you go back to hugging her.

Once you’re inside your dad takes his coat off and hangs it around Dina to try and get her warmer, whilst your bare neck that was already being pinched by the cold, stings less, but with your entire body suffering because of the chilling cold you hardly feel content. It’s only once you’re taken to a room upstairs with a burning chimney that the coldness trying to freeze your body begins to melt away.

If only you could say the same for Dina who finds no relief even inside. Not yet at least. Hermes on the other hand curls herself up in a spot in front of the fire.

“Stay by the fire I’m going to try and contact Jackson,” your dad directs at you as he departs your side to head to the big windows.

“Okay. If you can’t reach them try Ellie and Jesse. Maybe they can relay the message for you,” you let him know, making him peer over at you and offer you a comprehensive nod. After that, you then focus back on Dina to try and make her feel warmer.

“You’ll feel better soon,” you try to assure her as you grab her hands and rub them to pass her friction.

However, she then pulls away to try and take her coat off.

“No, no, no, uh let’s keep your coat on, alright?” You hear someone stop her before you can and when you look over you see that one of the girl's friends is no longer hiding under her hood, in fact, she looks familiar.

Have you seen her before?

“It’s okay,” the girl you don’t know if you remember tells Dina as she reaches her other side. “I think I see just a little frostbite on your wrist.”

You gasp and lean forward to probe. “Can you help her?”

The girl meets your gaze and her eyes linger on you before she quickly darts her eyes away and nods. “Yeah…it’s not too bad. I’m gonna take a look.”

You nod and loosen your grip around Dina’s arm to let the girl take her glove off.

“Easy,” the girl says as she reveals the large black and blue spot that had already spread on Dina’s wrist— “we’re gonna raise your body temperature up slowly, okay?”

“What’s the…who are you?” Dina asks shakily and when you look at her you see her eyes focused past the girl, so you follow her line of gaze and catch a backpack with a yellow patch that has a wolf and three words inscribed on it, ‘W.L.F’.

Wolf?

You recognize that insignia. It’s from Washington. A libertarian group near Seattle. Yeah. You heard about it when you were a Firefly because Marlene would talk about it—Or rave about it.

“Hang on. I gotta jump on this, or you’re gonna lose skin,” the girl doesn’t answer Dina as she continues to help her.

“Okay everybody grab blankets, ammo, whatever weapons you have. We’re headin’ out in three minutes,” your dad announces without discussing it with the others you don’t know.

“You’re all a long ways from Washington,” you break your silence and let Dina go to turn and face the room, seeing all eyes fall on you, and hearing a silence pass where the tall guy and a slightly shorter guy with dark hair pass each other looks. While a black girl next to your dad looks at you surprised.

“WLF,” you point to the backpack. “Washington Liberation Front.”

Again there’s more silence before the girl you came with nods and finally offers you something. “Yeah…you know them?” She asks with her eyebrows knitted together.

“Well,” you sigh. “I never met one, but I’ve heard about them. Yes, a long time ago.”

The girl swallows thickly and nods before she blinks rapidly and suddenly changes the subject. “Uh, sorry, I’m-I’m Abby. I didn’t have the chance to tell you.”

You offer her a half smile still full of sweetness.

“Nora,” she continues and points at the tall black girl next to your dad before she points at the guys by the entrance. “Manny, Owen, and Mel,” she lastly points at the girl tending to Dina, and again you can't remember where you know her from. It’s killing you now.

“Jackson,” your dad says through the radio as he turns away without caring about what was said. “Come in. Tommy, come in. Do you copy?”

“Her name's Dina,” Abby lets Mel know who she’s helping before she points at you and says your name which you didn’t give her, but Dina did say it so that’s where she got it from.

“Jackson, come in,” you hear your dad try again as he wanders away from his spot. “Jackson!”

“And he,” Abby continues. “Is Joel.”

“Hey, Jackson, do you copy?” You focus on your dad not giving up trying to contact home, missing the silence that passes after Abby shares all your names.

“Does anyone copy? Any patrols, anyone?”

It’s quiet from the other end and quiet where you are, so you just focus on the hope and desperation you feel to be answered by anyone at home so they can let you know if they’re all alive. It’s why you get surprised by the sudden arm that wraps around your throat and squeezes tightly as they also press the cold head of a gun against the side of your head, warning you to keep still and keep from fighting.

However, even then your focus firstly drives to Dina as you’re hit with concern, catching her also being held at gunpoint by the guy Manny. Nora is behind them and Mel is still by the fire, so it means you’re being held by Owen. You can feel him towering over you. Which leaves Abby still by the fire and your dad unaware.

Thus, you call out quickly as Hermes jumps from her spot and begins to bark viciously.

“Dad. Dad, Dad!”

Said man stops talking to the radio and snaps around seeing Dina be threatened first before his eyes land on you and widen before he tries to reach for his gun.

Albeit he immediately gets stopped. “No,” Nora warns and when your eyes drift over you see her pointing a rifle at your dad.

“The dog!” Abby sneers as Hermes goes wild, but doesn’t attack because you haven’t commanded her yet. If they were infected she would’ve already ended them, but since they’re living humans she waits for her signal.

“Tell it to go outside!” Abby orders. “Or I will shoot it.”

“Hermes,” you call out loudly and grab Owen‘s arm in an attempt to pull him off, but his grip is strong, so you don’t have a choice. “Outside. Go outside.”

Hermes doesn’t listen; she keeps barking as she backs away to try and be at your dad's side.

“Now!” Abby bellows.

“Hermes!” You yell. “Outside! Now!”

The dog goes quiet and then breaks into a run to leave the room, letting Abby approach the door to slam it shut before she returns.

“Don’t move,” Owen warns your dad.

“You’re holding the sole reason I’m not doing anything,” your dad snaps as Nora who shows off her bald head now walks to each one of you to take your weapons and your radio while still pointing her gun at your dad.

“We’re not gonna hurt them,” Abby tells your dad. “Not if you cooperate.”

You glance at her and then find your dad again, feeling nothing but confusion, fear, frustration, and betrayal.

“We’re just gonna put Dina to sleep for a while,” Abby adds. “Trust me it’s for the best…Do it.”

There’s a moment's hesitation before you hear Abby sneer. “If you don’t do it, I’m gonna smash her in the fuckin’ head.”

You begin to pant and try to remove Owen’s arm again, but he squeezes harder before he shifts just slightly.

“Abby, what about her?” He asks, making you look over and meet Abby’s gaze at the same time she looks over at you, catching at that moment, the rage you didn’t catch before.

“Keep holding her,” Abby tells Owen. “Keep her awake. The entire time.”

You swallow thickly out of nervousness and then let your eyes flicker back to your dad, seeing his own confusion and anger.

“You wanna rob us? Fine, take what you want,” your dad interjects as he keeps his hands up.

“Do we look like raiders to you?” Abby retorts as she takes her coat off.

“No,” your dad deadpans.

“What do we look like?”

Your dad's eyes bounce around the room before he faces Abby and gives her a response. “Military. Fireflies?”

And at the moment it hits you where you know Mel from. She stitched up your wound at the hospital. She’s the girl that was learning to be gentle. She…she’s doing this?

“Used to be,” Abby says with a quieter rage. “Haven’t you heard? There are no more Fireflies. They’re all gone.”

You continue to pant and look down as you begin to realize why they’re here.

They’re here for revenge because of what your dad did. Because of what he took from them. Hope.

“Okay,” you hear someone whisper before you hear Dina begin to squirm and argue.

“No, get—Get that shit away from me—”

You look over and see Mel with a syringe in her hand.

“What is that?” You cut in with concern. “What are you doing to her?”

Mel doesn’t look back; she just speaks forward as she grabs Dina’s hand and gets the syringe closer to her. “This is gonna put her to sleep. It’s going to put you to sleep for one hour. That is all, I promise. I promise,” she repeats and directs it at your dad first and then finally at you.

“I’ll be gentle,” she says at you, making your face contort with rage before you kick back and bite down on Owen’s arm, causing him to grunt and loosen his hold.

Thus thereafter, you shove him away without a plan, but you do quickly spot a shotgun by the chimney and try to lunge for it.

Albeit Abby lunges forward and swings her fist, but you manage to avoid her swing and counter back with a right hook that lands across her jaw. You then lunge for the gun, but you’re suddenly kicked at the side, making you yelp out before you’re kicked down.

“Stop!” You hear your dad bark, while Hermes begins to go crazy again outside the door this time—“Leave her. Just. Leave her.”

Someone grabs the back of your hood and yanks you back to pick you off the floor and press you against them before they wrap their arm around your throat again, squeezing so hard you can't breathe.

“Pull that shit again,” Abby hisses at you as she holds her offended area. “And I’ll fucking shoot her.”

You look over at the girl you failed to help and see that Manny presses the gun harder against Dina’s head.

“Understand? Nod if you understand.”

Owen’s grip loosens so you give her what she wants and nod, letting Mel finally poke Dina with the needle and inject her with whatever medicine she brought.

“No. No. No!” Dina protests, but it can’t be avoided anymore. She goes down, making Manny lay her on the ground.

“See?” Abby points out. “Breathing.”

You keep watching Dina until you’re able to make out her back rising and falling.

“That’s a nice scar you have on your right temple there,” Abby adds, picking your gaze off Dina to look back at her. “I'd say you’re about, what, six feet? In your 60s now? You actually are pretty handsome. Congrats on that.” She chuckles, whilst your face contorts with disgust and disbelief.

“I’m gonna give you one chance to tell the truth, Joel,” Abby keeps on going more seriously now. “If you do…let’s face it. We’ll all know. I’ll let them live.”

Your eyes widen and fly to your dad whilst he immediately finds you too.

“Wait, Abby, I thought—”

“Shut up!” She cuts Mel off angrily, causing Hermes to start scratching the door for a moment before she stops barking and you hear her run off.

“Where was the last place you saw the Fireflies?” Abby continues to address your dad, and with that question, your dad glances at Dina before once again meeting your gaze and giving Abby what she’s asking for.

“Salt Lake,” he says and looks at her.

“At least you’re honest,” she says as she steps back and then turns to approach the chimney.

“Wait,” you whisper as you see her grab the shotgun. “Wait. Wait. I saved your life,” your voice quivers as you’re unable to hold yourself strong like your dad.

“What life?” She counters and turns around to point the shotgun at your dad for a second before she hits the trigger, managing to hit your dad straight in the knee, and causing him to yell out and fall to the ground.

“NO!” You cry and pull away to try and immediately reach your dad, however, Owen only secures his hold and keeps you put.

“Please,” you beg with tears immediately falling from your eyes.

“Tourniquet him,” Abby says.

“Daddy,” you whimper.

“Mel, let’s just do what we came to do,” Owen’s words register behind you, but all you can focus on is your dad.

“Daddy,” you cry again, making him put his hand up to try and stop whatever you plan to do whilst Mel approaches your dad with her belt to do as Abby told her to do. Thus when she fastens the belt above your dad's wounded knee, he screams out, forcing you to quickly look away and try to cover your ears.

“Look at him,” you hear Abby spat before she walks over and grabs your chin, making your dad use his energy to sneer at her.

“Don’t…don’t touch…her.”

“I said look at him,” she threatens in a low voice, so with no other choice, you slowly raise your eyes off the floor and look over at your dad.

“It’s okay…it’s okay, baby. Just do as she says,” he whispers at you with every effort focused on looking assuring as he’s writhing with pain.

“You’re tough,” Abby speaks again as she slowly drops her hand from your chin in order to approach your dad and crouch before him.

“I guess you probably have to be, killing all those people. Do you know how many you killed that day? Did you count as you went, or…” she trails off and shakes her head. “I guess maybe it just didn’t matter? Eighteen soldiers. And one doctor. You remember that one. An unarmed doctor you shot in the head. Yeah.” She nods as she sees that your dad is recalling that day.

“That was my dad,” she reveals, making you gulp. “Guess you probably already figured. The nurses said you barely even looked at him when you pulled the trigger. And then, you just walked right past his body and out the door. But I looked at him.” She nods as you hear her voice break. “I saw him. I was 19.” She goes quiet and sighs as she looks away for a moment.

“And he’s sorry,” you interject for your dad with tears running down your cheeks. “He’s sorry. Just…please,” you sob. “Let him go. He won’t ever walk normally again. Please.”

Abby slowly looks back at you with a side eye before she pushes herself up and walks to you with her eyes red, brimming with tears, and filled with rageful grief

“You can beg all you want. Cry. Hope for things to change. I will let you do what I never got the chance to do. It doesn't matter. At the end, you'll know what it’s like to get your father ripped from you before you can even say goodbye,” she says without letting her tears fall and with every word feeling like a bullet to the flesh because deep down past the denial and diminishing hope, you know she means what she said.

“I’ve been in a militia for five years now,” she changes the subject and turns around to slowly return to your dad again. “Seattle. I’d warn you not to go there, but little chance of that. Anyway, our commander trained us to follow a code. We don’t kill people that can’t defend themselves.”

At that you feel the grip around you falter, but not enough to let you find a way out.

“And right now,” Abby whispers as she crouches again to trace your dad's scar with her thumb, making your stomach churn with rage and the same disgust as before.

“That’s you. But I am going to kill you. Because it doesn’t matter if you have a code like me, or you’re a lawless piece of shit like you,” her voice quivers now. “There are just some things…everyone agrees are just fucking wrong.”

She sobs and looks over her shoulder. Not to look at you but at something else. When you follow her line of gaze you see her looking at a bag of golf clubs.

“Please,” you plead again and hold on tighter to your captor's arm. “Please!”

Abby keeps her word though. Your begging falls on deaf ears as she approaches that bag.

“Dad,” you cry and he finally meets your gaze with a softness he didn’t show before in front of Abby, but he shows it now as you hold his gaze.

“It’s okay,” he lets you know, but not by his words, by his look alone and that makes you sob.

“You know, it’s funny,” Abby interjects. “I have waited so long—”

“Oh, just shut the fuck up and do it already!” Your dad cuts off yet another speech, so Abby doesn’t go on, she falls silent and a few seconds later she comes back into view with a golf club in hand.

“You,” she spats. “Stupid…old man.”

You begin to heave and feel your heart clench as she gets closer to your dad with the club.

“You don’t get to rush this,” she sneers before she then swings the golf club down on your dad's wounded knee, causing him to scream out, and making you scream out as if you had gotten too, but that’s it, it felt like she hit you too. She keeps going. She keeps hitting his knee and with every hit and every scream your dad lets out, you yell out feeling your heart jump and break with every single hit.

“Stop!” You bellow with thick tears running down your face. “Please god just stop!”

But no. She keeps going as if with every hit she’s letting out an ounce of rage and fulfilling a sick dream.

“Dad!” You sob and pull. You squirm, throw your arms back, but it’s a useless endeavor. All you can do is fall on your stomach at the same time your dad falls as he can’t withstand the pain a moment longer.

“Please,” you plead again and again, but she only acts out worse. Instead of his knee, she starts hitting his face with the bloody end of that club.

“Please!”

“Don’t,” your dad coughs and reaches out for you. “Don't look…baby.”

He wiggles his fingers to try and desperately reach you, staining them with his own pool of blood.

You reach out too with the same desperation, hoping, wishing with every fiber of your body that your desperation will let you do the impossible and let you reach him.

“Don’t you dare,” Abby barks back at you as she looks over with her face stained with your dad's blood. “Or I’ll kill the girl next.”

You have no reason to doubt her, so to save Dina’s life you keep your eyes open and watch her bring the club down so hard it snaps in half.

“Stop,” you keep begging. “Please…please.”

Even if she said what she said. Even if she never listens, you keep pleading as she now uses her fists to hit him over and over again.

Your voice eventually gives out before she does. Or you think it does, you don’t know. Besides, the pressure on your neck as they prevent each of your attempts to break free, you can’t feel a thing. You’ve gone numb, so you don’t know if they’re holding you down anymore. You just know a writhing pain as your dad slowly slips away as his face gets pampered with blood and almost becomes unrecognizable.

It’s almost like you’re dying with him without having anything done to you. You just can't stand it. The heartbreak, the horror, and the pain. You also break and slip into the darkness like him.

All you can do is keep your hand out in desperate attempts to reach him. Other than that you’re useless. Completely and pathetically useless.

You want her to stop, but you think she’ll go on forever. She won’t stop. Her rage won’t stop coming. She just keeps hitting him again and again. She keeps making you suffer an immeasurable amount of pain, making sure with each swing, and each dying groan that this day will forever live on in your memory.

She makes sure that even if you manage to live and make it past your grieving period, you’ll never be able to actually feel a true moment's peace.

Then again how is it possible you’ll live past today? You won’t. You’ll die here right after him, at his side, and…it’s okay because it will relieve you of your own pain.

You are ready to die at his side.

There even comes a moment. An interruption in the gruesome sound of Abby’s fist hitting your dad's disfigured face that a gunshot goes off in the room, so you close your eyes and without struggle or finding a way to dodge the end, you close your eyes.

Yet the bullet doesn’t hit you at all, so with the energy you can muster you look over and see Ellie.

It’s Ellie!

She falls on the ground beside you but doesn’t linger there, she immediately flies up and swings her arm back, slicing Manny’s cheek with her switchblade.

“Ah! Fuck!” Manny exclaims, whilst like a shot of adrenaline after seeing her and seeing all of Abby’s friends charge toward her, you come back to life and immediately push yourself to your feet, locking eyes on Nora approaching Ellie and tackling her.

Nora is unable to hold her balance, so she stumbles forward because of your sudden body weight, and hits her nose against the edge of the chimney, making her yelp. “Damn it! Fuck!”

You then quickly slither your hands down to her holster to try and reach for her gun, but before you know it she shoves you back and since you cling onto her you both stumble back. Albeit she quickly follows up by swinging her elbow and hitting you right in the throat, causing you to let go of her, and causing Ellie to cry out your name. All while you begin to grab at your throat and gasp frantically to try and breathe.

However, as you’re focused on your throat closing and the sharp pain that stabs it, you don’t notice Ellie already on the floor disarmed. The next thing you know is an arm locks around your throat and makes it harder to try and capture a breath. It’s why you fall back to the ground on your stomach with ease because you keep gasping.

“Stupid fucking bitch!” You hear the angry shouts of someone before the pressure on your back and the arm around your neck slips off and instead, heavy footsteps charge at someone.

“No!” You manage to hear someone shout before Ellie’s scream hits your ears, making you want to react with every fiber of your being, but only now can you remember to breathe even if it hurts your throat to do so.

“Joel!” Ellie cries out. “Joel! Joel!”

You flip your head to look over at Ellie and try to reach her as you also try to call out to her, but as you part your lips nothing comes out, besides the pain you feel stabbing your throat, you can’t muster a single word. A knee just proceeds to press on your back again, leaving you immobile.

“Joel, get up,” Ellie demands. “Joel, get up. Joel, fucking get up!” She bellows desperately before she then begins to whisper as she starts to crumble with the knowledge of what awaits your dad. “Joel, get up. Get up.”

You flip your head again and when you see your dad again still laying there without moving, another immense wave of immeasurable pain slams into you.

“End it,” you hear Owen snap from on top of you.

“Joel, get up. Please,” Ellie keeps insisting. “Please, get up. Get up. Fucking, get up!” She fights hard and this time your dad tries, he slowly tries to pick his head off the floor, but alas, he still can’t move.

“Get up. Get up,” Ellie pleads and you try to reach for him again, but he’s still far, and then Abby blocks every attempt as she walks in between you and your dad to pick up one half of her broken club.

“No,” you try to plead, but you can’t muster a word. The force of the word strains your throat, but you can’t say it. You can’t speak, you can only sob and slam your hand against the floor.

“No,” Ellie cries, using her voice for you and herself. “Please no,” she adds as Abby turns away. “Please. Please don’t.” She begins to sob as Abby faces your dad's body and starts to crouch by his side again.

“Please—please don’t,” Ellie keeps crying out words you can’t even whisper anymore. “Please don’t do it! Please!”

You start scratching the floor to try and drag yourself forward to try and stop Abby, but the force on top of you presses harder, holding you still and only making you claw your nails deeper into the floor as you don’t stop trying. You keep desperately trying to move forward as Abby raises the half of her club.

“Please don’t!” Ellie keeps begging. “Don’t! Please, don’t! Don’t!”

Yet no matter how much Ellie begs, no matter how hard you try or how hard you sob, Abby impales your dad's throat.

Now after all that torture, after all that unimaginable pain, after 29 years of knowing him, seeing the same sky and breathing the same air when you were together and apart, your dad is taken from you, so as his life is stolen from him, and as Ellie screams out in pain, the air from your very lungs is stolen from you.

The light that once shone so bright has gone off, and life itself feels like it was ripped out of you too.

Your beating heart of course contradicts that feeling, but there’s truly nothing. You feel nothing. Isn’t that what death is? An endless abyss of darkness? Nothing?

If only fate could have granted you such mercy, but you’re left there motionless, staring at your dad's lifeless body without drawing in a breath until Ellie’s words travel in your ears, reminding you there’s still someone you need to keep your heart pumping for.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Ellie bellows angrily, so you finally drag your eyes up, knowing there’s only one person she could be directing those angry words to; Abby.

“You’re gonna die!” Ellie keeps shouting as Abby herself walks away without a second thought. She merely glances at you and then leaves.

“You’re all gonna fucking die!” Ellie adds and then suddenly gasps. When you look over you see her wheezing and Manny walking away.

You try to say her name, but again you can't speak, so you reach out for her desperately as everyone around you moves about, telling you that no one is holding you back anymore. You’re free to move, so without caring that everyone is leaving, you immediately face your dad again, catching Manny mumbling at your dad's body in English and Spanish. “Fucking pendejo.”

Yet you don’t care for the insult, you push yourself to your knees and crawl to your dad as fast as you can. When you reach his side you sit up on your knees and wheeze as you try to sound out a word, but nothing comes out, so you raise your hand and reach for his cheek, but don’t touch his bloody cheek yet. You let your hand hover and lean in closer to try and speak again.

However, once again nothing comes out. You can’t talk. You can only feel a sharp pain burn you and throb each time you try again and again, leaving you so frustrated that you sob and hit your thighs as if saying ‘dad,’ over and over was going to raise him from the dead.

You hoped that the sound of your voice would wake him. He would always answer or acknowledge you in some way when you called out to him, so you try to muster, ‘Dad,’ but you can’t.

You can’t and he doesn’t rise, so you finally bring your hand down and touch his cheek which is still warm because of the blood still in his veins, causing you to keep hoping. Hence, you bring your hand down to grab the broken club and pull it out so it’s not hurting him anymore. You then grab his shoulder with both hands and shake him gently as you keep trying to get him to react.

Alas, he remains lifeless, so you turn him on his back and shake his chest. When you get nothing, your chest tightens and your heart pounds harder as the truth creeps forward, but even so, you remain defiant and close your eyes to lay your head on his chest to try and seek the comfort of his beating heart just like you would do when you were a little girl, or that time he was hurt, and when you made up and watched a movie on your bed.

You lay your head on his chest hoping you’ll hear his heart, but…you hear and feel nothing. He’s gone.

Your dad is…gone.

You’re not going home together. He’s…dead.

You had acknowledged that fact before. You stopped breathing and felt like the world stopped for you then, but you denied the truth and hoped that your attempts to wake him would work, but you fooled yourself and now you can’t change reality. He’s dead…and now that you’re bombarded with the truth as you can’t hear his heart, you clutch onto his chest and keep yourself pressed against him as your world shatters and the abyss returns.

You wished to slip away with him now. You want to leave this world with him, but fate continues to laugh in your face by keeping your heart pumping, so you keep hurting deeply, and wishing for it to end.

You’re actually so stuck in your own head and in your own pain, that you forget about Ellie. You don’t acknowledge her until after she’s dragged herself to your dad's side and interlaces her fingers with his before she also lays her head on his chest.

That’s the only ounce of comfort you feel, seeing her right by his other side, but no matter how relieved either of you feel that you’re alive, you still crave for nothing more than the sweet mercy of death to stop hurting.

Once again though, it doesn’t come, so you remain still, feeling your dad's body lose its warmth, and hearing each other's sobs and sounds of pain.

That pained filled silence remains so until the door opens. Albeit expecting it to be Abby and her friends back to leave no trace behind, you don’t react. You keep your head on your dad's chest and keep your arms wrapped around him.

“Oh god,” you hear a familiar deep voice gasp before their footsteps approach you and then call you out before they call out Ellie clinging onto your dad’s the other side

Unlike you though, Ellie gives them a sign of life by whispering their name with disbelief and sorrow. “Jesse.”

You don’t acknowledge him so he crouches to grab your arm and try to check on you, but as he pulls, you quickly pull away to keep hugging your dad.

“At least let me know you’re okay,” he says softly, but you ignore him and instead just tilt your head to point your eyes at Dina.

“Dina,” he calls quietly and parts away to rush to her side, letting you nuzzle your face against your dad as if waiting for your end to come.

And as you’re waiting, there's a faint bark from a dog coming from outside, making Jesse break the silence. “Someone’s coming.”

With Ellie unable to move, Dina only now regaining consciousness, and you refusing to move, Jesse slowly approaches the big window to check who’s approaching.

When he sees that it’s not a threat he leaves the room.

After a few minutes, multiple footsteps approach the door, but the first to barge in immediately barks twice before she runs at you and starts sniffing. Once she makes sure you’re alive Hermes lays down behind you and lays her head on top of you, trying her best to offer her comfort without needing to be told.

Seconds later the rest of the party walks into the room and there’s a chilling stillness amongst them that lasts until one pair of footsteps slowly drags themselves toward you. When they reach the piled bodies there's a loud and rumbling thud before you hear weeping as everyone else gets busy.

“Someone cover the body, Jesse help Dina, I’ll help Ellie,” you recognize Maria’s voice before there’s another nearby.

“Sunny?” You hear your uncle Tommy call and his voice hits your system like an electric shock, giving you the energy to slowly rise up and meet face to face, offering him some sense of relief to see that you’re still alive, but he can’t muster anymore. Not after what he walked into.

However, even so, it’s enough to let him know that the light that guides him through life isn't taken from him. You're here before him, and you try to call out to him, but you can only manage to part your lips and start sobbing again as you’re slammed with another wave of withering pain.

“Oh baby girl,” your Uncle Tommy cries as tears run down his dirty-covered face.

Now without trying to strain your throat a moment longer, you drag yourself to him just a bit to be able to throw your arms around him and hold each other as if you don’t want either person to slip away like the man you both loved. You then break down and let life move around you, not daring or having the will to move away.

Not until a sweet voice speaks to the both of you. “Let’s go home,” Maria says.

Your Uncle breaks away first, letting Maria help you up and wrap her arm around you. “Come on, baby,” she whispers.

You let her walk you away, but you look back, seeing people from Jackson carrying your father's covered body to bring him along, but not on horse like a part of you expects. He’s dragged behind you when you head home, a grim reminder that he’s gone.

Even then you keep looking back like Ellie, hoping for things to change or making sure he isn’t left behind, and each time you’re only hurt all over again.

What’s even worse is that when you get him you see that part of the gate has been torn down and bodies upon bodies of dead infected and dead townspeople welcome you into your hellish town, making you fear the worst about your family.

Yet you can’t communicate your fear and you can’t say you refuse to be tended to, so you have to rip away, causing Maria and your Uncle Tommy to call out after you, but you ignore them and run with Hermes toward home with your heart ready to give out if you come across the worst.

Luckily though, before you can make it far, there in between a street of disaster is Apollo. Hermes reaches him first with joy and he returns her joy before he looks over at you.

At first, his dirty face contorts with relief and joy, then he expresses concern when he at last notices the blood covering your face and body and the floods of tears that run down your cheeks as you slowly break completely.

It’s like you were holding out and now that you see the man you love you can’t hold yourself up anymore. Especially not when you run to him because when you meet halfway, you crumble, causing him to go down with you.

“Teddy is okay,” he offers you that reassurance. “We’re okay.”

You can’t talk, you can only cry your pain and hold onto him there in the middle of the corpse and blood-littered street lit by hellish firelight.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N- 😁 sorry!

Tagged- @slut-f0r-u @star-wars-lover @maplecohen @givemylovetoall @itzagothamcitysiren @sammy-13 @beloved-reblogger @emiriia @rues-daya @sunfairyy @littleshadow17 @mcu-starwars @bigtuffswordboy @riaqiax @dheet @queenofthekill @joliettes @d4rno @hardbeingcasual @rana030 @pedropascalluvr41 @ahoyyharrington @beaniebeensbaby201 @maeneedsabreak @maelartasch @adristyles @daughterofthequeen @alastorhazbin @sunsumonner @khaylin27 @hypatia93 @hummusxx @v4mpyk1tten @1donoow @your-shifting-gurl @g4ns3y @izzzzy-the-amazing @aphr0d1teh @lovelyygirl8 @ivy-taylorsversion @mmkkzz @avitute @fuckmebobboys

[red5131]

"For you darlin’ there is nothin’ I wouldn’t do."

summary: Joel brings you a present 

Warnings: none! Just fluff!

(I wrote this after watching episode six of season two. It just warmed my heart to see what Joel does for Ellie, so I just know he would do the same for his woman.)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

You lean against the kitchen counter, nursing a glass of water. You rub your temple, a headache starting to brew in the depths of your mind. You had started working at the daycare in Jackson. Your days usually started with drinking some of Joel's coffee. You would lean against the counter, like you are now, a coffee mug in your grasp as you say goodbye to Joel as he leaves for patrol. The hand not holding the mug would gently grasp his jaw, his facial hair brushing against your hand as you leaned up and kissed him goodbye. He would leave after the tender kiss, his rough voice from just getting out of bed telling you that he loved you and that he would see you later.

Once you were more ready for the day, you would walk through the middle of town to the daycare, where your day would end by getting screamed at by four year olds.

While only being a couple years old when the apocalypse started, you wanted to follow in the footsteps of your mother and become a teacher. Of course that dream was ripped away once the modern world ended. When, for some, education was not important. Only survival was. But despite this, your mother taught you everything she knew about the English language. The semantics of it might have not stuck out to you, but books and reading did. Your father never allowed you to carry more than one book at a time, understandable, but you sometimes would had to read the same book over and over again until you could find a new one. While your mother passed away many years ago, her warmth and her love for children still resided in you.

So when the offer was mentioned you took it. However you had no idea what you were getting yourself into. These children..were little devils. On one side you couldn’t blame them, look at the world they were born into. The kind of lives they had to get used to. The loss that many of them have or would have to experience. The world had become a much crueler place. But despite all of that, the children could at least respect you a little more.

“Tough day darlin’?” 

You jumped at the sound of his voice, so lost in thought you didn’t hear the front door open or his footsteps. His chuckle warmed your chest. 

“Didn’t mean to scare ya.” 

You turned towards Joel, a tired smile lighting up your freckled face, “It okay. I scare easy, you know that. And it was.” 

Joel came closer, his scent infiltrating your nose. A strong earthy smell with a mix of gunpowder. He placed a horribly wrapped box on the counter beside you. 

You looked at him with suspicious eyes, “what is this?”

Joel’s lightly smiled a little, a smirk stretching across his features, “Open it darlin’.”

“You got me a present? It’s not even my birthday.” 

You gingerly turned towards the box, your hands coming up and resting on the top, “did you wrap this?”

Joel grumbled, “Yah, something wrong with it?” 

You giggled eyeing the wrinkled paper and the horrible tape placement, “No, nothing.” 

Joel rolled his eyes, “Will you just open the damn box.” 

While Joel loved to hear your giggle, he wanted you to open the box more. On his patrol today, he had come across a house that definitely once belonged to a book collector. Many of the books were ineligible or falling apart, but he was able to find a couple- a couple books that he knew you wanted to get your hands on. 

“Okay. Okay. You grump.” You grumbled giving him a fake glare as you pulled off the paper around the box. As soon as the wrapping paper was off, you pulled the box open.

Inside laid two books. A pretty worn out copy of The Lord of the Rings and The Game of Thrones. You stared in shock at the sight, the emotions starting to swirl in your chest. 

“Joel-”

“Are they not the right ones darlin’? I could have sworn these were the ones-”

You turned to him, your eyes welled with unleashed tears. It warmed your heart that despite his tough exterior that he would go so out of his way to do something like this for you. That he took the time to look through who knows how many houses and books to just find the ones that you wanted. 

“Hey, why..why are you crying? They aren’t the right ones? You..you can give me a list then, write down all the ones you want and I’ll-”

You step closer to him and grab the front of his jacket tugging him closer, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. His heart beats widely under your hand, as his own arm encases your waist. 

“No Joel, they are perfect. Thank you. I hope you didn’t go through too much trouble.”

Joel cups one side of your face, forcing you to look into his eyes. Eyes that are filled with pure genuine affection and love.

“For you darlin’ there is nothin’ I wouldn’t do.”

*not edited*