#I guess it's that nighttime is sort of an escape in my mind and it feels wrong to be stuck at work until nearly midnight

[practically-an-x-man]

ughhh they have me scheduled to close next weekend and the weekend after that and I just. don't want to.

[daytaker]

2. Solomon's Cooking

(Existing Sucks So) Let's All Be Shadows.

A Satan-centric Nightbringer Timeline Fic (Read on AO3)

Chapter Starring: MC, Satan, Barbatos Chapter Word Count: ~3k Chapter Warnings: Solomon's cooking, mentions of blood drinking

“Short of sending you to a morgue, I don’t know anything better I can do for you.” “Then send me to the morgue.”

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Sleeping in the Devildom was always tricky for me. Since it’s always night there, it was nearly impossible for me to get into any sort of 24-hour rhythm. Honestly, the only thing that sounds worse for a human's sleep schedule would be the Celestial Realm’s eternal daytime.

I rolled over in bed for the umpteenth time that night and picked up my D.D.D. I squinted at the screen. 2:56 AM. Groaning inwardly, I admitted defeat. So I got out from under the blankets and stumbled out of bed.

I threw on a hoodie and some slippers, then quietly opened my door. Before I even stepped out of my room, a sweet aroma tickled my nose, and my stomach dropped. 

Oh no. 

I could recognize the deceptively pleasant smell of Solomon’s cooking from a thousand paces. It only took me a minute to find freshly baked cookies sitting on a tray in the kitchen, looking innocent and delicious. Solomon must have left them there to cool overnight.

I grabbed the tray, emptied the contents into a bag, and left Cocytus Hall to figure out how best to dispose of the things before somebody got hurt. Maybe a walk would help settle me down, too.

I guess it goes to show how used to the Devildom I’d become that I went for a walk in the middle of the night without a thought. That, or the fact that the middle of the night looked the same as the middle of the day made all the danger nighttime in the human world posed irrelevant.

Hardly anyone was out. Shops were closed, windows were dark, and the rustling of blackened leaves in the wind was actually audible. Somewhere in the distance, a train whistled. What was this I was feeling? Lonely? Pensive? Maybe it was just the atmosphere getting to me.

As I wandered across a bridge over the River Styx, I stopped and looked down. For a minute I contemplated just dumping the things into the water, and I set down the bag on the railing overlooking the river. But the poor fish…

“He sent you to find me, didn’t he.”

The voice came from an unexpectedly close distance. Swiveling around, I saw Satan standing about five feet behind me, his arms crossed and his expression accusatory.

“Who sent me to find you?” I asked, rubbing my temples as my heart rate returned to normal. I didn’t have the patience to deal with any cryptic guessing games. “Nobody sent me to do anything.”

“Lucifer.” Satan continued staring at me with obvious distrust. “He must have realized I escaped.”

“Escaped?” I blinked up at him. “Hold on. Don’t tell me you were still chained up from when you called Asmo a pervert the other day?”

“No, that only lasted a few hours.” He spoke with palpable loathing. “This was for trashing some of Lucifer’s records.”

“You lose your temper again?” I hazarded a guess.

“No. I just felt like it.” He smirked. I guessed he felt a little bit proud of sowing some cold-blooded mayhem for once. When I didn’t ask for more details, he offered them up himself. “I recorded some of Levi’s anime music over his favorite cursed record.”

My mind reeled. “You didn’t!” I cupped my hands over my mouth, trying to stifle the laugh that was fighting to spill out.

His smirk transformed into a grin. “I did. Maybe he’ll think twice next time before–” He stopped short, smile vanishing.

“Before what?”

“Before…doling out unreasonable punishments,” he said sharply. It was hard to be sure, but it looked to me like he was recalling something embarrassing. I figured it was probably best not to press further. “If Lucifer didn’t send you, what in the world are you doing out at this hour?”

“Oh,” I said, recalling myself and glancing at the bag on the railing beside me. “Solomon made cookies, so I– DON’T EAT THAT!”

It was already too late. Satan, the idiot, had taken one look at the cookies in the bag, snagged one up, and taken a large bite. Watching him react was awful, but also really fascinating. First his jaw kind of seized up, then the rest of his body followed suit. He stood completely rigid for about five seconds, his face turning pale, almost greenish, before his face turned bright red and he doubled over, sweating buckets and clutching his throat.

“Shit!” I decided to forgo my concern for Hell’s fish and dumped the rest of the lethal batch in the river before getting down on the pavement in front of Satan, leaning down in an attempt to get a look at his face. “Hey, hey, I’m going to get help, okay?” I pulled out my D.D.D. and opened my text thread with Lucifer. “Just don’t go into the light, okay?”

Before I could stand again, a clammy hand gripped the wrist of the hand holding my D.D.D. In a desperate, somewhat pathetic voice, Satan groaned, “Not… Lucifer.” As weak as he was from eating that cookie, he seemed to feel strongly enough about this to nearly cut off my circulation.

“You just ate some of Solomon’s cooking. You realize how serious this is, right?” 

“Obviously… not…” he hissed through gritted teeth, “or else…I wouldn’t have eaten it…”

“Well, short of sending you to a morgue, I don’t know anything better I can do for you.”

Satan looked up at me and I almost flinched. His eyes were bloodshot and sweat trickled down his face. “Then send me to the morgue.”

Well, obviously I wasn’t going to do that. So I tried to calm myself down and weigh my other options. Then, suddenly, I hit on it. But Satan still had a hold on my wrist, and his grip showed no sign of loosening

“Would you let go of me?”

“You’re going to get Lucifer.”

“No I’m not.”

“You think I’m…ngh…stupid?”

I put my free hand on his head. His hair felt damp from the sweat, and not for the first time, I wondered what in the Devildom Solomon put in his recipes. 

“What are you doing? Stop…” Here, he was cut off by a short burst of guttural moans. Not the good sort. The agonized kind. “...Stop touching…”

“I’m going to ask Barbatos to help,” I explained quietly.

“The butler?” he asked. He was panting, and he looked as suspicious as ever, but his grip on my wrist loosened just a bit. “What, so he can… tell Diavolo and…?”

“Well, I’m not taking you to the morgue. Lucifer would just find out if I did that anyway.”

He stared at me long and hard, but eventually, he exhaled and let his grip on my wrist slip. I gently rubbed his head with my knuckles and pulled my own hand back. Then I stood and sent Barbatos what must have seemed like a bizarre message from a minor demon he’d never heard of until a few days ago.

------

>Are you awake? >3:40 AM

>This is the House of Lamentations attendant by the way. >3:40 AM

>You saved my number, right? >3:41 AM

I am. 3:42 AM To what do I owe this late night message? 3:42 AM

>Satan ate Solomon’s cooking. >3:43 AM

>Can you help? >3:43 AM

Solomon… Causing trouble as usual, I see… 3:43 AM Bring him to the castle and I’ll see what I can do. 3:44 AM

>Thank you >3:44 AM

>Can I ask you not to tell Diavolo? >3:45 AM

You can ask. 3:47 AM

>At least keep it quiet unless he asks you about it? >3:47 AM

I’ll consider it. 3:48 AM Come to the side entrance when you get here. I’ll let you in. 4:01 AM

------

Meanwhile, once Barbatos confirmed his willingness to help, I slung Satan’s arm over my shoulders and we began what turned out to be a long and arduous trek to the castle. Normally, it wouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes to walk there from our starting position, but with Satan in the condition he was, it wasn’t happening that night.

“Maybe I should have taken you to the morgue,” I panted after we stopped for the fourth time to accommodate Satan’s intense stomach cramps. Just as bad, he was sweating right through his clothes, and it was getting all over me. “And how is it possible for someone to sweat this much?”

“Have some sympathy…for the patient,” growled Satan.

“Stop poking me with your tail then.”

“It isn’t on–ghhh–on purpose! It spasms like that when I’m in pain.”

I’ll admit, I wasn’t used to having any tails to contend with. In my time, demons tended to go about their daily lives looking more or less like ordinary humans. Only when they tapped into their powers would the horns, wings, and tails sprout. I had never really realized how much they got in the way when allowed to dangle like this, nor had the fact that Satan’s tail was very spiky fully registered in my mind.

Satan started to flag again, and I slowed down with him. “How far are we?” he wheezed, clutching his gut.

“We’re close,” I assured him. “Almost there.”

“You said that ten minutes ago,” he complained.

“We’re much closer now.”

Satan grit his teeth, forced himself to look up from the ground, and began to walk faster. The wild look of determination on his face was kind of admirable, but I was too alarmed to dwell on that.

“Whoa, take it easy! You’re going to kill yourself!”

“Shut up and help me walk,” he growled. “I can’t take this much longer.”

So I shut my mouth and readjusted his arm over my shoulders, stepping up my pace along with him. I was worried, though. Behind his fierce expression, I saw his face turning pale and his eyes becoming less focused. If we kept this up, he was going to faint.

But I was underestimating Satan’s sheer force of will, and shame on me for that, because I really should have known better. Against my expectations, we made it to the servants’ entrance on the side of the castle, where Barbatos greeted us in a silk robe and slippers. He looked adorable, but I was too worn out and worried to put too much thought into that fact. Working together, we laid Satan out on the cot in a spare room, and once that was done, I plopped onto the floor, panting and holding my forehead.

“Do you have a sample of the food I could examine?” asked Barbatos after giving Satan a quick once-over.

My stomach crashed into the floor and I covered my face with my hands. “I… I dumped them all in the river…”

“The poor fish,” Barbatos observed, touching his chin with concern.

Satan let out a sort of gargled moan and fished through his pocket. Soon, he pulled out the uneaten portion of his cookie.

“Ah, perfect,” Barbatos said with a smile. He gingerly took the cookie with a handkerchief and moved to a desk across the room. “I’ll run a few experiments, and I expect I’ll be able to develop a solution of some sort.”

“Thank you,” I sighed with relief. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“I wanted to ask, though,” the butler continued, his back facing me as he appeared to pull an entire chemistry lab out onto the desk from a few hidden doors in the wall. “What made you contact me, of all people? We have scarcely spoken.”

I stared at the set of his back, not entirely sure what to tell him. Barbatos was a little like Solomon in that I could never be entirely sure what he knew or when. I wished I could see his expression at that moment. It might at least give me a clue.

“...Satan said you were smart,” I finally say, hoping that will serve as enough of an excuse. I add, lowering my voice, “He doesn’t want Lucifer to learn he was out tonight.”

“I see. I don’t intend to speak to Lucifer, so this should be no problem.

The sound of a small explosion rocked the room, and I curled in toward my knees and covered my ears out of instinct. Satan just groaned.

“Apologies,” said Barbatos, turning to us and smiling sheepishly. He had apparently put on safety goggles at some point, and now he was wiping them clean with yet another fresh handkerchief. “Solomon really outdid himself this time. What a despicable man.”

“Is there anything you can do?” I glanced up at Satan, who had probably shed half his weight in sweat since biting into the cookie.

“That depends,” replied the butler as he turned back to his makeshift lab bench. “What are you willing to do, I wonder?”

I stared at his back as if it might somehow clarify what he meant. It didn’t, so I asked more directly.

“What do you mean?”

Barbatos turned and looked down at me. He wore one of his inscrutable smiles, and it made me very nervous. “Come here.”

Pushing myself to my feet, I obediently walked across the room toward him.

“I���ve identified the most malignant ingredient as hell mare’s milk,” Barbatos told me softly. It seemed he was speaking quietly to ensure that Satan couldn’t hear. I cast a glance back at the devil on the bed, then looked at Barbatos again.

“...And?”

“And the simplest agent to counteract its effects is human blood.”

I stared at Barbatos, and he stared back at me, a placid smile on his face.

“...I should ask Solomon to come–”

“That won’t work, I’m afraid. As the spellcaster, his life essence is imprinted on the ingredients already.”

“How the hell does Solomon make his cookies…?”

“It’s unfortunate, but unless another human can be procured quickly, I’ll have to resort to a less efficient method of treatment. I can’t say for sure what the lasting side effects might be if traces of this hex remain in his system.”

“He put a hex on them?!”

“As I said,” Barbatos continued calmly, “Solomon is truly a devilish man.” He closed his eyes, exhaled, and opened them again. He was very close to me, I realized with a sudden rush of discomfort, and he was staring keenly at me. Like he was waiting for a confession of some sort.

I averted my eyes.

“You need…human blood?” I asked quietly. “...How much?”

------

Half an hour later, I rubbed at my bandaged arm through my clothes. The extraction spot ached, and I felt lightheaded, but Satan drank the concoction Barbatos prepared, and he was starting to look a little better. With his senses returning, though, he was also filled with a sudden and profound sense of embarrassment. He didn’t say it, but it didn’t take any special insight on my part to pick up on it, with the way he avoided looking either myself or Barbatos in the face.

Barbatos hadn’t said a word to Satan about what was in the medicine he gave him. He hadn’t given any indication he might tell anyone that there was another human in the Devildom, though I was anxious when he took his leave to ‘attend to the Young Master’. But based on his behavior beforehand and the lack of surprise he expressed when I told him that I could, in fact, provide him with a pretty substantial amount of human blood, led me to think he probably had an inkling before tonight.

With the butler off to see to his duties, it was just Satan and I left behind in his room. I sat on an ottoman by the wardrobe, and Satan was sitting up on the bed, grimacing as he pressed a hand over the sweat-soaked sheets.

“You look a lot better,” I said after a long stretch of silence.

“Mm.” Satan fidgeted with his tail. I’d never seen him do anything like that in my time, so it was hard not to stare now. “...Why didn’t you tell Lucifer?”

Was that still bothering him? I grinned and shrugged. “Because you’d get in trouble?”

“But you’re Lucifer’s attendant.”

“I’m your attendant too.”

He finally met my gaze, letting out a half-laugh, half-sigh. “I guess that’s right.”

I hated to put a damper on the moment, but it only seemed fair that I warn him. “But… Um. Lucifer knows you’re missing.” I held up my D.D.D. “He’s been blowing up my messages for the past twenty minutes.”

The almost-smile quickly vanished from his face, and Satan scowled as he scrolled through the messages on his own D.D.D. “I should burn this thing,” he mumbled. Then he looked at me again. “I hate Lucifer.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Do you?”

I hesitated. I knew what he wanted me to say, but I couldn’t see how lying would make things any better for anyone. “...No.”

“Hmph.” And that was all he had to say on the subject.

I looked back at my D.D.D. and rubbed my forehead. “Mammon says Lucifer is doing a search of the house.”

“Let him.”

I squinted down at my device, perplexed by the next message to pop up. “Beel says Lucifer's threatening to burn your poetry?”

Satan’s face turned pale, then red. “He wouldn’t.”

Did Satan write poetry? I’d never heard that before. “I hate to say it, but I think he would.”

“Do you think he’ll be less harsh if you’re there?”

I shook my head in honest uncertainty. “I have no idea.”

“Will he be less harsh if I tell him you helped me escape?”

“What?!” And to think I’d just poured out over a pint of blood for this guy! “I think that would just make him want to punish me too!”

“I read something in a book from the human world, but it felt very applicable to demonkind,” Satan said. “It said, ‘Misery loves company.’”

“Listen,” I said defensively, “I’m willing to offer moral support, but if you think you can throw me under the bus like that, you’re wrong. Anyway, if you want to save your sonnets, Beel says you’ve got about twenty minutes to show up.”

“That bastard,” growled Satan. He pushed himself up onto his feet, wobbled slightly, and regained his balance. “I’ll take the moral support, I guess. Seems pretty worthless under the circumstances, though.”

So I helped him walk home, where Lucifer was waiting for him with a few hundred feet of rope and the riot act.

[rottenandsublime]

Fired Up ♥

TW: Noncon, Branding, Abduction, Rope Bondage

Between the cold dirt, the firewood crackling, and the tough rope digging into her skin, there was just enough to make Harley's mind run wild with terrifying possibilities of what her captor had planned for her. She was blindfolded before they even left the basement, Avon's promise to "get her some fresh air" doing nothing to soothe her mind. He wasn't foolish enough to take her anywhere that would risk her being found, so there was no hope of that--just the knowledge that whatever he wanted to do to her tonight, he couldn't do it at home. Bound and gagged, thrown into a trunk and taken out again, tossed on the ground and left to wonder as warmth started to creep over her from the left. More than once she squirmed in her bondage to see if escape was an option, but every time she was reassured that he was just as adept at tying her up as he had been when he first abducted her.

All she could do was wait, up until he finally reached under her head and removed her blindfold. At the first eye contact she swallowed involuntarily, never quite sure what to make of the look on Avon's face. Seeing him excited was terrifying. Seeing him angry was even more so. Now though, with firelight dancing along one half of his face and the nighttime shadowing the other, the only emotion that she could glean from him was focus. He was analyzing her face, though Harley wasn't sure why. Was there anything there except the usual tepid obedience? The same scared eyes she always wore? She made a little noise against her gag, and to her shock, it prompted him to reach behind her and take that off as well.

"Where are we?" she tried the instant her mouth was free. She hadn't yet taken the risk of breaking eye contact but from what she could see, there was nothing around except dirt and trees, and she would guess that was the case for miles.

"Somewhere that'll let you scream as loud as you want," was his reply. As though that was a treat, a restriction lifted off of her. She was never a noisy captive, prone to swallowing her noises of pain as opposed to dramatics. Did he think that was for his sake? Avon stood then and walked over to the fire, and Harley's eyes followed. He reached down and began to use a stick to poke at the flames innards, sparks flittering into the air with every movement. A gust of wind came, making Harley curl into herself as it pushed the flames warmth away from her, and Avon took note. "Cold?"

"Yes," she whimpered, knowing full well whatever the reason was for bringing her out here was bound to be worse than a chill. Avon stood straight up with the stick held in his dominant hand. He pulled it out of the fire, and Harley finally realized that the end of the "stick" was curled into some sort of shape, fiery scarlet and crackling as it shifted from the center of the fire to the cool night air. Avon's grip tightened on the poker, holding it out to the side with purpose, and reality dawned on Harley with a chill far sharper than any wind.

"What is that?" she asked, breathless. He took one meandering step towards her, and she shrank back as much as physically possible. Avon's head tilted.

"Seems like you know exactly what it is." He twisted it towards her, a good meter away from her face but enough to make her balk. It was solid metal, twisted into the shape of a heart. Nearly the size of her face. She looked past it to the man who held it, hoping desperately there would be something there in his eyes that she could reason with and seeing only the heart reflected back at her.

"Now." One more step, waving the brand over her like a magic wand, from head to toe as he assessed her once again. Harley pressed herself against the dirt, trying to make herself as flat as possible. “Should I brand your tits or your ass?”

That flipped the switch. Words erupted from Harley's throat so fast she nearly gagged on them. "Don't. Don't. Please. Oh my god please don't do this.”

“Do you want it on your tits or your ass?” Avon's tone was level, but his breathing betrayed his excitement. It didn't matter though, his energy was easily outmatched with the utter panic that overcame Harley, her body twisting and thrashing as she went from well-behaved captive to a trapped animal.

“PLEASE God don't do this please!" Her voice echoed through the woods and came back to her unanswered. "I'm begging! I'm begging you! Please!"

"Because," Avon began, his matter-of-fact tone drowned out by Harley's screams, "if I brand your chest, then you can always see it, but if I brand your ass, I think the flesh back there will take it better."

"I want--Please--don't--" Harley's pleads got choppy, broken up by sobs and hiccups. She twisted away, away from the fire and towards the darkness, but she couldn't even stand let alone run. She only got as far as rolling onto her stomach, flipping her hair over her face so she wouldn't have to look at him any longer. Her bound hands grasped at her chest, as though she could reach inside of herself and hold her hammering heart still. "Please--Please--Please--"

"That works." His boot slammed down on her lower back and pinned her in place, and a moment later came the feeling of pure Hell. Skin sizzled as the hot metal came into contact with the fleshy underside of her left asscheek. It didn't just burn where it touched, it overloaded her entire nervous system, her vision going pure white as pain became her only thought, as her muscles shocked still and submitted to ruin. It couldn't have been longer than a second or two, but when the brand finally lifted away Harley felt as though she had been screaming for years. She could have blown out her own eardrums and she wouldn't have known better--her capability for thought had gone up in the blaze.

"Still cold?" Avon's words completely failed to register. Harley couldn't even remember how to breathe, paralyzed with her mouth gaping, trying to suck in the cold air and floundering helplessly. Avon nudged her hip with his boot, turning her onto her back. Her singed flesh touched the dirt and without the breath to scream she let out a listless wheeze, tears pouring full force over red cheeks. Her faculties came back slowly, bit by bit until she could finally bring her eyes to focus and realize that Avon was watching her closely the whole time, a massive grin etched into his face. Something about that sadistic delight being the first thing that greeted her when she fell back to Earth twisted Harley’s stomach, and before she could think better she twisted her lips in a snarl.

“Fuck you,” she whispered. It was hoarse and weak, but was still the closest thing she’d managed to defiance in a long while. Avon’s expression brightened a bit, as thought it was a pleasant surprise, and that only fueled her rage more. “Fuck you. Fuck you. You fucking bastard.”

Avon seemed to make some silent decision in his mind, nodding to himself as he turned and brought the brand back over to the fire and pressed the heart back into the center of the flame. He turned around and crossed his arms, unbothered. Harley turned onto her side towards him, her voice gaining volume with every word. “You’re disgusting. You’re fucked in the head. You fucking scumbag! You fucking freak! FUCK YOU! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME YOU FUCK?!”

“I’m listening, honey.” His composure made Harley howl, spitting on the ground as she threw every expletive she could think of in his direction, all hardly intelligible. Cursing and raging, throwing every bit of anger she had into her tirade until she had no more to give, until she resigned to flatly sobbing from the pain. Only then, when she was finally quiet for just a moment, did Avon speak up again.

“I think we’d better do both.”

[cosmica-galaxy]

Soldier!Reader x Yan!Madcom - Fall into Nevada

Summary: You are a soldier that falls into Nevada and makes some rather interesting new friends. Warnings: Depictions of gore, blood, wounds, and such. Not too detailed but it’s fucking Madness Combat, what do you expect? Flowers and rainbows?? Also, I have a limited knowledge on the canon or the timelines, so if someone is OOC or something is wrong please don’t kill my ass. I’m not that informed on Madness Combat! Aaaaaaaaaaaaa-- Word Count: 7,223 A/N: THIS IS FOR YOU @yansoftie. I FREAKING KASJHFKGLHKJL LOVE IT. LOVE THE SOLDIER. ASKDJJGKHLJHKLJK TAKE IT HOPE YOU LIKE IT.

-Sort under the cut cause FUCK IT’S LONG that’s what she said--

The smell of dust and dirt slowly stirred the fallen soldier from their place on the ground. Rousing you to slowly open your eyes from underneath your askew helmet. You let out a low groan of pain as you slowly begin to sit up, your mind foggy as you try and attempt to wipe the dirt away from around your eyes. You crack open your eyes and blink tiredly before your eyes suddenly widen. “What the?? This isn’t the…where the fuck am I??” You mumble in disbelief as you turn to lay on your side, looking at the blood red sky above and the endless amounts of brownish gray wasteland that seemingly went on for miles and miles into the far distance. So you sit there utterly speechless for a moment as you take it all in.

This certainly wasn’t the same area where you were dispatched to fight in the war. You squinted and grunt in slight pain as you struggled to remember what happened before you passed out. Let’s see…

The last thing you remembered about your previous environment was that it was pouring down rain and you were with your battalion in the woods near an occupied enemy settlement. 

It was…late evening, just before nightfall. You all were pulling a tactical nighttime assault maneuver before you and your fellow members got ambushed from the surrounding forests. The battle that rang out was a bulletstorm of chaos and bloodshed… The enemy surrounded your battalion on all sides and closed in… Your friends slowly fell one by one until a tactical retreat was ordered and you fled into the woods… but your enemies continued to hunt you all down like animals… Gunfire rang through the trees and you heard bullets whizzing past your helmet as your heartbeat was pounding loudly in your ears… You made a mad dash down an incline to get away from your pursuers but you slipped on some roots and went hurtling down into a ditch… Then…huh. Nothing was coming to mind. It was hard to remember what exactly happened the moment you passed out. Did you…die? Did you ACTUALLY die? The soldier takes another look around before letting out a sigh of despair. It’s a shame that one goes to fight in a war for their country, dies in battle, then goes straight to hell. I mean, there was no other logical explanation! This HAD to be hell! What place on Earth has a natural blood red sky? Well…hell or not, you weren’t going to get anywhere laying here on the ground. You were down…but you weren’t totally dead. At least…not yet. You better get moving before some…hellhounds or whatever the hell’s equivalent of scavengers decide to show up looking for an easy meal. You try to stand up, but you suddenly feel a sharp pain radiate from within one of your legs that makes you wince and cry out loudly in pain. You shoot a quick glance towards your legs and you visibly cringe at the sight. A few bullet wounds could be seen in your leg, leaking out blood and soaking your pants in a deep red hue. You hiss through your teeth as you assess the damage carefully. Guess you didn’t escape that ambush completely unscathed after all. You were surprised that you didn’t feel the pain nor remember being shot earlier. It must’ve been the adrenaline that was going through your veins at the time. Probably blocked out the pain while you ran for your life. Hopefully you had something to fix this… You then shift and begin to search around your form and you manage to find your cargo pack, still intact surprisingly. Despite searching it thoroughly, you found no form of medical supplies. Just ammo, rations, and various miscellaneous supplies. But no medical items. You smack your face and groan loudly. Fuck, why did you forget to restock while at camp?? That was a major oversight on your part, possibly a fatal one if you kept losing blood like this. Judging by the amount of blood that was pooled on the ground, you’ve been bleeding for a while. This…was NOT a good start. But you worked with less, so you’ll make do.

Still, you persevere. Slowly but surely, you shift around and begin to get up on your feet. Stumbling slightly and grunting in agony when your wounded leg had pressure applied to it. 

You take a moment to gather up your breath as you heave your large form off the ground.

Taking notice of the rather comical imprint your body made in the ground as you did so. It reminded you of some old cartoons you used to watch when you were young. But it also made you think. Did you…fall here? Like…from the sky? You shake your head and break your gaze away from the imprint. You’ll question your origin later. For now, you just had to get up. Despite the pain and the injury in your leg, you finally managed to stand tall and began to look more in depth at your surroundings. It was rather…unimpressive. Just desert…more desert…wasteland…rocks…even more rocks…hey…are those shapes in the distance? You squint your eyes as they struggle to see further towards the distant horizon to make out the various shapes that seemed to form a familiar pattern to you. They looked like…buildings of some sort? A city?? How was there a city in hell?? 

What was it housing? Civilians? Demons? Beasts? Monsters? Anything else disturbing??

You could only shiver at the thought of all the horrors that were probably crawling around among those buildings. Well, that’s not going to be good…but it was either head towards the city or stay out here and bleed to death. You didn’t really have a choice in the matter. With a heavy grunt, you pick up your scattered supplies and fix up your outfit to carry the remains of your cargo. Thankfully, you still had plenty of ammo from pre-packing back at camp before your mission went to absolute shit. You didn’t even get to use any of it. Better than that, you still had your lucky rifle. Polished, engraved with gold accents, powerful as shit, and ready to kill once more. A valuable gift from a friend that you knew way back before you got dispatched into the war. It saved your life plenty of times in battle and it was always coveted by your comrades for its beauty and strength. You never let it leave your side for anything for various obvious reasons. You could only smile and pat the trusty tool as you sling it back over your shoulder, fastening the shoulder strap to it and then beginning your trek towards the settlement. Despite your predicament, even if you were already dead and living in hell now, there was still a lingering sense of curiosity and wonderment. It was a strange new world…hopefully you could survive long enough to enjoy some of it. Who knows? Maybe the afterlife would be a trip to experience. You could only grin in a faint sense of seldom hope as you limped towards the buildings in the distance. – The buildings in question looked…rough, to say the least. From a distance, they looked like mere old buildings. But up close…they were much worse for wear. Cracks could be seen in the structures, there were numerous stains on the crumbling streets, and the place gave off a real…’dark city’ kinda vibe. Like a place that’s been heavily neglected, but not totally abandoned. In addition to that, the city was gray and made of some material that was similar to concrete. It looked just dull and empty. Kinda…soulless in a way. Fitting for hell, you suppose. Not only that, but…something was noticeably off. The buildings…were freaking small.

Like…the doorways could only reach up to your knee in height. If you really wanted to, you could climb on some of these buildings.

But it now begs the question. Why was everything so small? You look around at the buildings and continue to walk down what appears to be an abandoned street. You could even feel some of the neglected concrete give away and crumble under your weight. Leaving indentations of footprints wherever you walked. Despite the noise that emanates from the crunching of the concrete underneath your combat boots, the rest of the city was primarily silent. Even abandoned in some sense. Then, as you were walking down another stretch of streets, you could hear echoes that rang throughout the city. Very familiar echoes. A sound you were almost too familiar with. Gunshots. You take a moment to pause as you try to pinpoint where the location of it was coming from and once you find it, you begin to head in the direction at a steady pace. The closer to the source you got, the more your mind wondered. Were there more humans? Maybe your comrades fell into this same hell you’re in? Maybe it’s someone else? What’s being shot at? What was going on?? So many thoughts rang throughout your head as you stepped effortlessly over an alleyway fence and now the gunshots and the sounds of a distant struggle were even clearer. Cries of agony and screams of death could be heard echoing off the stone walls of the surrounding buildings that it made you wonder if this was even a good idea… But you were still very curious. Curious enough to continue on despite the worry that settled in your gut. Your interest still piqued, you came to another large street that had the sounds emanating from a nearby alleyway that was just down the road. But that wasn’t the only thing that caught your attention. The streets were littered with carnage. It caught you well off guard that you took a moment to pause in your strides and assess the situation that seemed to have gone on here before you arrived. Bodies were seen strewn about the outside of a couple of trucks that were labeled with an “A.A.H.W” abbreviation. Disgusting viscera and a cornucopia of gore was slung all over the street. Numerous pools of blood and blood sprays littered the environment as you took it all in with your own two eyes. You were far from a stranger to violence. At one point in your soldier career, an ally got his head shot off completely while standing next to you on a mission. Coating you with skull fragments, brain matter, and blood. At the time, it was horrifying.

But now, you were just glad that it was them and not you. You cautiously approached the dead bodies to inspect them and found something…odd about the carcasses. The bodies weren’t anything you could reasonably describe. It looked humanoid…but with gray skin and no discernible features. They almost seemed…faceless? How disturbing. They also had no attached limbs, but had hands, and two little legs that stuck out from their body. Most of the carcasses also seemed to be wearing cute little suits, which was…obviously strange. At a glance, most of these bodies seemed to be part of a unit. Similar dress, similar form, and someone…or something rampaged throughout this location. Killing them off. But…what did? You blink in confusion until the sound of agitated shouting comes from nearby, snapping you out of your trance from the carnage that lay in the street. Right, the gunshots and the struggle. You ignore investigating the gore any further and continue to walk down the road, oblivious to the AAHW trucks that bounced and shook with every impact your feet made on the pavement. The sounds of yelling suddenly quiets down as you approach the alley in question. The entrance seemed to be gated by a larger chain-link fence, despite it being pretty short from your perspective, but you swear you could still hear talking. So, you waste no more time. 

You throw caution to the wind and step around the corner of the building. You make your presence known by showing yourself as you walk in front of the entrance. You cast a gaze into the alley in curiosity, eager to see what was going on and making so much noise. The sight in front of you was questionable. You could only blink as you analyze the situation. There were about 4 figures in the alley. One that was pressed up to the fence and three others that were pointing guns at the being that was pressed against the fence. The three that were armed were similar to the ones that you saw brutally slaughtered on the street not too far away. Wearing black glasses, black suits, and with their strange limbs and faces in action. The one pressed against the fence looked very different. The head was primarily covered with a black bandana, they had on a large black overcoat, numerous leather belts, and black combat shoes. It even seemed to be sporting a pair of bright red glowing goggles. The different being also seemed to be armed with a weapon, but there was an obvious injury on one of its arms that seemed to hinder his ability to fight. Judging by the leaking blood. The state of the alley wasn’t any prettier than the streets. It was also littered with bodies, gore, guts, blood, and empty ammunition shells. Your eyes flick to the three beings that were cornering the loner. You could see them almost look up at your large form and something akin to terror completely takes over their non-existent faces. You watch as one takes notice, then bumps the others and points at you with their disembodied appendage. The others of the group follow suit, terror rapidly washing over their faces as they begin to step away from the red-eyed loner. The loner in question seemed confused at their behavior as the sharp-dressed triplets began to slowly back off. Then once they were deemed far enough away, the lot sprinted away. Leaving the alley and the injured red-eyed one alone with you. The remaining creature in question still seemed confused before getting off the fence and turning around to face you. Their reaction was tamer, but you could obviously see the surprise in its own goggles as it quickly took a defensive stance, arming themself. Despite its size, you had to give it kudos for bravery. That little critter barely came up to your knee in height and it just stared at you as if you were going to attack it. 

You could dropkick it if you felt like it. But seeing it injured made you feel sorry for it. You make no movement to go for your rifle or step away. You merely stared at the red-eyed creature and he stared back. You both continued that for a moment before you finally backed off and began to step away from the alley. Heading back the way you came. You had no quarrel with any of these creatures, so it was best to just leave it alone. You had a bigger priority right now. You needed to find a medical center or at least a first aid kit to heal your wounds. Even now, your blood continued to leak onto the asphalt and you were starting to get light headed. You move away from the alley and paused momentarily to listen to the sound of a distant set of tires screeching off into the distance. By the time you came back to the main street, one of the AAHW vehicles was gone. A set of black tire skids on the pavement being the only evidence it was there in the first place. Those suited creatures must’ve come back and took a vehicle to get away. That was worrisome. But you still needed to hunt for medical supplies, so you continued your endeavor with your tender limp as you searched the surrounding blocks for what you needed. Hopefully something good will happen soon… – It’s following you. That red-eyed critter from before was following you. You were extra super sure it was. Since there were times where you would look over your shoulder and see a pair of red eyes hiding just out of sight. Hiding in the darkness or behind something. This was the 4th time you caught it watching you from afar. In all honesty, you were getting paranoid about it…but you guess it was kinda cute. Still, you didn’t know what it wanted nor did you know if it was opportunistic. It could be waiting for you to get tired before it attacked, you didn’t know. Speaking of tired…you were beat. Blood loss and various other issues were beginning to slow you down to a steadily weakening hobble. Pretty soon, you had to find a place to rest. A nice low building that seemed sturdy enough to hold your weight came into sight and you made an effort to slink over to it. With a few firm tests on its integrity, you finally sit down on the roof and let out an exhausted sigh. You take a moment to close your eyes and get some weight off of your leg…and you could still see that little creature watching you. You don’t really know WHY it was following you, but you certainly know HOW. Mostly because of the blood trail that you were leaving behind, that and the cracked concrete.

But now…now you just wanted answers. There was shouting, so you have a hunch that these creatures can talk. So why not try and communicate with this loner? You let out a grunt and sit up, surprising the small tag-a-long by locking eyes with it and its hiding place. “Are you going to keep hiding from me or are you wanting to talk?” You inquire to the small creature, to which it stares for a moment before finally coming out of its hiding place. It says nothing as it approaches your sitting form, looking up at you in a cautious manner. In a way, it looked…adorable. 

It would’ve been threatening if you were the same height, but with your stature towering over theirs, the little critter just looked like a large doll. A…bloody and injured doll…but still adorable in a sick and twisted way. You both stare at one another. 

So long in fact, that you were starting to wonder if this creature could even understand your language. Then, you let out a slightly nervous cough. Might as well…try again? It’s not like you got anything better to do. “So…why are you following me?” You ask, your eyes peering down at him from under your helmet. It stays quiet for a moment. Then much to your surprise, it speaks.

“Never seen you before.” It replies. 

Its voice was…deep. Surprisingly so. It gave you the impression that this creature was a male, but you weren’t quick to make assumptions just yet. “Wanted to watch where you went. See who you side with.” It grunts out. That was confusing. You think about what ‘sides’ the little being refers to. Maybe it was talking about factions? There were factions here?? Was that A.A.H.W truck a faction? Possibly an enemy of theirs? If they were enemies, what faction was the loner a part of? This just suddenly became much more complicated… “Sides? There are factions in hell of all places?” You question, arching a brow. The short being gives you a confused look that could be seen through the goggles it wore. “This is Nevada.” He states simply. Now it was your turn to give him an incredulous look. “Nevada?? This isn’t Nevada. Nevada doesn’t look like this at all!” You argue. To which the small being merely stares at you before shaking its head in disagreement. 

The silence returns again as you both sit in one another's presence for an uncomfortable amount of time. This time, It was the one that broke the silence. “What are you?” Huh. Now that was a weird question. Then again, you have never seen creatures like these little beings before. So maybe it was a vice versa situation? You've never seen their species and they’ve never seen yours. It would make sense. “I’m human.” You say, to which it turns its head in response to that. “Human?” it asks, to which you nod in confirmation. “Never heard of em.” It responds bluntly, to which you arch a brow. Oh? It’s got a bit of an attitude, huh? Two beings can play this game, ya little critter. “Well, what are you then?” “Grunt.” You blink in confusion and take a moment to process the statement.

“Just…Grunt?” You ask. It nods. “Never heard of em.” You fire back and snicker lightly when it flattens their brows at you. It doesn’t last long however, as you wince in pain again. The pain in your leg throbs as your wounds are still seeping blood. Slowly but surely, this wound would kill you at some point, since you had no luck in finding a medical center or supplies. You let out a tender whine through gritted teeth as the small creature looks at your leg then towards your face. It seemed to be thinking about something as you sit there and try to ease the pain. “So you have no faction?” It asks. You only flick it a look of confusion before nodding. “No faction. I just arrived here probably not even an hour ago, depending on how long I was unconscious for…kind of a long story. Didn’t know a thing about this place. Nice to know that I’m not in hell…but in ‘Nevada’ instead. If that’s any better.” You grumble as you rub your knee to comfort yourself. The gears in its head seem to be turning as it suddenly approaches your healthier leg, grabbing onto your pants and roughly tugging on them. “Uh…what do you need?” You question. “Follow me.” It demands, as it begins to walk off towards another direction. You wanted to say a series of confused babbles, but the creature kept looking back to make sure you followed. You wondered if you could even trust it, but maybe it had an idea in mind? ... Well…what else did you have to lose? You picked yourself up and off the building and slowly limped after the loner, easily keeping pace with your longer legs. Even with your limp. The more you thought about it, the more you realized that you were probably being taken somewhere. Possibly to the loner’s abode? Community? To whatever a “grunt” considers a family? Hopefully it knew where a hospital was…if they even have those here in ‘Nevada’. You did unintentionally save this grunts’ butt from being filled with bullets, so maybe it’s returning the favor? Well…you can at least HOPE so. A few minutes of silent following was starting to bother you, so you decided to speak up. “You got a name?” You ask. There was a moment of silence. “Hank.” It replies. You nod in confirmation. So it was distinctly male and had a name. That was nice to know. His red goggles look up towards your eyes. “You?” You could only smile back down at Hank and tell him your name. “Don’t worry about forgetting it. It’s always engraved on my dogtags.” You say. “Dogtags?” He almost sounds surprised. Almost. “Yeah. From the war I was partaking in before I arrived here. I’m a soldier. Infantry division. It’s how I got these bullet wounds in my leg. Got ambushed by our enemies and…well…somehow arrived here in ‘Nevada’ afterwards.” You explain. He watches you with those red goggles of his as you ramble on and on about your experience with arriving in Nevada and what made you find him in summary. He never really takes his eyes off of you as you talk in a slightly animated fashion.

Pretty soon, Hank mentioned your large gun and you told him about its significance and power. It was beautiful as well. Engraved and with golden accents and polished to near mirror-like perfection…it was stunning. But it wasn’t only that. As Hank continued to stare up at his human accomplice, the more you talked about your life and your experience in your own war…the more intensely he would listen. Usually the more chattier the person, the more annoying they are to him. But listening to you just felt…different. Especially since you don’t seem to be a resident of Nevada at all. Which was…interesting. YOU were interesting. The moment Hank laid his eyes on your form towering easily over the fence that prevented him from tactically getting some distance from the AAHW agents that swarmed the area, he felt his heartbeat thundering in his chest. If you were hostile, he was sure as HELL going to die to you. Being injured and out of ammunition was two terrible combinations. But instead of taking him down or performing some other hostile maneuver, you merely looked at him then slinked away. Hank was both confused and intrigued, yet he was still cautious. He waited for a moment to see if it came back before leaving the alley entirely and finding the trail of blood and cracked pavement an easy way to track down the thing that had saved his life. After tracking you down, he followed to see just WHO you worked for. The Auditor? The AAHW? Nexus Core? Jeb? Maybe even that DAMN CLOWN, Tricky? Yet, the longer he followed, the more he realized that you were just aimlessly wandering the abandoned sector of Nexus City. So if you were merely wandering around…then that meant you had no faction to return to. So he kept following until you finally confronted him. That’s where they were going now. Back to the SQ HQ. You were a valuable ally if you were able to make agents run at the mere SIGHT of you. Speaking of which. Those 3 agents that got away are no doubt running home to tell the rest of the AAHW what they saw…even worse, tell the AUDITOR of what they saw. If you fell into rival hands…it would be officially over for SQ. So it was best to get his new ‘ally’ somewhere safer. Talking passed the time as you both slowly leave the confines of the city. Hank leading the way as he takes you back to HQ. The buildings of Nexus City dwindled out. Giving way to rocks and desert. The two of you carried on, even if Hank could hear the laborious breathing that was starting to come from your exhausted form. While it wasn’t the main hub for SQ, there was an outpost where he and his allies took up residence regularly. It wasn’t too far from Nexus City. Pretty soon, the building itself comes into sight and Hank points it out after you both have been walking for a while in a much more comfortable silence. “There.” He states. “That’s HQ.” He explains, to which you nod in understanding. You both approach the building at a steady pace and it is only now that you realize that the windows were vibrating to your footfalls. Huh. You must’ve been pretty big to make a building of that size react to your weight. It made you mentally wonder if the other buildings in the city also reacted that way. Hank seemed unbothered by the vibrations, seeing as he’s been walking next to you the whole time, as he knocks on the front door of the HQ in a specific rhythm. It takes a few moments, but another ‘grunt’ is seen opening the door. This one was supporting a visor hat, bandages around their head, a headset with a mic, a white tank top, a black blazer overcoat, and dark pants with combat boots. It even had a cigarette hanging out of their mouth. It seemed to take a moment to realize who was at the door before it revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth, which was surprising. However, before they greet Hank, their eyes trailed behind him and landed on your form that wasn’t too far behind Hank. Towering over the entrance easily and casting it in a shadow. Their mouth suddenly drops open, comically dropping the cig from their mouth. A brief pause happens before they suddenly shout. “HANK, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??” The new grunt yells, their voice also having a masculine tone to it. So you just assume the new grunt is also a male. “New recruit.” Hank states bluntly.

“NEW RECRUIT??! What the fuck do you–” “Where’s Doc?” Hank rudely cuts in, stunning the new grunt. “Hank, don’t pull my fucking leg. What is that thing?” The new grunt continues. “Where. Is. Doc?” Hank presses, his deep baritone voice getting a bit more menacing. The new grunt shifts his gaze to you and back to Hank a couple of times before he just shakes his head in complete defeat as he waves his hands. “Alright, Alright! I’ll go get him!” After which, the grunt disappears back inside, letting out a loud series of coughs as he does so and Hank turns back to you. Giving you a reassuring nod, to which you understand and decided to patiently wait for ‘Doc’. From the name alone, you guessed that he must be their medic. What a relief. Hopefully he can do something about those bullets in your leg. – So now this is where you currently find yourself. Sitting in an open part of the warehouse, to which you had to crawl through a garage door to enter, sitting on the floor with your leg propped up on a small stretcher that was bowing under the weight and this ‘Doc’ currently working on your wounds. Hank was standing near you and Doc, watching the treatment go underway, as well as waiting for his turn so he can get his own wounds treated from his encounter with the AAHW goons. You have become acquainted with the residences of this abode while you were getting ready to get patched up by their medic. The one that answered the door and was sporting the hat was called ‘Deimos’. Then there was another slightly taller grunt that was built heavier than Deimos that was also sticking close to the others for the time being. He sported a bandana, black shades, black cargo pants, some bandages around his waist, black combat boots, and had a mouth just like Deimos. Except he had a protruding-lip that gave him an expression similar to a grimace. He was also shirtless and very ripped. His name was known as ‘Sanford’. Then the doctor himself or what the other grunts call “2BDamned” which was kinda funny to you. If not also a little bit adorable. The doctor sported a black mask that covered most of his face, with red tinted lenses that shared a similarity to Hank’s goggles, except with a magnifying unit attached to it. The lower half of his face was covered in bandages. He was wearing a black coat, a smokey gray button undercoat, and black pants with combat boots. It seemed to you that ‘Grunts’ had some type of dress code…or a certain aesthetic that they all liked. Black, Gray, and Red seem to turn up a lot in their appearances. As of currently, you were just trying to get your mind off of the fact that the doctor was digging an embedded bullet out of your flesh.

You then let out a whimper as you feel one of the bullets in your leg get successfully pulled out by the Doctor. Who huffs as he sets it aside on a large medical tray. Deimos lets out a whistle. “Daaaamn…look at the size of that bullet! It’s like the size of my two hands put together!” He says, gesturing to the bullet that was sitting on the tray covered in blood. The Doctor merely lets out a tired-sounding huff. “Yes…and despite their size, they are much harder to get out than I first expected. There are still about two more in your limb, so please be still while I continue to remove them.” Doc states, not even waiting for a response before he’s digging after another bullet. “Yes–err–Doc. Do what you need to do.” You cringe, yet force yourself to stay still. Despite your leg twitching widely in protest. You could only bite the metaphorical bullet and deal with it. It was painful, even with the local anesthetic that was applied to the afflicted area. Still, this was better than laying out in the desert to slowly bleed to death. You were thankful for the medic, but only one little dude needed to be thanked for the medical treatment, though. Sighing in relief, you look over at Hank. “Thanks for leading me to Doc, Hank. I really owe you one.” You say genuinely, which seems to make Hank pause before he nods. “Mhhm.” He grunts in acknowledgment. He then turns to look up towards your eyes. His gaze was strangely determined. “You’ve received medical attention. In return, you’ll join SQ.” He states incredibly bluntly, to which you give him a rather dumbfounded look and the rest of the team seem to pause to process his sudden proposal. The Doctor could be heard sighing in exasperation. “Quite the recruiter, aren’t you Hank?” Doc says sarcastically, pulling out another bullet as you whimper and hiss through your teeth in response. “Yeah. Blunt much, big guy?” Deimos snarks, taking a puff of his cig in response to Hank’s glare. “They should.” Hank argues. “Can you at least ask the human if they want to join first? Or at least consult the rest of your team beforehand?” Sanford, who finally spoke up, pauses in his cleaning of a large hook-like weapon to look at Hank. “They need to.” Hank continues, standing his ground. “Why? Because they need some stitching and bullets pulled out?” Deimos argues as he takes another puff of his cig. “We literally just met them!” Hank shakes his head. “Auditor.” He growls out. That word alone made the rest of the group pause and almost seem to catch on to why Hank was so adamant about getting you to join SQ. There was a brief moment of silence before the doctor finally broke it.

“I…see. That is a very valid reason.” The Doctor speaks slowly. He then flicks his gaze up to the human in question. “If he did get a hold onto such an asset, SQ would have a harder time completing our missions.” He states. The other two, Deimos and Sanford, share a look of realization as they take a moment to ponder. Hank merely sat near the human, his pose confident and unmoving. Taking pride in the fact that, yes, he was right. For once, at least. If you decided to join the AAHW or Nexus Core, SQ would be in danger. This wasn’t an assumption, this was a hard and cold fact. You merely flicked your eyes to each individual member. A puzzled look very evident on your face. “Who’s this…’Auditor’, you speak of?” You inquire, to which the members of SQ all look up to you. “Ah, that’s right. You’re not aware of such things as ‘The Employers’ or their factions. Nevada is a very complicated place. There are constant struggles for power and in the height of these battles, the world of Nevada crumbled around them.” Doc explains, pausing in his digging to look up at you. “He’s a total cocksucker! He keeps secrets and oppresses the masses with a shitstorm of propaganda through bullshit ‘unity’. Which is actually dictatorship. He also keeps trying to kill off Hank over there. As he’s the one that started the AAHW in the first place.” Deimos adds on. “He’s pretty much THE biggest bad that we know of. Next to Tricky, who Hank has tangled with on a few occasions. We assume he has ties to the drives we seek and the information we need, so we’re “faction rivals” in a sense.” Sanford elaborates. “A fucking piece of shit that I want to tear to pieces.” Hank snarls out aggressively. Well…none of that was a positive outlook, so that must mean the Auditor is a threat. At the very least, he is seen as an enemy and for reasons that are merely too complicated for you to understand at the moment. “That’s why you need to join us.” Hank continues, his gaze flicking back over to you. “Well…” You trail off, your mind thinking about it for a moment. “I guess I can join. I have nowhere else to go and I do owe you for helping me out. Besides, it beats just aimlessly wandering the desert until the day I die.” “So, you want to join us then?” Sanford asks, his tone almost seeming hopeful. “I don’t see why not. It can give me a purpose and a motivation to do something. So I’ll join if you’ll have me.” You smile, cringing a bit as Doc pulls out the final bullet and lets out a huff. “Well. At least my supplies weren’t wasted in vain. I would rather patch up a teammate than a flaky wanderer with no faction. If you want to officially join our group, you’ll have to be added to my system and give me a rundown on your skill sets.” Doc explains. You nod automatically. “Yes sir.” You say as you nod. It might’ve been the trick of the light, but you could’ve sworn that there was a slight red dusting on the doctors’ face as he clears his throat slightly. “Yes, well. First, I have to patch up Hank’s wounds. After that, we’ll begin your recruitment process.” The Doctor says, applying a large glob of external disinfectant to your wounds and flushing the insides out with a large amount of saline. He wipes his brow with a disembodied hand and sighs. Picking up the decently-sized bucket that was filled with the external disinfectant and sitting under the stretcher. Setting it onto the medical table with a huff. “There. Your bullet wounds are treated. I don’t have bandages big enough for your leg, without causing excess waste, so you’ll be using an external disinfectant to keep them clean. Use this 2 times a day and keep the wounds fairly clean. You’ll come to see me every 3 days to wash the wounds out. Stay off the leg until further notice.” The Doctor recites to you as you listen intently. “Yes sir!” You acknowledge and take the bucket of external disinfectant from the medical table. It was like a small tupperware bucket and you couldn’t help but smile at the size of it sitting in the palm of your hand. You happily place it into your cargo pack while Doc beckons for Hank to come take a seat in a chair that was close to where your leg was treated. “Your turn, Hank.” The Doc grunts, to which Hank stands up from his place at your side and walks over. Sitting down in the chair and begins to undress the coat that draped over his body as Doc gathers the medical supplies and changes gloves. You watch with interest as the Doc steadily treats Hank while Deimos and Sanford seem to be having a conversation that involves a mission that you had no idea about. There was merely idle conversation and it was…strangely calming. Even now that your leg was stinging and numb, at least you had received medical aid and didn’t die.

But now, you seem to be getting involved in something much bigger than you could’ve ever thought of. Now you were a part of a faction and, similar to how things operated in your world, when you were no longer neutral, you were either an enemy or an ally. Apparently, you were now siding with these guys and they had a rival known as “Auditor”. Which usually just meant someone that did audits or banking. So…maybe it had something to do with the suited grunts you saw earlier? Was the Auditor like some big bad capitalist? A rich snob? A kingpin? It made your mind wonder…but Hank was with this faction. One that willingly helped you…so maybe you made the right choice to join them. Only time would truly tell. Soon, Hank was patched and Sanford disappeared into a kitchen-esque area to prepare some dinner for the group. Hank was sporting new bandages and stitches and merely heaved himself over to the couch in the middle of the warehouse. Deimos was working in the far corner of the workshop on something you couldn’t really decipher. Finally, Doc and yourself were finishing up ‘processing’ your recruitment. Which was mostly him requiring questions to be answered that involved history, skills, techniques, and known equipment you have on your person.

Some of your answers seemed to fluster him for a bit. Such as you insisting you knew how to drive, use various guns, use melee weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and even essential survival skills. You didn’t go to bootcamp for nothing, after all. After a bit, Doc lets out a relieved sound as the device he was fiddling with let out a ping. Which seemed to grab the attention of both Hank, Deimos, and even yourself. “Alright. Your recruitment has been finalized. You’re now an official member of SQ. You’ll be paired up with teammates on missions at first until you get more familiar with Nevada. I would provide you with a comm…but they don’t really make them in…your size. You’re bigger than any MAG agent I've seen, so we’ll have to find a work around for that. Other than that issue, you’re good to go. Welcome to SQ.” Doc finalizes as you nod in agreement. “Great to be here.” You smile. “WOOO!!” You both suddenly jump as Deimos shouted excitedly in the background. “Just WAIT until we set you loose onto those AAHW bastards!! They’ll never expect something as big as this!!!” Deimos shouts, pumping his fist in the air. You could only watch Deimos be excited as Doc grumbles and gets up to leave. “Let me know when Sanford finishes dinner. I’ll be in my office.” The medic waves as he leaves the room with the file on yourself stuffed snugly under his arm You merely sit there, watching the rest of the team seemingly getting excited having you on the team. With the exception of Hank, who seemed to be much more contained about his mirth…if he had any at all. You could only smile and watch them from beneath your helmet. I guess this was your new ‘war family’ now. Silently, you wondered what your first mission would be like. It was exciting…but first. You REALLY needed to sleep. So, despite the slight bustle of the room, you merely found a comfortable position to lie down in and curled up a bit to keep yourself warm. A few adjustments and you get comfortable. Your leg laying safely off to the side as your pack made for a makeshift pillow. Between the bloodloss, the walking, and the painful medical treatment, you weren’t all that hungry. Mostly just exhausted. You could hear the others talking nearby, but you paid them no mind. You merely closed your eyes and allowed your body to feel at peace for the time being. You were somewhere safe…and that was good enough for now. You could only silently wonder what the future held for you in this new place you happen to have fallen into by complete accident. Tomorrow was a new day. In no time at all, the world around you faded away and you fell into a dreamless slumber.

[benjaminthewolf]

Arin (Simon And Co.'s Naga OC) Lol

Yeah Simon is the guy who I'm always trading with and also the guy who loves all things DC except for The Flash for some reason. Anyway, he and his friends made a Naga OC and then while giving me information for this story, he specifically requested that the prey be Ramon from Resident Evil.

So, consider this a sort-of sequel to the Leon story! Enjoy!

WARNING: DRINKING, REFERENCES TO ALCOHOLISM

****

    “UUUUHEUUHHHHHHEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUH!” Ramon waveringly vocalized in pure agony whilst violently slamming his forehead onto the bar countertop. “WHYYYYYYYHYYYHYHYHYHYHYHYHYYYYYY?”

      It had been a little over a week since Ramon’s wild encounter with Leon within the less fortunate urban region of Fandom City, and even after letting the experience simmer in his mind for so long, poor, poor Ramon could still not get his mind off of the incident’s cruelty, his ribs still aching slightly from being smashed against the alleyway asphalt.

     “I mean I knew that he fucking hated me but I didn’t know it was THIS bad!” the shuddering man exclaimed before promptly taking another swig from his bottle. “NOW, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I WASH MYSELF I AM NEVER GOING TO PURGE MY BODY FROM HIS DISGUSTING, SLIMY-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! 

     Viciously chugging down the rest of the inebriating contents before forcefully overriding his body’s currently raving impulses to mercilessly shatter the fragile, fucking thing on the floor, Ramon instead, ultimately, yet utterly unwillingly, resigned himself into a state of movementless rumination, simply allowing the force of gravity to heave his head back down until it silently smacked itself against the countertop once more, where the drunken man lay perfectly still for ten minutes. By this point in the night, most of the regular patrons had gone home to go to bed, and those who were nighttime party animals had transferred over to a local club in lieu of the bar. Thus, it was now only him lying in shivering despair whilst clutching a bottle, and Ramon did, indeed, prefer it that way. After all, with no one else here, he was practically free to say whatever he wanted about his little incident without having to worry at all about rumors spreading around about the city afterwards.

     Finally, however, Ramon’s eyes flickered open, eventually leading up to the aching, alcohol guzzling man cautiously raising his throbbing head off of the wooden countertop, his vision still considerably blurry as he did so. At last, he managed to start gazing forwards, still unable to identify anything his head was pointed at in great detail, until his vision was able to clear itself fully. At this point, all Ramon could do was wait for when it did. What he was welcomed to upon this happening, however, could only cause a light sigh to escape the intoxicated bar patron’s throat, followed up nicely and naturally by a soft groan of: “Lemme guess…you’re gonna try and comfort me and help me get over my woes so I don’t get fully addicted and ruin my whole life from the bottle. Isn’t that right?”

     “...you say all of that like it's a bad thing, y’know.” the black-and-pink-scaled, darker-haired-and-skinned, amber-eyed naga man on the other side of the bar counter replied. “...I mean, yeah, I’m not the boss of you, but wouldn’t you prefer to not ruin your life from the bottle?”

     “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurngh…” Ramon positively groaned out in frustration, currently facing the reality that, ultimately, the naga man in front of him was, in fact, right.

     “Name’s Arin, by the way. I’m the owner of this establishment, and I know half of the people who come here do so to drink their way out of their troubles.” Arin calmly addressed the drunken man. “But I’m just gonna tell you right here, you’ve just gotta take my word for it, it just doesn’t work. I see it over and over and over again in this business. They come in once and tell me they won’t come again, next thing I know they’ve become regulars.” 

     “So now you're gonna try and pry into my personal affairs to get to the root of the issue, huh?” Ramon immediately snapped back in slight annoyance.

     “Well…I’m pretty sure you did just say out loud a while ago that some unidentified ‘he’ figure hated you. Did…something happen recently between you and this ‘he’?” Arin attempted to inquire.

     “Well…*pppppffft* yeah, okay, maybe after what happened, ‘hate’ would be a bit of an understatement, but…man.” Ramon faintly sputtered out with an eye roll. “I mean I was just expecting he’d fucking…beat me up and leave me there, no way in hell I would’ve guessed he’d actually…nevermind.”

     “.............well okay then!” Arin eventually responded in slight bewilderment. “Maybe I won’t try to ask anymore...but…I mean if you do want to calm down in a way that doesn't involve alcohol, I know a great way to do so!”

     “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! Yeah! I get it! Alcohol bad and all that stupid shit! I know! Just…fucking…clearly you’re trying to help me so just spill the beans already, won’t ya? What? Is? It?”

     Giving a slight smile and a pleased nod knowing that Ramon at least consciously recognized the dangers of drinking, Arin took in a deep breath to prepare both himself and his client for what was necessarily gonna have to happen next.

     “...well, there is always an initial hurdle first-timers gotta get over, but you see, the idea is that lots of people enjoy tight, secluded, warm places to calm down in when they’re trying to comfort themselves, so…”

     “...on fucking God please don’t tell me this is what I think it is.”

     “...it…probably is.”

     “.........”

     “.........”

     “...fine.”

     “Realy?”

     “Yeah! Fine! I mean I suppose having a positive experience with it would help me get over my negative experience with it, so whatever, move it along, and unhinge those snake jaws!”

     “...oh…is…that what happened between you and-”

     “I SAID JUST OPEN IT!”

     Promptly doing as he was told, Arin, though actually unable to unhinge his jaws, proceeded to stretch stretch them just about as wide as they could go in order to reveal to the sulking man currently pouting to himself under his breath his slickened, salivating, blackened snake maw. Arin’s tongue extended forwards just slightly, attempting to preemptively greet the incoming Ramon with its sliminess. Ramon, however, had a significantly different idea in mind, and, shakily lamoring up onto the table in order to do so, immediately shoved his head and upper body past the naga’s two little fangs deep inside the goopy, gaping chamber, forcing Arin to grasp ahold onto the man’s sides, in order to keep him from slipping out from gravity.

     Ramon heaved out a stuttered sigh as Arin’s fingers shuffled around his lower body, before the entire maw and the contents within became lifted up slightly into the air, and subsequently tilted back for the slide. Ramon could feel his chin and chest gracefully slipping down with gravity’s pull, his head inching forwards towards the naga’s opened gullet.

     Arin on the outside was able to feel a slight lump gently settling at the very back of his throat, the skin and muscle around the region expanding outwards just slightly in order to fit the circumference of the lodged head. Ramon, meanwhile, was currently focused on how the wiggling, dangling sack of flesh that was the uvula constantly brushed up against his back with each exhale. Ramon would’ve said something about the whole affair, but just before he opened his mouth in order to speak, a deep, squishy sound effect echoed all about the man’s ears as he suddenly felt himself being squelched forwards into the naga’s now-bulging throat.

     As the rest of Ramon’s body naturally slid into the maw once his upper half was gulped into his throat, Arin was able as a result to gingerly close his previously opened jaws, and give a slight rubbing over the tight, protruding bulge he now possessed for just a second. Ramon on the inside was able to feel this going on from the inside, and once again would have planned to say something about it, if only he didn’t hear yet another wet gulping sound reverberating within the tight walls he now occupied, followed by the rest of his body joining his head and chest inside the naga’s esophagus. Now that he was fully ensconced by their walls, all that both the outside Arin as well as Ramon could do was simply sit back and let the squelching muscles do their thing. For Ramon’s part on the inside, however, he was internally forced to admit that being squeezed and massaged in this manner did indeed feel quite nice when he wasn’t being forced to do so against his will. Gingerly closing his eyelids and allowing his body to soak in the sensations happening around him, Ramon could feel a bunch of pent-up bodily tension being released with each push. He was soon able to pick up the sound of a heartbeat, however, since Arin was a naga, Ramon had absolutely no clue where his stomach was actually located, and as a result didn’t really bother to brace himself for the oncoming inevitable plunge.

     Meanwhile, back on the outside, Arin had all but resumed his normal duties at the bar. Since no one else but him and Ramon was here, he was currently simply employed with the task of whipping down the counter, since he decided to save the dishes for last this time ‘round. Thus, Arin was quite perceptive of all the subtle minutia of growling being emitted from his guts, as well as the rhythmic motions of squeezing being performed upon the drunken Ramon, as he silently toiled in his work.

     Back on the inside, Ramon had finally noticed the lower esophageal sphincter enter into his view. This meant he was going to be entering Arin’s human stomach now. Closing his eyes once again as he felt his head squeezing through the tight opening, the rest of Ramon’s body proceeded to follow suit, as he at last slipped into the growling, black stomach within. 

     Arin, of course, was also able to feel this going on, causing him to promptly gaze down towards his middle as his stomach bulged out nice and quickly. Subsequently placing both his hands upon the great, shifting gut, Arin was soon able to sense Ramon shifting about on the inside in order to get himself into a comfortable position. Ramon pushed up against the side of one wall as he attempted to sprawl his body out on his back and lay his limbs upon the sides of the churning, sloshing organ, and simply let his body bob up and down along with the flow, and let the motions rock him into comfort.

     Arin, once he was sure that Ramon was settled, cautiously slithered his way over to the bar’s sink, which was currently overflowing with dirty dishes. Carefully turning on the faucet so that the oncoming stream wouldn’t be of a bothersome volume, Arin simply let out a faint sigh before beginning his work on the pile.

     Ramon, meanwhile, was excessively comfortable, tucked away within the guts of the naga. Passively listening to the symphonious rumbles and groans as the organ shifted about in the abdomen, Ramon could feel the sloshing liquids and natural heat gradually lulling him into a state of sleepiness, something which was only egged on by the fact that it was, in fact, late at night.

     Thus, as Arin only continued to scrub the day’s filthy glasses clean of their grime, Ramon continued to slip away into unconsciousness, and within a far, far, far, far more tranquil state of mind than he had been the first time he landed in someone’s stomach. Ramon didn’t know exactly how he was gonna feel upon waking up, however, what he did know in the moment was that he had not regretted letting the bar-owning naga gulp him down into his stomach like he had previously thought he might. This, he was surer than ever, would be a far better place to wake up than the floor of the bar, or the alleyway. He did have to admit as well, though he was currently unable to say it out loud, that this was, indeed, better than the bottle.

[amatchinwater]

Pairing: Liolan

Characters: Nolan Holloway, Liam Dunbar, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant

Warnings: nothing I can think of

Words: 1433

Prompt: Person A doesn't want to be alone right now, but they're struggling with telling Person B that. @jimmy12427

Ao3 link

---

Familiar with Nightmares

Monroe and her lackeys have mostly been disbanded. Or so Nolan was told. All he knows for certain is that Scott isn’t in Beacon Hills anymore. He went somewhere with a man named Argent because she’s trying to start some shit with another Nemeton. Whatever that means. Nolan doesn’t really understand it. Being thrown face first into the world of the supernatural is quite the learning curve and he’s doing his best to keep up. 

Just knowing that Monroe is still out there is making his skin crawl. He’s more than aware that Gabe is dead. He saw it with his own eyes. But that doesn’t mean that the other teenager doesn’t still haunt his dreams. Or Monroe. It’s even gotten to the point of waking nightmares and he’s convinced that they’re in front of him talking. He should probably see a counselor of some sort about that. 

But who the fuck is he supposed to talk to? He’s been in therapy before. Nolan knows the questions they’ll ask. As soon as he tells them that he’s having nightmares, they’ll ask him of what. And if he lies, how are they supposed to give him accurate help? 

Even sitting in his own bedroom with his friends, the teen feels secluded. It’s not like they’re making it so. Nolan knows he’s doing it to himself. But even Corey, soft, quiet Corey seems to handle everything with a lot more ease than he does. Maybe that’s just because he has Mason to turn to. But the three of them, Mason, Corey, and Liam seem so close as a unit. Nolan wants that for himself so badly. 

They’re here for a reason, they must care at least a little bit. 

The only thing is when it comes to Liam, Nolan is a bit of an idiot. Whenever the wolf opens his mouth, he turns into a bumbling mess. Yes, Nolan wants friends. But he wants so much more when it comes to Liam. The wolf’s company means the most to him because something deep in his heart correlates him to comfort. Ever since the night in the hospital, Liam has checked on him, made sure he felt included, and truly has been an amazing friend. 

Nolan just needs to get his head out of ass and try to say what he wants. 

Not just that either. But to tell Mason and Corey too how much he appreciates them and their being here. Because they are. As much as he closes himself off, they’re always there. For a time at least. 

“Oh shit,” Mason looks at his phone. “It’s super late, my dad’s gonna flip if we’re not back soon.” 

Corey looks over his shoulder to see for himself, “it’s already ten!” 

“You guys can’t stay?” Nolan asks, stowing the way his voice was ready to sound incredibly small. Even if he sequesters himself, the company is very much enjoyed. Especially now that it’s nighttime and there’s no escaping one’s thoughts. 

“I promised my dad we’d be home by ten thirty,” Mason offers him a soft smile. “Maybe we can spend the night next weekend?”

Nolan lights up at the idea, “I’d like that.” The couple gets up from in front of his bed to leave, “I’ll see you guys later.”

“See ya,” Corey calls over his shoulder. 

“Do you not have to go too?” Nolan asks when he realizes Liam is still sitting against his headboard.The wolf shrugs, “there’s only like twenty minutes of the movie left. I can finish it with you first.” The human goes to say something, but Liam cuts him off, “I already let my parents know. They don’t mind.” 

The human smiles, “thanks,” and settles back on the mattress beside the blonde. His heart is hammering in his chest by the time the credits start rolling. “I guess you have to go now, huh?” His voice betrays him this time around. Coming out softer than intended and laced with something he doesn’t want to know what is. “I mean, it’s Friday night,” he tries to recover, but doesn’t quite make it. 

Liam’s brows pinch together and he slides the laptop away. “Nolan, is something wrong?” The wolf’s blue eyes are swimming with concern and Nolan isn’t so sure he can talk his way out of this. 

But Liam is asking him and seems like he really cares. Even if it’s from a friendly standpoint, it’s normal to tell your friends when something’s bothering you. Isn’t it? He hasn’t had many friends to be honest. “Oh uh,” his tongue darts across his bottom lip, smothering the knee jerk reaction to say that he’s fine. “Yeah, kind of.” 

“You know you can talk to me, right?” 

“Yeah!” He smiles, though it’s not quite reaching his eyes. “I-I know that, I just- I can’t- I mean, I don’t-”

The wolf’s eyes narrow and his nostrils flare, “you don’t want to be alone, do you?” Nolan fiddles with his fingers in his lap, ducking his head before shaking it. “What’s wrong?” Liam’s tone is more serious now, but no less caring. 

“I have nightmares,” Nolan looks up, eyes brimming with tears. “All the time. About Monroe and what she and Gerard made me do. And I see Gabe dying,” suddenly he’s pulled into the wolf’s arms, Liam tucking his head under his chin. Nolan’s tears had started to fall freely and he wasn’t even aware they’d fallen. And now he’s crying into his crush’s neck. Great way for this night to go. “I’m sorry, Liam.” 

The other boy scoffs a laugh, “you don’t have to apologize. Not to me,” Liam sighs and starts running his hand along the human’s back. “When I was first bitten, there were these monsters called Berserkers. Giant dudes with skull masks and bones for armor. They were terrifying. Scott had bitten me to save my life and I thought that would’ve been the scariest thing I’d have to deal with.”

“What happened?”

“The first time I saw one of them, it threw me around like a ragdoll.” Liam growls, but calms down, “understandably so, one of them is easily like four of me. I had really bad nightmares of them. I didn’t tell anyone about it. Until it got so bad that I started seeing them when I was wide awake.”

“Liam,” Nolan lifts up enough to look at the wolf.

He just shrugs, “I’m fine now. More than fine. But I pretty much did what you did. One night Mason was over and we were playing video games and I tried to find any excuse that I could to get him to stay. Because I didn’t want to be alone. I was too afraid to sleep alone. So trust me, if anyone understands, it’s me. And I promise, whenever you feel like you can’t be alone, I will always be here for you.”

That startles Nolan as much as it warms his heart. Honestly, that would be amazing. But he can’t do that. Not with how he feels about the wolf. It wouldn’t be right. “I can’t ask you to do that,” he whispers, trying to lean more out of the other boy’s grasp. 

“Why? Because you like me?” Liam asks, flooring Nolan’s heart. He sputters for a second trying to think of any way to deny it and coming up empty handed. “Yeah, I know,” the wolf holds him tighter, preventing escape. “Why do you think I’m still here?”

“B-because you’re my friend?” Nolan meant it to be a statement, but the wolf’s face makes him doubt his own words.

Liam cups his cheek, “because I like you too and I don’t like seeing you upset.” His eyes flicker gold, “neither does my wolf.” 

“But you didn’t-”

“Say anything?” Liam arches a brow and the human can only nod. “You weren’t saying anything either, so I didn’t think you were comfortable about it yet. So I kept quiet until you were ready. But Nolan, I- I can’t hold it in anymore if there’s something that I can do to help you.”

The human’s lips pull into a smile, “you just being here helps me. But yeah, I like you Liam. A lot.” 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“Please,” Nolan whispers, meeting the wolf halfway until their lips press together. It's soft and gentle but god does it make his heart do backflips in his chest. 

When Liam breaks the kiss, he rests their foreheads together, “as long as I have a say, you’ll never be alone, okay?”

“Thank you,” Nolan hums, nuzzling himself back into the wolf’s chest. 

[binniesthighs]

Hey! Can I request a minho smut where y/n and minho are boxing partners and theres that sort of tension at every practice you know? And the boys keep telling you he likes you but you dont listen and theres pining and then finally at that one practice he makes a move and that leads to ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). I love your writing so much and I think you're absolutely great🥺

ANON I love the way that your brain works I’m losing my MIND over this one. oh my gosh and I’ve been dying to write some minho so this has given me the best excuse!!! also thank you so much lovely! It makes me feel all fuzzy inside knowing that ya like my writing! and you’re great was well anon ;) 

pinned | reader x minho |

Pairing: self insert, gender neutral reader x lee minho

Genre: fluff n’ smut

Tags: boxer!minho, boxer!reader, boxer au, pining!minho ahhhh, skz side characters, friends to lovers, growing feelings, minho is whipped for the reader, praising, sexual tension, oral (r & m receiving), marking, unprotected sex (stay safe loves!), soft shower sex

Word count: 4.2k

“Again! Minho, watch your footing, you’re tripping all over yourself.”

Seungmin threw a towel in the general direction of your sparring partner who nearly missed it flying at his head. Beads of sweat waterfalled down his forehead, and it got stuck in his scalp, turning his hair into strands.

“Getting tired?” You jested as Jeongin tightened up your gloves.

He smirked out a little, “Tired? I’m just getting started.”

“You’re losing your edge Lee Minho. I’ve knocked you down at least four times already.” Jeongin helped you by squirting water into your mouth. The cool drops felt heavenly falling down your neck.

“Distracted then?” Hyunjin whipped his disheveled blond hair into a hair tie. “Something on your mind?”

In one sweep, Minho ruffled up his own hair with the fabric of the towel “Distracted? No--”

“Listen Minho, I know that I’m not looking the most glamorous right now but you should get your head back in it, I’m barely breaking a sweat.” You shoved him a little with your gloved hand, handing out a teasing grin.

Your partner bounced a little in place, shaking out his limbs. “Alright...”

Any other day, it would have been Minho who had you stumbling down to the mat, breathless and muscles aching. It was always a mystery to you where he got his stamina from when he was in the ring with you. Outside of the ring, no one could have ever guessed that boxing was his pastime--the giveaway was his knuckles: they were nearly always bruised.

You had met Minho and the rest of your friends nearly a year ago when you joined the gym, just looking for something new to try. Seeing as you and Minho were nearly the same size, it made sense for the two of you to be partners. Even though he was quiet around you, he would always put up a fight. Beating him for once was exciting. When you were the one standing, it felt good, admittedly. The little rush to your head when his body hit the floor was too exciting to ignore. You could really get used to the way that he would stare back up at you, lip quivering just slightly and his abs seizing under his shirt. It was cute almost, you had thought, when you saw the way that his expression would soften underneath you.

Jeongin waved you over to strap your head gear back on with a tiny cringe. “As your friend, I’m gonna tell you that you stink...rather than not saying anything about it.”

Your gloved hand mimed a punch to his face. “Thanks for the info. I’m hitting the showers after this.”

The rest of your little group gathered near to the edge of the ring, towel drying themselves of their own sweat and shadow boxing the air around their fists.

“I’ve been watching from over there...damn Y/n…” Changbin sauntered up, throwing his jump rope over his shoulder. “You’re really improving.”

“I had a good teacher, handsome.” You clicked out a little salute to him.

“Ahhh, stop flattering me.”

“Let’s start.” Minho butted in while he popped in his mouth guard.

“Hands up!” Seungmin called.

The burning of your hamstrings had told you that you were nearing your limit for the day, but nothing felt better than chasing your victory over him once more. In his eyes, he held a darker kind of confidence this time: it clouded his eyes which narrowed. When he would focus, Minho seemed to inspect every single part of your body like he was planning exactly where he wanted to hit first. His eyes would dance around your frame for just a few seconds, then he would know your first move.

Want me to go easy on you this time? You jested under the plastic of your mouth guard.

His right fist hooked directly at you before you had registered it, colliding right with the foam of your headgear. He had hit you with such a force that it felt as if he had shook your eyes, blurring your vision.

“Hands!” Changbin growled from the sidelines, and you did as you were told.

In a couple ways, boxing was like dancing, except you were trying not to get all wrapped up in your partner’s arms. The goal was to prevent him from touching you, so your feet would bounce and skip around him in circles, never letting his steps dominate you. With every twist of your bodies, they would interact with the other, it was all give and take. Perhaps like dancing, the tension between you was tangible, but instead of harmony, there was a dissonance.

Minho swung at you to your right, and you bobbed your head in response. As you chased him back, the plastic blue under your feet would crinkle. Your hands never left the cover of your face only until the few milliseconds when you would make a swing of your own. Had he bopped a second too late, you would have given him proper payback for how hard he had punched at your face.

Seungmin barked out more combos for the two of you to battle in attempting first. It really was like the perfect dance: every time that one of you would swing, the other would float around it.

“Get a hit in! Quit playing with him!” Changbin chuckled from the sidelines.

“Minho! Come on!” Hyunjin spurred his friend on.

As he would, Minho’s curious eyes focused back down on you again, scattering around while he calculated out some kind of invisible equation as he inched you toward the edge of the ring.

“Slip! Slip!” Changbin grabbed onto the bouncing ropes of the ring and Minho hooked into your side.

You twirled your body out past him, letting his punches meet the side of the ring. Your motion had caught him off guard once you had escaped his attempt to pin you.

Now he was the one that was pinned.

In his excitement, Changbin bounced up and down, “JAB JAB!!”

Minho’s focus faded after you had squatted and carried out your swing to his side, and another to his arms covering his face.

“Your stance! Minho!” Seungmin gasped as Minho tripped himself to the ground.

The rest of the group leapt into the air, hollering into the echoey and concrete space.

Minho’s body hit the ground with a thud. His gloved hands became clumsy as he tried to brace himself, and his face was cleanly met with the blue mat.

Your victory was short lived once you saw the way that his eyes wrinkled upon his fall.

“You okay?”

“--Fine.” His words winced through his teeth. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Jeongin bunny hopped into the ring to undress the velcro of your gloves and headgear.

“Don’t lie to me Minho, you can’t lie about these kinds of things.”

“I said that I’m fine.”

Your free hands helped him to his feet. “Have Chan look you over ‘kay? I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to hit that hard...”

Minho shook out his wetted hair once he was free of his headgear. “Stop apologizing. I’m gonna head to the showers.”

Without another word, he slipped under the ropes, hunched a little as he tossed his tape away.

Hyunjin handed you your water which you took thankful gulps of. “Do you think that he’s mad at me?”

“No. It’s not your fault.”

“My fault?”

Hyunjin shrugged with a little smirk. “He’s doing it to himself.”

“Doing what??”

“Boxing knock all the logic out of you? Are you seeing okay?” Hyunjin waved his hand in front of your eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Ahhhh Y/n...silly little Y/n. How many times do I need to tell you?”

“No...this isn’t about that again is it?”

You guzzled down more water and were just a little tempted to flick some of it over on Hyunjin’s unrealistically gorgeous face. Anything but this again.

Changbin threw a white towel at you. “It’s honestly comical at this point.”

“Not you too.” You rolled your eyes.

“He’s literally fucking falling over himself for you and you still don’t see it.”

“I’m not seeing anything because there isn’t anything to see.”

“I can’t believe you.” Changbin and Hyunjin exchanged equally unimpressed eyerolls.

“You said it yourself ‘Bin, I’m getting better. All this practice and I can finally beat him. Why aren't you celebrating with me Mr. “I’m-The-Best-Boxing-Teacher-You-Will-Ever-Meet-Or-Know?” If, if he’s got a thing for me, why hasn’t he said anything?”

Changbin sighed out. “I don’t know, I don’t know how the hell he works. No one really does. He isn’t really the sharing type.”

“You ask him.” Hyunjin announced point blank. “If you’re so skeptical, ask him.”

An unwanted heat assaulted your cheeks. “I’m not--”

“--Oh my god, are you scared to ask? ~Mmm-how unlike you~” Hyunjin patted your head like you were a little dog. His eyes widened. “Are you saying that you feel--”

“--You know what! I’m going to hit the showers too. I’m a mess. Don’t hang around.”

“It never hurts to ask!” Hyunjin called after you, giggling a little in his own teasing way.

“There’s nothing to ask!”

((       ))

“Lock up when you’re done!” Chan’s voice rang through the empty hall of the gym, flicking off a couple lights behind him.

The green-white fluorescent lights above you buzzed with an insect-like ring and flickered every view seconds. Up high on the concrete walls, opened horizontal windows were cracked, letting in the humidity of the summer night, and carried in the sound of crickets singing their nighttime ode. The dark corners of the room seemed perilous compared to the single ring that was lit just for the two of you.

“Minho, I’m exhausted, how much longer do you plan on staying?” Your punch mitts fell to your sides.

“Just a little while longer. I’ve just felt...kinda out of it this week. I could use the extra practice.” His eyes shied, “I appreciate you staying after.”

“Let's just get this over with.” You raised your mitts in front of your face, holding your ground.

Minho huffed out a determined breath, then swung at them with all his might. The sound of the tight fabric patted through the room. His eyes didn’t meet yours for several minutes, his pure focus on each carry though of his arms sent little shock waves to your wrists. Time ticked past on the particularly loud clock nailed to the walls and caged in a little metal grid.

Rather than striking up a conversation like you would, Hyunjin’s voice taunted over and over in your mind like a curse.

“It never hurts to ask!”

Minho stepped back, catching his breath. “I think I’m good now.”

“Great!” You snapped your thoughts back to the moment. “I’m gonna wash off before I head out...you?”

“Probably. The water at my place as been fucking freezing lately, I swear that my landlord is a criminal.”

“Oh...sorry about that.”

“ ‘t’s fine. I’m talking with him tomorrow.”

“I’ll head in with you then…”

((       ))

Chan’s gym had a propensity for having facilities that were usually slightly off-- the automatic lights being one of them. If it wasn’t for more of the high-set windows, it would have been pitch black in the locker room, but the nearly full waxing moon filled the whole room with brilliant silver light. Among the metal of the lockers and the porcelain sinks, the room seemed to be bathed in a bluish tint.

“He’s really gotta get the lights fixed.” You said aloud, merely just trying to say anything to fill the quiet of the room.

“Add it to the list.” Minho breathed out a snicker. “That fourth sink hasn’t worked in weeks.”

“Really?”

The two of you had made some sort of unspoken rule being in the room together: backs turned, not daring to look at the other while you undressed, somehow it seemed like the respectful thing to do. The cold tiles met your bare feet, and your damp skin met the cool air. Suddenly the warmth of the shower sounded like the most enticing thing you could imagine.

Minho’s presence behind you intrigued you sneakily, thoughts pervaded your mind that you hadn’t expected.

Hyunjin had almost asked you if you had feelings for Minho. What would you have said?

You pulled your towel over your body, tucking it in place. “I...I wanted to apologize for the other day. I got too cocky. I shouldn’t have jabbed you that hard, and on your side. That wasn’t...fair of me.”

“I said before, drop it.”

You turned, and the sight of him nearly startled you. You had never totally imagined what he looked like under those white shirts that would cling to his sweating body, but it was nothing like this.

Minho’s back was magnificently sculpted and his shoulder blades curved and poked out from under his skin almost a bit like wings. The curve of his spine traced down his back in a perfect line, and it arched a little as he twisted his body around. Two little dimples peppered right above his waist. Close to his ribs, a little purple mark faded into the pale of his skin.

“I-is that…”

You advanced closer. In the blue light of the room, your eyes couldn’t make out what it was, but you suspicion twisted knots into your stomach.

Minho jumped a little seeing how close you had drawn to him after not hearing your silent footsteps.

“Is that...a bruise? Did I bruise you?”

Panic set in Minho’s eyes. “--No! No, that’s from a couple weeks or so ago, some stupid accident, I can’t really remember.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Positive.” He nodded.

“Well...if you’re lying, I’ll--”

“--What, punch me again like that?”

Minho’s smiling eyes crinkled up slightly and you felt yourself met lightly into them: his smile was something that you knew you had always found to be adorable. Seeing him like this brought memories of him on the mat, flat on his back, those same eyes looking up at you in his awe.

“Haha. Funny. No, I won’t hit you.”

“Good. That did hurt though.”

“...sorry.”

Water dripped from a sink somewhere, and Miho’s hand lingered on his locker door.

“I haven’t hurt you before...have I?”

“You?” In your confusion, your brows scrunched together. “Not that I can remember I think. I know that it looks really dramatic when I fall but--”

“--I don’t want to hurt you either, you know right?”

“It’s just boxing, Minho, it’s not too serious, I know that you’re not like, out to get me or whatever.”

Under the silver-blue moonlight, Minho’s pale skin seemed illuminated. “Hmm.” He sighed.

When he faced you, you could see his pronounced collarbones and the way that his arms stretched out the muscles underneath. Never would you have imagined him to look this breathtaking. You chalked it up to being tired, but creeping little thoughts wove around your brain, whispering tantalizing ideas.

Silently, you wondered what he would feel like under the touch of your fingers. Every single curve of his body you wanted to trace, just to see where they would lead. You hadn’t noticed, but Minho had watched you as your eyes journeyed over him, just as his eyes had done countless times to you before.

You held his eyes tentatively with Hyunjin’s words on your tongue. “Minho, can I ask--”

Minho’s answer was hastily given to you in the form of him clambering his lips into yours while he drew you into his bare chest; he was much warmer than had imagined. There was something frighteningly intimate about the both of you meeting in a tangle of skin and lips; the heat of his chest and yours mixing. He had kissed you so suddenly that you seemed to stumble over your own lips deciding if you wanted to kiss him back. While he was needy, the way in which he ran his lips over yours was more caring than fleeting and impulsive. He knew exactly what he was doing as he gave into the magnetism drawing him into you.

Your partner’s hands cascaded down your back, drawing little squiggles down your spine, causing your legs to buckle slightly. He flooded your mouth with his kisses, each one more searing than the last, each one desperate to tell you what his words couldn’t. At last, you let your shocked body return to him, kissing him back. The moment that you did so, he shuddered into you, clawing lightly at your back. The tiniest “oh” from his lips moaned into your mouth and he shifted to tangle his hands up close to your scalp, drawing you even nearer to him.

He murmured onto you,  “I can’t tell you how long I’ve had to hold myself back.”

It was the slick of his tongue running over your bottom lip that sent you spiraling for him. Just as you had wanted, you let your hands traverse all around his chest and his back, following the lines in his body as if they were a treasure trail to something that you could barely comprehend. Your touches on his skin turned his breaths into unsteady little whimpers that traipsed in between your mixing of lips and heated exhales.

“Mm-please...come with me?”

((       ))

Condensation had gathered heavily upon the deep green tiles of the shower wall while it too dissipated up into the air of the dimly lit bathroom. Swirls of the white wisps entangled around you and you breathed them heavily into your lungs. Under the warmth of the water, your body felt perfectly at ease: your aching muscles too revealed in the feeling that the heat brought, and Minho’s kneading hands worked at every knot in your body while he touched everywhere he could...as if he was starving for it. Handfuls of your skin filled up his greedy palms.

“You’re so beautiful. Everything about you...I’ve always wanted to tell you…” Minho kissed down your neck lapping at your nerves and disrupting the trailing of water down your body. “You-you make it so hard for me.”

“Hard to do what?”

“You’re irresistible.”

Minho’s words escaped from his lips like fresh honey while you were left to melt under them. After being so quiet around you, you felt yourself a fool to have ignored everything that was in front of you; and for being as stubborn as you were.

Further down your body, Minho let his hands fall down your own chest, ghosting his fingers over your nippes. The softest touches from his hands made your buds harden instantly, and your arousal pooled obviously within your sex. To steady yourself, you had thrown your arms over his shoulders and scratched at the combination of water and strings of muscles on his back.

“I-I should have listened, Minho...I’m-mm-so sorry.”

“That doesn’t matter anymore.” He broke for a moment to catch your gaze. “Can I show you? Can I show you how much you drive me absolutely crazy?”

Minho coupled his words with the scrape of his nails down your arms. Every touch that he gave you was needy and testing. You set yourself giddy a bit thinking of how he must have imagined this very moment countless times.

Your hot breath tickled the wet skin of his neck where you returned his kisses. “You can do whatever you want.”

With your permission, Minho’s body appeared to tighten. Where he had pinned you against the wall, his painfully hard member dripped out his eager pre-cum, and throbbed against your belly. Your mind ran free thinking of the ways that you would show him attention as well.

“Mm-tell me to stop and I will, okay?”

“Mmhmm.”

Minho let his kisses waterfall next to the flowing water down your skin farther and farther until he had hovered over your own sex which had grown painfully swollen waiting for his touch.

In the silver moonlight, Minho’s brown eyes glistened while he looked up at you, teasing you with his tongue, never granting you the full satisfaction. The corners of his mouth curled into a smile seeing how you reacted to his agonizingly slow lapping.

“~Y/n~” He sang, “You taste so good.”

“More…” You pathetically pleaded. “Stop-stop teasing me...Minho.”

He did as he was told, granting you more of his mouth, and sucking steadily and purposefully as you grinded into his mouth for even more. Minho reached behind you to grab out handfuls of your ass in his hands, lovingly kneading the skin at the same time. Water droplets had showered over his face, and strung together his eyelashes in a way that you could have sworn made them look as if they sparkled.

Before your orgasm hit, you demanded of him, “Come up here.” The way that his dick had twitched while he had sucked on you was becoming too hard for you to ignore.

With your finger tracing along his jaw, you kissed into his mouth, “My turn.”

The tiles were a bit hard on your knees, but after you had swung his beautifully thick thigh over your shoulder, nothing mattered as you had found your perfect angle.

You have him sloppy kisses all along his length and bit into his thighs, indulging in him, pulling at the skin where he was much more sensitive than you had expected. While it was contradictory, you gave him as many hickies as you could on the skin of his milky inner thighs. The purple love bites were gorgeous on his shaking legs.

“oh god.” He moaned out.

Your tongue teased him for a little while longer, then his hands told you what they wanted you to do. He had braided his fingers deep into your strands, and pulled your lips up to meet with his tip.

“God, I want you so bad, please, y/n.”

Just as how you had felt when he was at your mercy on the mat, he was all yours now: yours to take apart, yours to put back together.

“Needy baby.” You cooed into his leaking slit. “That bad?”

“Are you going to make me beg more?”

“Maybe I like it?” Your wrist jerked at him at last.

“Please give me your mouth, I can’t wait any longer.”

“Cute.”

Upon fully taking him in, Minho gasped out so sharply and loudly, it even surprised you. Never had someone been so needy for you, it was intoxicating. You took him in gradually deeper and deeper, pushing down your throat. All around you, the showering water coated you in an ocean of comfort; it trailed down your hair and fell down the sides of your face and your arms, no place was untouched.

Minho’s pruned fingers dug into your shoulders, “get up--fuck--”

At first, his fingers entered you, teasing your hole. Your stringy slick mixed with the water clinging to his fingers. The orgasm that he had once started within you pooled heavily and tightened at your core.

“Show me Minho, give it to me.”

He instructed you by picking you up into his arms, then pinned you against the tiled walls, back flat against the cool stone. His fingers dug into your ass, aligning you over his dick. It took all of your strength to wrap your arms and legs around him, but he held you back with ease.

“I-I’m not too heavy?”

“No. Not at all, you’re perfect for me. All of you.”

Together, you shivered at the feeling of connection once he had entered you, instinctually finding each other's lips between the water.

Minho’s thrusts started out slow and careful, planned almost. He was intentional in the way he reached as deep inside you as he could and listened to every response of your body.

“Mm...keep going,” you panted, “like that. ‘Feels so, so good.”

Time faded into non-existence this way with Minho dragging his hips in and out of you with a tantalizing speed. More than anything, it was the closeness that you felt taking him in so wholly, feeling every inch of his length. Each time that he grazed you deep, you sunk deeper into him, becoming weaker and weaker in his arms.  

“I’m so close. Can I cum?” Minho’s brown glistening eyes pleaded to you.

You nodded eagerly, and it was if a switch had flipped inside him. All at once, he shoved your body harder into the wall, screwing you into it. His arms flexed where he held you, and his chest flushed red as he neared his release. When he did, his face was near euphoric as he milked himself completely into you, reaching one hand down to give your sex more attention, using his thumb to apply pressure.

When you reached your release, you could only helplessly convulse in his arms, thighs quivering against his hips.

Minho cradled you as you came down, smoothing the top of your head, then eventually helping you stand on your own. “You okay?” He took both sides of your face gently in his palms. “By the way, what is that you were gonna ask me earlier? Sorry…”He bashfully grinned at you. “I had other things on my mind.”

You took his face in your hands too, firstly brushing over the little mole on his nose, then delighting in the soft hairs of his cheeks.

“It’s okay. I got my answer.”

[unicronian]

a bunch of powers/hybrid smp character design hcs based around their powers in the mod:

(small warning for slight body horror in tubbo and wilbur’s sections, and horror themes in wilbur’s section)

this got long so here’s a snapshot of my fav bits above the read more:

tubbo can open his stomach up like a shulker, and just reach in there and put stuff in and get it out again

wilbur’s physical appearance is dependent on how well rested the person looking at him is

tommy glides by t-posing because his arms are his wings

ranboo can open unhinge his jaw and open his mouth like an enderman, and he has like an extra layer of mouth skin like a snake that you can only see when his mouth is unhinged

Phil hates places with low ceilings cause his wings are super long and he can’t stretch them out

Niki’s got gills on her neck to help filter water, so when she wants to talk to people above water she has to stick just her head out of the water and leave her neck beneath it

You know su!peridot’s augments she had at her intro, jack can like do that with his clawed fingers. Just like detach them at will and control them but they can’t go very far from him so it isnt very useful

Shulk!Tubbo:

tubbo has pretty thick skin with a slightly sickly pallor even though he’s perfectly healthy

he also has a carapace that’s similar in color and texture to a shulker’s shell covering the parts of his body that don’t bend(arms, legs, top of his head, upper chest) he can use these to block sword blows but if the sword is sharp enough it’ll stick cut into his skin

the carapace itself doesnt bleed, but it does heal and tubbo feels pain if it gets cut

like a lobster or turtle the carapace is a part of tubbo’s skin and can’t be removed(without extreme pain)

his hands are also reinforced by his carapace, giving him sharp claws at the tips of his fingers, and this is why he can punch through stone easily and without breaking his hand

he’s also pretty heavy underneath this extra armor and as a result he’s got a lot of intense muscle mass

tubbo can open his stomach up like a shulker, and just reach in there and put stuff in and get it out again, but it has limited storage

it kind of makes his stomach look like a shulker, with interlocking squares

the stuff inside his stomach exists in a type of hammerspace(we’ll just call it shulkerspace) so if you were to cut him open the stuff wouldnt be there

you do NOT want to stick your hand into tubbo’s shulkerspace, he can do it with no ill effects but if someone else did they might as well wave goodbye to that hand even if tubbo doesnt close his shulker mouth on your hand

Phantom!Wilbur:

wilbur can do like... ghost things like turning invisible and walking through walls in phantom state

particularly astute(or anxious) people can sense when wilbur’s nearby in phantom state, but not accurately guess where he is

wilbur oftentimes goes in and out of phantom state without even realizing it, sometimes just vanishing in the middle of the conversation because he let his mind wander

he also burns in the daylight which is sadge but not when in phantom state so he sometimes goes into the phantom state on reflex when entering a very bright room

wilbur can sense how tired people are, and if they are tired enough to summon phantoms wilbur can sense whose insomnia the phantoms are targeting on sight

wilbur looks like how you’d expect a ghost to look: see through, human, or at least... that’s what he looks like when you wake up in the morning

his physical appearance is dependent on how well rested the person looking at him is, but he is always corporeal when out of the phantom state

by nighttime, when you’re getting ready for bed wilbur’s eyes are green and if you look closely they glow in the dark, and if you look closer a skeleton makes itself clear beneath wilbur’s skin. it is not a human skeleton

by morning the next day without sleep transparent membrane stretches between wilbur’s claws and you can clearly see the skeleton. fangs protrude from its mouth and its rib cage stretches grotesquely outwards with every breath wilbur takes

by the second night wilbur’s transparent skin is blue and phantom membrane has escaped the confines of his hand and run down the length of his arm, extra bones begin to grow from the skeleton to accommodate the growing wing. it is harder to see through him.

by dawn of the third morning you can see a tail, more bone than blue, leathery skin, lashing behind wilbur, it seems to always whip itself in your direction. it stings when it touches you, but not for long. his frayed wings are fully formed.

night falls and wilbur’s glowing green eyes are sunken in, practically floating in black eye sockets. his skin looks vacuum sealed, giving you a perfect map of the meatless bones inside. he is entirely opaque, you cannot see through him but his stark white skeleton, expanding, stretching, and clawing at you, is clearly visible

you sleep, and wilbur looks human once again

this version of wilbur doesn’t only exist in the minds of the sleep deprived. if you let him stay in the edges of your vision too long, no matter how rested you are, you can see this form

by the time you focus your vision on him wilbur will be back to his normal state. you can’t see what your brain desperately tries to refuse. it is only when your mental walls have been broken down that you can witness wilbur’s form. for better or for worse.

Avian!Tommy:

instead of having an extra set of limbs like phil tommy’s wings and arms are the same limbs, like a harpy(and like wilbur)

where the wing’s wrist is(essentially where it bends, if you’re unfamiliar with bird anatomy) Tommy has some extra human-like clawed fingers that he uses as hands

tommy isnt strong enough to fly with them, even if he is very light thanks to hollow bones. he can glide, though

yes, this does mean that tommy glides by t-posing

tommy also has talons for feet, which sort of assist him in being slightly faster than everyone

his feathers are the same colors as a red parrot’s, and he keeps them very well maintained so they keep their lustrous color

he’s also got a lot of feathers dotting his body, like around his ears and stomach and they protect him from the cold in the high up areas he likes sleeping in

ok i dont really have anything to say abt his veganism he’s just Like That because parrot(cause god knows chickens are omnivores)

he has a beak that he uses for nuts and seeds and he can make bird noises!

And he’s got a small feathery tail that isnt useful for much but does look cool

Even though he can’t fly Tommy does have a third eyelid like a bird, it goes side to side and is transparent, he mostly just uses it while gliding or swimming

Enderian!Ranboo

Very tall boy with very long arms

Honestly very similar to dsmp!ranboo

Water burns him like acid and leaves behind very distinctive burn scars but he heals pretty easily from water burns

He is Constantly bamboozled by people wearing pumpkins and he’s Not a fan

Ranboo can open unhinge his jaw and open his mouth like an enderman, and he has like an extra layer of mouth skin like a snake that you can only see when his mouth is unhinged

He’ll avoid eye contact at all cost because it agitates him and gets him unreasonably angry at whoever he’s talking to, the others have gotten very good at avoiding eye contact with him, though

Teleporting is a lot of fun to him and he’ll sometimes just teleport around just for the sake of it, because he can sense the change in location when teleporting in a way humans with ender pearls cant

Enderians are the results of people trying to fuse together with end-based magic and so all of them have the half and half texture of their skin, but most of them all have the same powers

Speaking of skin, Ranboo’s ender skin is strangely smooth and he doesn’t have a protruding nose, just slits in his face he smells through

He also doesn’t have any body hair at all, but his long ears generally distract from that

Elytrian!Phil

Phil is an incredibly light person, compared to a human he’d be dangerously underweight

He’s essentially skin, hollow bones, and elytra because if he was anything else he wouldn’t be able to fly especially with armor on

However this and his hollow bones means he’s pretty weak in all areas, especially underground

Thanks to his Brain he gets slow and weak under low ceilings and also sadge

Aside from the kind of unearthly tint to his skin Phil looks pretty human, aside from the elytra of course

He’s got insect wings protected by an elytra. So, elytra on beetles and things are kind of like a half circle protecting the wings and pressing them to the body of the beetle, and this works because beetles are wing shaped- phil is not

So, phil has very unique elytra that completely encase his wings, and the top part moves out of the way to let his wings fold out so they’re like twice his height- and that partially adds to his dislike of low ceilings, he can barely stretch his wings

Phil’s got fragile beetle wings so they look pretty fragile but they can withstand a beating and carry Phil a ways(though it’s partially phil’s innate magic that lets him shoot into the sky)

Phil has a transparent third eyelid just like Tommy

And, he has antennae that he uses to feel the wind while flying

Merling!Niki

Niki essentially has two types of skin: a human-looking thick layer of skin that covers the upper portion of her body and an even thicker scale-like layer that covers the lower half

Her human-like skin is very rough and it doesn’t absorb water like human skin does, the scales are smooth but also don’t absorb water

She has two legs and a long, thick tail she uses to propel herself through the water, the tail is entirely covered in her blue scales

Her hands and feet are webbed so when she swims she spreads her hands out to help push herself through the water

Niki also has decorative fins on various places on her body like her ears, legs, arms and stomach, they’re all blue and can’t be controlled in anyway

She’s got gills on her neck to help filter water, so when she wants to talk to people above water she has to stick just her head out of the water and leave her neck beneath it

Breathing in air and rain at the same time is extremely uncomfortable and leaves her constantly feeling short of breath but she considers it well worth it to walk on land for a period of time

She also has sharp teeth because: yes

She doesn’t have eyelids, though, her eyes are built like a fish’s

Blazeborn!Jack

Jack constantly gives off heat, he wont burn anyone but you’ll get very hot if you stand too close to him for too long

He has metallic blaze skin that glows like molten metal if he was recently on fire or in lava

You know su!peridot’s augments she had at her intro, jack can like do that with his clawed fingers. Just like detach them at will and control them but they can’t go very far from him so it isnt very useful

And, of course, he’s immune to poison and hunger because he’s basically an android, he’s like a gold material and metal cant get poisoned or hungry

Jack will, however, become fatigued if he’s away from intense heat like fire or lava for too long, like a week

He gets hurt in water because the water basically sucks the heat away from him and that actually hurts him

Staying in a cold biome too long would do the same thing if jack didnt go prepared with warm clothing and probably a flint and steel but tbf to jack humans also die in cold biomes if they’re unprepared

I’ve got nothing for fragranceman right now as i’m not sure if schlatt’s going to be on the server a lot

But i might make skins for these!

[luvlyrv]

A Promise Under the Stars | Irene x F!Reader

Genre: fluff, idol au-ish but not really(?), romance is not extremely explicit

Summary: When you get to meet Joohyun again, you think back about a promise you two made long ago.

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: Whew. First Irene writing that I’m posting as a stand-alone rather than a part of a series. Also can I say thank you for two of my posts reaching 100 notes within the same week? My very first fic, ‘Second Place’ and ‘Troublemaker’ seem to be very popular, thank you so much fhksadjhfk,

Date: 2/19/21

You collapse on the ground, all your energy expended during several hours of practice. Lying down you can feel the wooden floor under you, your heart pounding as loud as your breathing. As much as you physically feel pain, there was a greater pain building in your heart and mind. Will you ever make it? You've been waiting so long now, how much longer?

With nobody around tears threaten to emerge from your eyes, but the moment is lost when you hear a soft creak. Quickly, you compose yourself just enough to make sure no tears fall. You don't bother turning your head to look at who it was, instead staring at the ceiling as you hear footsteps growing nearer and nearer to your body. Finally, a familiar face emerges from the corner of your eyes. The girl leans over your face, smiling at the sight of you exhausted and sweaty.

"I figured you'd be here." She says teasingly.

"When am I not?" You say as your breathing starts to become steady again.

The girl offers you her small hands and you accept. She helps you on your feet, and when you're finally standing up on your own she doesn't let one of your hands go.

"Wanna cool down with a walk?" She asks you. You lazily nod your head, following behind as your friend, Joohyun.

She takes you outside the building, continuing to walk hand in hand on the sidewalk. You don't know where you're going, but frankly you don't care. Joohyun's mere presence is enough for you to calm down, to feel comfortable and safe. So you take the time to enjoy the feeling of her hand in yours, the night air passing by your skin, and the sound of your footsteps against the pavement. The silence between the two of you making you feel happy.

Eventually the two of you reach a swing set. She let's go of your hand and sits on one, tilting her head to tell you to sit on the one next to her. You go ahead and sit down, gently kicking the ground to create a soft sway. Joohyun does the same with her two hands holding onto the chains holding up the seat. You stare at your feet until Joohyun speaks up again.

"Look up at the sky. It's beautiful, isn't it?" You listen to her command and turn your head up.

You're quite literally star-struck for a moment, a smile appearing on your face as you admire the sky. You've seen the sky and the stars nearly every day of your life. It's the same sky as always, yet somehow on this night it stir something inside you.

"Sometimes I forget how good it is to be living, I let all the beautiful things pass me by." You admit to your friend. You stop looking at the sky, instead turning to face Joohyun. Your eyes follow the outline her side profile as you admire the amazement glazing over her eyes, the curve of her nose, the way her lips pursed together. The nighttime casts her in darkness but the moon gives her an ethereal glow. She stops looking at the stars to give you a smile similar to yours, a smile filled with endearment.

"It's nice isn't it? I come here a lot, just to recollect myself most of the time. It's my space. One where I can exist without worry, without trying to change myself." She says it as she recalls the many nights where she wanted to cry, the nights where she found herself walking here without thinking about it. "I wanted to share it with you though. You seem more stressed recently..." Her soft voice suddenly became laced with worry. You sigh before you start talking again.

"I guess I'm getting bad at hiding it." You try to joke. "I've been training for so long, you know? I've seen so many people leave. So many switch companies, so many debut. Sometimes I wonder if the last several years have been a waste. I don't wanna grow up with this kind of regret." Joohyun looks down dejectedly for a bit at your response.

"I know." She whispers. "I've been feeling the same thing. Sometimes I doubt I even belong. I don't know if this dream is achievable anymore."

You look down, not quite sure what you could possibly say to comfort the both of you. As another wave of silence envelopes the conversation, you kick a nearby pebble, watching it skid as you begin to launch yourself off the ground harder. You feel weightless as you get higher and higher, a little free even, from this restrictive life you live.

Joohyun sticks to the ground, not enjoying the idea of being at such a high height. Still, she begins to smile at the sight of you having at least some sort of fun. Things continue like this, the both of you contemplating different things in the silence under the same worries.

"Hey Y/N." Joohyun breaks the silence by calling for you. You're still staring at the stars as you swing in the air.

"What?"

"Slow down for a minute." You listen to your friend and start to slow down your momentum. When you're finally settled, Joohyun leans over from her swing with her hand out. She has her pinky finger raised while you look at her in confusion. "How about we do it?"

"Do what?"

"Let's complete our dreams. Together." You chuckle a bit at her sudden childish-ness that was different from her mature nature. Despite how out of character it was though, you couldn't help but feel appreciative for the act anyways. You stick out your hand and wrap your pinky around hers.

"Alright. Our little promise, between just the two of us."

"I know I can do it if I have you by my side." A pink hue paints itself on Joohyun's cheeks, complimenting the adorable smirk she gave you. Your heart pounds a little and you laugh at her.

"Since when were you so childish and greasy?"

"I don't know, since whenever it could make you smile like that?" You look away, feeling warmth flood your face.

"Whatever." You scoff light-heartedly.

For the past several weeks you felt like you were in a rut. Motivation draining away from you. Your promise with Joohyun though, her words, her loving voice, everything about her made you want to stay. Perhaps now you can complete your dream.

*

*

You're waiting in line, a smile is plastered on your face that you can't seem to wipe off. Finally, you can see her again.

You can still remember the day she told you she would debut. There was a part of your heart that hurt, but otherwise you were ecstatic for her. Of course out of consideration she tried not to talk about it much, but you assured her it was something that was worth celebrating. That it was an event and feeling you wanted to share between the two of you.

Things didn't turn out as planned. You kept training, but seeing Joohyun debut with seemingly no results for another year was disheartening enough to make you quit. It also didn't help that as Joohyun got busier, the two of you got to talk and hang out less and less. Everyday you would compulsively check your phone, only to be gifted a response on a rare occasion.

After your trainee years you moved on in your life, getting a higher education and joining a career that you found pleasure in. As you focused on your career though, you also found yourself with less and less time. It seemed like at some point Joohyun changed her number and forgot to tell you. For some reason it left you feeling a bit heartbroken. Although she wasn't really a part of your life anymore your memories with her graced your thoughts often.

Now though, as time has passed, your work life has settled down more. You've earned some money and took some vacation time to attend a very, very important event.

The person in front of you finally moves and you're face to face with Yerim, a girl you spent a lot of time with under the same company. She looks up at you with a smile and a face filled with both surprise and recognition. She signs your album before gently nudging the member next to her.

You move on in the line to meet Seulgi. She's happy that Yerim caught her attention to tell her you were here. She gives you a familiar smile and thanks you for coming to see the group. You get your album signed by her and two other members who you didn't get acquainted with during training until you reach the end of the table.

There she was, Bae Joohyun, the person you were closest with during those grueling years training. As soon as you're standing in front of her your heart threatens to jump out of your throat. When your eyes meet you almost feel like crying.

"Hey." You barely get the word to leave your mouth. The sound could hardly escape the tightening of your throat. Judging by the look on her face, it seemed like Joohyun was overwhelmed with feelings too, nearly wanting to cry. Instead she gives a light laugh.

"I've missed you." She says. Maybe it's in your imagination, but she's staring at you so dreamily. You don't know what to say, so you decide to just be honest.

"I've missed you too. I've been waiting for this day." You pause for a second before continuing. "I'm sorry I didn't make it." Joohyun shakes her head at your apology.

"Don't be. As long as you're happy with where you are now then I'm happy too." She gives you her signature smile that had always managed to comfort you.

"Let's make a new promise." Once again she sticks out her pinky finger at you. You take it without hesitation. "Let's talk. Like old times." Even though you haven't talked to each other properly in years, the feeling of her pinky and yours made you feel just as close as you were back in those days.

The staff are ushering you to go, the moment the two of you were sharing was holding up the line for too long. Quickly, Joohyun signs your album and you notice that she opens it and scribbles something inside. Could she have possibly written a message for you?

When go arrive home you admire the album with signatures strewn across it. The question that you had for the entire day though was what Joohyun wrote inside of it. Within the privacy of your home you finally felt safe to open and check.

xxx-xxx-xxxx

let's stay together this time ♥

[corpsedaydream]

puzzle

corpse husband x reader

hi! i haven’t posted any writing in a while, i haven’t felt v musey lately and i think bc my life has kind of just felt like it’s at a halt right now. but then i started this and incorporated corpse and this is what came out of it.

kinda a comfort read idk, hope u enjoy!

lmk what u think

word count: 1.2k

_______________________________

puzzle

You know those fleeting times in life when everything seems to be falling into place so perfectly? Like you and your life were once a jumbled puzzle made up of countless pieces that could never be put together but then the universe suddenly flips a switch and your puzzle starts to form together so tremendously. It has you feeling a new sense of joy, one that’s a little unfamiliar because for the longest time, this all seemed so far away. It can pick you up to such a high position. You swear to yourself that life can’t seem to get better and then it does.

What a wondrous thing to experience.

It was during this peak of happiness, you’d also met your current boyfriend, Corpse. He’d been a wish on a shooting star that had been granted true to you by whatever cosmic guardians were watching over you. Yet another piece of your puzzle that had connected so naturally.

However, this type of happiness can be dangerous because the higher up you find yourself, the harder and faster you can fall. And fall you did.

Just as it was feeling as if your puzzle had been almost completed, the universe dropped you and you fell into thousands of new pieces for a new puzzle that would be even harder to complete. And it seemed that anytime you were active in trying anything to make progress through this complicated time, you were halted. It was an exhausting loop you were caught in, like you were stuck in quicksand and it wasn’t quite strong enough to suck you all the way under, but it was strong enough to keep you from making an escape.

One thing stayed consistent for you through this, Corpse.

And each day you spent him, he’d notice the changes that mirrored how you were feeling and with how each knock back you encountered, it diminished your light even further. Your replies were shorter when you messaged him, you’d laugh a little less at something that would normally bring you to tears from laughing, he’d catch your eyes slowly glaze over as you stared at nothing for prolonged amounts of time, you weren’t really answering your friends calls and you were even forgetting to drink water.

The only thing you had really been doing lately was playing Animal Crossing, after months of not going on the game, you’d decided to go back and it was one of the only things you could control when your life seemed to be out of your hands.

So when Corpse came out of his streaming room he wasn’t surprised to hear the faint tune of the calming game playing from your switch. And although you held the console in your hands, he noticed your eyes were trained out the window.

“What’s on your mind, baby?” He let his presence be known, but you didn’t even flinch, you didn’t hear him at all, he gathered that you must have really been lost in your own thoughts.

So instead of speaking, he stepped closer until he could bend over and interrupt your staring by using his own face to cut off your vision by forcing you to look at him. A small smile that was tainted with his sadness for you graced his face as he watched you blink multiple times and join him back in present time.

“Hi.” You greeted him.

“Hey.”

“Your streams done already?”

“What do you mean already?”

“That was a quick one.”

“I was in there for almost five hours.” His tone was heavy with concern.

“Oh.” You frowned in confusion and he lost your vision as you looked down at the switch in your hands. It had become nighttime on your Animal Crossing Island and last time you checked it was still daylight in the game.

“What were you doing?”

“I was...” You trailed off and moved your little character around, you were still standing in an overgrown flower field. “I was going to fix up my flowers, but,” you shrugged a shoulder, “guess I can’t do that right, either.” You sighed and Corpse felt his heart ache, how badly he wanted you to be able to see yourself the way he did.

“(Y/N)-”

“Corpse, please, I love you and I so appreciate you being here for me, but I don’t need another pick me up. Just let me be sad right now.” You cut him off, looking back up at him and it was his turn to sigh as he held your eye contact. He was paused on what to respond to you with, truth being told, he was feeling so powerless in ways to help you. He wished he could say a magic word or snap his fingers and turn your mood around, bring back the sunshine in you that was normally so present.

“Okay.” He simply responded, he just hoped in due time, you’d come back to him. He knew you weren’t completely overboard, you were normally so optimistic and he hoped that prominent trait of yours was strong enough to keep you afloat through this confusing period in your life.

So for a moment, he just watched you divert your attention back to your Nintendo Switch and he watched as you turned the joystick to move your character around the flower field that had grown so out of hand. You weren’t even holding your shovel in the game and he noticed the distress displayed on your face, he couldn’t let one of your only comfort things right now also add to the list of things that were causing you grief right now.

“Give it to me.” Corpse sat down beside you and took the device from your grasp.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you.” Briefly, he’d turn his head and press a kiss on your forehead and you’d smile back at him and scoot in closer to his side, leaning your head on his shoulder and watching the screen as he went to work in sorting out the flowers on your island.

On the third time of him filling up your characters pockets with flowers, you’d speak up again. “Corpse,”

“Hold on, I’m gaming.”

“No, Corpse,” you’d laugh and tug on his arm a little. “Look at me.” And so he did, a smile matching your own because he was so happy to hear you laugh. “Thank you.” You told him, looking back and forth between his eyes. “For everything.”

And he’d momentarily remove one of his hands from the switch, instead bringing it up to cup your cheek. “You really don’t have to thank me.”

“But I want to.” You’d rebuttal and then he’d lean in to kiss you, your eyes fluttering shut as his mouth met yours. How much you loved him was made up of healing powers, how he knew exactly what you needed in this moment was his own magic. You might’ve been lost in life right now, with a new more intense puzzle that needed to be figured out, but Corpse was your skylight that could always be seen in the darkness. His perfect chaos stronger than all others. “I love you.” You’d tell him after the kiss ended, your nose still brushing against his.

“I love you, too.” He’d peck your lips one last time and then he’d say something that would make you laugh again, “now don’t interrupt me again, I’m a professional gamer, baby.”

[novoaa1writes]

comeback kid

pairing(s): f!reader & jennifer jareau (familial), f!reader & emily prentiss (familial), jennifer jareau x emily prentiss, the BAU team & f!reader (familial)

summary: reader is a young girl who escapes captivity at the hands of a very bad man with the BAU’s help. she meets emily and JJ. spencer, too, along with the others. somewhere along the way, she learns a little something about trust and healing.

word count: ~5,500

rating: mature

warnings: kidnapping, rape/non-con, canon-typical violence, non-graphic sexual & physical abuse to a child

notes: i definitely spent too much time on this bitch i’ve got FINALS tf??? anyways. in this ‘verse, jj never met will and therefore didn’t have henry or michael. and yes i’m aware the title is stupid but it’s kinda sticking with me so i might change it later. **PLEASE read the warnings dude i’m begging you the first half of this is pretty brutal before the healing starts*** (also on ao3)

— —

“I’m sorry there is so much pain in this story. I’m sorry it’s in fragments, like a body caught in crossfire or pulled apart by force. But there is nothing I can do to change it.

I’ve tried to put some of the good things in as well. Flowers, for instance, because where would we be without them?”

— Margaret Atwood

Your daddy dies on a Tuesday. The bad man forces him down onto his knees, shoots him in the chest with a real-life, actual gun. BANG. It’s so loud. Way louder than it is in the movies. 

He turns to you next. Tells you to watch as he takes Momma’s clothes off, throws her onto the bed. He starts touching her like Daddy sometimes did, except she doesn’t smile and laugh like she does with Daddy. She screams and cries like it hurts, like the bad man is making it hurt. It goes on for a long time. 

Eventually, he takes out a knife, puts it in Momma’s stomach. Once, twice, three times. She cries a little louder, starts to breathe a little funny. Soon enough, she goes completely quiet.

Then the bad man turns to you with a big, toothy smile. You don’t like to think about what happens after that. 

— —

Time passes, and the bad man gets a name—Sir. You think it’s sorta a funny name (not truly a name at all, really), but you don’t ask him about it. He gives you a name, too—Princess. You don’t ask about that either. Your questions only ever seem to make him mad, and he gets really mean when he’s mad. 

Sir gives you a bedroom down in the basement of his house. He tells you it’s your home now, but it doesn’t feel warm and safe like home should. 

You get used to it, though. Eventually. 

— —

You start to grow. It’s slow, at first, but once it starts it doesn’t stop, and you have no idea how to feel about it. 

Your chest starts to get a little bigger. It isn’t flat like Sir’s anymore, and that makes you worry about what he’ll think. Instead of getting mad, though, he actually seems to approve. You don’t know why or what it means, but it’s a relief all the same. 

One morning, you wake up with a tummy ache and blood staining the bedsheets between your legs. You kind of freak out about it, but Sir just smiles and says that it’s a good thing, that it means you’re a woman now. That same night, he spreads your legs and takes out his thing. It hurts when he forces it inside you, but you know better than to fight. He says it’s called “making love,” that it’s what two people do when they really care about each other. 

You wonder why it’s called “making love” if it hurts so much, but you don’t ask him that. 

After that night, Sir starts letting you stay in his room. You were never allowed before. At nighttime he puts his thing inside you and makes love, but you don’t mind. His bedsheets are so much softer than yours, and his pillows are so fluffy. You sleep a lot better most nights, even if your private parts feel ache-y and sore more often than not. 

Sir isn’t angry with you as often as he used to be, but he’s still super strict and punishes you for almost everything. He says it has to be done, that you’ve gotta learn your place. He says it hurts him just as much as it hurts you to do it. You don’t know if you believe him. His thing always grows in his pants when he hits you, which you’ve learned to mean that he’s excited. Sometimes he’ll stop in the middle of punishing you to drag you upstairs and make love. 

It’s okay, though. You’re kind of used to it now. 

— —

More time passes, and you get a sister. 

She’s smaller than you are, and when you ask her if she’s bled yet, she just looks back up at you all confused. 

Sir says her name is Sissy. Sissy frowns and says, “No, my name is Bella.” Sir slaps Sissy until she screams and cries and her nose starts bleeding. By the end of it, she’s calling herself Sissy, too. 

Eventually, Sissy’s body starts to go through changes, too, just like yours did. Her chest gets a little bigger. One day she falls to her knees, whimpering and clutching her tummy, and when you check her panties, they’re red with blood. 

Sir starts making love to her, too. Sometimes he invites his friends over. They make love with you and Sissy, too. 

Other times, he makes you and Sissy kiss on the mouth and touch each other’s private parts. You don’t understand why, ‘cause you thought sisters weren’t supposed to do things like that, but you know better than to question it. 

You actually like having a sister, you find. She’s warm and soft and you get to hold each other when things are bad. Since Sissy is old enough to do grown-up things now, Sir gives you and Sissy your own room and a bed to share. 

He still makes love to you most nights, and forces the two of you to play grown-up games together in his bed. But you try your best to be good, and teach Sissy how to be good, too. Sometimes, the two of you can manage to go hours on end without making him upset.

When he hugs the two of you against his bare chest late at night, squeezing you tight and saying how much he loves his two beautiful little girls, it doesn’t make your skin crawl like it used to. It actually doesn’t bother you at all. 

— —

The angry-looking people with guns and vests come barging in late at night when you and Sissy are with Sir in his bed playing grown-up games. Sir grabs a knife, stabs it right into Sissy’s tummy. You’ve never heard her scream so loud.  

The pretty man with dark, chocolate-y skin barges into the room, yanks Sir off the bed and pins him down on the floor. Sissy is whimpering and bleeding from her gut, Sir is thrashing and yelling on the floor. A handsome man with dark curly hair yanks you off the bed, drags you outside. You keep hitting your fists against his big, burly chest; wriggling and flailing in his strong arms; begging him to take you back in and get Sissy, too. He doesn’t. 

The next bit is kind of a blur. 

Someone drapes a coat around your shoulders. A lady with a buzzcut sits you up on the back of the ambulance and dabs wet cotton balls all over the cuts on your face. It stings.

She says you’re gonna be okay, so long as you go to a hospital later.  

They take you back to the police station. You’ve never been in one of those before.

Sissy’s blood is drying on your hands when the big, burly man with brown eyes leads you into a room right next to the captain’s office. It’s got a table and cushion-y chairs. He leaves you there with a tight smile and an apology, but not before telling you that there’ll be someone in to talk to you soon. 

You’re wearing a big blue jacket that says FBI on the back, a pair of panties and nothing else. It’s a little cold, but otherwise you don’t mind. 

You clamber up onto one of the chairs, tuck your bruised knees against your chest. 

You don’t have to wait for very long until someone opens the door and comes inside. She’s really pretty—tall and thin with long golden hair and big blue eyes. You think she kind of looks like a Disney princess. 

“Hi, there,” she says. You watch her carefully as she takes a seat at the table right across from you. “My name is Jennifer, but you can call me JJ.”

“Are you a police officer?” you ask. 

“No, I’m with the FBI.” Her voice is soft and gentle, like silk. 

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

She chuckles, like you’ve said something funny. “Kind of.”

You nod, staring down at the tabletop. “Cool.”

“Can you tell me your name, sweetie?”

“Princess.” 

“‘Princess,’” she repeats, eyebrows raised. “That’s a cute name.”

You look up. You can’t figure out if she really means that. “Thanks. Sir gave it to me.”

“Ah.” JJ’s eyebrows creep a little higher.  “And do you like being called ‘Princess’?” 

You frown. “I guess so.” You don’t really understand what she’s asking. “It’s my name.”

“Okay.” JJ nods. “And how old are you, Princess?”

“I… I don’t know,” you admit. 

“That’s alright,” JJ says. “Now, can you tell me how you and ‘Sir’ met?”

You start fidgeting with your hands, concern for Sissy still fresh on your mind. “Is Sissy okay?”

JJ looks confused. “‘Sissy’?”

“My sister,” you tell her. “Is she okay? She was bleeding.”

JJ pauses, a wrinkle forming between her brows. You get a sinking feeling in your gut. “Princess, your sister was hurt very badly,” she explains, looking at you with sad eyes. “The doctors said there was nothing they could do. I’m so, so sorry.”

Your eyes start to burn like they do when you’re about to start crying. “She’s… She’s dead?”

JJ nods slowly. The sad expression doesn’t leave her face. “Yes, Princess. Again, I’m… so, so sorry.”

Your body feels numb. There’s a humming in your ears you can’t quite place. Your sight grows hazy around the edges. 

“Princess?” JJ’s voice sounds far-away, distant. 

A hot tear traces down your cheek. It helps to anchor you in the moment, sort of. “Sir is a bad man, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” JJ says after a moment. “Yes, he is.”

You tuck your knees a little tighter to your chest. Your bad arm aches, but you ignore it. “I don’t wanna be called ‘Princess’ anymore,” you whisper. 

“Alright. What would you like to be called instead?”

You sniffle as another warm tear traces your cheek. “I… I don’t know.”

“Okay. That’s okay. You don’t have to figure it out right now.”

“You’re really nice, Miss JJ.”

“Just ‘JJ’ is fine.” She takes out a notepad and pen, sets it in front of her on the table. “Now, can you tell me how you and ‘Sir’ met?”

You nod. You still feel numb. “He came into my house one night. He was scary.”

“He hurt your parents, didn’t he?”

You gulp down a whimper. “Y-Yea. He had a gun and a knife.”

“What did he do with them?”

“Shot Daddy right here.” You shift in your seat, pointing at your chest with your good arm—right around where you think your heart should be. “Put Mommy on the bed, and… made love.”

JJ frowns. “‘Made love’?”

You nod, looking at her curiously. Weren’t grown-ups supposed to know all about making love? “Yea. The thing that grown-ups do with each other.”

JJ just stares.

“You know, when they take off their clothes and touch each other’s private parts.”

Something in JJ’s eyes shifts. “Honey… ” she begins. She sounds like she’s choosing her words carefully. “Did Sir teach you about that?”

You nod again. “Yea, he showed me how once I became a woman.”

JJ’s eyes widen. “Once you ‘became a woman’?”

Why does she keep repeating everything I’m saying? “When I started bleeding down… there.”

“Your period?”

Huh? “What’s that?”

“It’s something that happens every month to girls like you and me.”

You lean forward a little bit in your seat, peering intently at her over your knees. “It happens to you, too?”

JJ’s lips curve into a little smile, like she’s amused by your question. Her eyes still look kinda sad, though. “Yes, sweetie, they happen to me, too. I have one every month.”

“A period.” It sounds kinda funny coming off your tongue. “Do you get tummy aches when they happen, too?”

“Sometimes. I take painkillers for the first couple days so that it doesn’t hurt as much.”

“Why… Why doesn’t it happen to boys?” 

“Because girl parts and boy parts are different.”

You nod. That makes sense. After all, whenever Sir pulled out his thing, it was so strange-looking. It didn’t look anything like what you had between your legs.  

“Boy parts are weird,” you say eventually, wrinkling your nose. 

JJ laughs. She has a pretty laugh. “Yes, they certainly are.”

— —

JJ leaves eventually, says she’ll bring you food when she comes back. Your stomach growls. You don’t know how you can be hungry at a time like this, but somehow, you are. 

Another woman takes JJ’s place. 

She’s beautiful, too, in a different way. Black hair, bangs, dark eyes. Her smile is white and dazzling. She’s tall and thin like JJ, but the sweater she’s wearing looks soft while JJ’s shirt was crisp and business-y. 

“Hi, there,” she says as she takes JJ’s seat across from you. She places a brown folder on the table in front of her. “I’m Emily.”

“Are you FBI? Like Miss JJ?” When you mention JJ’s name, her smile seems to get wider. You wonder if you’re just imagining things. 

“Yes, in fact, I am,” she replies. 

“Are you gonna put me in jail?”

Emily raises one eyebrow. “No, honey, I’m not going to put you in jail.”

“What about Sir?”

Emily sighs. “He’s in another room right now. One of our agents is talking to him.”

“He’s gonna go to jail, isn’t he?”

Emily nods. “Yes. For a very long time.” Straightforward and honest. You like that about her, you decide. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

You frown, hesitating. “Sir called me ‘Princess.’”

“So, should I call you that as well?”

Instantly, you shake your head. “No, thank you.”

“What about the name you had before Sir took you?”

“I… I can’t remember.”

“That’s okay.” Emily opens the file, flips it around and slides it across the table over to you. “One of our people, Garcia, found you.”

Hesitantly, you reach out to trace the paper on top. There’s a smaller picture paper-clipped to the front of it. It’s… It’s you. “Name: Y/N Y/L/N,” you read off the page. “That’s… That’s me?”

“Yes, honey,” Emily agrees. Her voice is soft like JJ’s, but different. Deeper. You like it, you decide. “That’s you.”

Your head spins. You look up at her, searching her pale features for an answer. “Miss Emily, h-how old am I?”

“You’re 14.”

“And my parents… They’re gone, aren’t they?”

Emily nods. There’s sadness in her eyes, too. It’s different from JJ’s, but not by much. “I’m afraid they are.”

You bite your lower lip nervously. You really don’t want to think about that right now. “Are you and Miss JJ… friends?”

Emily’s lips twitch. “You could say that.”

“What does that mean?”

“We live together.”

“Oh. That’s cool,” you say, tapping your knees. They’re a mottled combination of purple and black and blue. “Miss JJ is really pretty.”

Emily smiles. “Yes, she certainly is.”

“You smile when you talk about Miss JJ,” you observe, watching Emily carefully. You can’t quite figure her out. “You don’t seem like a very smile-y person.”

Emily looks a little taken aback at your remark, but she recovers quickly. “Well, JJ and I are very close.”

You hum, resting your chin on your knees and giving her your full attention. “Sir says I’m a woman now. Is that true?”

Emily huffs out a laugh. “No, sweetie, not quite. You’re a teenager.”

You tilt your head curiously. “But I did the period.”

“What’s that now?”

“The period. Miss JJ says that that’s what it’s called when you bleed from... down there.”

“Oh, I see what you mean now,” Emily says. “But you don’t ‘do’ periods. You have them.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“And, either way, having a period doesn’t automatically make you a woman, Y/N.”

You squint over at her. Now you’re even more confused. “It doesn’t?”

“Nope. I had my first period when I was around 12 years old, but I didn’t grow up until much, much later.”

You nod at that, like you understand. (You don’t really.) “How much later?”

“According to the law, everyone’s an adult at 18. But honestly, I don’t think I really became a grown-up until I was 25, at least.”

“Woah,” you murmur. “That’s a lot of years.”

Emily chuckles again. You find that you’re beginning to like the sound of it. “I used to think that, too.”

It’s quiet for a little bit. “Miss Emily?” you ask eventually. “Why am I still here?”

“We’re not quite finished with Sir yet,” she tells you. 

“But you caught him.”

“That’s true,” Emily agrees. “But we need him to tell us where to find some other people, too.”

“Why? Did Sir do something to them?”

“Yes. He did.”

“Sir gets angry sometimes,” you say. You don’t quite know what point you’re trying to make, but you feel like you should say it all the same. “He loses control.”

“Everyone gets angry sometimes. Everyone loses control.” Emily leans back in her seat. Her eyes don’t leave you. “That still doesn’t make it okay to hurt people.”

You agree with Emily on that, you think. Even if Sir doesn’t. “Miss Emily?”

“You can just call me ‘Emily.’”

“Emily,” you correct yourself. It feels wrong coming off your tongue. You don’t think you’ll be doing that again any time soon. “You know about making love, right? The thing that grown-ups do in bed?”

Emily opens her mouth but nothing comes out, like she doesn’t quite know what to say. You think she looks kind of silly like that. After a long moment, she says, “I… Well, yes, I suppose I do.”

“Why does it hurt so much? Sir says… that it’s supposed to hurt when you make love. He says that sometimes we have to hurt the people we care about. Is that true?”

Emily’s face falls. All of a sudden, her eyes are sad again, and the way she’s looking at you… like she’s sad for you. 

When she finally answers, her voice is small—smaller than you’ve heard it be since she came in and started talking to you. “He’s wrong, Y/N,” she says.

“But then why is his thing so big?” you ask, completely bewildered. “How could anyone ever fit it in without getting hurt?”

If anything, Emily’s face gets even sadder at that. “He’s a grown-up. He’s much bigger than you are.”

“But I can do grown-up things. I had a period,” you point out. 

“Sweetie, that’s not how it works.” Emily’s hands clasp tightly together on the tabletop until her knuckles turn white. “You’re still a kid. You shouldn’t be doing things like that with grown-ups, and it isn’t fair that he forced you to.” 

You frown. That doesn’t sound totally right, but you don’t know enough to say one way or the other. “Do I belong to him now? ‘Cause we did grown-up things together?” you ask. As soon as the words leave your lips, you realize how badly you’ve been wanting to know the answer.

You can see Emily’s jaw get tight. “Is that what he told you?”

“Yea,” you admit. Your tummy churns as you watch Emily’s clenched hands start to shake. “Um… Are you angry with me, Miss Emily?”

Emily blinks, looking down at her hands and then back to you. “No, honey. No, of course not.” She takes her hands back, puts them in her lap. “I’m sorry. I’m angry with him for doing these things to you.”

“Oh.” Your frown deepens at the defeated look on Emily’s face. “It’s okay,” you assure her. You don’t want her to be sad. “It wasn’t too bad. I learned what he liked pretty quick, and that made it easier.”

Emily begins to look a little sick. 

“Miss Emily, are you alright?” you ask. 

Emily clears her throat. The green complexion fades, but she still looks wary. “Yes, sweetie, I’m fine.”

She’s lying. You don’t know why, but she is. Still, you won’t ask about it. You’re smarter than that. “Is Miss JJ coming back soon?” 

Emily glances down at her watch. She wears it on the inside of her wrist, you remember. “Yeah, I think—”

A sudden knock at the door interrupts Emily mid-sentence, making you flinch. 

“Ah.” Emily’s eyes shift to look at something over your shoulder. She smiles. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

You chance a look behind you. 

There Miss JJ is, holding a brown paper bag and a Sprite. When you meet her eye, she gives you a warm smile and a wink. You immediately turn back around, your cheeks feeling hot. 

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a handful of things for you to choose from,” JJ explains. She drops the paper bag and soda right next to the open file in front of you, then circles around to the other side of the table. It smells like grease and fast food and ketchup. Your tummy rumbles again. “There’s a cheeseburger, some chicken nuggets, and a grilled chicken sandwich. I got you some fries, too.”

JJ gently touches Emily’s shoulder, and the two of them share some sort of silent communication. Then she sits down, too. 

“Thank you, Miss JJ,” you murmur. You don’t make a move to touch the food. 

“You’re welcome, honey.”

The room goes quiet. You steal glances at the food, then over at JJ and Emily. They’re watching you with identical frowns. Occasionally, they turn to exchange concerned looks with each other. In the meantime, you continue your staring match with the purple skin of your kneecaps. 

“Not hungry?” Emily asks after a little while. 

You glance up at her. “Is this a test?”

JJ and Emily exchange another look. “‘A test’?” JJ repeats. Her voice is just as soft and silky as you remember it. “What do you mean by that, honey?”

If it is a test, it’s already way more elaborate than anything Sir ever did. Still, you can’t help falling back on old habits. 

“Food is earned, not given,” you recite. The words come out easy—like second nature. At this point, they kind of are. 

It’s quiet again, until—

“Y/N… Did Sir tell you that?” Emily’s dark eyes on you are steady, like if she looks at you for long enough, she’ll figure out all your secrets. You pray that that isn’t true. 

Reluctantly, you nod. You look back and forth between them, searching. “What do you want for this?”

“Nothing,” Emily says simply. 

You just raise your eyebrows. You’ve played this game before. “A favor, then?”

Emily shakes her head. “No favors necessary.”

“I brought you food because you’re hungry and you need to eat,” JJ adds. She’s looking at you with a pained expression. “That’s all.”

Slowly, you reach for the Sprite. You don’t take your eyes off JJ and Emily. The can is cold and wet, dripping down the sides. 

“Oh!” Emily abruptly stands, leaning forward over the table and reaching out. “Here, I’ll open it for y—”

She stops herself short when she sees you flinch. 

“Y/N, hey,” she prompts. She raises both her hands, palms facing you. “I’m sorry; I should have asked first.” She nods down toward the soda can. “Would it be alright if I opened that Sprite for you?”

Your heartbeat hammers in your chest. Slowly, you reach around your knees to slide the can forward a couple inches. Your eyes don’t leave Emily’s face. 

“Okay, I’m gonna open it for you now,” she tells you. Her hands fall to the soda can, and she does just that. Chk-chk! Her nails are all ragged and torn, you note. One of them has dried blood around it. It looks painful. The soda hisses as she slides it back over to you. 

You don’t relax until she retreats back into her seat. 

“Thank you, Miss Emily.” You take the soda can into your hands, down a little sip. It’s fizzy and strange and way too sweet. You like it. 

“No problem, hon.”

— —

After endless tests, and doctors poking you, and a whole bunch of confusing questions, you’re finally left alone. Well, mostly. 

It’s just you, a hospital bed, and a thin pale man who says his name is Spencer. He’s FBI, too, evidently. He doesn’t look like he’d be FBI, but the gun on his hip says otherwise. 

He’s got big brown eyes, short brown hair, and he won’t stop fidgeting with his hands. He seems nervous. It’s making you nervous. 

Eventually, you can’t take it any longer. “Mister Spencer?” you ask. 

Immediately, his eyes shift to you. “Yes?”  He leans forward in his seat, rests his elbows on his knees. 

“They said I have to have surgery.”

He nods. “You’ve had some broken bones that didn’t heal correctly,” he explains patiently. His voice is soft, so soft it’s almost a whisper. “Most of them won’t require surgery, but from what I understand, the one in your left forearm is still hurting.”

Instinctively, you cradle your bad arm to your chest. “It’s not so bad.”

“That may be true, but the doctors here can fix it. They’re very good at what they do. And once you heal from the surgery, it won’t ever hurt like that again.”

A song plays in your head—one of Sir’s favorite songs. He’d play it all the time. “Ain’t nothin’ in this world for free,” you murmur. 

“Sorry?”

“Nothing in this world is free,” you say. “They can’t just take the pain away, Mister Spencer. Not unless the price is really, really high.” 

“The price has been taken care of.”

“By who?” Owing someone is dangerous. You know that. 

Spencer hesitates. “Well—”

“By me.” A familiar voice makes you whirl your head around. You really don’t like surprises. 

Emily’s standing there in the doorway. She looks at you with an expression you can’t quite figure out. 

“Miss Emily, I—I can’t pay you back—”

“You don’t have to.” She pushes off of the doorframe, comes in and sits in an empty chair next to Spencer. “I just want you to get better, sweetie.”

You eye her suspiciously up and down. “That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“I don’t believe you,” you whisper out eventually. 

You don’t expect her to hear you, much less answer, so it’s a surprise when she does. 

“I know,” she says. 

— —

The next couple days are a blur. You get the surgery, though you don’t really remember it. All you know is you wake up with the room spinning and your bad arm feeling numb. There’s a bandage on it, and white gauze wrapped from your wrist all the way up to your elbow. 

The doctors smile and tell you that things went well, that you’re gonna be okay. Their smiles are too big and the room is too bright and you really don’t want to be there anymore. 

Someone carries you out of the hospital to a big, black car. They smell like cinnamon, and their shirt is really soft. Their long black hair tickles your nose. Emily.

She stays with you in the backseat when the car starts to move.  

There’s a woman with golden hair driving the car. You think you might know her. JJ, a distant voice in your head supplies. 

Things go black for a while after that.

When you wake up, it’s bleary. You’re warm and comfy, which strikes you as unusual. The bed you’re on feels like a cloud. It’s a million times softer and more cloud-like than Sir’s bed ever was. That’s unusual, too. 

Turns out, it’s a guest room in an apartment that’s too fancy to be called an apartment. A “loft.” 

There’s a black cat with green eyes that jumps up on the bed and starts nuzzling you as soon as you’re up. Its fur is really, really soft. You like the way it purrs when you scratch it behind the ears. 

Turns out, the “it” is a “he.” His name is Sergio, and he belongs to Emily and JJ. 

This is their loft, where they’ve offered to let you stay for the foreseeable future. 

You have no idea what their angle is, and that terrifies you. But they’re warm and they smell nice and they let you order takeout from wherever you want for dinner. They’re gentle and they smile a lot and as far as you can tell, they don’t come into your room to touch you at night. 

Still, there’s only one way to be sure. One day, you sneak a strip of Scotch tape from Emily’s desk before dinner. That same night, you stick it horizontally on the inside of the door—from the metal frame across to the wood of the door itself. 

This way, it won’t come undone unless someone opens the door. And if they do, it’ll be impossible to stick the tape back exactly how it was unless you’re on the inside. You’re not sure where you learned that, ‘cause it definitely wasn’t from Sir, but you figure it doesn’t really matter either way. What matters is that it’s smart, and it works.  

Three nights go by. The tape doesn’t move. 

Three nights becomes a week. You keep sneaking bits of Scotch tape to replace the old ones when they start to lose their stick. 

The tape still doesn’t move. 

JJ and Emily are still as kind as ever. They still give you food, change your bandages, let you watch as much TV as you want. They don’t make you play grown-up games. They don’t yell at you. They don’t hit you, either. 

It’s new, and confusing, and strange. 

You think that maybe you could use a little of that. 

— —

A geriatric, balding judge with bifocals and a lisp signs the adoption papers on a Tuesday afternoon. And just like that, Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau are finally declared the official legal guardians of Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N. 

You’re sixteen, now, after a quiet but memorable birthday spent at home with your moms three weeks prior.

Thanks to Uncle Spencer’s influence, you’re reading books like a fiend and doing weekly crossword puzzles with him on Sunday mornings. Social media remains something of a mystery to you, still. Hell, even Mama Emily’s better at it than you are. Auntie Penelope says it’s better that way ‘cause “the Internet is a beautiful but terrible place, my sweet sugarplum,” but at the very least, you think you should get a Facebook before you graduate.

Plus, Uncle Kevin says he’ll teach you some hacker tricks on the sly so long as you don’t tell Auntie Pen. You’re really, really looking forward to that. 

Uncle Hotch goes on weekly runs with you around the park. You pretty much spend the whole time teasing him for being so old and having to stretch so much before the two of you can actually get going, but he still very nearly beats you every time. 

Uncle Rossi spoils you with gifts and home-made Italian recipes. Sometimes, he’ll come over just to cook you dinner. 

Uncle Morgan’s teaching you how to pick up girls. Ever since you told him about that cute girl Emiko in your Spanish class, he’s been drilling you with lessons on “how to woo a lady.” You groan and blush and act like it’s the worst thing that ever happened to you, but secretly, you don’t really mind it. At all. Sometimes, you even take his advice. (Though admittedly, that’s rather rare.)

Luke, Matt, Tara, Alex and Stephen are all new, but your moms seem to trust them, and that’s good enough for you. Plus, Luke lets you play with his dog Roxy sometimes, so he’s already pretty cool in your book.

Friday nights are special. They’re the nights you always, always spend at home with your moms. You play board games, watch movies, binge trashy Netflix shows. Currently, you’re 11 seasons into Grey’s Anatomy. 

Most of the time, you pass out snuggled between them on the couch. They shake you gently when it’s time to go to bed, and you trudge back to your room in a zombie-like trance. You don’t stick tape anywhere. You don’t even close the door. You just fall face-first into bed and drift off to sleep. 

In the mornings, you always wake up all tucked in with a smudge of JJ’s strawberry-scented lip gloss drying on your forehead. 

And… you’re happy. Happier than you’ve ever been. 

‘Course, you still get sad sometimes. You still think about Sir and miss him even when you know you shouldn’t. You still visit Sissy every year, lay pretty pink flowers at the foot of her grave. (Sissy always loved pink.) But, things are different—you’re not alone. Your moms are always, always, always at your side. 

You think Sissy would’ve liked them. Loved them, in fact. 

After all, you certainly do. 

— — 

end notes: the song is “ain’t no rest for the wicked” by cage the elephant and uhhhh that’s it? i think? i Love using fanfic as a means of self-projection <3

[scribeoffate]

The essential staples: 27 and 90

Sick/Injured Fic and Unexpected Virgin

Since you provided no pairing, I have chosen Scott/Theo

and fill can be found behind the cut: cw dubcon

send me some tropes :D

Scott has absolutely no idea what's going on, Theo is sick. He's not supposed to get sick, right? He guesses the rules for chimera have been different in the past. But here he is, stranded in the woods, holding a shivering, half-conscious Theo in his arms.

Scott wipes away the sweat from his forehead the best he can with his red flannel shirt. It's going to be nighttime soon and he knows the best plan is to stay close to where they are, making it easier for them to be found.

Shelter would be great, but Theo can barely move. And Scott isn't leaving him alone.

"Need you to fuck me."

Scott is flummoxed that Theo wakes up. And says that.

Except.

Well. He's been trying to ignore just how good Theo smells for hours. Because he's hurt.

Cue some x-rated shenans.

Near the end Theo says something along the lines of "glad my first time was with you."

Leaving Scott to wallow in all sorts of guilt until Theo finally wakes up. And explains that he'd been pretty sure they'd both been whammied with the same spell he and Mason had suspected the witch they're chasing had been using on their victims.

Apparently, if Scott had been anyone else without his iron-clad control he'd have ravaged Theo long before the illness got so bad. As far as Theo understands Scott has been the only one to resist the spell so far.

Maybe it's Scott, maybe it's because he's an alpha. Either way, he's the one going after the witch. Theo says he wouldn't mind coming along though, as long as Scott promises not to resist for too long after they incapacitate the witch. If they cast the spell again.

(It does not escape Theo that Scott will have no idea if they did nor not.)

[theonewiththefanfics]

Upside Down (one-shot)

Synopsis: Being a Henderson, the Reader never thought the Billy Hargrove would even spare her a glance, but she was wrong. He absolutely fell for her. And she fell for him. But the Upside Down doesn’t like it when people are happy.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x f!Henderson!Reader

Genre: angst/ fluff

Warnings: descriptions of gross wounds and gore, swearing, could be potentially triggering to domestic abuse survivors, kinda PTSD

Word count: 7911 (a big boi)

I’ve mixed up the timeline and events a bit so that they fit this story :) Also note - I don’t condone Billy’s actions in the show. Abuse in any form is NOT okay. This is basically an AU! when looking at it

Hawkins was anything but what Billy had expected when moving to the small town. He’d set his mind on a place where nothing ever happened, the people were the dullest shades of grey, and the only resemblance of happiness he’d ever experience again, would be through the couple of pictures he’d managed to grab before moving from California. And he’d been right. Sort of.

Billy had been a wave of excitement that rolled into Hawkins High School in a long while, which meant all the attention was on him, and he liked it. He was splashy and wanted to make an impression, no matter how it went. He wasn’t there to make friends, just to finish his degree, and then he’d be free to go off and do whatever he wanted. But before he could do that, he had to make a statement.

The opportunity came to him at Tina’s Halloween party. Dressed in a black leather jacket and jeans, a bandana around his blond hair, Billy’s chest was left exposed, and when he sprayed out the leftover beer as he demolished the keg stand, he certainly cemented himself as the new king of Hawkins. 

People buzzed around him, and he revelled in the attention, but then he saw something that turned his world upside down even more that it already had been. Or rather a someone.

Clad in a black beaded corset that rattled rhythmically with every step and sway of her hips, fishnet tights on her legs, sheer gloves that wrapped around her middle fingers up to her elbows, and a cheekbone length black bob, she was the epitome of a 1920s cabaret dancer; sultry and sexy, ready to destroy a man’s life. Some musical came to mind, but he couldn’t pinpoint which, because she took his breath away much like the cigarette smoke invading his lungs.

He nudged Tommy’s shoulder and pointed at the girl with his chin. “Who’s that?”

“That’s Nancy, come on dude.”

“No, I mean the girl next to her,” and this time he pointed directly at her.

Tommy’s eyebrows looked like they were about to shoot up in the stratosphere. “Y/N? You mean Y/N Henderson?”

That name changed everything, and he wasn’t even aware of it.

She was the other Henderson. A nerd, much like her brother, a bit shy but would never back down from a challenge and could never hold her tongue behind her teeth, even when it hurt her. She was the color the horrid town had lacked so much, and after how Tommy had put her down, Billy was just as surprised as she was when he started talking to her.

“Are you lost or something?” Y/N’s eyebrow rose as she faced the boy leaning against her neighbouring locker. 

“Uhh, no?” he chuckled chewing on his bottom lip.

“Okay, so, have you already gone through all the girls that would let you? Because you can skip right along to the next one. I ain't it.”

Billy bristled a bit, shifting on his feet. He hadn’t expected the spunk. “Can’t I just talk to a pretty girl?”

“No, because people like you don’t talk to people like me.”

Don’t get her wrong, she by no means thought she was ugly or undeserving of attention. She just knew had it not been for Nancy, the popular crowd of Vicky, Tommy, Carol and the like, would’ve never given her the time of the day. And nowadays they didn’t. So, when the new king of Hawkins decided to strike up a conversation, things just felt odd. 

“Nah, I just,” Billy fumbled a bit, “I uh, just wanted to get to know you. We didn’t get a chance to talk at Tina’s.”

Y/N closed her eyes and smiled before turning to Nancy and saying she’d catch up with her in chem class.

“Alright, Billy boy,” she turned back around to face the Californian. “Let’s get to know one another.”

The smile that appeared on his face was the most genuine he’d shown in a month. And somehow it didn’t end just there. He kept talking to her, meeting her at her locker, walking her to her car, or when it was at the repair shop, he offered Y/N a ride home. He laid his soul out to her on a silver platter, and instead of smashing it like he feared she would, Y/N took it in her hands and kept it safe within her grasp.

It was on a starry night when he’d chucked stones at her window to wake the girl up and made her sneak out of the house for a late drive to the ice cream shop when things took a turn.

“If Dustin comes back, and I’m not home, he’s gonna snitch on me, and I’m so gonna blame you,” she scolded Billy, but there was no animosity in her tone, and when she threw him a grin, it made his heart stutter in his chest.

It had been happening quite a lot recently. The stuttering. His heart skipped a beat when he woke up and thought of how he’d see Y/N waiting for him by her locker, it skipped a beat when he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her next to him, and it skipped a beat when she rolled her Y/E/C eyes at whatever he'd said, and then hid her face in his side. And it scared him.

He’d never felt that way before, but he understood what it meant, especially when his chest got being ripped apart whenever she wasn’t near, so that’s when he started to drive to her place for their nightly outings because he just needed to be near her. Not that he’d say anything to Max, nor Y/N would ever mention it to Dustin. 

But unfortunately, as much as she laid out her own heart to Billy, there were also things she’d never tell him. Because her heart skipped a beat as well whenever the Californian entered her mind, and Y/N had already lost too much the year prior. His world hadn’t been the only one that’d turned upside down.

With his jacket draped over her shoulders, they crept around her house to the blue Camaro waiting a bit further down the driveway, so the lights wouldn’t give him away. Not that it would’ve mattered when her and Dustin’s mother was out of the town for the week, but they still liked to be as careful as possible.

Def Leppard blasted through the speakers, and they talked about what they'd done. It was a Saturday, so Y/N had spent the whole day at home, while Dustin hung out with the party. She needed the quiet as much as possible while dealing with a chem project, and that included Billy not visiting. When his phone had rung with her saying she was done, he was finally able to scratch the itch that was time spent without Y/N.

At that moment, they were sitting comfortably in the seats of the Camaro parked by Lover’s Lake and watching the scenery. She hadn’t told him how much nighttime actually scared her, but that was because, with him, she felt safe. It was alone when the thoughts of Barb and the Demogorgon came back. But never with him. Though what he said next, pulled her out of the dark reminiscing.

“Let’s go on a date.”

“What?” Y/N choked on her ice cream, looking over at Billy with eyes wide as saucers.

He took in a shuddering breath, but when he repeated the words they were as steady as ever. “Let’s go on a date.”

“Is this – is this some kind of a joke?”

Billy shook his head before taking away the melting ice cream in the little paper cup and placed it on the dashboard, taking Y/N’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers.

“Look I really like you. I have for a while, and yeah, it started off just like you’d like a friend, but now... when I see you, my heart does this weird thing where it starts beating really fast, and my stomach tosses and turns and shit… and that only happens when I think or look at you… so I like you. And I’d like to go on a date with you.

Stunned silence settled between the two teenagers as Y/N processed his words. He no longer could read her facial expression as it had turned into a blank piece of paper instead of the book, he used to be able to leaf through without any problems or hiccups.

A gentle finger pushed a piece of Y/H/C hair out of her face. “What’s going on through that pretty head of yours?” a nervous chuckle escaped him. “You know I can take whatever you throw at me. ‘S not gonna make me care less for you.”

“No, I uh,” Y/N snorted and shook her head, pressing her free hand to her mouth. “I just didn’t expect that from you.”

“What did you expect?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “I mean whenever you go out with girls, it’s never been with someone like me. And every time you did it, I pretended I was okay with it. Cause I cared about you too and wanted you to be happy. Even if it wasn’t with me.”

Billy’s eyes widened, and a small smile started pulling on his lips. “You were jealous?”

“Of course, I was! I’ve liked you for close to a month, but every time I heard you talk about taking a chick out, I pushed my feelings away.” Y/N looked at him and gave him a tight smile. “Love triangles aren’t like they show in the movies. Typically, there’re two happy people and one really sad who won’t show any emotions at all. Guess which one was me?”

He let out a short laugh and squeezed her hand a bit tighter, finally feeling free enough to press a kiss to the skin of her palm. “We’re both quite thick, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Y/N agreed, looking at their clasped palms that fit together like two puzzle pieces. Sure, they’d held hands before, this wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time with the knowledge their feelings were returned.

“Can I kiss you?” Billy asked. 

Y/N’s head shot up. He never asked to kiss someone, girls practically threw themselves at him to have their lips sucked off their face, but his shaky tone and scared eyes showed he was terrified she’d say no. 

Slowly she leaned in, and when he didn’t pull back, Y/N pressed her lips to his. It was absolutely euphoric for both of them. The days and weeks of pent up frustrations and heartache inducing thoughts evaporated as they moved their lips in a dance.

He didn’t want to pull back, and neither did she, but their lungs burned from the lack of air, though Billy didn’t let Y/N get too far, bringing a palm to the base of her neck to keep her close, foreheads resting against one another. Not that she wanted to get away in the first place.

“So, go on a date with me?”

Y/N grinned caressing his face and pulling him closer, much as he did with her, taking hold of her waist and helping her straddle him in the seat, hands keeping her hips away from digging into the steering wheel. “I don’t just kiss all the pretty guys who bat their eyelashes at me.”

When she was close to him like that, his heart flipped and skipped and revved and started once more, but now he loved the feeling because, through the three layers of fabric that separated their skins, he could feel Y/N’s heart beating out of her chest as well. 

“We can’t tell Dustin though,” she murmured pressing her lips to his in a quick peck. “He’ll rip our heads off.”

“Max too.”

“And Steve… and Nancy and Johnathan… basically the whole party.”

Billy nodded before diving in for another kiss. “Agreed.”

 ***

For a couple of weeks, they lived in a state of bliss. Now the late-night sneak outs were filled with kisses by the lake and hands that held one another as close as possible as if they’d disappear into thin air. But the happiness didn’t’ last long, and Billy couldn't find anyone to blame.

It was a pretty standard day for them, as he found Y/N talking with Nancy by her locker, up until he saw her facial expression. 

“ -ought we were done with that,” Y/N hissed. “Fuck, I can’t! I can’t lose more people.”

Billy frowned when he heard that. Yes, he knew she’d lost one of her friends, though he didn’t know the details, he understood how much impact that'd had on Y/N’s life, but when she talked about it happening again and losing people again, his stomach churned.

“Everything alright here?”

Y/N jumped, not expecting the voice, almost slamming her head against the locker, and her reaction made Billy even more scared.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Nancy squeezed Y/N’s bicep before leaving her and the boy on their own. 

Nancy wasn’t stupid and knew how much her friend cared for Billy and suspected there was more between them, so her heart ached at the thought how Y/N’s mind immediately went to the dark places where the Demogorgon lurked.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” 

His palms were like velvet as he cupped her face, and he didn’t care anymore if people found out they were together. All he cared about was what his girl was so fearful of. 

“Talk to me,” he whispered. “Please.”

But when she shook her head and plastered on the fakest smile ever, his heart shattered. 

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just Nancy reminded of the chem test coming up, and I’m so unprepared.”

She was lying to him. Y/N never did that, and he didn’t lie to her either. It was an unspoken rule they’d made up that there'd be no secrets between the two, but Billy now realized his girlfriend might have quite a few things he was unaware of. And she wasn’t planning on sharing. 

“You ready for calculus?” Y/N changed the subject and wrapped her hand around his waist, not even thinking of how people might start speculating. Even when they weren’t together, they were attached at the hip, and Billy was as soft as a feather around her. “Miss Baxter is gonna kill me with those equations.”

But Billy wasn’t listening to her rambles about math and unimportant things, because his heart was sinking with every step he took as the fear he’d had in him about Y/N rejecting him, came back almost tenfold. And when that cursed Halloween rolled around, it didn't help the situation at all.

Y/N was nowhere to be found, which was unsurprising to him at that point; she’d been pulling away hour by hour, breaking his already fragile belief in love. He was upset and pissed and had decided enough was enough. He wanted answers. 

Just as he was about to leave the house, Neil barged in, enraged Max was still out after her curfew.

“She’s probably with those friends of hers,” Billy said. “She’ll be back in no time.”

Neil stepped inside the room, and instantly the atmosphere changed. “You’re gonna go and find her, and then get the fuck back home.”

Billy straightened out, facing his father. He couldn't let him ruin what could still be saved. “I have plans! I need to see Y/N!”

“Your whore can wait.”

“Don’t you dare call her a wh-“ Billy's head slammed against his wardrobe, sparks flying behind his eyelids, and a hand tightly wrapped around his throat, cutting off the air.

“Now,” Neil’s voice was like the calm before the storm. “You’re gonna go out there, find your sister, and then come home. You’re not gonna go and see that slut, and you’re not gonna go to your friends. Understood?”

The hand squeezed tighter around Billy's neck, and he barely managed to rasp out a ‘yes’.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, sir.”

Finally, Neil let him go, and he gulped breath after breath, his own hand going to soothe the skin where there would undeniably be finger marks left the next day. 

A single tear rolled down Billy’s cheek, as his poor excuse of a father left, Susan’s sympathetic gaze the last thing he saw before the door slammed shut. 

He crumpled down on the floor, fingers fisting in his hair. He felt so alone, and all he wanted was to be held by Y/N, but even she was pulling away. 

Angrily he wiped away the salty pearls from his face and stomped to his car setting off on his search for Max but not before delivering a few punches to the wheel. When he got to the Byers’ house, he wasn’t feeling any better. In fact, he turned worse, seeing red when Max's face flashed through the window. 

Like some angry bull, he went after Steve, pummeling him into the ground, and almost knocked a few punches into Lucas had it not been for Max and the tranquillizer she pushed into his system.

In all honesty, the night was a blur. He couldn’t remember how he ended up in his car, nor how he managed to safely drive to Y/N’s - the only place he knew someone would help him.

She had, but it backfired. He’d felt the distance between them grow even more afterwards, and he understood her reasons. Partially. After patching him up, he was left to rest in her bed, which gave her the time to find out what the hell had happened between him and the party. They had enough shit to deal with, with all the Demodogs and the Upside Down being back again.

When Max and Dustin spilt the beans (albeit reluctantly because they knew how happy their siblings were together), Y/N gave Billy the silent treatment for three whole weeks. She only started talking to him after he’d apologized not only to her but to the two boys one of which he'd beaten to a pulp. 

But it only helped a little. He got her back into his life somewhat, yet not fully, and right before the Snowball dance it all crumbled as she broke up with him.

To say he was stunned would be an understatement. He’d gone to her place expecting them to talk out their issues, and he could end it with asking her to go to the dance, but instead, she’d stood twelve feet away from him, arms crossed, eyes on the ground saying they can’t be together anymore. 

“I don’t understand,” he whispered looking at Y/N, hoping she’d meet his gaze. She didn’t. “I thought we were alright. If this is about Hallowe-“

“This isn’t about that night.” Y/N shook her head. “Well, it is. Kind of. But not all of it.”

“Then please explain, so I can fix it. Let me make things right.”

She let out a sigh and sat down onto the bed. “I can’t. And even if I did, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Is this about what happened to Barb?’

Y/N finally looked at Billy, her Y/E/C gaze meeting his blue. “Yes.”

That was it. No further explanations, no elaborations, no excuses.

“Y/N – “

“Can you please leave now?”

“Sweetheart – “

“Please,” she whimpered out, hugging herself. “Please just leave.”

And he did, but it felt like his body was fighting his mind, as his brain screamed to stay and comfort and hold, but his legs had their own agency, and carried Billy out of Y/N’s house, past a disappointed Dustin who’d been listening in on the conversation and shook his head, closing his door, and to his car where he sat for twenty minutes just staring into the distance trying to process what the hell had just happened.

When he went into school the next day, Billy was in a haze, his mind not really functioning.

“Where’s the leech?” Tommy H. cackled beside him, clapping Billy on the shoulder.

“What?”

“I asked where’s the other Henderson that’s always stuck to your side?”

“She uh,” Billy stopped mid-sentence. Tommy H. didn't need to know they dated. “We kinda fell out.”

“Fucking finally,” his ‘friend’ scoffed. “Told you she was a waste of time and space.”

Billy was just about ready to clock him, when his eyes befell on Y/N who finally entered the hallway. There was nothing left of the girl he used to know. She was now part of the grey mass Hawkins seemed to him in the beginning, but even then, she stood out, because even then she didn’t match the shades. She was darker, almost black without the spark that made Y/N Y/N. Billy wished she would turn grey, because he'd never been surer that's how it felt to look down an abyss.

The rest of the day was a nightmare. He had to watch from the side-lines as the person he loved most practically withered away. She was closed off, even to Nancy (which he found out after sucking up his ego and asking Wheeler), and he knew the issue ran much deeper than the simple confirmation of his suspicions, but he couldn’t help if she didn’t let him in. 

He wanted to reach out, he wanted her to use him as a shoulder to cry on, to wrap her arms around him and mumble all her worries into his skin, but any time Billy even so much as looked at her, Y/N would turn her blank stare to the window or the wall or the floor. Anywhere that wasn’t him. 

 ***

 Though when summer came along… summer was a different beast. Billy got a job at the pool, and Y/N got a job at the newly built mall in a department store, and when he saw the girl as she came to pick up Dustin and the rest of the party, she once again looked full of life.

She was practically glowing, and Billy had to say a quick thank you to whoever invented summer breaks, as it seemed, being out of the school environment, was what Y/N needed.

The canary yellow one-piece bathing suit made her seem like the ray of sunshine the teenager knew her to be, and the cobalt wrap around her neck was the summer sky that appeared after the dark clouds dissipated. Though what irked Billy was she still kept her distance from him, and as a surprise for Y/N, he wasn’t giving up.

The girl was there to pick Dustin up once again because he wanted to see Steve at ‘Scoops Ahoy’ before meeting up with the rest of his friends, so Billy took his chance.

She’d scoped out the open pool area for the blond boy, and was relieved he wasn’t on his shift, think it'd be a quick in and out. 

“Dustin, come on!” Y/N hollered. “We gotta go!”

But she wasn’t as sly as she'd hoped she'd be when a shadow started to loom over her. 

There was no doubt in her mind who it was, and her theory was confirmed when Y/N came face to face with the naked chest of Billy. It wasn’t the first time, she’d been in that position, but the circumstances used to be different. Back then, when the hole that were the thoughts and fears of the Demogorgon was the size of a pebble, Billy would be like that on top of Y/N, her nails scratching along the golden skin and leaving loving red marks as her lips worked on the side of his neck to muster up some purplish ones for him to remember her by.

“Hey,” he breathed out taking off his sunglasses.

“Hey yourself,” Y/N breathed out as well. She hadn’t been this close to Billy even before winter break, so all the suppressed feelings were starting to bubble up again, especially when he cleared his throat and reminded her how shy he could actually be, and it pulled at her chest even more. 

“Look, can we talk? Please? I just… I just want to know how you’re doing.”

“I’m alright,” she shrugged. “Happy?”

Billy sighed, placing his hands on his hips. “You know I don’t believe you.”

“Then what do you want from me?” she crossed her arms motioning with her head for Dustin to hurry up.

“I want my girlfriend back,” Billy muttered just so she heard him and not the prying ears of the classmates that had gathered by the poolside. “If not that, then at least my best friend. I miss you.”

And she couldn’t deny the fact she missed him as well. Y/N’s own body language betrayed her. He could see how much she wanted to be wrapped in his warmth, and Billy prayed she’d give in and melt against him.

Finally, she sighed. “Are you closing the pool tonight?”

Billy shook his head, blond curls bouncing. “Heather is, but I can ask and switch.”

“I’ll be here at eight,” Y/N stated right as Dustin bounded up to her ready to leave for the mall.

 ***

 Eight couldn’t come fast enough. His shift felt like it was being dragged out by a supernatural force. By the time six rolled around, there was no one but Heather and him left to clean the poolside. Seven came, and Billy was on his own, mopping the men’s locker room, and wiping down the sauna door. An hour later, Billy was sitting on the edge of the pool, legs inside the warm water.

“Get any acceptance letters yet?”

Her voice brought him out of a trance, and he was about to jump up when she sat down beside him, putting her own legs in the liquid. In normal circumstances, Y/N would lean against him, and Billy would wrap her into his side, but they were no longer in the normal days.

“I mean I did only apply to UCLA, so waiting on that… if it even comes. Heather applied as well, and she received hers yesterday.”

“You’ll get in, Billy, don’t worry,” Y/N's tone was as soft as it was with him when they'd been together. “You’re smart, so don’t put yourself down, and I’m sure UCLA will see it too.”

“You?” he nudged her shoulder with his. “I remember you rambling on about NYU, Brown, Oxford and a bunch of others.”

She shrugged. “Not yet. Though with how last semester went dunno if I will. Kinda went off the deep end.”

Y/N knew Billy wanted to know exactly about that. Why did she suddenly shut down, what was the real reason she broke up with him and completely cut him out of her life, but the second she opened her mouth, finally ready to speak, the lights flickered around them. Instantly, Y/N froze and spaced out, much like when Billy had surprised her all those months ago by her locker.

“Hey, hey,” he cupped her face trying to get her attention. “Come back to me. You’re alright, you’re safe. It’s just me and you,” he placed a hand on her chest and one of hers on his. “Can you feel how I’m breathing?”

Shakily Y/N nodded. 

“Okay,” he nodded back. “Now try to breathe the same way. In,” he took a breath and watched as Y/N mimicked him. “Hold. And out.”

For five minutes as the lights continued to flicker and then finally went out, they kept on with the pattern.

“It’s just a blackout, sweetheart. And you’re not alone. Not if you don’t push me away,” he whispered pressing his forehead to hers. “Please let me in. Please let me be there for you.”

“You can be there for me without knowing why,” her voice still shook from the fright, but with Billy’s presence it slowly levelled out.

His grip on her wrist tightened and he brought it to his lips. “How can I protect you without knowing what to protect you from?”

“Why can’t you just trust me with this? That it’s better not to know.” This whole episode had proved Y/N's point to her – it was safer to not know. Especially for Billy. He already had enough shit to deal with at home.

“Because you don’t trust me to keep you safe.”

“I do,” Y/N sighed, standing up, defeated that he wouldn’t give up and stepped away. “And I love you even more, but I’d prefer if you were alive.”

“You can’t just say shit like that and then tell me not to worry! You can’t tell me I could die from knowing and walk around without me scared shitless!” he jumped up and walked after her, but when Y/N spun around, tears of anger in her eyes, he stopped mid-step.

“I’ve been dealing with this shit for three years now, and I lost one of my best friends because of it! Dustin almost lost one of his best friends! I can’t lose you too,” the last bit came out like a choked back whimper. “I’d rather you hate me than be dead.”

 ***

 That night hadn’t gone how she thought it would. Sure, Y/N had expected to be pretty much interrogated by Billy, but she hadn’t expected the blackout and the all-encompassing fear that erupted throughout her body when the lights blinked out. It was two days later when she finally decided to talk to someone about it

“I’m alright, Nance,” she sighed rolling over in her bed as she talked to her friend. “It was just… fuck. I don’t know when this shit will end. It’s like any time someone turns off the light, I start to see the shadows move and shit. I can’t go on like that.”

She heard some shuffling and muttering from the other end, and Y/N could only guess Johnathan was with her. “Look,” Nancy came back. “Maybe… maybe you can tell him. About everything. He could help us… he could help you, fuck, a blind person could see how much he calms you down.”

“I can’t do that; you know it, Nance! I can’t put him in unnecessary danger.”

“If you’re thinking about Barb, then please stop. This is not the same, in fact, it’s the opposite,” a thick silence settled between the two girls as they thought back to their friend. “Maybe had we known; I wouldn’t have let her leave.”

“Nancy, it wasn’t your fault,” Y/N choked back. “It’s no one’s fault but that monsters.”

“I know, but I’m saying had she known… had we all known, maybe we could’ve been more careful.”

Y/N had nothing to say against that. Had Barb known, maybe she truly would still be with them, and they’d still have their weekly girl’s nights. 

“I just don’t want to risk it. I don’t want to lose him,” she whispered to Nancy. “I can’t lose

him.”

“You’re already losing him by pushing him away.”

She hated Nancy was right, absolutely despised it, but it was Y/N’s safety mechanism, not only to keep the other out of harm’s way but herself as well. If she pushed away enough, maybe once Billy left her, it wouldn’t hurt as much. 

“Look, Johnathan and I will come over and we can have a chillout. Some shit’s been going on, so we need a bit of a break as well,” Nancy said. “And I ain’t suggesting. So, get cleaned up, we’ll come round and help you with the house, but if you look like a homeless man when we arrive, I’ll personally shave off your head.”

There was no room for arguments, especially when the long beep announced Nancy had dropped the call. So, with a sigh, Y/N peeled herself off from where she’d practically melted in the bed and trudged to her adjoined bathroom. She’d almost physically fought Dustin for it, but the ‘older sibling’ card had ultimately won. 

Per Nancy’s instructions, Y/N started to pull herself together. She ran a bath, adding some lavender bubbles and applied a facemask to the sun-kissed skin. It felt kind of tight after being outside by the pool when typically, she barely let the rays touch her, so it definitely needed some moisturizing. 

For the first time in a long while, Y/N felt relaxed, as the hot bubbles encased her. She let out a soft moan when her body was fully submerged and rested her head against the side of the bath. A soft smile appeared on her face when she thought back on the times, she’d done this with Billy and used him as a place to lay her head against. His rough palms would gently caress her sides and massage the knots that'd settled in her shoulders before bringing in her lips for a kiss. But that was the past. 

She pulled her hand out of the liquid cocoon and reached for the razor on the side of the tub. Her skin was slathered enough, that Y/N just decided to go for it, though, with the first stroke of the blades, a sharp sting wrapped around her ankle. 

“Shit,” Y/N hissed, instantly wiping away the blood and licking her finger. “Shit, fucking hell, really?”

As quickly as she could, she shaved both of her legs, without any injuries this time, and got out of the tub to go search for a band-aid. She dried herself off and pulled the old Jaws shirt she’d stolen one night from Billy and refused to give back, saying she preferred to sleep in something of his when he couldn’t be next, and took a pair of work out shorts as bottoms because the heat of Hawkins was unforgiving. 

A glance at the fridge where two notes stood, one from her mom saying she’d be out of the town for the remained of the week on a work trip, and the other from Dustin threatening Y/N if she even so much as looked at his portion of cookies while he was out he’d snap her neck, she scoffed and grabbed a couple of the chocolate chip circles. 

“Dickhead,” Y/N muttered through a stuffed mouth, reaching for a stool to get to their first aid kit.

Red drops had seeped through the tissue paper she’d wrapped around her ankle and splattered onto the floor.

A light flickered.

When Nancy and Johnathan pulled up, all they saw was the lights in Y/N’s house going haywire accompanied by screams.

 ***

 Meanwhile, Billy had had the shittiest couple of days of them all. After getting nowhere with Y/N, just more concerned for her wellbeing, he’d spent the nights in the garage working on his beloved Camaro, or inside his room, headphones on and AC/DC blaring through his Walkman. 

He’d tried calling, but when the phone went unanswered or when Dustin picked up telling how Y/N wasn’t even talking to him, Billy gave up. Maybe it was finally time to let it go and let her go. She seemed to have one hundred percent decided it was either Billy put on a mask of ignorance and they went back to how it used to be, or she wanted nothing to do with him. And Billy couldn’t pretend he didn’t care.

Aggressive banging against his door jerked him out of the self-pity hole he’d been in the past couple of days and towards the invader. Max’s face was unimpressed when he ripped open the door.

“What?” he growled. “What do you want?”

Pretty much everyone that lived in Hawkins piled into his room without a single uttered word – Dustin, Mike, Lucas, the new girl El, Will, Max, but what surprised him the most was Steve. 

“What are you doing here, Harrington?” Billy puffed out his chest. “Need another round?”

“Do that, and you’ll never get back with my sister,” Dustin started, going over to Billy’s curtains and drawing them closed. “And you do want to get back with Y/N, right?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Billy scoffed.

“A simple yes or no,” Max butted in. “If it’s a no, then we’re leaving and you can continue to wallow in your misery, or you can sit down and let us explain.”

A sarcastic snort escaped him, but he relented. Plopping back onto the bed, he rolled his eyes giving Y/N’s brother the go for him to get on with whatever the hell he had to, as long as they’d leave him alone after this and never came in a five feet radius.

“You have to keep an open mind, cause this shit will sound absolutely crazy, but it’s a hundred percent true,” Dustin looked around at the rest of the people. When everyone had given an affirmative nod, he dove into the tale that began two years prior.

Throughout the whole recounting of how Will and Barb had gone missing, how Nancy, Y/N and Johnathan had ventured into the woods at night and had been greeted by a monster with a meat flower for a head and had had to hide for their lives, and how the kids had found El, all leading up to where she’d destroyed it with telekinesis, Billy was practically emotionless, apart from the moment when Steve said while him, Johnathan, Nancy and Y/N had been fighting the thing at Byers’, she’d barely escaped from the Demogorgon and had almost been caught in the flame trap they’d set.

“We thought we were done with that shit, but last year it came back, and it's back now too,” Dustin sighed looking over at Will who’d hung his head. “That’s why Y/N was pushing you away. Things were getting out of hand, and she was afraid the Mind Flayer might get to you. She was just trying to protect you in a really dumbass way.”

“So,” Billy cleared his throat leaning on the edge of the bed and resting his chin against his clasped hands. “You’re telling me your sister broke up with me because an interdimensional monster was terrorizing you and she was afraid it would go after me?” 

Dustin chewed on his bottom lip. “Well when you say it like that, it sounds insane.” 

“Because it is!” the blond exploded. “God, if Y/N didn’t want to see me, she could’ve just told me she didn’t have any feelings anymore, not make you tell me some bullshit story. I get you, Henderson, and I know you’re a dick, Harrington, but I didn’t believe you had that little brain left to go along with this shit.”

The bitter chuckle that made its way out of Steve’s mouth was almost like a cue for everyone to leave. “Yeah, well the thing is, I’m going along with it because it’s the fucking truth. But it’s your loss. She was always way out of your league anyway.”

The sudden shrill ring of the phone made everyone jump before Max ran out of Billy’s room to pick it up. 

“Did you not hear about the part where we said El’s got literal superpowers?” Mike butted in absolutely done with Billy, which made the older boy scoff. 

“Of course, I fucking did, but I decided to block it out, cause given how the whole story’s bullshit, it makes even less sense!” he gestured towards the girl, who’d been standing somewhat behind Mike the whole time. “Come on then! Give us a show!”

“No, you know what, El?” Will popped in. “Don’t. If he doesn’t want to believe us, then so be it. You’re not some circus freak to entertain people. Like Steve said – it’s his loss. This whole thing was a waste of time.”

As everyone left Billy’s room, leaving him to ponder what the fuck had just happened, he heard Max’s panicked voice, and how the kids with Steve in tow sprinted out of the house.

“Hey!” he yelled after the redhead, who only stopped for a second before rushing to Steve's car. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“To Dustin’s. Y/N’s hurt.”

 ***

Those words, no matter what they’d told him before, struck true, and Billy bolted to his own Camaro, following Steve almost to the point he crashed into the vehicle a couple of times when the other guy pressed on the brakes.

Yells of pain greeted him when he jumped into the night air and rushed inside the now-demolished house. Lamps and glass littered the ground in jagged pieces, couch and pillow fillings dusted around like sprinkles on a cake, but the worst sight was the scarlet drops of blood on the walls and ground, some places oozing black like puss from a wound.

“Fuck, shit, fuck,” Billy could hear Y/N’s panting from where her room was, and practically showing her brother out of the way, ran to the pain-filled voice, but was stopped in the middle of the doorway when seeing Johnathan with a blazing white knife in hand. It made bile rise in Billy’s stomach, but what put him on the verge of throwing up was what happened next.

“What the –“ Johnathan exclaimed, noticing the Californian’s arrival, but instantly switched when the kids ran in Y/N’s room, completely unaffected by how everything looked. “El, hold her down,” Johnathan said, and in an instant, Y/N was no longer trying to get away from him.

She was stiff as a statue, eyes wide and filled with fear and pain, while El’s nose had a little stream of blood running from it, an outstretched hand towards Y/N, radiating unseen power that immobilized the girl he loved. 

Everything the kids said, had said had been true. All of it, him being a witness to El’s telekinesis firsthand. Mike's gagging made him snap out of the daze and run to Y/N’s side where he pulled her to rest against his chest

“There’s something in there!” the youngest Wheeler shouted as Johnathan moved closer, kneeling down on bloodied rags that reeked of metal and alcohol.

“I know, what do you think we’re trying to do?” he said it as if he was calming himself down not Y/N. “Quick and fast.”

When the knife moved closer to the open wound, whatever was inside moved away, and it visibly caused Y/N pain, as tears streamed down her cheeks in an endless river.

“No, please,” Y/N whimpered. “It hurts, Billy. Please make it stop.”

“I will, baby, I promise,” he kissed the side of her head where it had lolled to rest against his shoulder. He had to process this quickly to help her. “I will. But you gotta hold on, alright? It’s gonna hurt only for a bit, and after that, it’ll be alright.” 

But she kept shaking her head with every inch that the white-hot steel moved closer to her. The knife hadn’t even touched her. Her whimpers turned into screams. Finally, Billy snapped.

“Can’t you see you’re only hurting her?”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Nancy yelled back. She was crying as well; it was giving her no pleasure seeing one of her closest friends in such an immense amount of pain. “We gotta get it out and cauterize the wound. She could bleed to death.”

It was like a lightbulb went off in his head.

“She could pull it out,” Billy turned hopefully to El. “Right? If you can hold her down, why wouldn’t you be able to pull out whatever it is?”

“It’s still gonna hurt,” her voice was quiet and apologetic as she looked at Y/N, who only shook her head as if saying ‘it’s alright. I forgive you’, now freed from El’s hold, and able to sag against Billy’s front.

“Probably not as much as that would’ve.”

This gave them a few seconds to recuperate, and Nancy ran to her room taking three steps at a time before sprinting downstairs with a can of hairspray and a belt, as the rest tried to somewhat clean Y/N’s room and the house. Billy didn’t want to think about how much of the blood was hers and how much the monsters.

“What happened?” Billy muttered into Y/N’s hair and inhaled the scent of grapefruit and chamomile. He’d missed that smell. He’d missed falling asleep next to her, where he could hide his face by the crook of her neck and just drift off into a peaceful sleep. 

The girl shuddered when he exhaled, the warm puff of air which used to be so soothing, now an unwelcome sensation, courtesy of the part of the Mind Flayer stuck in her body. “Was taking a bath,” Y/N murmured. “Decided to shave and accidentally cut myself. Next thing I know, all the lights started to flicker and this… mass of goo with tentacles was practically throwing me around the house. Luckily Nancy and Johnathan got here, and we were able to stave it off, but when she axed off one of the legs or whatever, I guess not everything retreated.”

A moan of displeasure invaded Billy’s ears, as she shifted a bit. “What are you doing here?”

“Dustin told me everything.”

She grunted straightening out in his hold. “I swear if I didn’t feel like someone played paper shredder with me, I’d kill him.”

“The question is why didn’t you tell me?”

“Had I, would you have believed me?”

Billy looked at her chest and focused on how it moved up and down in short quick breaths while thinking back on the confrontation and how the truth had been laid out to him a mere hour ago. His silence was her answer.

“Did you ever think maybe I was trying to protect you? It’s bad enough the kids are involved. This isn’t just shits and giggles. This is life and death. And if you somehow manage to get through this, you could go to jail. If you can’t tell, I’m not having the time of my life right now, Billy and –“

“I won’t let you do this without me. Not anymore.”

There was no room for discussion. The intensity of his gaze paralyzed Y/N, and as much as she hated to have him involved with the Upside Down business, as much as she hated he was now a possible target, she no longer could tell her heart no, so, she wove a hand into his curls and pulled him down for a kiss. 

For a moment both forgot the situation they were in, and nothing but the sweet taste of the other existed. It was like their souls had been revived and their hearts synced to once more beat in the same rhythm.

When they pulled back and looked around the room, no one was watching, giving the pair some resemblance of privacy, and it made her chuckle, though the levity was soon eradicated when El stepped up.

“Bite on this,” Nancy handed the leather strip to Y/N, who only weakly nodded, and Billy fished out his lighter, tossing it to her.

“The second it's out, light it on fire.

Y/N was fully pressed against Billy now, his arms like a vice around her waist and shoulders, and hers on top of his biceps.

“You ready?” Steve asked kneeling down and putting both palms on her upper thigh, so she’d be as still as possible while El tried to extract whatever thing lurked underneath the tissues of her leg.

Y/N bit down harder on the belt and tightened her grip on Billy. He held her back just as tightly. For reassurance. For security. For safety. She was no longer in this alone. Billy would keep her safe. And she him.

Tags (crossed out wouldn’t take): 

Forever tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64 @supernaturalbaesduh​ @breezy1415 @crazy--me @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sea040561​ @staryeyedgirl​ @deathbyarabbit @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91​ @dalilx​ @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki​ @maladaptive-ninja-returns​ @averyrogers83​ @in-the-end-im-still-trash​ @gallifreyansass​ @dewy-biitch​ @avxgers​ @unlikelygalaxygiver​ @magicwithaknife​ @ollyoxenfrees​ @bnhvrdy​ @tvwhoresblog @celebsimagines​ @thatkindofgurl​ @sj-thefan​ @teenwolflover28

Billy Hargrove’s tag list: @la-reina-tigresa​ @youcanstandundermyumbrella @ephmrl-love​

A/N: I hope everyone’s staying home and is alright during these crazy times. I was in quarantine myself, I got out of the UK in the nick of time so that I could wait this out at home (I wasn’t in contact with people and I was in a safe space away from everyone). I did have the sniffles and a sore throat which is chronic at this point and luckily it’s was just that, as I did go and get tested for COVID-19, but even if you’re like me - please check your temperature 2x a day, drink loads of tea with lemon and honey, and eat a lot of garlic. And don’t forget WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS! I HAVE SHIT TO DO AND PLACES TO BE AND I NEED THIS OVER BY JUNE!!! (please note I do hope we can get back to our normal lives by the end of May, (April would be amazing) but we need to listen to the medical professionals and advice from them. Not politicians, unless they tell you to stay the fuck inside, but actual people who know about disease and viruses. Trust them. They’re putting their lives on the line by being around the infected and treating them while we can sit home on our couches. If not for the respect of other people, then for the ones actually out there trying to curb and combat this.)

Stay safe my frens, and please know - if you need anyone to talk to don’t be afraid to message me. I know i’m quite bad at replying, but I’ll try to be more active at this time, as I know we’re supposed to be “social distancing” but I’d like to call it physical distancing. Heard that somewhere, didn’t make it up myself :D humans by nature are social creatures and as big of a homebody I am, I’m kinda going crazy (was in quarantine for 2 days and was already bored out of my mind). We all need people to talk to. If you need a vent or just someone to have a chat with for 5 mins, I’ll be here :) (P.S. please note I most likely have a huge time zone difference with everyone, so replies might be at off times :D)I’ll be trying to post more fics, but I do have my assignment still (we now have another 2 week deadline extension and I’m so fucking confused as to when are my new deadlines. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish everything in my quarantine, and I’ll be able to write some shizz up)

P.S. my tags are always open :)

P.S.S. what did ya think?

[lov3nerdstuff]

Silent Waters

*Geralt of Rivia x reader*

Part: 1/?

Words: 4.6k

Imagine: After running into the infamous witcher himself, rather literally, you both soon discover that neither of you is quite what the other expected. And as adventure is never far from destiny's path, Geralt and you soon embark on a journey together neither of you could've foreseen.

A.N.: 💚 This is kind of a slow burn romance I gotta say 😁 but slow burns are so much brighter indeed, so maybe some steamy stuff in the future ^^? And kind of a big adventure ahead 😇 also a lot of insights into Jaskier, Geralt and their lovely friendship!

All Parts can be found on my Masterlist!

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You ran as fast as you could while the wind whipped past your body almost painfully, catching onto your clothing and hair to leave it aflutter behind you. No, you couldn't slow down, couldn't stop moving forward, on and on and on… You had to find it, soon. Or any hope would be lost on you once and for all.

Stumbling over the occasional roots winding over the once mushy forest ground that was now starting to freeze over, you thanked fate that at least the full moon illuminated the woods around you enough for the tripping to be kept at a minimal. Yet whenever your foot caught onto a root, a vine, a hole in the ground deeper than it had appeared in the soft silver light from above, you yelped in pain as your body came crashing down on the frozen soil beneath you.

Not that scraped knees and hands would coax such an open avowal of pain from your long since chapped lips… but the scorching heat of your body, your skin aflame beyond the bearable, was even more agonizing without the freezing wind brushing over it as you ran. And yet the frostbitten ground did nothing to chill down your body at all. You needed water, and you needed it fast, or the curse would burn your skin beyond what any flame possibly could.

Scrambling to your feet, you ran on while forcing any and every tear away from your eyes, as they served for nothing more than to blur your anyway limited vision. Damn night… damn forest and damn cursed fog. No, damn the mage who had brought this upon your village. Thrashing on through the foliage, you simply ignored the thorns digging into your skin even through your protective garments.

Thump. Again your run came to a sudden halt when you collided with something tall, dark and broad. The force of your impact sent both you and whatever you had run into tumbling to the ground with a groan. After half a second of fighting the increasingly numbing haze in your mind down to the workable, your eyes met amber ones only two feet in front of you. A gasp escaped your lips both at the surprise and the renewing pain in your body, and for but a second you stared at what you'd run into, at who you had run into. A man with hair white as the full moon itself, glowing almost in a cool silver in this light, and eyes of the warmest swirling amber color… what a contrast. Yet you had no time to dwell.

"Fuck…" You hissed through teeth gritted in pain, then jumped back up to your feet and in an instant ran on through the dark, leaving the man sitting on his behind on the ground in irritation.

_____________

Geralt's journey through the forest had been a slow one, cold and long and unbearably dull. Not that he minded the peace and quiet, but speaking from countless years of experience, peace and quiet were usually an indicator of something rather unpleasant yet to happen. He wouldn't be fooled by the calm before the storm, but neither would he dwell on it more than he had to. If whatever was to come could be avoided or ignored, all would be good. Yet the silence of the forest unsettled him more than he would have liked, for usually woods like this were everything but quiet even at nighttime. In equal silence he continued his journey towards the village that lay at the outskirts of the forest, leading Roach by her reins as the poor mare carried an unconscious Jaskier on her back already. The bard was as much a nuisance as he was a friend, admittedly, and while Geralt was seriously appreciating the silence that came with Jaskier's unconsciousness, he couldn't have left him behind. If Jaskier would ask about it later, once he was among the living again, Geralt would simply say it would have resulted in him falling out of favor in the kingdom, if he had imposed the bard on anyone else. Or he would simply say nothing at all, which was what he usually opted for. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say, really… he did, in fact, have something to reply to almost anything. But while words were difficult, made to be misunderstood and misinterpreted, silence was easy. Horribly easy even, cursed and beautiful at once in its isolation spiked calm. If one didn't say anything at all, at least they couldn't say anything wrong.

His thoughts came to a sudden halt when his ears picked up the slightest noise to his left, and he urged Roach to stand while he walked a few more steps along the path… and suddenly he was knocked down to the ground by the impact of something crashing into him. Someone.

Slightly puzzled, he stared at the girl who had also landed on her butt just like he had. In but a second he studied her features, considering if she posed a threat to him, only to decide that she very likely didn't. Her clothes were torn, as much covered in dirt as he usually was, and her skin was scraped in multiple places. Yet what most struck him was the stone set beauty of her face, contrasting with the fact that her every muscle was tense and clenching, almost twisted in pain but unfaltering. A light sweat had broken on her forehead, but he couldn't possibly tell if it was for the run or her injuries. Her eyes drilled holes into his own for the second it took him to contemplate his next move, putting him under a spell that had his mind numbed and his body on high alert. However before he could act, she had uttered a single 'Fuck' and gone she was already, on into the woods to his right.

_______________

Acting purely on instinct, Geralt rose to his feet the second the girl had vanished and moved to tie Roach to the nearest tree. The girl had come from the direction of the village… and if she had a reason to run, he needed to know. Thus, leaving Jaskier behind with the mare, he took his swords just in case and followed after where she had disappeared between the trees. He didn't worry about finding her, even in the deep darkness of the woods… he was decent enough at trailing both monsters and men, and she didn't make it particularly difficult for him either. It left him to guess that she was rather running to something than from something, and the thought intrigued him. People this desperate to get to a place, especially in the middle of the night in a forest full of peril, usually had a reason worth investigating. Thus he followed her trail through the undergrowth, occasionally cutting his way through a maze of thorns that she must have simply thrashed through. His brows furrowed at the thought, as he found himself asking why someone would willingly hurt themselves like this if there were other paths available that promised less agony, and took less effort too. But he followed behind her nonetheless.

Indeed, a few moments later he heard a not too distant thud of sorts, and his steps quickened involuntarily, carrying him towards the origin of the noise. And suddenly there was no more undergrowth, no more thorns and thicket… Geralt found himself standing at the shore of a smaller lake. Rather a pond, really, but the exact size was hard to tell in the dark that loomed over the far edge of the water, bleeding into the blackness of the distant trees. Maybe it was a lake after all, he wasn't an expert and he really didn't care.

What did catch his interest however was the girl standing at the edge of the water. She had abandoned a belt that held two daggers on the shore, otherwise she was still fully dressed as she stepped into the water determinedly, but slowly nonetheless. Geralt considered making his presence known, but decided against it quickly. Whatever this odd creature was doing, he was intrigued to learn more before he would step out of the shadows.

And odd it really was, he realized, once he spotted the frozen edges of the water and the drifting pieces of ice floating on the black lake's surface. The girl must have a really good reason for willingly stepping into the freezing liquid, especially with all those open wounds. And with her clothes, for they would bring her no warmth after her bath, rather the opposite. Geralt couldn't help himself but simply stare at the scene in front of him, even though he realized he should probably return to his horse and his bard. But he found that even though he willed his legs to move and his eyes to look away, he simply couldn't.

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The water sloshed around your body, engulfing your being more and more with every step into its icy furnace. God, how only could ice burn as much as fire did? And still, you took step after step into the dark liquid that right now was both your salvation and your doom. A whimper escaped your lips as the water touched your ribcage, and you quickly clasped your hand over your mouth. The only thing that could've made your situation any worse was to attract monsters of any kind, and you definitely didn't need that right now. So you simply bit down the agonized cry that bubbled up in your throat by biting the back of your hand.

As soon as the water reached your lower bust, you started cleaning both your garments and your skin from the cursed fog's touch with shaky hands, trying to ignore the new pain you thereby caused for yourself. Really, it was ridiculous… the fog's burn needed to be washed off your skin with water, and it needed to be washed out of the fabrics it had touched. The only water which had been around was where you were in now, a partially frozen lake which in return burned in your wounds like a good dash of salt had been poured into the bleeding cuts. Just great. And in addition to that, the cold's bite hurt almost as much as the fog had in the first place. If the curse hadn't killed you yet, the remedy would. Maybe that was just your bad luck, or maybe it was fate telling you that you had lived past your welcome. Anyway, you hurt… more than you had ever before, likely. But you needed to hurry, needed to get out of the water before your limbs would become too numb to move. With one last shivery breath, you squeezed your eyes shut and dove under. The scream that had been burning on your tongue for the past minutes finally broke free from your control, drowned out by the water even to your own ears as you were surrounded by utter blackness but for the dull reflection of the moon far above you. With almost numb fingers you scrubbed over your face, before running them through your hair to get rid of even the very last of the fog's touch. Then you broke back through the water's surface, gasping for air as much as for its subtle warmth to fill your lungs.

You couldn't feel your toes as you stiffly tumbled back towards the shore, forcing your body to move on through the brick wall the water seemed to have become. The cold, it was almost gone now. No burn, no bite… only numbness and a black depth within you that you felt very tempted to sink into. But your mind was still alert enough to know precisely not to give into that desire and keep moving forward instead, until at last you reached the shore.

The water made your clothes heavy as veils of solid stone, and you found yourself crawling onto land on all wounded fours, panting and tired. Everything hurt, everything… you felt tempted to sleep yet again. Only for a minute. Only a little rest… your eyes fluttered shut before your remaining reason could argue your body to stay awake. Amber eyes flashed through your mind, before at last that as well was consumed by perfect darkness.

_______________

Geralt stood as if frozen to the ground at the edge of the clearing, staring straight ahead at the scene unfolding. He still couldn't fathom why the girl was doing what she was doing, but he had to admit that she did it well. Every movement was efficient, quick and certain, and she seemed to know that she was better off keeping quiet. All that despite the obviously agonizing cold she was surrounded by, and despite her visible, even if minor injuries… Geralt found himself almost as impressed as he was intrigued.

Once she dove under, the frown fell back onto his face and it deepened with every moment she remained gone from his sight. The seconds ticking seemed like minutes to him, until at last she resurfaced from the realm beyond his vision's reach. Geralt let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

His eyes followed her back to the shore, back onto dry land and up towards him a few feet only, yet not enough to spot him in the shadows. He doubted that she would have been able to see him even if she hadn't been so obviously in a haze of pain. But what concerned him even more was that her movements were slow, too slow to be a good sign. He almost found himself frowning again at the way she let out the faintest whimper before collapsing, and turning onto her back at last. Then she stopped moving altogether, for only the subtle rising and falling of her chest to tell Geralt that she was still alive. Barely.

She really wasn't his problem at all, and her fate wasn't his to meddle with… and yet his feet carried him towards her small form that looked almost eerie now that it was still and brushed in the silver moonlight. Serene.

He found himself towering above her for a moment, perching down at last, half a second before her eyes fluttered shut and her breathing slowed down even more. Almost simultaneously his mouth set into a grim line, and he sighed deeply in both annoyance and compassion. Fuck...

_______________

The icy water that still clung heavy onto the girl's garments slowly sept into Geralt's own linen shirt as he carried her back into the forest, through the thicket and towards where Roach must be waiting. He didn't mind that he grew colder, nor that his own clothes got more drenched by the second as he held her tightly against himself, in an attempt to keep her from freezing before he reached the horse and foremost his limited, but no less valued supplies.

As he teetered through the undergrowth in the dim silver light, he repeatedly asked himself why only he had to keep running into problems of this kind. The difficult kind, the kind that involved people. Well, this time the problem had run into him for once, rather literally… He almost snarled at the thought. But he would try his best to save her, as he had saved the annoying bard a hundred times before. Maybe even more, Geralt didn't keep count. Jaskier probably did, knowing him, to write a ballad or rime about it at some point.

Maybe that's what it came down to these days… him saving people. Slaying monsters, even if for coin, and protecting the innocent were two sides of the same medal after all, if one really thought about it. Still, he liked to think of himself more as a slayer of monsters than a savior of men.

"Geralt! Oh thank god, I thought… what, uh… what do you have there?" Jaskier blurted out the very second the witcher's silver head came into sight between the black briars.

"Get off the horse." Geralt ordered even before he reached them, and for once Jaskier obeyed without question and more or less awkwardly slid off Roach's back.

"You don't happen to know where my lute…" Jaskier started as he brushed invisible dust off his ever colourful clothing, but the menacing glare shot at him shut him up in an instant.

Geralt hoisted the girl up onto Roach's back, admittedly a little more carefully than he had tossed Jaskier up there a few hours back, and then moved to untie a blanket from the saddlebags to place it over her for now. The mare's warmth in addition to the blanket should keep her alive for a little while, but he knew that they wouldn't make it to the next village like that, not if he wanted the girl to keep all her limbs.

"Uhm… I know you're gonna tell me to shut up any second now, but I just have to ask… who is that?" Jaskier finally couldn't help himself and spoke up again. "What did I miss while I was… out? Did we kill another monster? Save a princess? Wreak havoc somewhere?"

Geralt groaned under his breath as he untied the mare's reins and started walking into the opposite direction of where he had just come from. They needed to find a place to spend the night, preferably somewhere off the paths and out of the still biting wind, and thus most of his attention was directed towards their surroundings and the drawing up of a plan to keep the girl alive. Jaskier however kept asking questions, making comments about how Geralt was even more brooding than usual, and finally went on to come up with his own stories about what had happened during his time of unconsciousness.

The witcher only sighed to himself, partially resigned for the peaceful silence from earlier was yet again replaced by the bard's unfaltering ramble, and partially annoyed for he had to remind himself every two minutes that he shouldn't check on the girl yet again. That was precisely why he didn't particularly enjoy traveling with people… he tended to worry, a lot. More than appropriate. And he didn't like that at all, neither the feeling he simply couldn't shake off nor the distraction it ought to pose to the tasks at hand.

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It didn't take them too long to find a decent enough spot for setting up camp, and while Geralt tied Roach back onto a tree, Jaskier actually surprised the older man by making himself useful without being instructed to do so, as he moved to pick up more or less dry pieces of wood for his friend to start a fire with. Even if it seemed like that occasionally, Jaskier wasn't completely helpless out here in the wild, nor was he completely useless for that matter. It just took him some time to learn what Geralt had known and practiced for decades. Then again, it by far wasn't the first time they had set up camp after all, and it was by now more of a routine than a challenge.

While Geralt got the fire going a minute later, Jaskier started setting up their bedrolls around this magnificent source of light and warmth that one really only learned to appreciate once traveling in the wilderness for a while. But since he very well knew that Geralt didn't enjoy being watched while doing, well, anything really, the bard trailed back over to the girl who still hung limply on the horse's back, once he had finished his self-assigned task. Now with the warm glow of the fire a few feet away, he could make out her features at last, only to find her skin looking more blue than it should. With a frown, Jaskier rose his hand to move a wet strand of hair out of her face to get a better look, but he flinched back immediately once his more or less warm fingers came in contact with her chilled skin.

"Uh, Geralt… I think she's freezing. As in 'freezing to death'..." He spoke before he thought the whole thing through, and only then realized that this most likely wasn't news to his friend. That really happened more often than not, him stating the obvious… but he just was the kind of person who automatically shared any and every of his thoughts with the people he found himself liking. Which in this case was only the witcher.

Seeing as there was yet again no reply, nor any noise at all but for the crackling of the fire, Jaskier decided to take matter into his own hands. He wouldn't let the girl freeze back here if there was a perfectly good fire close by, and if Geralt wasn't up to help, he simply would do it without him… somehow.

With more reluctance than he'd ever shown towards a woman, he pulled the blanket away from her body and immediately earned himself a huff from Roach, who obviously had enjoyed the warmth as well.

"Oh hush, you… you're warm enough with your own blanket and all." He replied automatically, before rolling his eyes at himself. "Great, now I'm talking to the horse as well… and they say I'm the bad influence."

With more effort than he would've expected, he pulled the girl towards himself so that her body slipped off the mare's back slowly at first, but suddenly dropped into his arms with such a momentum that he could barely catch her. Still, he stumbled backwards as his arms threatened to give out for both the unexpected weight and the surprise of the impact.

Just as he took the tumble, her weight was suddenly lifted off his arms at the same time as he was barely kept on his feet by a strong grip on the back of his collar. It made the fabric dig into his throat uncomfortably, cutting off the airflow for the moment it took him to stand back straight on his feet.

"Geralt!" He croaked out, clearing his throat right after, as he spotted his silver haired friend staring him down with the ever same, ever annoyed expression. "I… I wanted to get her closer to the fire."

Geralt rose an eyebrow at the bard in silence while he hoisted the girl higher up into his arms to have a better hold on her. In the witcher's arms, she looked like a fairy, light as a feather or a lush summer leaf, while with Jaskier… probably everything but. Maybe she had way more muscle mass than those ladies at court he was used to, or it was the water clinging to the fabrics of her clothes… either way, he felt himself blush at his lack of strength. Luckily Geralt didn't see it, as he had already moved away towards the fire. Jaskier followed in an instant, and found he wasn't sure whether it was anger dancing in his friend's amber eyes, or simply the licking of the flames.

"I only meant to help…" He found himself saying in an almost sad seriousness. It was true, he had meant to help the girl. But he'd also meant to help Geralt, to take some work off his shoulders and be less of a bother for once. And as of usual, he had failed, which had only resulted in more trouble. Maybe he should just stick to writing catchy songs and let the witcher do the heroic business…

"You can let her have your bedroll." Geralt's low voice drew him out of his thoughts. "If you really want to help."

"Uh, yes, yes!" His mood brightened immediately. Maybe he didn't have to feel useless for the rest of the night after all. Cold, but not useless. "O-of course, she can have it."

_______________

Geralt placed her down on Jaskier's bedroll almost gently, as gently as he could anyway, and then went to cover her with his own blanket. He could feel his friend's eyes digging holes into his back, but the bard didn't speak up again. That was one thing Geralt had learned about his unlikely companion… as long as he was still talking, even if he was complaining and whining about something, he was fine. Only if he stopped speaking, one should start worrying about him. And this time it just appeared that he was feeling seriously down, by the looks of it, either with guilt or shame or sadness… Geralt couldn't tell without looking at him more closely.

He wasn't particularly good at comforting people, not good at all actually, because he simply didn't know how to. It wasn't something he did, for it wasn't something anyone had ever expected him to do, nor something shown to him in return. So now that his friend's sadness seemed to wrap around him like a cloak of gloom, he had no better idea to cheer him up than to guess what his problem was and subtly offer a solution. Like he had with the bedroll only minutes ago.

"Bard." He said at last, neutrally as ever and likely coming off pissed as ever too. "Get over here. I need your help." As soon as he had spoken those words, the energy shifted entirely.

"What? YOU need MY help?!" Jaskier asked incredulously, but followed command nonetheless and kneeled down next to his friend, in front of the girl in an instant. "What with?"

"Undress her, down to one layer and put the other clothes by the fire to dry. Make sure she stays warm." Geralt said, then sighed under his breath as he rose to his feet, grabbing his sword in the same move.

"Uh, where are you going...?" Jaskier asked immediately, voice laced with concern, but he didn't stop peeling the girl out of her drenched jacket for now.

"Finding us dinner." Geralt replied before he wandered off, out of Jaskier's view and out of the firelight's reach.

Finding something to hunt in winter, especially at night, was not an easy task as it was, but with all the recent distractions, Geralt's thoughts were everywhere but on the task at hand.

At least distracting the bard had worked, even if technically Geralt could've done himself what he had asked Jaskier to help with. He usually preferred doing things himself, for it was less of a risk than having another potentially screw it up. And somehow, he felt more uncomfortable about his friend getting the girl out of her drenched garments than he cared to admit, even to himself… not that undressing her himself would've been any better, really, in terms of discomfort. But it seemed that this was just the right thing to cheer Jaskier up, not the undressing, but being given a task that he could actually accomplish. Something that made him feel of use… And Geralt was fairly sure that Jaskier knew how to undress a woman most efficiently indeed.

As he made his way through the forest as quietly as the moonlight itself, he couldn't quite tear his thoughts away from her though. Her behavior had been so very odd, so reckless and mindless foremost, while yet he had gotten the impression that she had known precisely what she was getting herself into. What was horrible enough for someone to willingly jump into a freezing lake on a cold midwinter night, even if it rose the risk of dying to the almost inevitable? It truly defied any explanation, for now at least. Once she'd wake up however, Geralt would demand answers. But until then, he would likely do anything and everything to keep her safe.

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@its-remy-not-ratatouille @wegingerangelica @thidls12333 @tomstoobeautiful @dreary-skies-stuff @averyhill4445 @wiczer @lotus-eyedindiangoddess @theweirdlunatic @caretheunicorn @kthemarsian @lady-of-lies @sadly-falling-through-wonderland @strawberrysandcream @noplacelikehome77 @theoneanna @mishaandthebrits @mygodisloki @i-am-a-mes @nonsensicalobsessions @exygon @hiddles-lobotomy @rjohnson1280 @annwhojumps @spookycatqueen @salempoe @headoverhiddleston @fanfiction-and-stress @createdfromblue @halszka-potter @thecreatiivecorner @themusingsofmany @inthemarvelvoid @from-hel-i-with-love @kinghiddlestonanddixon @scorpionchild81 @foodthatsgoodforyoursoul @crystal-28 @adefectivedetective @lokis-girl-in-mischief @booklover2929 @iamafangirl-fightme

As promised already, here's the first chapter of a new series I'm working on 😁 I hope you guys enjoyed it! If you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know in the comments 💚✨ feedback is ALWAYS appreciated 💗

[keelywolfe]

FIC: A Pressing Engagement ch2 (Not baon AU)

Summary: Brotherly bonding, by way of felonies. 

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Fluff and Angst, Dating, Developing Relationship, Humor

Chapter 1

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Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

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“Brother,” Blue sighed as he pulled his car up to curb two houses down from the Fell brother’s home. “I’ve known you for a long time.”

Stretch gave him a sideways look. “we’re brothers, i was literally there when you were born.”

Blue ignored that. “And I know we’ve discussed that shortcutting around is rude, but in this situation, I feel as though you could simply pop into Edge’s garage, look for the ring, and we can be back home in time for the new Napstaton special.”

“oh, that’d be too easy for my life,” Stretch grumbled as he pulled a dark knit ski mask over his skull, drawing it down over his face for maximum espionage. The last thing he needed was his white-ass noggin out there bobbing around like a second moon. “i can’t shortcut in. red rigged up some kinda anti-teleportation field around their house, ever since sans stashed all that nitrogen-frozen shaving cream in red’s room.” He tried to flash Blue a grin before he remembered the damn mask. “can’t blame him even if it was funny as hell. i doubt his room has been that clean before or since.”

“Yes, I remember that. Edge wasn’t as amused.”

“that’s ‘cause his sense of humor is atrophied from disuse, we’re working on it. so if shortcuts are out, we gotta be discreet. which is why you should’ve changed when i asked!" Stretch said accusingly. He glared at Blue's bright pink She-Ra t-shirt, showcasing Catra and Adora in a loving embrace. The sentiment was appreciated, the color, not so much, his bro was gonna stand out like an adorably affectionate beacon.

“My apologies for not owning any cat burglar gear, I missed out on auditioning for the remake of Ocean’s 11. Really, brother, we’re breaking into one garage, not a casino vault.” Blue sighed again and turned off the car. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“none of this was a good idea, but here i am.” Should’ve known it was a mistake the second he walked into the jewelry store, could’ve wasted a lot less time if he’d probed Edge for marriage opinions before he opened his wallet. But there wasn’t time (heh) for him to work out his own version of ‘Back to the Future’, so they were gonna have to stick with heist movie.

Stretch got out of the car and skulked closer, inspecting their surroundings, Blue following reluctantly behind. The sidewalks were empty, everyone else was sensibly inside watching their preferred nighttime entertainment since it was dark except for the bright streetlamps positioned evenly down the length of the block.

Stretch paused outside the ring of light by the Fell home, summoning a small, sharpened bone. At his elbow, Blue asked worriedly, “What are you doing?”

“i’m gonna break the streetlamp so no one can see us.”

Blue grabbed his hand, hissing, “You are not! I did not sign on for destruction of property! Unscrew the bulb and we can tighten it again when we leave!”

Okay, to be fair that was a much better idea, even if it took a lot more concentration and a quick mental ‘righty tighty, lefty loosey’. With a little effort, Stretch managed to coax the oversized bulb loose and the light went abruptly dark. Perfect.

The two of them crept closer to the house and if Blue was humming the ‘mission impossible’ theme song under his breath, Stretch couldn’t exactly gripe at him. He’d had it blaring nonstop in the back of his head since they’d left the apartments. They paused by the well-trimmed shrubs that ran alongside the garage while Stretch considered the plan.

Opening the main garage door was out. Even if Stretch could clip the house alarm, there was no way one of the Fell brothers wouldn’t hear that grinding its way open. Reconnaissance was supposed to happen before the damned heist, every movie Stretch ever saw taught him that, but they were working in a time crunch and wasn’t it a shame that the only room in the Fell house that he knew with any real detail was Edge’s bedroom. Also the shower, but neither of those options were real useful right now.

He looked around, squinting through the dimness, hell, they should’ve done this before he killed the streetlight. To his relief, he could see the outline of window in the shadows, up high on garage wall. He gestured to it, whispering to Blue, “give me up boost up.”

Blue gulped visibly and reached out, the faintest glow rising in his fingers. There was a soft ting as his magic enveloped Stretch’s soul, lifting him off his feet and towards the window. Or more like sending him on an increasingly wobbly flight through the air, limbs dangling as he slowly rose. Stretch bit back a squawk as the grip on his soul twisted him nearly sideways, then hastily overcompensated in the other direction to almost send him careening into the building.

“careful!” Stretch whispered furiously, biting back a curse as he shoved away from the wall. “seriously, what have you been learning with all that training you do!”

“I’m terribly sorry, Alphys never covered breaking and entering!” Blue hissed. Sweat was visibly standing out on his skull, glimmering in the moonlight. Another minute of unstable and slightly painful antigravity later and Stretch was hovering outside the window.

His black hoodie was a better choice for more than the color. Its pockets zipped securely shut, holding his tiny collection of burglary tools safe and sound. If Stretch’d been wearing this one earlier, none of this would be happening and wasn’t hindsight a nosy bitch. He dug out his tools, flicking on a penlight to inspect what the paranoid goblin had going for home security. There was an alarm, to be expected, but it looked like a simple wire job. All Stretch needed was five minutes and a pair of wire snips and he’d be inside.

“Oh!” his brother’s voice suddenly carried through the quiet, too loud and verging on a panicked cheer, “Good evening, Mrs. Gerson!”

Stretch’s head whipped around to see an elderly turtle Monster gradually walking up to Blue, cane in hand and waving with dreamy slowness. He couldn’t hear what she said to Blue, but his brother’s voice came loud and clear, “Yes, working on my stretching exercises! I do them for a few minutes every day. Trying to hurry up with it today, it’s later than I thought!”

Not exactly what he’d call discreet, yeah, but Stretch sure as hell got the message.

Frantically, Stretch got to work on the wires, clipping and twisting them into a messy sort of bypass. There was no time to be tidy, not while he was dangling here like a bargain basement Spider-man as Blue tried to keep Mrs. Doubtfire distracted over there. A muffled grunt escaped as Stretch suddenly listed to one side, hanging horizontally in the air. Another twist sent him face-first into the wall and Stretch tried to brace himself against the siding, biting off a yelp as he was dragged noisily upward.

“Whoops,” Blue called in a loud, nervous chuckle, hopefully covering the rattle of bones whacking into the side of a damn wall, “I think I still need to hold that stretch for another couple of minutes.” From this angle, Stretch had no idea what Mrs. Gerson was making of the washboard sound of him lurching up and down the siding like mysterious jug band traveling through the night, “Goodness, not sure how much longer I manage!”

Whatever calisthenics Blue was doing finally bent him in a direction that was close enough to the window for him to reach. Stretch grabbed on, hauling himself upright and holding on frantically with one hand as he clipped the last wire. He shoved up the windowpane, wincing as it screeched ominously the way windows only did in the middle of the damn night when someone was trying to sneak through it. He didn’t wait for Blue to try breaking out in song to cover it up, diving through the narrow panel and nearly tumbled straight to the concrete floor as his brother’s magic released, barely managing to catch himself and drop clumsily to his feet.

Okay, that went well.

Damn good thing he was breaking into Edge’s garage; the entire thing was pin-neat, no suspicious stack of paint cans to knock over or a pile of trash bags to fall into. Only tools on the wall, a clean workbench, and the pristine shape of his car precisely in its place, gleaming metallic cherry-red beneath the narrow beam of the penlight.

Now all Stretch had to do was get into it. A slim jim tool was out, for several reasons. One, despite watching several youtube videos on his way over, Stretch was not confident he could do it, two, it might damage Edge’s car and that was right out.

There was also the small matter that Stretch didn’t have a slim jim, so that left trying to hack into Edge’s Onstar account to wirelessly unlock it.

That he could probably manage and he spent a long, sweaty ten minutes on his phone, wrangling through firewalls and password detectors, searching and fruitlessly guessing, getting more frantic by the second as he silently cursed paranoid fucking Fells and it was only when despair was setting in that it occurred to him to try the door.

It opened easily under his tentative touch and the amount and variety of swearing that went through his mind right then would have sent Blue sprinting to the nearest grocery store for their entire stock of soap.

Okay, no more time for distractions, the finish line was in sight. Stretch crawled inside, penlight flashing as he searched frantically through the interior.

Not that there was much to see, Edge kept his car painfully clean. Even the mats were glossy black, not a speck of dust on the control panel, no stray fries or pennies caught in-between the seats. His panic was hitting all new highs when the light caught on dark velvet wedged in between the passenger seat and the door.

It must’ve fallen when he got out and Stretch picked it up, his knees watery-weak with relief as he opened it to look at the rings which, stupid, what was he afraid he got the wrong velvet box?

Time to get out of here, rescue Blue from Granny Mcgee and get the fuck out for the celebratory fist bump, and he barely had time to even think it when the overhead light came on at the same moment a much harsher blue magic than his brother’s took hold of his soul and slammed him painfully into the garage door. It knocked the breath out of him and Stretch hung there, wheezing, the box clutched tightly in his fingers as the last voice he wanted to hear echoed coldly through the garage.

“Stop struggling.”

Fearfully, Stretch lifted his head to see Edge strolling in through the doorway and it was honestly impressive how imposing he could be in a pair of silk pajamas and slippers.

“I’m afraid you’ve chosen the wrong car to steal, thief, I’m rather fond of it, I—” Edge stopped, his eye sockets narrowing and Stretch cringed as he reached out and roughly tore the ski mask off. His sockets widened in disbelief. “Stretch?”

“um. hey.” Stretch waved feebly with his empty hand.

“What the hell are you doing,” Edge sputtered out, cold anger melting into clear upset, “I could have hurt you!”

Yeah and sweat was running down his tailbone just thinking about it. Good thing it was Edge and not Red who found him, the gremlin might’ve dusted first and felt a micron of guilt later.

Stretch waggled his feet in the empty air. “um. gonna let me down?”

Edge’s gaze narrowed. “I’ll consider it. What are you doing here and if I hear the words shaving cream, I’ll—"

“no! no, nothing like that,” Stretch blurted in automatic denial and regretted it immediately. Shit, mistake, probably should’ve let Edge believe it was a prank of some sort, let him get mad and yell. He would’ve gotten over it eventually and they could’ve gotten back to their non-dates and twice weekly sexytimes with the occasional overnight thrown in for extra flavor. Except, Stretch didn’t like it when Edge was mad at him and not just mad, he would’ve been disappointed, even hurt, because any prank that involved his car was taking it up to a level of cruel. Edge’s car was his baby and Stretch wouldn’t do that to him, never never ever.

Didn’t matter, he’d sort of lost his chance to go with prank when he denied it was one, so there was nothing left but some version of the truth. Stretch took a deep breath and went with the basics, “i left something in your car, is all. didn’t want to bug you to get it, not after begging off on you. stupid, i know.”

“Very stupid,” Edge agreed, “considering that we have motion sensors in the garage.”

Of course he fucking did. “yeah, um, sorry.” Now that a portion of the truth was out there, time for a distraction. Hanging on the wall like a modern art installation probably wasn’t giving off the sexiest vibes, but Stretch gave it a shot, calling up what he hoped passed for an enticing smile, running his tongue lightly across his teeth, “’m feeling a lot better now, though, could head upstairs if you want, make up for a little lost time…?”

Edge raised a silencing hand and Stretch reluctantly obeyed, ah, fuck, he was too late, Edge was thinking about it, shit, and proved it by saying, slowly, “Let me see if I understand. You left something in my car and decided you needed to break into my home, bypass the alarm, pick the locks, and skulk through my garage to get it instead of simply asking me?" Edge crossed his arms over his chest and the intensity of his glare went up a notch, "No."

"no?" Stretch parroted, confused.

"No, that goes beyond the bounds of suspending my disbelief, so you're lying." Edge’s sockets narrowed and Stretch flinched from the true anger he could see there, "I do not like liars or thieves, so show me what you took."

His grip tightened around the velvet box. “but i don’t—”

“Show me,” Edge barked out.

Humiliating tears started welling, fuck, this wasn’t the time for it, all his earlier disappointment rising back up chokingly painful in his soul as Stretch whispered brokenly, "please don't make me."

Edge’s grip on his soul wavered, sending him sliding down an inch as that anger faded into bewilderment, "What…you broke into my garage, why are you—just show me!"

Miserably, Stretch held out the velvet box, let Edge snatch it away. From his continued confusion, he still didn't get it, not until he popped it open. The bands gleamed garishly in the overhead lights, carbon tungsten because the salesman assured him that it was extremely durable, with a twined color strip woven through the black metal of orange and red. Their colors joined together the way Stretch had hoped, stupidly, that their lives would.

Dawning realization as Edge looked from the rings to Stretch and back, again, and once more for good measure.

"Oh," Edge said blankly.

"yeah,” Stretch said, tiredly. “can you put me down now?"

Hastily, he did. "Stretch--" Edge began, all awkward gentleness now, the ring box still open in his hand like a mockery of Stretch’s hopeful daydreams and wasn’t that just typical of his life?

And Stretch just couldn’t. He couldn’t listen to the pity he could already see in Edge’s eye lights, he couldn’t, not right now with what felt like his entire soul choking in his throat. Red’s little shortcut blocker worked for going in, but not out and now that Edge didn’t have him pinned, Stretch was fucking gone. Stumbling out onto the sidewalk outside and almost went to his knees right where Blue was still chatting awkwardly with Mrs. Gerson.

“we need to go,” Stretch blurted. “right now!” And when Blue didn’t move fast enough, Stretch grabbed him around the waist and yanked him off his feet. Let someone else get dragged around for a change tonight, Stretch was sick of it, felt bruised inside and out as he dashed over to the car.

“Oof, bro-oth-er!” Blue yelped as he was all but bowled into the driver’s seat while Stretch scrambled over to the passenger side “What on earth is going on?!”

“go!” Stretch pleaded, “just go, i’ll explain at home.”

Blue probably would’ve put up more of a fight, sure as hell would with any other brotherly manhandling, but he caught sight of tears starting to boil down Stretch’s cheek bones and instead fumbled for his keys. “All right, we’re going.”

The engine started and he began to pull away…right into a massive cage of bones grinding up around the car from the ground, chunks of asphalt falling from the jagged tips. Directly in front of them was Edge, both hands flung out and his roused magic surrounding him in a fiery aura. His crimson eye lights blazed as he forcibly held them back in a glorious depiction of viciously controlled power even while he was still in those damn silk pajamas and slippers.

Really, it was damned impressive. He was fucking gorgeous and Stretch hated himself for noticing, for even thinking it.

“Turn off the car,” Edge said, loudly, and Blue did, sitting mutely as Edge let his magic fade. He walked over the passenger side and opened the door, leaning in as he said evenly, “I think we need to talk, don’t you?”

Stretch buried his face into his hands and wondered if he could get away with a ‘fuck, no.’

He dared to look out and from the expression on Edge’s face, fleeing was only gonna lead to a wild hunt through the city and Blue already said he didn’t want any property damage.

Might as well get it over with. Stretch nodded and impatiently wiped his face on his sleeves as he got out of the car. He couldn’t even be insulted when Edge firmly grabbed his elbow and held on, leading him towards the house despite the way Stretch’s sneakers dragged through the crumbled remains of the road.

Mrs. Gerson smiled and nodded as they walked past, waving as she croaked out, “Have a good night, boys!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gerson,” they said in unison, Edge crisply polite and Stretch a dismal mutter.

Edge unlocked the front door, pushing Stretch through it and he didn’t look up, not at Red who was on sofa, sitting up from his slouch with a genuinely startled, “what the fuck…?” and not at Edge, who ignored his brother to guide him up the stairs to his bedroom.

He closed the door and firmly set Stretch in the desk chair while Edge sat across from him on the bed.

“All right,” Edge said. He held out the ring box, blessedly closed, hiding the contents that Stretch was pretty sure he never wanted to see again; he’d rather toss them in the trash than try to return them at this point, “Now. Start from the beginning.”

tbc

Read Chapter 3

[jaeknightorbats]

Tunnel Caprica [M] part 4

Pairings: Baekhyun x Sehun (SeBaek)

Ratings: NC-17

Genre: Smut, dark romance

Description: It was a normal day for convenience store worker Byun Baekhyun when Sehun—a seemingly wealthy man—entered the store, only getting overdosed by drugs afterwards.  It was the encounter that would change Baekhyun’s life. It was the encounter that introduced him to a world that should never exist in this already problematic world.

Warnings: Graphic sexual content(!), substance use, drug overdose, alcohol, and strong language

Chapters: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4 (NEW)

Synopsis: Tunnel Caprica connects two cities under the huge and long mountain ranges of the country Ioca [a-yo-ka], making it one of the longest tunnels in the world with a distance of nearly 40 kilometers. However, people choose to drive the 3-hour long pass than driving through the tunnel, because driving through the tunnel can be claustrophobic—an hour drive with nothing but repeating images of the never ending tunnel. But through the tunnel also hides the entrance to another world that Baekhyun is yet to find out.

Part 4

Word count: 3.7k

Alcohol … indeed led to damnation. His damnation.

It happened so fast. Baekhyun gulped and endured the pain that he was feeling underneath as he drove his car. He immediately left Sehun’s place as soon as he finished his lunch with him. How could he forget about Yuri?

Nothing’s scarier than a mad wife. In Baekhyun’s case, a mad girlfriend.

Baekhyun’s cell phone screen turned black as soon as he tried to turn it on—he was out of battery, he had no idea if Yuri had been trying to contact him or not. Her angry calls and messages were the last thing he was hoping for to receive. He didn’t want to fight, he hated it. He was thinking of excuses to tell her. But different thoughts occupied his mind.

“Fucking shit.”

He lost his virginity.

“Fucking shit.”

And he lost it to a fucking man.

He took a deep breath and let the road keep him sane as he drove back to his place, hoping for the best.

Baekhyun’s eyes wandered slowly around his place with his heart pounding hard, nervous for his life, but at the same time, he didn’t want to show it. Just to mask his guilt of some sort.

He could see the entirety of his place only at one look.

Empty living room, empty kitchen, empty bed.

So far, so good.

Baekhyun sighed in relief that there wasn’t a mad Yuri waiting for him. If no one brought it up, then there wouldn’t be a fight or misunderstandings.

He placed his phone on the backless chair that served his side table next to his bed, leaving it charging. Tired, he sat on the edge of his bed, massaging his forehead.

‘I’m not a virgin anymore.’

He closed his eyes, feeling regretful about everything. He wouldn’t drink that much again, ever.

‘Fuck.’

He shook his head with eyes wide open. Closing it only reminded him of what had occurred—every detail, every sensation. He didn’t know what to feel.

“Fuck,” he muttered, full of regret. “What the fuck was I thinking?”

His phone in his peripherals blinked as soon as it had some charge, grabbing Baekhyun’s attention. He took a deep breath, praying for the best.

He only received one message

From Yuri.

Who else?

I’m breaking up with u

It took a while before the message processed in Baekhyun’s mind. He read it again, and again, until the words ‘break up with you’ was imprinted in his mind.

“Fuck,” he finally said a word. “Fuck,” he said it again.

‘She’s not serious,’ he thought. But knowing Yuri, Baekhyun knew Yuri wasn’t playing—she was mad.

Baekhyun was never used to this feeling. Yuri had broken up with him a couple of times like this, and though they always found a way to make it up, he’d always thought and felt it would be final and real. He probably would never get used to the feeling.

He didn’t know what to feel. He took a deep breath, lying down to his bed. “I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” There were too many thoughts inside his head. Too much, not only Yuri.

Baekhyun jerked awake when suddenly a sharp splash of cold water slapped his face. His mouth opened, his eyes squeezed close, as he pulled his body up from his bed. He didn’t realize he fell asleep in the same position.

“You stupid bastard!”

Baekhyun wiped his wet face with his hand and saw Yuri standing in front of him after he opened his eyes. It was already dark in his place. It must be nighttime already, he fell asleep for too long. No light was lit but he could recognize Yuri’s figure, and he could see her eyes were glowering at him.

“You. Fucking. Stupid. Bastard!” Yuri slapped Baekhyun’s shoulder with her handbag at every word she spoke.

“Stop! Stop! I’m fucking awake,” shouted Baekhyun, protecting himself with his arm, already feeling irritated—waking him up with water. The wetness began to spread on his clothes. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“Why the hell are you not answering my phone calls? Since when did you get back?”

“My phone was dead.”

“My phone was dead, my phone was dead,” she mocked, blabbering his words. “Freaking excuses.”

Baekhyun stood up to face Yuri better, and held her arms. “I’m telling the truth, baby.”

Yuri jolted her arms away from him. “Don’t ‘baby’ me! Then why didn't you call me after you charged!?”

“I fell asleep.”

“Fuck you!”

“Yuri—“

“Did you fuck some rich woman at that party?!”

“WHAT?! No!” That was his initial instinct speaking, to lie. Then an image of everything that had happened—the foreign woman, fucking Sehun, literally—flashed in his mind in a split second. “C’mo—,” he stuttered.

Yuri’s eyes widened, raging with anger, after seeing Baekhyun’s reaction even under the dark room. “You—“

Then Baekhyun remembered something. “Wait, no. Baby, look,” he patted his back pockets but it was empty, then patted his front pocket and felt something thick. He pulled it out from his pocket and showed it to Yuri. “Look.”

Yuri slightly calmed down when she recognized rolled bills in Baekhyun’s hand. “Is that?”

Baekhyun sighed in relief and nodded.

“Oh, my god,” Yuri gasped, grabbing the money from Baekhyun’s hand. “How much are these?” She sat on the bed as she removed the elastic band that was holding the bills.

“I don’t know,” replied Baekhyun, sitting next to her. “I haven’t counted it yet.”

Yuri took her phone from her bag and lit the bills with the phone screen light. “It’s all twenties,” she remarked as she scanned through all the bills. “There must be, like, fifteen hundred dollars in here.”

“What?!” Baekhyun’s mouth gaped, even he was surprised.

“How rich are these people, Baek?”

Baekhyun’s side lips formed into a smile, pleasant to hear that he received such an amount. He pulled something again from his pocket. “Look, babe.”

Yuri’s brows furrowed, lips apart, after seeing another rolled bill on his hand. “What?” Her head tilted. “Baek, what did you do?”

“I guess… I saved a rich man’s ass.”

Yuri scoffed, “Oh, Baek. Come here.” She grabbed Baekhyun’s nape, dropping all her things on the floor, and pulled him close to her for a kiss.

Baekhyun felt weak in his stomach with the aggressiveness of her kiss. Then he whispered while she kissed him, “I thought you were breaking up with me, baby?”

Yuri pulled back to look at him. “I just wanted your attention.” Then she kissed him again, darting her tongue into his mouth. Baekhyun moaned with her kiss, his hand running to her neck. Their lips parted, foreheads leaning against each other. Yuri groaned, “I missed you so much. I thought you replaced me with some rich, old hag.”

Baekhyun chuckled at her statement. Then he looked directly into her eyes, tips of their lips touching one another. “Let’s do it,” he said. “Let’s fuck.”

The light in Yuri’s eyes changed, they looked hungry. “Baekhyun.” Yuri stood up in front of Baekhyun and pushed him harshly down to his bed.

Baekhyun breathed heavily, his heart pounding hard, as he watched Yuri crawl and sat on top of him. One thing he liked about her was her feistiness and how he always felt wanted around her despite the constant fights they had.

Yuri pulled Baekhyun’s shirt over his head and threw it on the floor. She bent her body down to kiss him on his neck to his lips. Baekhyun caressed her smooth and soft thighs under her dress.

“Undress me, baby,” she whispered as she kissed him.

Baekhyun pulled himself up from the bed and did as told. She was wearing a shirt dress. Baekhyun began to unbutton them one by one as Yuri tickled him with kisses on his neck. On the third button, impatience overtook Yuri so she stripped herself and threw her dress on the floor.

She held Baekhyun’s nape as she slowly pushed him down to the bed, grinding herself to him while she dug her tongue to his mouth. Baekhyun bit her lips as her thrusts intensified while she unbuckled his belt.

“Ah…,” a breathy moan escaped Baekhyun’s lips when Yuri ran her hand down to his body, to his cock inside his pants, and stroked it firmly. She stroked it once more and he was hard as fuck.

Baekhyun clenched his jaws, his stomach tensed at the sensation. He held Yuri’s waist as they both bit each other’s lips. She put Baekhyun’s hands higher to her back, telling him to unhook her bra. He fidgeted his fingers around her bra, unable to unhook them.

Yuri softly giggled as she helped Baekhyun unhook her bra. Baekhyun gave up and leaned his elbows against the bed as he watched his girlfriend get naked on top of him.

It was dark, yes, with the nightlight from the window only lighting the room. But the eyes could still see so much under the dark if one looked closely.

Baekhyun inhaled deeply when Yuri unveiled herself to him, his guts weakened when she put his hands onto her breasts. He squeezed them and Yuri smiled. It was soft. He felt so aroused, his dick getting harder and harder, pushing itself into her warm opening. Yuri felt him between her legs as she pressed her breasts to his bare chest as she went back to kissing him on his lips.

No words were spoken, only groans and moans.

Baekhyun tried to dominate the kiss but Yuri was too aggressive with hers but he kinda liked it still. Being controlled. Being under.

Yuri trailed her kiss down to his neck, to his body ‘till she reached his pants, standing on her feet. She unzipped his pants and pulled everything out, showing everything to her.

Yuri kneeled on the bed, directing Baekhyun to change positions, to put his head where the pillows were at. So Baekhyun did as directed. He watched Yuri bent down to his erected cock, and she gently kissed the tip of it, tickling Baekhyun. And she kissed it again, and slightly licked it. Sucked him a couple of times as she held his cock.

Baekhyun liked it. It felt good. He wanted more. But Yuri trailed her kiss back up to his body, to his lips.

“Your turn, baby,” she said as she kissed him, then she pulled his shoulder and turned Baekhyun over to her with her back laying on the bed.

Baekhyun kneeled down between her legs. He suddenly felt nervous. He didn’t want to do it, to eat her clit.

“What’s wrong, Baek?”

Baekhyun gulped, shaking his head as a response, unsure if she could see that. He slowly pulled her panties down. And he could see Yuri. All of her. “You look beautiful, baby.” He went back to kissing her lips, then he whispered, “Have you cleaned it?”

Yuri flinched. “What?”

Baekhyun was nervous. He didn’t find it appealing, but he didn’t want to look selfish, and didn’t want to upset his girlfriend. “Nothing. I love you, baby.” He crawled down between her legs, and Yuri opened them wide for him.

Baekhyun breathed heavily. He could see it, smell it, and even feel the heat that was coming from it. It was glistening, she was wet.

He was thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’

His heart was pounding loud, Yuri was waiting for him.

‘Fuck it,’ he thought.

Yuri softly gasped when his tongue slowly licked her folds, her stomach tensed when he did it again. Her skin was burning. Baekhyun was shyly playing with his tongue, treating her womanhood as if it was his first time kissing someone. And it was teasing Yuri, how slow and gentle he was with his tongue, not digging deep enough and exploring around. He certainly didn’t know how to do it, but Yuri kinda liked it. It showed that it must be really his first time.

“Come here, baby.” She pulled Baekhyun up to her and went back to sucking his tongue. She looked into him while he kissed her, and he looked so beautiful.

Yuri bent her head to kiss his neck as she turned him over below her. She sat on his cock, still kissing and softly biting his neck while grinding him. Her hands ran down his chest that she always liked holding, then up and down to his bulky abdomen.

Baekhyun couldn’t control his moans, he liked what Yuri was doing to him. He sifted his hand through her hair and slightly pulled them. He looked at Yuri with dazed eyes and went back to kissing her.

Yuri stroked Baekhyun’s cock as he kissed her, and carefully inserted herself to him. “Oh, Baekhyun,” she moaned. She sat up straight and slowly pushed herself into him.

Baekhyun groaned at the feeling.

She took Baekhyun’s hands and placed them on her breasts. Baekhyun squeezed them tight as Yuri humped herself onto Baekhyun. He squeezed her tighter and tighter as the sensation and feeling intensified. His hips thrusted itself faster onto her, craving for more of this fucking sensation.

No words could come out of their mouths, only loud breaths and screams.

“Baby, you’re so thick,” moaned Yuri as she bent down back to Baekhyun’s body and kissed his neck.

Baekhyun locked his arms around her waist as he thrusted faster and faster, reaching climax. “Baby, I’m coming.”

“Oh, god, no,” she snapped and immediately detached herself away from him, laying beside him.

Baekhyun grunted loud as he squirted out. He was panting loud, feeling a little weak and a little lightheaded, craving for a cuddle. He pulled Yuri to his arms and kissed her cheeks.

Yuri made herself comfortable next to Baekhyun's arms.

“Was I good?” He whispered into her hair.

“Huh?” Yuri glanced at Baekhyun. She wasn’t exactly the most satisfied. “Y-Yeah. Yeah, you were good.”

“Thank you, baby,” said Baekhyun, feeling a little sleepy. “You were good.” He closed his eyes and was able to immediately fall asleep.

Baekhyun was still so tired from the night before, the night with Sehun.

Baekhyun heard a mumbling sound. He blinked his eyes open and it was brighter in his place. It was morning, or at least the next day.

“Did you hear that?”

His eyes trailed to the woman who laid beside him, Yuri.

Then, he remembered.

Ah, yes, they had sex.

Baekhyun collected himself, then said in a gravelly voice, “Hear what?”

Yuri silenced Baekhyun and turned her head around, attentively listening to the sound she just heard. Baekhyun also controlled his breath to listen with Yuri.  

Baekhyun’s ears tingled when he heard a familiar beep of a vehicle.

“That!” exclaimed Yuri right away when she heard a car honked twice.  

It sounded like the same honk he heard when he had saved a man who got overdosed, Sehun. Baekhyun’s eyes widened.

‘Is he here?’

Baekhyun jumped out from his bed, naked, having panic thoughts. ‘Holy shit, what is he doing here?’

Yuri pulled herself up from the bed, covering herself with the sheet. “Baekhyun, what’s up?”

Baekhyun only looked at her, trying to compose himself. He must not jump into conclusions.

The car honked once more, this time, longer.

Baekhyun darted his eyes towards the blinds near the door and slowly walked towards it. He pulled the blinds slightly open to peek outside.

There he was, Oh fucking Sehun. Leaning on his black G-Wagon, wearing jeans and black turtleneck under a long khaki coat… and blue aviators.

Baekhyun’s heart dropped when Sehun turned his head to Baekhyun’s directions, noticing the slight movements from the blinds. “Shit,” he cursed, immediately pulling away from the blinds.

“Shit,” he muttered again. He ran back to his bed and took the first pair of shorts he got his hands on—a boxer shorts—from his cupboard.

“Why? Who was that?” Asked Yuri, watching his boyfriend in a haste.

“U-Uhm,” he stuttered, grabbing the sweater hanging on the headboard of his bed. “I-It’s—,” he couldn’t think straight. His head was all over the place. Sehun was outside his place! “Just stay here.” He pointed a finger to Yuri and ran towards the door.

The sun was bright when Baekhyun opened the door, making him frown deeper with his eyes squinting at Sehun. He gave the man who was still leaning at his vehicle a what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here look, as he closed the door. He immediately dug his bare hands onto his sweater due to the chilly climate.

“Just woke up?” Sehun scoffed, sliding his aviators above his head.

With Baekhyun’s hair all over the place, he shook his head and brushed his hair with his hand as he walked to Sehun. “What’s up?” He tried to keep his cool, Sehun must be there for business.

But Baekhyun couldn’t help but be in awe at the shiny black G-Wagon behind Sehun since it was his first time seeing it under the sunlight. It was nearly 7-foot high.

“Yeah, I was around the area…” Sehun opened the door of his car and took a leather coat bag and a string bag.

Sehun continued, “I thought of dropping by you these.” He handed the things to Baekhyun.

“For tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“5PM, right?”

Sehun nodded. “The clothes are a little old, but I think it’ll fit you just fine.

“Baekhyun?”

“Shit,” Baekhyun cursed as soon as he heard Yuri’s voice. He gritted his teeth, nervously turning around to face Yuri. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey,” Yuri weakly said as if she just woke up. She tied her hair to a bun as she walked towards them. She was only wearing one of Baekhyun’s thin shirts and a loose short, revealing a lot of her white youthful skin from head to toe.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened when two bumps from her shirt wanted to reveal itself from them.

‘Where’s her fucking bra?’ He thought.

Sehun looked at Baekhyun, scoffing at him. “Finally did the deed, huh?”

Baekhyun didn’t know what to say with Yuri approaching them and her breasts saying hello to them.

“You must be… Yuri,” said Sehun, smiling, handing his hand to her as soon as she reached them.

Yuri blinked, surprised that this man, that this tall, dashing man, knew her name. She felt flattered. “Oh.” She gave a shy smile, reaching her hand to Sehun.

A thorn pierced through Baekhyun’s chest seeing their interaction, and how Yuri flirtatiously looked at the flirtatious Sehun. And he could just see the subtle smirk in Sehun’s cheek, he could just see and feel it. Despite it being their first time interacting, it was obvious to Baekhyun that she was blown away by how good looking Sehun was, such charisma he had.

Who wouldn’t be?

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. ‘What the fuck, Baekhyun?’

‘I’d fuck her, if you let me.’ Baekhyun clearly recalled what Sehun said.

“Ok, that’s enough.” Baekhyun pushed the coat bag to Yuri to cover her front, separating her and Sehun apart. But she was still mesmerized by Sehun's eyes.

“Baekhyun told me everything about you,” said Sehun, not breaking eye contact with Yuri.

“What?” Baekhyun and Yuri said in unison, only Yuri was a little shy and blushing.

“Though he didn’t tell me you were this beautiful,” added Sehun.

Yuri blushed, softly chuckling, “He’s kinda protective.”

Sehun raised his brows to Baekhyun, “Oh, is he?” His lips slightly curved downwards. “Protective.” Then, rolled his eyes back to Yuri. “Well, I understand. A woman as pretty as you should be protected.”

“Hey,” Baekhyun darted his eyes at Sehun, warning him. “Don’t.”

Sehun scoffed, “Protective.”

'Piece of shit,’ Baekhyun thought.

Sehun clapped his hands. “Say what, me and my friends are going to the club downtown tonight. You guys are invited.”

“What?” Baekhyun reacted.

“Yes!” Yuri exclaimed.

“No,” Baekhyun then disapproved. “No, we’re not going,” he said decisively. He looked at Yuri, wearing a serious frown, and said in a low voice, “We’re not going.”

Baekhyun was scared.

Yuri pouted, “But, why? It’s been so long since we last went to a club.”

“Yeah, Baekhyun. You guys don’t have to drink, just be there. Even just for an hour,” said Sehun, again, with his promising tone. It was absolutely frustrating to Baekhyun how Sehun always managed to get into his head and make everything feel okay.  

“Please, Baekhyun,” begged Yuri.

Baekhyun was scared not only for him and Yuri.

Baekhyun inhaled from his teeth. “But I have a shift tonight.” He tried to find an excuse.

“Just ditch it,” suggested Sehun.

“Yeah, just let Chanyeol take your shift. Please.”

“That’s right!” Encouraged Sehun even though he didn’t know who they were talking about.

Baekhyun closed his eyes in frustration. “Fine,” he said against his will.

“Yes!”

“Good. See you both tonight. 10PM.” Sehun walked around his car and drove away.

Baekhyun was scared of what Sehun was capable of.

To be continued...

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I hope you’re still there. Idk how this works but if you wanna be on a taglist or something, just let me know!  

And if you want updates, follow me on twitter @/jaeandbats 

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Tunnel Caprica: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 (New!)