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buttermykolchek · 2 years

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Scouts honor. Part 1

[J. Kolchek x Fem! Reader]

This is my first try writing a fic, let me know what you think!

Italics means thoughts/flashbacks

Tw: blood, violence, swearing, cringe (probably)

Tags: @kassiekolchek22

Iraq, 2003.

Camp slayer 0800 hours.

Your tan combat boots hit the floor in a rhythm as you made your way to Rachel’s office. You had just received word that Colonel Eric King was assigned to lead the team. Rachel’s team. You’d known about their previous relationship and you knew it was extremely complicated. As Rachel’s best friend, you’d gotten caught in the crossfire several times. What I fucking headache. She’s going to loose her shit ice she hears about this. You took a deep breath before knocking firmly on her office door, clutching the paperwork in your left hand. You were standing with your hands behind your back. Your long (y/h/c) locks were pulled into a tight bun, you had on a dark green tshirt, which was tucked into your uniform pants, which were tucked into your combat boots. the typical uncomfortable marine uniform crap.

You heard a bit of shuffling around and giggling before rachel answered the door, stepping aside so nick could leave the room. her hair was messy, and nicks hat was clearly crooked. What the hell? Your jaw nearly hit the floor when you saw a fresh hickey on his neck. Nick nodded at you and kept on down the hall, and Rachel sighed at the look on your face. “It’s not what it looks like, y/l/n.” She almost whispered as you stepped inside, You waited until she closed the door to have a mini freak out. “Not what it looks like?! Rach! Are you serious right now? He’s your subordinate!” You we’re whisper yelling. Praying nobody like merwin or Joey were walking by, they’d definitely make a big stink out of this.

She sighed and leaned on her desk, biting her thumb nail. “I know..” she mumbled, looking at the floor. “I just, I don’t know.. With all the bullshit with Eric I think I just wanted to feel something else, you know?” You looked at her with raised eyebrows, your hands on your hips. “No Rachel, I don’t ‘know’.” You said, using your fingers as quotation marks. “Please, enlighten me. Tell me. How do you think Eric is going to react when he gets here?!”

Your breath caught in your throat as Rachel’s head snapped to your direction. “Excuse me?” She stood, raising her voice a little. You ran a hand down your face in stress. “He’s going to be here within the hour. Christ, rach.” You groaned, pacing around the room. She was already fixing her hair in a hurry. “Straighten up, don’t say a fucking word about any of this, I mean it. We’ve got enough bullshit floating around this camp. The last thing anybody needs is your and nicks affair getting out and about.” You pointed a finger at her, before turning and leaving the room. Slamming the door shut. She may have been your superior, but she knew you were right. You had every reason to be mad. Nicks your best friend, you don’t want his heart getting broken, nor do you want either of them to be reprimanded if word got out.

You walked very hurriedly to your shared bunk room with nick and Jason. The tips of your ears were red with anger. You threw the door open, quickly slamming it shut behind you the second you were through. The first person you saw was nick. Perfect. “Hey scout” nick flashed a soft smile, he was lacing up his boots, sitting on the edge of his bunk bed. “Just the guy I wanted to see” you said through gritted teeth. Smacking him on the back of his head. “Ow! What the hell y/n!” He shouted. Rubbing his head “what the hell were you thinking? Nick, her husband is going to be our new CO. If he finds out, your ass is grass.” You sighed. “And I’ve heard he’s a real dickbag. So, lucky you.” By now You we’re pacing again. Chewing on your bottom lip, not looking at nick. “I’m sorry, y/n. You gotta understand, after the checkpoint-“ he shook his head. Looking at the floor.

You looked over at him, softening your eyes and moving to sit next to him. You, nick and Jason had just been involved in a shooting a few weeks back. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying not to think about the blood. “I get it.. I’m sorry.” You mumbled. Rubbing his back. Before you could say anything else, the door had swung open. It was Jason, he looked almost.. scared? “Guys, pull your shit together and get out here. Our new CO just landed” he panted, before running off down the hall. You giggled a little at how discombobulated he seemed. Jason always had his shit together, but apparently not today. You and nick shared a soft smile before standing up, heading out the door and towards the briefing room.

Briefing room, 0830 hours.

You were leaning against a desk, listening to colonel king give his presentation. Nick and Jason were on either side of you, listening close. Your eyes were trained on the floor tiles, arms crossed, not really paying attention too much. You were nervous about this mission, maybe even more nervous that Jason’s arm kept brushing against yours. ‘Stop it, he’s your boss, idiot’ you thought to yourself. Jason’s always been your best friend alongside Nick, but lately you’ve been getting mixed signals from him. One day he’d treat you like one of the guys, punching your arm and talking about guy stuff. Then the next day you’d catch him stealing glances at you from across the room, defending you from merwin and his gross jokes, and making sure you were taking care of yourself.

You mentally kicked yourself for thinking about him in such a way. He’s your friend, y/n. He doesn’t see you like that. He’s just a nice guy. You repeated that to yourself until you heard Jason speak up. “Boys are just eager to catch a break, sir. No harm meant.” ‘Did I miss something?’ You thought. Looking up at him and nudging his arm a little. A confused look on your face. Jason tilted his head down, leaning his head to the side and whispering “fill you in later.”. You nodded. Still listening, but keeping to yourself.

After Eric was finished with his presentation, you made your way over to Joey. He was talking to Eric with a concerned look on his face. As you approached, you cued in on their conversation. “Bet the farm on this. I have a good feeling we're gonna clear up." Said Eric. “I wish I shared your optimism, Colonel." Joey spoke, the colonel turned his heels and made his way over to Rachel, as you leaned on the table next to joey. “Hey, you okay?” You looked at him with a soft expression. Joey was always like a big brother to you, ever since you joined the team he and you would always get into trouble together. He sighed. “I’m okay, just a little worried is all” Joey shrugged

“Hey, don’t be. Nothings gonna happen to any of us, not if I can help it.” You smiled a little, tilting your head. “What if you can’t help it, scout? What if I can’t help you or, or merwin or-“ “hey” you interrupted “will you stop that. We’re gonna be okay. Promise” you stuck out your pinky, which made him smile a little, before wrapping his pinky around yours. “See? Everything is going to be A-O-K” you stood up straight. Knocking on his helmet playfully before walking off, on your way to get ready for the mission.

Tunnels, 1100 hours, 63ft

“Y/n! Get down!” You heard Joey scream, it sounded almost like an echo. What the fuck? “Joey?” You groaned. Everything hurt. You felt like shit. You tried to sit up, only to gasp at the sharp pain in your shoulder. Your eyes snapped open, only to see it was dark all around you, besides the circle of light around you, which came from the giant hole in the ceiling above.

“Oh, what the fuck?” You winced, rolling onto your side. Your vision was blurry for a second, before everything came clear. The pain in your shoulder was burning like a white flame. You clutched it, only to find that it felt wet. “Ah, shit” you hissed. Pulling your hand back into the sunlight. Your hand was covered in blood. “Fan-fucking-tastic” you whispered, looking around to observe your surroundings as you stood up. You couldn’t really tell where you were exactly, other than it was a tunnel of some sort. “Joey? Jason?” You whisper/called. Careful incase there were enemies nearby. “What the fuck” you whispered, again and again. It’s the only thought you really had, as you looked for your weapons. other than finding your team and patching up your shoulder, of course. You assumed it was a bullet hole, giving the fact you were just in combat. ‘Oh, shit.’ You thought. The memories flooding back.

You stood up straight, checking your clip. Thank god it was full. You took a couple steps towards the dark tunnel, raising your weapon. Turning your headlight on. You could barely see, the path was so narrow. You clicked the intercom button on your earpiece “Scout to mailman 3, Nicky? Where are you?” You spoke just above a whisper. Your new call sign made you smile a little. Jason had given it to you a few days ago, saying something about how you’re like a girl scout.

As you approached you realized the three figures were Nick, Jason and clarice. Nick and Jason were saying something about needing to find you, and You heard merwin groan in pain. “found her” he managed to get out, making them all turn around “fancy meeting you here” you joked lightheartedly, grabbing your knife and starting to cut the wires. “How did you- what? Where did you come from?” Jason said in disbelief. “I honestly don’t know, jase” you said softly. Glancing at him for just a second, before continuing to Concentrate on not injuring you or merwin any more. Finally, you cut the right wire that sent merwin to the ground.

As you all surrounded him, he started screaming again. “oh fuck he’s so fucked” you heard Jason say breathlessly. “You don’t think I can- hear you” merwin gasped between breaths. He really was fucked. Blood and guts never really bothered you, but this was just awful. His skin was torn to shreds, pieces of barbed wire still mauling his flesh. You had to do something to get it out. “Hey, hey, look at me” you said softly. Putting a hand on merwins helmet. You were trying to comfort him. He may have been a dick, but that didn’t mean you needed to be one. “It’s gonna be okay, I’m gonna patch you up best I can, and then we’ll get out of here. Everything is going to be just fine.” “There’s morphine in my pack! Get it!” You heard Nick yell, “Jesus, who the hell loaded these packs” Jason grumbled. as you turned your head to look at them, clarice was yanked into the darkness.

“What the fuck?” You whispered in disbelief. You could hear your heartbeat in your ears. Jason stepped towards where clarice had disappeared. “Clarice?” Jason called softly, only to be answered by a menacing shrieking. Jason and Nick jumped back, meanwhile you had already grabbed merwins pack straps, ready to start moving him. “The fuck was that?” Merwin winced. Jason and Nick each grabbed one of merwins arms. “Move! Now!” He shouted, dragging the man behind the 3 of you. The trail of blood following.

“Nick he’s bleeding out, we have to take care of this” you insisted, dragging him into a corner. Hoping whatever was out there wouldn’t find you. You kept pressure on merwins wounds while Jason scoped out the area. “How is it?” Merwin winced. “You want the good version or the bad version?” You couldn’t look at him, knowing he was fucked either way. “Just give it to me straight.” He groaned. Nick shook his head, “I’m not gonna lie man, it’s pretty fuckin’ bad”. The shrieking was getting louder as you moved to start patching him up, he was bleeding out too quickly. “Whatever’s out there, he’s drawing them down on us!” Jason said in a panicked tone. You’ve never seen him this scared. “He won’t hold still jase, you need to get the morphine in him.” You turned your head. He was like a deer in headlights. “Now kolchek!” You demanded, he was a good soldier, they called him the best of the best. You knew he’d follow an order rather than a plea.

In a second Jason was digging the morphine out, as Nick kept his hand over merwins mouth to keep him quiet. you kept bandaging up several of merwins wounds, Joey had been giving you medicine training but it wasn’t enough.. wait, where’s Joey?you thought. Nick started to say something, but couldn’t hear what He was saying over the intense shrieking coming from down the hall. By the time you and Jason looked up, it was too late. “Nick, you’re choking him!” You slapped his hand away. Jason moved to check his pulse.

“Can’t find a pulse, I can’t find a fucking pulse” he said in a panicky tone. You looked over at Nick. “It can’t be! I- I didn’t mean to-“ he stuttered “he’s gone Nick, merwin is dead” Jason spoke just above a whisper. Your heart sank. You fell back into your heels, looking down at your blood soaked hands. Nick looked at you both in sheer regret. “I’m sorry- I- I didn’t mean, fuck” he nearly shrieked. Standing up with his hands on his head “Nick it’s okay” you sighed. “It was an accident ” You stood up, ignoring the pain in your left shoulder and side. Jason stood beside you. Your heart jumped when you saw him out of the corner of your eye. Fuck. Why did he have to stand so damn close? Normally you’d be annoyed that someone’s up your ass, but Jason being close made you feel.. safe? Not the kind of safe Nicky made you feel. Nick always said he had to protected you, but you wanted jason to protect you, to hold you. Jesus, this ain’t the time.

“We gotta move guys, they’re coming.” You turned, and jason grabbed your left arm “hey we need to-“ You let out a yelp, Jason immediately released his hold. He had grabbed your bad arm. As the adrenaline wore off, you remembered that you were shot. “Fuck” you seethed as you clutched it. Him twisting your arm made it start to bleed again. “Y/n? What the fuck happened to you?” Jason moved closer. Grabbing your shoulder to examine you. “Ow, ow jason, be careful would you?” You whimpered, The shrieking from whatever was chasing you seemed to have subsided. “Christ, you got hit” he sighed, applying pressure. “Good news is, the bullet went clean through” he spoke softly as he started to put bandages on each side. “Bad news?” You seethed, Clenching his shirt tightly. “We’re out of morphine” he chuckled. Making you smile a little “awesome” you turned your head to look at him.

He seemed so focused. his eyes were narrow on your wound, cursing as he fumbled with the last bandage. You never noticed how attractive he really was until now. His face and arms were covered in dirt, he had a cuts and scrapes all over him. He brought his eyes to meet yours and you immediately felt your face heat up, looking away and at nick. He was looking at the floor, clearly upset. “Nick-“ “Let’s move” Nick said sorrowfully, breezing past you and Jason, and down the cave corridor. You looked up at Jason, who was already looking at you. “Do you think he’ll be okay?” You whispered as you both started to walk, careful not to let Nick hear. “He’s a big boy, he’ll be fine” Jason spoke as if he was trying to convince himself, rather than you.

Suddenly, you hear some sort of clicking noise behind you. You turn, shining your headlight towards the noise. Your heart stopped. There was some sort of.. creature crawling towards you. It was winged,and massive. “Oh my god” you gasped. Jumping back. The creature shrieked, standing on two legs and bellowing an inhuman scream. “Fuck, fuck! We gotta move!” You heard Jason yell, in an instant your tiny group was racing down the corridor, being chased by whatever the hell that was. You rounded a corner, seeing collapsed debris over a small staircase, and a clear bath right next to it. “We gotta go through it!” Nick shouted. “The other ways safer, she can’t make it through-“ You cut Jason off irritably. “I don’t need my damn shoulder to jump.” You hissed, immediately hurdling over the collapsed pieces of structure. You didn’t mean to sound like a bitch, but now was not the time to be careful.

The boys followed close behind as you ran into a semi open area. Before you could even look around, something smashed into your side, knocking you to the ground. “Y/n!” You heard Nick shout as your back hit the floor. The winged creature was ontop of you, clawing at your face. You shielded yourself and tried to kick it off as best you could but to no avail, you pulled out your knife and started stabbing it in the chest. “Get it off!” You shrieked as Nick and Jason started shooting at it. the thing ran off, giving you time to scramble to your feet. You clutched your side in agony. “God I hate this place” you groaned, continuing to run down the tunnel. You ran as fast as you could, praying to whatever god was listening that there weren’t more ahead of you. You came to a corner. Stopping and pointing your weapon behind you down the hall.

“What the hell is going on?!” Nick shouted. “I don’t know man, it was not supposed to play out like this” Jason spoke shakily. “How the hell are we going to get out of-“ you were cut off by a voice over your earpiece. “Any call signs this is king, contact contact! Taking fire! Does anyone cope over!” You turned to look at Jason. “That’s Rachel!” Nick cried. “King, this is mailman 2-1 actual say again, over.” Jason said, holding his earpiece. No response. “king this is mailman 2-1 actual. How copy, over?!” Nothing. “Damn it!” He hissed, turning around and leading down the tunnel.

A little bit of time had passed, and all three of you had been walking for a while, in silence. Nick was the first to speak up. “I killed him” he choked out, “I fucking killed merwin” he let out a shaken breath. “It was an accident.” You and Jason said nearly in unisons. “Just like the woman at the checkpoint” he shook his head. “Don’t make shit weirder than it already is, clear your fucking mind!” Jason hollered. Making you jump a little.

“We need to find someplace to chill out for a second. Figure out a plan” you grumbled, turning a corner and seeing Eric, sobbing near a cliff. You felt so dizzy that you really didn’t care about Eric’s state of being. “Go see what’s up with him, I’ll keep watch” you said to Jason, who nodded and approached the colonel with Nick. You could hear Eric crying, but couldn’t make out any of the words. Everything hurt, your head was pounding, your shoulder felt like it was on fire, and your side was in excruciating pain. The creature that took you down must have broken a rib, or at the very least bruised one. You were still worried about Joey, hoping he was topside and safe.

“Rachel!” You jumped and ran towards your teammates at the sound of Nick yelling. “What the hell happened?” You said, looking between the three men. All of them were staring over the cliff. “No..” you stepped back. Shaking your head in disbelief, tears brimming your eyes. How could she be gone? You felt sick. “We gotta move, colonel we’re sitting ducks! We need to fall back, now.” Jason hollered. “Over there” Nick pointed towards what seemed to be a separate room, with huge doors. “Let’s go” you sighed, following Jason & nick. Eric was behind you.

“Scout, you’re bleeding” Eric exclaimed. Rushing to your side. “I’m fine, really, kolchek patched me up” you gave him a weak smile. “No, I mean you’re bleeding through the bandages.” “What?” You looked down, your shirt drenched in fresh blood. “Son of a bitch” you hissed, applying pressure. “Scout you don’t look so good..” Nick said warningly, walking closer to you with Jason beside him. “Gee, thanks sergeant, you really know how to make a girl feel special” you joked, trying to lighten the mood. You knew you’d eventually loose enough blood to weaken you, but you didn’t think it’d happen this quickly.

“Y/n seriously. Look at me.” Jason spoke up, and you did. “Jesus Christ” he breathed. Instantly putting your good arm over his shoulders. You tried to resist, but you were too tired. “Jason I’m fine, I can keep going.” You pleaded. You didn’t want to be dead weight. “Bullshit.” He grumbled. Picking you up and carrying you through the door. Everything faded to black.

Flashback

“Scout, hey! Um, hello? Earth to y/n?” You heard, picking your head up from your sketch pad to see Jason. “Oh hey kolchek. What’s up?” You were sitting on your bunk, relaxing after a long day of paperwork. “I said, Whatcha drawing there?” He chuckled. Sitting across from you. “I- um- nothing.” You said hurriedly, attempting to close your sketchbook, but he snatched it up to take a peek. “Jason!” You whined, trying to get it back. “No no! Let me see!” He laughed. Standing up and backing away so he could take a better look. “Well, we’ll miss y/l/n, something you need to tell me?” He teased. Holding it up and pointing at the half finished drawing of himself. He was standing in the briefing room, infront of a beautiful arched doorway. “I- no. What? No. I draw all of you I just- fuck this is awkward” you groaned. Covering your face with your hands. “Well?” He teased, raising his eyebrows with a grin on his face. “Jesus, Jason, I-“ you sighed. “I just like to draw you guys, that’s all” you looked up at him, praying he wouldn’t flip a page and see the one of him shirtless on the previous page. “I’m just teasin’, I think it’s pretty cool” he smiled, handing the sketch pad back. “Thanks” you smiled, taking the pad and setting it on your cot. “Next time though, you should draw one of us” he gulped, realizing what he just said. “You know, all of us” he said a little too quickly, causing you to raise an eyebrow. “Well well, mr kolchek, something you wanna tell me?” You teased, mocking him. You stood up, walking closer to him. The tension was growing thicker every second. “I-“ he was cut off by Joey coming into the room “guys, Merwin and Nick are gonna- woah. Am I interrupting something?” He said in shock, seeing you and Jason nearly chest-to-chest “nope, not at all, Cmon lieutenant” you hummed, following Joey out of your room. Jason just stood there, flustered and confused.

#dark pictures house of ashes #eric king #hoa #house of ashes #jason kolchek #joey gomez #nathan merwin #nick kay #rachel king #clarice stokes #the curator #incorrect house of ashes #salim othman #jason kolchek x reader

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spiritedgoat · 2 years

Text

The Ashes in Us

(Part 2)

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/spiritedgoat/692649443700391936?source=share

Warnings

Swearing

(Bold and/italics are what’s going through our dear reader’s mind)

>_<

Tell me if you guys like these:)

Bon apple teeth my dudes

_________________________

The wind from the blades blew strands of hair loose from your braid, whipping at your features, squinting your eyes at the helo that just landed in front of you. A man stepped out followed by a woman carrying equipment.

You and Jason saluted the newcomer walking toward you. "Colonel, good trip?"

"Not particularly." the man spoke up glancing at you and Jason through his sunglasses. "Welcome to Camp Slayer" Jason greeted offering a hand.

"My apologies for being early, things are moving fast" he apologized shaking Jason's hand.

"And this is my assistant, Clarice Stokes" Eric added ,turning to the woman.

"No worries sir ,good to have you on board. The techs are ready for your presentation, hello ma'am" Jason greeted ,the woman trailing behind Eric. "Stokes, Dr. Clarice Stokes" the woman said smiling at Jason, "Kolchek , First Lieutenant Kolchek" he said with his southern drawl, "And this is Corporal Y/N Jackowski " he added motioning to you with a quick nod of his head.

"Pleasure to meet you" you greeted politely.

Clarice let out a tight lipped smile and pushed passed you following Eric. This is going to be just 'lovely' you thought to yourself. Yep you're pretty sure she already doesn't like you.

Considering you were one of only two women on base, already not getting along too well with Rachel being the other, you sighed in defeat. You definitely found it easier to get along with the rest of the marines.

Maybe it was just the way you were raised , you weren't some pretty princess that needed saving, you could look after yourself and hold your own if push comes to shove. Or at least that's what your father taught...more like beat into you since you were a kid. Your father always wanted a son after all...and all your mother could give him was a daughter. So he raised you into what he wanted instead of what you were.

"You coming back there, Jack?" you heard Jason's voice call out

You shook the thoughts from your head and pushed yourself forward following after the group of people.

Even a few feet away from the group you could hear the blaring noise from Merwin's radio. He was busy with his daily workout and physically working on your nerves even before opening his mouth. You came to a halt next to Jason.

"I see you old man, keep busting out those reps" Jason said smiling slightly at Merwin sitting upright to look at the group of people in front of him.

"Come join me, maybe I'll teach you a thing or two" Merwin answered, his eyes scanning the faces before landing on you.

"Later. We have company" Jason spoke gesturing to Eric.

"Maybe missy would like to watch me get a sweat on, huh?" Merwin smiled and you raised your eyebrows visibly cringing at his offer.

Merwin loved poking fun at you or it was just to grind Jason's gears from time to time since he could see Jason's jaw clench at the comment.

You were used to Merwin being well...Merwin at this point but he always seemed to have the knack for rubbing you the wrong way.

"You wanna spot me little lady?" he smiled, a glint of amusement present in his eyes.

"Nah, I got eyes. I can see you quite fine from here thanks" you let out as nicely as possible

Merwin shifted his attention to his newest victim, sending Clarice a wink.

"Ignore Corporal Merwin, he lacks social skills" Jason stated turning to Eric. He glanced at you sending you a soft nod before continuing his walk along the hall.

"God have mercy on whatever demented creature married him" You sighed softly. Not soft enough though as Jason let out a soft snort. "Amen to that" he chuckled.

"What was that?" Merwin called out, you turned sending him a wink.

"Well I guess every unit has it's resident jackass" Eric stated, following closely behind.

The walk to the briefing room was not too eventful, running into Nick on the way.

"This is Sergeant Kay" Jason introduced giving Nick a pat on the shoulder. Nick scanned the group, looking at Eric but blatantly ignoring him when he spoke to him, "Yeah gotta get in there and get prepped" he mumbled, walking off. You frowned in question. The fuck was up with Nick? Since he seemed pretty chirpy on his way to see Rachel earlier.

"So what's his malfunction?" Eric asked watching as sergeant Kay walked away.

Jason sighed, "Nick ain't been himself lately. Civilian ate a bullet. Nick took it hard"

"Is he combat ready?" Eric asked frowning ,looking between you and Kolchek.

"He's a big boy sir, he's ready" You answered simply standing your ground.

Entering the briefing room, Jason led the group though the doorway. "So this must be the one and only satellite guy" Joey commented from his desk watching intently as the man stood in front of him. You looked down at Joey a smile creeping onto your lips, shaking your head slowly, knowing Joey's about to eat shit.

"Colonel Eric King...the satellite guy" Eric said seemingly a little amused by the marine's mistake. You could see Joey's soul leave his body for a moment as he stumbled up to his feet saluting the new commanding officer. "Lance Corporal Comez, sir!" he introduced, Jason biting back his own smile.

"Give the Colonel full site access" He stated pointing at Joey

"Well I'm telling ya, when the Queen Bitch finds out about this, she's gonna flip" Jason said holding up the letter.

"Yeah, me and Rachel know each other, she'll understand" Eric stated, your eyebrows lifting at his comment.

"Sir?" Jason had visible confusion on his face

Clarice cleared her throat and spoke up "The Queen Bitch you're referring to, is his wife". You swear you could see Jason's eyes grow twice it's size.

You bite down on your lip to suppress the smile that was forcing it's way on your face. You've never heard silence louder than what befell the room at that moment.

Eric made his way past Jason looking through the rest the room's got to offer.

You stepped over to Jason who dropped his head squeezing his eyes shut. A low "fuck" escaped his lips.

God it was funny

He saw the amusement written all over your face even though you tried your best to hide it, sucking your lips in to form a thin line.

"Don't.You.Fucking.Dare" he pressed out in a threatening low voice his accent heavily present. You couldn't help but crack more at the empty threat as a soft half chuckle escaped your lips, you gave him a pat on the shoulder

You smiled to yourself knowing you're gonna tease the shit out of him later for that one.

"Nice work, hotshot" you winked walking into the room, Jason following suit.

"Sir, I am so sorry. Rachel never mentioned that she was married" you heard Jason apologize as you walked over to Joey.

Still amused "How you doing Joey? How you like the new commander" you asked, a shit eating grin plastered on your face as you made yourself comfortable sitting on the edge of the desk. Joey gave you a glare and if looks could kill, you'd be six feet beneath catering for some maggots by now. Eventually he broke a smile at the memory. You tapped him on the back of the helmet reassuringly ,"Happens to the best of us, bud".

"What even is this place? Looks like a ballroom" Clarice asked, a voice as sweet as honey

"That's exactly what it is, ma'am. Saddam was dancing it out here" Jason answered looking around at the building.

"Maybe I'll even let you take me for a spin" She said seductively, smiling at Jason.

You turned your head in Clarice's direction and narrowed your eyes at her. You weren't the jealous type, you knew better than that.

It's not like you had any right to be jealous either, you had no claim on Jason whatsoever. Still her words spewed so sweetly to Lieutenant Kolchek made heat rise from somewhere deep in your chest spreading through your whole body, you just hoped it didn't resonate on your face. Your face definitely spoke louder than your words sometimes.

"Jack....Jackowski, Y/N? Earth to Jack" Joey said snapping his fingers next to your face. Finally drawing your attention.

"Mhm?" You turned looking at Joey staring at you with an raised eyebrow. "Looked like you wanted to murder either Kolchek or the girl" he said a mischievous smile forming on his lips.

"What? No, sorry my head was somewhere else" you forced a smile, Joey not buying it.

"Uh huh yeah, like mentally murdering the girl?" he said ,humor trailed in his voice

"Yeah. What? No jesus Joey. Just thinking about some things I guess" you stated.

Not entirely sure if you were trying to convince Joey or yourself with that

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The briefing felt like it took forever, especially with the added awkwardness between Rachel and Eric that was as clear as day.

Overall the tension was high in the room, irritable and the heat didn't help.

Eric went over the details of the mission, pretty straight forward.

Go in, take control, find the silo, confiscate the WMD's and leave with as little casualties as possible.

Well easier said than done.

You scanned over the room, your arms crossed over your chest as you watched the marines' annoyed faces as Eric and Merwin argued about some bullshit, yet again. Probably just another pissing competition between them.

"You act like this in all your briefings, Corporal?" Eric threatened

"Sorry sir, the boys are just ready to catch a break. No harm meant" Jason apologized on Merwin's behalf

His eyes glanced over ,meeting yours. You offered him a small smile as you shifted your body on the table, turning your attention back to Eric's speech.

"Sir, we just got urgent weather reports of a sandstorm moving in over the Zagros Mountains" Clarice notified, Eric slammed his fist down on the table cursing. The mission was set to take action the next hour but the sandstorm made it impossible to fly out.

"Finish your preps, we move out tomorrow at daybreak" Eric commanded leaving the room.

To your surprise you felt relief by the postponement of the mission, something about it didn't sit quite right with you. Usually when missions came you got your head in the game and did as told but you survived off your own instincts. That gut feeling hasn't let you down yet.

The team finished the last of the preparations for the next morning's mission.

All you wanted to do tonight was relax and take it easy maybe catch up on some reading, since you had no guard duty, you were free for the night.

You were just on your way out when a hand caught your arm, your head snapped to the culprit.

Jason smiled at you, dimples making themselves known. "You have plans tonight, Jack?" he asked.

You looked at him weighing your options mentally before speaking, "Mhm yeah, I don't have too much going on. Why?"

You figured, it might be your last night alive tonight so why the hell not, there's always the chance of getting shot tomorrow.

He smiled at your answer, "Good , then join me and some of the boys tonight for some not so cold, cold ones" He suggest a smile on his face, think he also felt some relief.

You nodded your head "Fine but only a few, you know I don't do well with alcohol" You laughed at the memories flooding your brain of the last time you got tipsy and ended up punching Merwin out cold because of some dispute.

Jason let out a chuckle laughing at the fact he knew exactly what you were referring to.

"It honestly wouldn't be such a bad thing if it happened again" Jason snickered a crooked smile on his face.

You shook your head embarrassed of your own behaviour, you were normally calm and collected but damn you were a lightweight, "No I'd rather not take my chances, maybe I'll get reported to the lieutenant".

Jason raised an eyebrow, smiling at your words. "You just might" He whispered barely audible.

You smiled playfully at the words he probably didn't mean to say out loud "Then I'll see you later." you answered waving a hand as a goodbye to the few guys left in the room.

You took your leave to your quarters that you shared with 3 other marines including Joey.

So privacy was...interesting. At least the men respected your needs, especially when it came to washing up. You were allowed to use to closed off shower in the Sergeants' shared bathroom. The bathroom used by the higher ranking marines, it was fancier than what you guys had, more intact and working.

You entered the room making sure to knock first.

"Hey, you're back early. You ain't got guard duty tonight?" Joey greeted, laying sprawled out on his bed reading some magazine, dear god you hoped it was a normal magazine. After the last incident of walking in on Joey at an...undesired time both of you made the unspoken agreement of always knocking VERY loudly before entering the room.

"Nah, I'm free tonight Joe. Ricky and Theo are on guard so we get the room for ourselves, but said I'd go out and have some drinks with Jason...." Joey turned immediately looking at you raising his eyebrows "...and some of the other boys"

You frowned at his sudden change of expression, "What? Did I say something?" you asked, honestly confused Joey looked at you as if you just sacrificed his first born son.

"Spit it out Gomez" you challenged

"Nah Nah nothin's wrong...So you and Kolchek? Anything going on there, perhaps??" he asked stepping closer.

Fuck.

"What? Our Lieutenant Kolchek? Are you crazy? He's my superior no fucking way man" You tried to sound convincing

Joey assessed your words, watching you intensely before narrowing his eyes at you

FUCK.

"I'm not buying it" he said plainly

"What do you mean?"

"You got very nervous when I mentioned Kolchek where as you're usually calm AND you did that weird knuckle rubbing thing you always do when you lie."

FUCK.

You stared quietly at Joey trying to come up with an excuse but your brain had 12 tabs open and half were frozen. You were screwed utterly screwed. Joey was going to torture you with his newly learned knowledge.

Even if you denied it, it would be no use. Joey knew you better than that, he'd see right through you.

"Considering you're not denying my brilliance...I'm gonna poke the bear and say I'm right?" Joey stated, a shit eating grin on his face.

You sighed your defeat, looking up at him

"Oh shit, I knew it!" he said maybe a little too loudly considering the paper thin walls.

"What do you mean, 'you knew it' ? " you cornered him

"Pfft, you don't think I see the blatant flirting you two do? The way you'd follow him into hell or take a bullet for him at any given chance?."

You bit your lip rolling his words through your head, "Okay firstly that's kind of part of the job description and secondly I don't think he sees me like that"

Joey shrugged at your response "Uh huh say what you want."

You narrowed your eyes at the man flicking his glasses so they sit crooked on his face.

"I'm gonna go wash up, I'm still sweaty from this morning's PE"

Joey swatted your hand away and resumed his place reading the magazine.

You gathered your change of clothes paired with a scratchy beige towel and made your way to the bathroom.

The warm water hitting your skin after today felt amazing, your bones ached and your muscles were tired. You washed your hair and scrubbed at the dust sticking to your arms.

You didn't want to leave the comfort of the warm shower but you had to eventually, you reached a hand out of the shower searching for the clothes you dumped.

Underwear, grey sweatpants, sports bra, shirt. Shirt? Fuck where's the shirt. You put the close on leaving the shower cubicle trying to find the shirt. Fuck I probably dropped it on the way here.

A creak sounded as the door to the bathrooms opened, your heart skipped a beat.

Shit

Covering what you could, using the towel you covered your stomach, shoulders and breasts.

The door opened and Jason looked more shocked than you after stepping inside, you stared at him blankly for a moment

"What's the chances of meeting you here?" you said awkwardly

Jason blinked a few times before opening his mouth and closing it again

"Y-you know the normal, showering and what not " he let out his brows furrowed.

You shook your head in agreement trying to make the situation less awkward. Was it working? No

"Uh, you alright there Kyra?" Jason finally spoke the question he had been thinking.

"Mhm yeah...yeah no, I-I forgot my shirt" you admitted with a thin lipped smile.

"That makes more sense" he chuckled stepping closer. Your eyes widening a bit

"Here, take mine" he proposed, slipping his blue shirt off and handing it to you.

"Thank you, it'll be less weird than using the towel to go back" you admitted ,taking the shirt from his hand.

It was still warm from his body heat, your eyes involuntarily flicked over to his chest and immediately you realized what you did.

Shit

Jason smiled to himself at the fact you just checked him out. He stepped back and put a hand over his eyes allowing you to drop the towel.

You quickly slipped the shirt over your head, it was a bit big and it smelled like him. It was a deep woody smell mixed with a bit of dust.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. You can drop your hand, I'm done"

Jason smiled looking at the sight of you in his shirt, "Blue suits you" He commented

You didn't know how to respond, a smile creeped on your face "Thanks, I should probably get going"

You pushed your wet hair back so it hanged loose for the trip to your room.

"Then I'll see you a little later" Jason spoke, a soft smile on his face as he flipped his towel over the shower door.

You nodded making your leave, walking briskly back to your barrack ignoring the questioning looks you received from the passing soldiers.

_____________________________________________

You knocked, entering your shared room making a bee line for where the grey tank top still layed untouched on your bed.

"Goddammit, you idiot Kyra" you mumbled to yourself, throwing the shirt over the bed's frame.

"You took your time, nice shirt. Wait nice shirt?" Joey retraced his steps to stop behind you crossing his arms.

"Thanks" you absentmindedly answered, packing away your toiletries.

"Who's shirt is that?" He asked

"Mine, why?" You played it off

A moment of silence passed and you turned to face the man who was burning holes through the back of your skull.

"Woman, I know you only own 6shirts, 3 green army uniform shirts, a black tshirt, that tank top and a grey sweatshirt. Plus by the looks of it, that shirt is at least a size too big for you so my question validly stands" Joey claimed with a smirk on his face.

You blinked at the man a few times, struggling to actually find the words to say, as borderline creepy as the fact was he was right. It's one thing you had to give to Joey, he was damn observant. "Okay that's low key scary but fine, it's not my shirt. I forgot mine when I took a shower and had to borrow one." You admitted

Joey weighed your answer searching for something

"Ha. So who's is it?"

You shut your eyes, knowing the answer will just set him off more.

"It's...Jason's. He came into the bathroom when I was about to leave"

Joey smiled, happy with your answer

"Knew I recognized that shirt from somewhere."

"Oh shut up, Gomez" you shooed the man away.

The sun was almost entirely gone when you looked out the window at the stray palm trees in the distance. Only their silhouettes really visible.

Flopping down on your bed you silently stared at the crumbling tile ceiling.

#jason kolchek x reader #salim othman #eric king #rachel king #house of ashes #joey gomez #nick kay #clarice stokes #nathan merwin #jason kolchek

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cherrypop-xoxo · 2 years

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HOA - Nails

(Ignore how I named it wrong, and reposts are greatly appreciated :)) )

Rachel

Nick

Clarice

Jason

Salim

Joey

Merwin

Eric

#house of ashes #hoa #salim othman #jason kolchek #joey gomez #nathan merwin #eric king #rachel king #clarice stokes #nick kay #supermassive games #x reader #pick one get one

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raeymond · 3 years

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dating them. nathan merwin&joey gomez/reader

warnings. some suggestive on merwin’s part (separate hc’s)

nathan merwin.

— if you’re in a relationship with merwin, you’ve got to be ready for suggestive&sexual comments to be thrown your way — he just can’t help himself! the first thing he says to you everyday is how hot you are and how much he’d love for another night like the last to happen (..which he takes back the second you start glaring at him).

— that isn’t to say he’s just a sexual boyfriend! he’s plenty romantic too (in his own way), always going to great lengths to make you feel loved and appreciated — though if you are to point it out, he just says you’re imagining things and brushes it off (though he’s happy you noticed deep down). and he’s plenty happy to just laze around with you, it’s honestly his favorite way to spend time together, a nice and relaxing day with his s/o is such a dream to him.

— his love language is physical touch (if you could guess). not necessarily in a sexual way, despite how he may act, but in a ‘my s/o is perfect and i just can’t keep my hands off of them’ kinda way. he loves being able to have you next to him, usually keeping his arm around your waist or having his hand intertwined with his — it’s his priority to be able to feel his love next to him! but, he’s also big on gifts&quality time. he’ll show up randomly with something he ‘happened to have picked up’, but it’s just cause he doesn’t wanna tell you that he put loads of thought into the small trinket. and, as i said earlier, his favorite way to spend time with you is just sitting and lazing around together. holding each other close while something plays in the background — it isn’t long until you two move onto something more ‘physical’.

joey gomez.

— i imagine him as a somewhat shy lover, he gets a little embarrassed of affectionate gestures&such in front of others even though he really wants to show you off! he’s always got you on his mind, and started wearing a heart locket of you right next to his cross just so he can always get some motivation whenever he’s in stressful situations — even though he does get teased, he ignores it because he knows that he’s gotten you waiting for him back home! he can’t have these guys messing with his head.

— but, even with that said, he’s incredibly sweet&romantic when it’s just the two of you — either alone at your house or out together on a date, he’s making the cheesiest pick-up lines that have him smiling because you’re laughing. he’s always such a gentleman too, opening doors for you, pulling out your chair, etc, etc. even when he’s got to run before you reach one of the two, he’ll go out of his way to do anything you ask!

— i think that his love language would be words of affirmation — he’s all about encouragement and making you feel safe, so what better way than to cheer/talk you up whenever he can? not just that, he’ll send you letters when he’s away just talking about how much he loves and misses waking up to you every day. and he’s always there to listen, helping to solve your problems and help to make things better even though he’s not sure he’s too good at it. which, always ties into his other love languages, which i think are acts of service&gifts. he’s all about making your days easier as long as he’s by your side (and even if he’s not, he hopes that he can still help you out somehow!) and he can’t help but give you all the gifts you could dream of. if you even so much bring up the fact that you’ve been thinking about something you want/are going to buy — you’ll wake up to it right next to you!

#house of ashes x reader #nathan merwin x reader #joey gomez x reader #house of ashes #nathan merwin #joey gomez #dark pictures house of ashes

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urfavbooblover · 3 years

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☆ House of ashes Masterlist

•You can always leave requests for these characters•

Jason Kolchek:

- nothing yet

Rachel King:

- Won’t let you die (x female/non-male reader)

Salim Othman:

- nothing yet

Nick Kay:

- nothing yet

Eric King:

- nothing yet

_____________________________________

If you’re interested in any other characters from House of Ashes, you can leave a request

#house of ashes #house of ashes x reader #house of ashes imagine #house of ashes fanfic #jason kolchek #rachel king #salim othman #nick kay #eric king #house of ashes joey #house of ashes clarice #house of ashes merwin #lgbtqia

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merakiaes · 3 years

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Shoot Your Shot - Jason Kolchek

(A/N: Started writing it, had a breakdown, bon apple teeth. This is a combination of three anonymous requests, one of which is one that I accidentally deleted which asked for the reader to be Eric's sister. This fic isn't 100% accurate to any of the requests, I took certain parts of each and combined them into one. I keep zoning out when I write for some reason and this was the first time I wrote anything in very many months so I'm a bit rusty. Might rewrite this at some point, but until then I would really appreciate to know what you think hahah. I need a confidence boost.)

Pairing: Jason Kolchek x reader

Requested: By anon, anon and anon.

Prompts: #56 from the fluff/humour-list.

Warnings/notes: Unprotected secks (wrap it before you tap it, kids). Very poorly written smut, kinda rushed and kinda shitty, probably very OOC. But would still appreciate to know your thoughts and opinions. I could really use some new motivation hahah. Not proofread so apologies in advance for any mistakes.

Wordcount: 12,182

Summary: Being Eric King's younger sister, you're without a doubt as fierce as they come, and Jason just can't seem to hold a conversation with you without stumbling over his words and fucking it up. It isn't until the two of you go through and survive the same hell that feelings are confessed and actions are taken.

During the short time that you had been with your current team, you weren’t quite sure what the worst part was; Merwin’s horrible choice of music echoing through the vacant stone castle every wake second of the day, or having to turn a blind eye to your sister-in-law having a love affair behind your brother’s back.

But in a much more real sense, you knew exactly which part was worse.

Eric and Rachel’s relationship had been something you admired and envied more than anything back when they had first met. You had never seen your brother so happy and so much himself, and as you got to know her better, you eventually realized that he was not the only one to change for the better.

They were both very… turbulent people. That was the only word you could think of to best describe them. They had issues, both within themselves and in general, and they helped even those issues out by creating a mutual balance.

It was beautiful to you how two people could lift each other up like that, and no one had been happier than you were when the two of them told you that they were getting married, more in love than ever.

But then the accident happened. The accident that couldn’t really be blamed on anything or anyone but still, somehow, managed to bring everyone down with guilt, and drag everyone into one big game of “point the finger”.

Eric would never admit it out loud but at the start of his recovery, he blamed Rachel. Rachel blamed herself, as well, and Eric did everything that he could to comfort her and let her know that it wasn’t her fault, but he was just so angry, and that anger needed to be directed somewhere. So, after a while, he just… shut off, convinced himself that he was so angry at Rachel that he eventually couldn’t even look at her without getting mad, even though, in reality, the only one he was angry at was himself.

It drove the two of them apart and, eventually, Rachel couldn’t take it anymore and took off, leaving the responsibilities behind with the person who was second closest to him; you. You didn’t mind taking care of him. You wanted to help him in any way you could, just like he had helped you throughout your lives.

And on the inside, Eric appreciated your help, more than words could even begin to explain, just like he had Rachel’s. He just… couldn’t bring that gratitude out to the surface, no matter how hard he tried which, in the end, made him push you away, as well.

“You’re too much like Rachel and I can’t take it! I need to figure this out on my own without you, or Rachel, or anyone hovering over my shoulder at all times!” He had yelled at you one night during one of your many arguments, after which he had then proceeded to arrange for you relocation.

You guessed there was some kind of hidden consideration for your wellbeing in the fact that he arranged for you to go work alongside Rachel instead of just throwing you into a random warzone. At least that’s what you told yourself to prevent yourself from giving in to the anger he had caused you feel. It did the trick, so you wouldn’t change your mind.

But still, having seen the relationship you had once admired above all else fall apart like it was nothing, had caused you to see the world a lot clearer. Your brother had been the one to raise you in many aspects so seeing him and Rachel drift apart was like seeing your own parents get a divorce, and having to watch Rachel go behind your brother’s back only made the issue worse.

You would never condone cheating, ever, but at the same time, you had reached a point where you’d accepted that the relationship between your brother and sister-in-law would always be too complicated for you to understand. There was a lot that had gone on behind the scenes, things that you didn’t know, and so you pretended not to see it, leaving them to deal with it on their own, in their own time.

It might have been a morally questionable choice on your end, but you couldn’t be bothered to care. You had been stuck in the middle of their drama since day one following the accident and you didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. All of it made the mere taste of the word “love” rest bitterly on your tongue, which you guessed was why you denied yourself of your own emotions the way that you were currently doing on a daily basis.

Yeah, although mentally exhausting and emotionally traumatic, the aftermath of of your brother and sister-in-law’s broken marriage wasn’t the worst part about being with your current team, nor was it Merwin’s shitty music – shocking, yeah.

No.

The worst part about being with your current team was a so-far unmentioned option, one that came in the shape of a man, a certain marine, who had, for some unexplainable reason, caught your eye and developed a fondness for you that was as clear as day to anyone with eyes, since you had first joined them in Iraq.

Like you said, he had caught your eye, so it wasn’t that you weren’t interested, because in your own, weird way, you were. But the version of him that you were attracted to, was the one you heard and saw interact with his friends and mutuals from afar.

The version he became when the two of you interacted directly was someone else entirely, and one of many permanent results of having had to deal with your brother’s marital issues, was that you didn’t care much for uncertainty, anymore. You wanted things to be frank and straight forward. No bullshit, no lollygagging, and it infuriated you to no end that you had yet to have a successful actual conversation with the Lieutenant, which you knew was probably scaring him off even more.

Camp Slayer was as noisy and disorganized just like it had been every day since you first arrived, with teams from different branches of the military still working on getting settled and making sure everything was in place.

As always, Merwin’s shitty music – the third worst thing about being where you currently found yourself - could be heard echoing through the entire premises from wherever he currently was and if you were to take a guess, Rachel was off somewhere playing tonsil hockey with her new favourite toy.

Meanwhile, you were on your way to the front of the palace, where you had just gotten word that your brother had arrived.

As you turned corner after corner, the music, much to your dismay, became louder, and it wasn’t long before the sound of faint voices joined in.

“I see you, old man. Keep busting out those reps.”

The voice of Jason Kolchek was the first your ears picked up on, not much to your surprise, but much to your annoyance. Your face fell into an involuntary scowl as your stomach uncomfortably churned, but luckily didn’t get any more time to dwell on your troubles before the people you had been looking for entered your line of sight.

Jason was still talking, but now that your eyes had found the form of your brother, you couldn’t focus on the words coming out of his mouth anymore. And as Jason turned his head at the sound of the approaching footsteps, only to find you heading in his direction, he lost the ability to focus, as well, his arm instantly coming up to scratch the back of his neck, as if the cocky playfulness he’d previously had when conversing with Merwin, hadn’t been there at all.

“Ma’am.” He instantly greeted you, clearing his throat and visibly making an effort to stand up straighter.

You blatantly ignored him, not daring to move your eyes as much as an inch away from your brother’s face.

Said brother stared back at you through the dark sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose, the corners of his lips tugging up ever so slightly as he nodded his head – enough to show fondness, but not too much as to lose professionalism.

“(Y/N). You’re looking good.” He said.

Giving a curt nod in response, you clutched the rifle in your arms closer to your body out of habit. “Likewise, Colonel King.”

It didn’t take Merwin long to pick up on the tension hanging in the air – it rarely did seeing as tension just so happened to be his favourite thing to mess around with, especially if it wasn’t his own - and just like always, couldn’t stop himself from making an entrance into the ongoing conversation the second he picked up on the fact that there was something scratching from underneath the obvious surface.

“Oh, I see how it is.” The shit-eating grin that overtook his entire face reached all the way to his eyes. “Old lover of yours, sweetheart?” He directed the question to you, but his teasing eyes kept moving back and forth between you and your brother.

The mere sound of the suggestion was enough for your face to twist into an expression of pure disgust.

“Hardly.”

“Fuck no.”

Both of you replied in unison. You couldn’t see it through the dark fade of his glasses, but you could still feel the scolding glare your brother sent your way for your choice of words.

Turning his attention back to the front, Eric continued with a short but calm: “She’s my sister”, obviously being a bit – read, a lot – more capable of keeping his cool and hiding his disgust than you were.

“No shit.” Merwin laughed. “Well, this is just great, isn’t it, Lieutenant Kolchek? Should you tell the Colonel about his sister’s new boyfriend, or do I get the honours?”

Merwin got up behind you and brought his hands up to your face, squeezing your cheeks together lightly in an attempt to get you to make a kissy face.

“Boyfriend?” Eric’s eyebrows shot up so high that his forehead crinkled together, his head turning back and forth between the three of you with clear confusion, and interest.

Merwin’s attempt to deform your face failed when Jason’s hand quickly moved up to slap his arms away, causing them to fall back to his sides.

“Ignore Corporal Merwin. He lacks social skills.” He told your brother, giving the man of the hour a warning glare.

“I guess every unit has its resident jackass.” Eric was, thankfully, more than happy to drop it, as usual wanting nothing more than to get down to business. Unfortunately, however, you knew your brother well enough to know that he’d get back on the topic eventually, with the way his eyebrows remained raised in your direction for another short moment.

The smirk never left Merwin’s face as he stepped back and returned to the bench he had previously been seated on, but he did know better than to keep pushing it and, luckily, shut his trap.

Clearing your throat, you emptied your mind of the rushing thoughts and put on a professional face, turning to face Jason. “I’ll take Colonel King the rest of the way from here, Lieutenant. I have some things to go over with him before the briefing.”

Jason smiled that crooked half-smile that he always did and respectfully nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll see you in there in just a minute.”

The three of you exchanged nods of departure and then sister and brother turned around and walked away, leaving Jason to stare after you left.

“Yes, ma’am.” Merwin imitated Jason in a much lighter-than-necessary voice, and the second you had turned the corner and disappeared from his sight, Jason turned to his fellow brother-in-war and lightly flicked his head.

“What the hell was that?” He asked, and despite just having been hit upside the head, all Merwin did was laugh.

“What’s the matter, lover boy? You don’t like it when I touch your girlfriend? You don’t do it so someone ought to, don’t you think?” He teased, which only made Jason’s annoyance grow.

“She ain’t my girlfriend and you well know it, Merwin.”

“Oh, don’t we all.” Merwin smirked, and Jason narrowed his eyes.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, please. We all watched you throw every last shred of dignity out the window the second she got here, following her around like a lost little puppy, about ready to get on your knees and eat from her palm if she asked you to.” Merwin cackled, seeming to find this the most entertaining thing in the entire world.

“She doesn’t like me like that, and making a fool out of me hardly helps my case, does it?” Jason raised an eyebrow.

“You do that more than well enough on your own, brother.” Merwin shot back. “You’re so pathetic it’s almost sad. I’ve fucked girls with more balls than you.” He laughed loudly again, but Jason didn’t find it as amusing.

“Thank you, thank you for that very pleasant image.” He sarcastically said, his lip turning up in disgust at the picture that was painted in his mind against his will at the sound of the words.

“I’m just saying, you need to stop fucking around and do something, or someone else will. Pretty little birdie like that never goes too long without being picked up, you know what I’m saying?”

“You know, I can’t remember where I invited you to comment on my love life.” Jason pointed out defensively, but he knew that his friend was right.

He did know what he was saying; in fact, he knew exactly what he was saying. But the fact remained that you didn’t like him the same way he liked you. There just wasn’t a chance in the world that a girl like you would settle for a guy like him, and so the best thing he could do was to leave you alone, much to the dismay of those around him, who had to watch him pathetically pine after you in silence.

The following day was the first time in a long time that they didn’t have to watch the painfully awkward stares their Lieutenant would send after you, but seeing as the reason for the absent second-hand embarrassment was quite… unfortunate, they unfortunately couldn’t bring themselves to count themselves lucky.

Because no matter how cringeworthy it was to watch Jason lose all sense of self just from one, mere look at you, it sure as hell beat being chased around an ancient temple by vampires.

None of you had been able to focus on anything personal since you’d been swallowed by the sinkholes, your sole objective being to get out of there with your lives intact and having to work as a team in order to pull that off, which was a lot easier said than done when you kept getting split up.

But you managed, miraculously, and were currently, slowly but surely, making your way back up to the top after having blown up the massive mountain of cocoons down below.

Once you had exited the lift, Rachel took the lead with Nick at her side and Jason and Salim close behind, while you and Eric lingered back a bit, walking slowly side by side.

“You’re not still mad at me for relocating you, are you?” His voice reached your ears, causing you to turn your head to look at him.

You raised an eyebrow.

“Is the sky blue?” You asked sarcastically, but when seeing the disappointed fall of his face, you dropped the attitude and heaved a sigh. “No, I’m not mad at you. Slightly annoyed, perhaps, but that’s just one of the many charms that come with siblinghood, isn’t it?”

You made your best attempt to smile through your exhaustion, and Eric matched it with a smile of his own. “I suppose that it is.” He agreed, chuckling.

Silence fell over the two of you again, but only for a short, short moment.

“So, about that alleged boyfriend of yours.”

A defeated groan instantly left your lips. “I knew you weren’t going to let that go.”

Eric laughed. “What? You can’t expect me not to ask. So, what about it?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend. It’s just some running joke the guys have to mess with Kolchek.” You insisted, rolling your eyes and hugging your rifle closer to your chest. “Getting a boyfriend is not as easy as they make it look in the movies.”

The bitter tone that your voice adapted brought your brother to chuckle. “How about you let a guy take you to one for a change, then?” He teased and raised an eyebrow. “Lieutenant Kolchek does seem kind of fond of you.”

You threw him a side-eyed glance and proceeded to ignore him.

“Oh, come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.” He continued teasing, even though the fact that you hadn’t replied to his previous statement was all the answer that he needed.

Still, you shrugged your shoulders, muttering out a low: “I might,” as confirmation.

At that, Eric raised a prying eyebrow. “So?”

“So?” You mimicked him, keeping your eyes ahead of you.

“Why haven’t you given the guy a chance?” He asked, and once again you just shrugged.

“I can’t say I haven’t thought about it.” You admitted flatly. “But then I think about you and Rachel, and how the two of you ended up, and I don’t want that to happen to me. I wouldn’t be able to handle it, to be completely fucking honest. You guys are a fucking mess.”

“You’re not us, though, are you? You’ve always been better than both of us. Just because we didn’t get a happy ending doesn’t mean you shouldn’t chase yours.”

“And you think I’ll find that with Lieutenant Kolchek?” You turned your head slightly to the side, raising an eyebrow at him with the hint of an amused smile playing on your lips.

Your brother made a “meh” sound, shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head slightly to the side. “He’s a better option than most.” He admitted, and although you were still smiling, you shook your head.

“Yeah, that’s the problem.” You pointed out. “Knowing myself, I’ll probably end up breaking his heart, ruining him completely and scarring him for life.”

“Honestly?” Eric’s face rose in a suggestive, playful smirk. “He seems like he’d be into that.” He continued, and chuckled.

You couldn’t help but laugh along. “You’re probably not wrong.” You admitted, thinking back to the countless of times you had witnessed him stumbling over his words and feet whenever you’d enter the same room as him. You always pretended to not see it, both to spare him the embarrassment, but also to not have to admit to yourself that you maybe, possibly might have liked him, too.

“It’s not very often that I am.” Eric said, and you snorted in response.

“That is seriously debatable. But whatever helps you sleep at night.” You objected, and beside you, your brother’s mood took a more serious turn.

“I would sleep better at night knowing you’re happy, that you’ve got someone to look after you.” He said.

Another snort left your nose.

“I’m very well capable of doing that myself, thank you very much.”

“I know you are, but still. That guy seems about ready to take a bullet for you.” He shrugged, and snickered.

“Well, yeah.” You chuckled. “We’re marines, that’s kind of in the job description.”

“You know what I mean, (Y/N).” He mused, but you just shook your head.

“Look, if he wants something from me, he can come and take it. Until then, I’m going to pretend like this conversation never happened.” With those words hanging in the air, you reached out to pat your dear brother on the cheek, and then turned back forward, quickening your pace to catch up with the others.

Luckily for you, you didn’t even have to pretend, as the conversation you’d had with your brother mere moments before was as good as forgotten ten minutes later, when the lot of you found yourself facing a dilemma.

With everyone being tired and aggravated, it didn’t take long for Eric and Rachel to make said dilemma personal, even though it wasn’t about anything even remotely related to either of them; said dilemma being that the way through which you had come in, was now blocked by a pile of debris, leaving only two, narrow ways out of there.

“I can’t believe you’re seriously arguing about which way to take.” You finally snapped, having been able to keep your cool for five minutes, but no more.

Eric and Rachel grew silent and turned to face you along with everyone else, as you walked into the centre of the room you were currently holed up in.

“You know what, why don’t we break the first rule of every horror movie ever and split up? Rachel will go left with Clarice, Merwin and Salim, and I’ll go right with Eric, Nick and Kolchek. Sound good? Good.”

Rachel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course, you’re siding with him. How sweet.”

“No. You do not get to do that.” You quickly shot her down with a harsh, pointed glare. “I’ve supported you through the shipwreck that you call your marriage just as much as I’ve supported Eric. So don’t even try starting that shit with me, you hear me? This is not about you, about me, about Eric, or about anyone. Least of all is it about choosing sides, because the only thing we need to be doing right now is work together. So drop the whole petty victim act and get yourself together, because I am not fucking dying down here because of personal drama clouding people’s judgment.”

Rachel glared back at you just as fiercely as you finished, as always too proud to openly apologize. But the way her arms came uncrossed and she took a step back showed you that she had gotten the message and regretted lashing out.

With her having backed down, Eric took a step forward and nodded his head. “She’s right. This is bigger than all of us. We need to remain focused on the mission and the mission only.” He said to everyone, before turning to his wife. “Since we can’t seem to agree on one option, we’ll do it (Y/N)’s way and see where we end up. It’s not like we have anything else to lose.”

“Yeah, except for our lives.” Nick was the one to speak up this time around, and having had enough of this bullshit, you could only roll your eyes.

“We’re risking our lives no matter what we do. Better we go down trying to find a way out than standing around arguing like a bunch of five-year-olds.” You said, giving everyone one last, pointed glare before heading for the right side of the room.

“Kolchek and I will take the lead. Move out.”

There was a collective mumble throughout the group.

“Yes, ma’am.” Nick replied through clenched teeth as you passed him, clearly having to bite is tongue to prevent any further protests from slipping out.

No more needed to be said, everyone else scattering and following your lead, heading in the direction they had been assigned. As Merwin and Jason crossed paths, the former smirked suggestively at the latter.

“Doesn’t it make you all tingly when she takes control like that?” He teased, and Jason’s automatic reaction was to respond with a silent glare.

“Cut the crap and focus on the mission, Merwin.” Rachel, who was walking behind the man in question, pushed on his back to get him to keep moving.

“Yes, ma’am.” Merwin replied and did as ordered, not before flashing Jason another suggestive face.

As the group split into two and everyone fell into their respective places, a thick blanket of silence fell over them, tense with the lack of promise. But after everything you had been through these past few hours, you refused to give up hope, staying alert and focused on nothing except finding a way out of there.

Jason, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to focus on the task at hand no matter how much he tried, no matter how much he tried to force himself. The fact that you were walking so close beside him was too distracting, so close, in fact, that if he just twisted his body slightly to the right, his arm would brush against yours.

He cursed himself out in his head for being so easily-affected.

To and with everyone else, Jason was a confident guy. But with you, everything was different.

He hadn’t gotten around much since enlisting in the army – or at all, for that matter, as was kind of to be expected.

After leaving his old ways behind in 2001, he had dedicated his entire life to making a better man of himself, to finding a purpose and making a difference. It turned into a competition with himself and everything else became irrelevant, nothing but a distraction that he eventually stopped paying any mind, that including women.

Hell, he wouldn’t have been able to get with anyone even if he’d wanted to, seeing as being a marine rarely left much time to spare for pleasure; least of all in the first few years of service during which you were still either training or climbing your way up the ladder of ranks.

The sad reality was that some men would pay for prostitutes during their deployments, but Jason had never felt that strong of a need to get his, well, needs satisfied. He recognized that he was more man than animal and he wasn’t so desperate to get his dick wet that he would deprive someone of their own free will in order to make it happen. There were more important matters that needed his attention.

But despite the fact that he was currently out of practice, he had always had game when the moment called for it. He had the confidence, and a natural charm that he’d always been able to sway the ladies with, but not with you.

With you, everything was different. It was like merely being in your presence turned his brain into a mess of incomprehensible thoughts, like it switched off the English that he knew and turned on a language he had never heard before.

It made him say the dumbest, most idiotic shit, and when under stressful circumstances? He lost control even more, which is probably what prompted him to say what he did next.

….

“So, uh…” Jason cleared his throat. “You like football?”

Damn it.

He visibly flinched at the sound of his own question and somewhere in the back, he could faintly pick up on the sound of Nick snorting through his nose and then covering it up as a cough.

That detail did nothing to boost his confidence, a deep, annoyed breath escaping his nose as he realized his mistake.

“This is hardly the time or place to talk about sports, Lieutenant.” You instinctively snapped in response, still set in attack mode after your brief, but still unpleasant, dispute with your sister-in-law.

If his confidence had been low before, it was absolutely demolished now, your reaction making him feel even more stupid.

“Right.” He cleared his throat again, awkwardly adjusting his grip on his rifle. “Just trying to ease the nerves, ‘s all. Don’t seem to be working very well, though.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me.” You muttered in agreement, before heaving a deep sigh of your own. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping. I’m just so fucking fed up.”

He turned his head to look at you. Your skin was littered with cuts and bruises of all shapes, colours and sizes, your hair caked with dry blood and mud. The exhaustion was just as visible on your features as it was evident in your voice, and no one could blame you.

On the contrary, he admired you for how collected you had remained through it all, while everyone else had lost their shit on at least one occasion each; including him.

“I get it. This shit’s got all of us on edge, and you have to deal with your brother’s wrecked marriage on top of it.” Jason quietly spoke, turning his head back forward. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s fucked up that you’re stuck in the middle. Their fuck-ups shouldn’t be dumped on you and left for you to deal with.”

At that, you broke your stare away from the narrow path ahead of you for the first time, to instead turn to look at him. Your eyes met as he did the same, and you offered him a weak smile.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” You said.

A few second of silence passed, the two of you just holding each other’s stares. When you finally broke the eye-contact to turn your attention back forward, you couldn’t help but to chuckle.

“You know, I think this is the most you’ve ever spoken to me in one go. I’ve been with you guys for weeks and you’re only now making an effort to actually converse with me. You’ve got a weird sense of timing, Kolchek.”

You shook your head, eyes sparkling with amusement. He watched you from the side as you turned your head to meet his eyes again, and then without saying anything else, you turned back forward and walked ahead, leaving him behind in your tracks.

“You are so whipped.”

Jason barely even got a second to recognize that someone else had taken your spot at his side before the voice of his best friend and brother-in-action reached his ears.

He wasn’t spooked, however, simply sparing him a sided glance before turning his sight back to the path ahead.

“That obvious, huh?” He wondered somberly, not even attempting to protest.

He could deny his feelings for you to anyone else all he wanted, but not to Nick. He wouldn’t even bother trying, knowing already that he wouldn’t be able to get away with a lie.

“To anyone with eyes? I can hear your heartbeat from here.” Nick chuckled at his lovesick friend, admittedly feeling his pain and struggle. “Why’d you let her walk away, man? You had her right here, you could’ve at least tried to make a move, seeing as this might very well be your last chance.”

The truth that Nick spoke left a bitter taste in Jason’s mouth.

“I did try.” He replied, and Nick raised an amused eyebrow at that.

“Oh, yeah? When? You mean the fiasco of a conversation that I was just forced to bear witness to? Yeah, I heard that. That was just sad. If that’s what you consider trying, then you very clearly have the wrong idea of the word’s definition. But hey, one positive thing to come out of this is that I now know what to get you for Christmas – an English dictionary!”

As the cave around them echoed from Nick’s voice slightly increasing in volume, Jason sent him a pointed glare, silently giving him the note to be quiet.

“How am I supposed to know what she likes talking about?” He followed with.

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe ask. You know, like a normal person, instead of diving straight into your own interests. Just a thought.”

“You’re one to talk. Don’t think I don’t see you sneaking looks at the Queen Bitch.” Jason scoffed an amused, teasing laugh.

This time it was Nick’s turn to glare. “The difference between you and me, my friend, is that I have game.” He stated plainly, still not abandoning the friendly banter despite now being the subject of the joke.

“I have game.” Jason was quick to object, which prompted Nick to raise his eyebrows amusedly.

“Really? Then where are you hiding it?” He mocked.

“I just don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to talk to her.” Jason defended himself, but what he thought was a good defense only seemed to have the opposite effect.

Nick raised his eyebrows. “So, you admit that you don’t have game.”

Jason opened his mouth, ready to fire back with equal cockiness, but before he could get another word out, his agenda abruptly changed and caused him to immediately spring into action, launching his body forward.

“(Y/N), watch out!” He called out to you where you were walking a little bit ahead of them.

At the sound of your name being called so urgently, you wasted no time in whipping around to search for the source, only to find Jason running straight for you. Your instinct told you to look down at your feet and so you did, finding that you were merely an inch away from tripping over a tripwire.

Luckily, you managed to secure your footing quick enough to back away before that happened. Unlucky, however, was that this set an entirely new set of actions into motion, as you then backed into a nearby wall instead, which just so happened to hold a number of lose, large boulders on the top. The boulders in question came barreling down in the direction of your head, and before you had the time to react, your body was tackled out of the way and, in the process, straight to the ground.

You didn’t know how you had managed to be the one to land on top when Jason had been the one to tackle your body to the ground but, somehow, that’s still where you found yourself once the dust and noise caused by the boulders had settled.

You automatically let out a quiet groan, feeling your muscles ache more now than ever before. You forced yourself to bite through it and slowly began moving.

“You okay?” You managed to get out through the pain, and Jason coughed as you rolled off of his body.

“You’re heavier than you look.” He commented before he could stop himself, and rolled over in the other direction, following your example and beginning to stand up.

“Wow, you sure know how to flatter a girl, huh?” You breathed.

“Aw, shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” You watched as panic and regret pulled over his features and couldn’t refrain from chuckling at how easily you could get a rise out of him.

“Calm down, Kolchek. I’m just messing with you.” You spoke. “This one’s one me. If clumsy was a currency, I’d be a fucking billionaire by now. Ask my brother and he’ll happily tell you all of the embarrassing stories from our childhood.”

You straightened your back and brushed the excess dirt off the front of your clothes, and then reached your hand out to the man in front of you, who had obviously taken the biggest hit judging by the way he was still hunched over in pain.

“I guess I better keep a better eye on you then.” He jokingly remarked, accepting your gloved hand and allowing you to pull him back up to his full height.

Where he’d gotten the sudden boost of confidence from neither of you knew, but you couldn’t deny that you were pleasantly surprised, a mischievous grin spreading over your lips at the sound of his words.

“Maybe you should.” You agreed.

He held your gaze as he straightened himself up and regained his balance and composure, but much to both your and his own disappointment, he didn’t say anything else. Whatever smidge of confidence he had gotten in order to make his previous comment was already long gone, leaving the two of you in a silence that was everything but comfortable.

You cleared your throat to break the silence in question, the ghost of a smirk stretching over your lips as you continued, “Well, uh, thanks for saving me. And hey, maybe I’ll be more willing to answer any inquiries that you might have about sports once we’re back on the surface. You’ll have to try and see. Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

With a small wink, you turned on your heel and went ahead once again, and this time around Jason watched as you watched your feet more closely.

“You’re done for good now, man.”

Nick was immediately back at Jason’s side, like one of those bad consciences that you sometimes saw appear on cartoon character’s shoulders and that wouldn’t go away.

Once again, Jason had barely gotten a second to pull himself together before being ambushed by the fellow marine, but once again he was not a stranger to Nick’s intrusive actions.

“I’m guessing you heard all of that, too.” He said as he brushed himself clean from the dust and dirt, readjusting his backpack and rifle and making sure everything was in place and close at hand after the fall.

Falling into step with each other again, Nick and Jason followed you where you were walking ahead of them.

“We’re in a cave system where every sound echoes for miles. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in here heard you.” Nick didn’t waste any time in sugarcoating.

His words immediately brought a deep sigh out of Jason’s nose, his lips stretching into a straight line and the muscle in his jaw clenching every so lightly as he muttered out a quiet: “Great.”

While Jason silently tortured himself for butchering yet another chance to actually make a connection with you, Nick was clearly finding amusement in his misfortune.

“It’ll be a miracle if she agrees to go out with you after this, that being if you ever grow the balls to ask her out in the first place.” He chuckled and shook his head as he went on. “But then again, she just straight-up flirted with you after you called her fat, which is already a miracle in itself.”

“Hey now, I don’t think that’s how it went-“

The sound of someone clearing their throat suddenly came from behind them, interrupting Jason mid-sentence and unlike when Nick crept up on him, admittedly catching him by surprise.

“Fuck.” Jason cursed under his breath before he could stop the curse from slipping out, partly because he hadn’t expected an extra person to join in on the conversation that was already crashed by one too many unwelcome participants, but also because the most recent addition to the party just so happened to be the last person that Jason wanted to be involved in the subject at hand.

Still, he put on a brave face, quickly moving to straighten his posture and regain his composure with a clear of his throat.

“Colonel, didn’t see you there.” He murmured, and watched as Eric amusedly raised his eyebrows in return.

“Clearly.” He chuckled, lips stretched into a small smile. “You know she likes you, too, right?”

His direct approach took Jason by surprise and out of pure instinct, his eyes briefly flickered to the side where Nick had previously been standing, only to find that the man in question had now disappeared. How brotherly of him.

Turning back to the Colonel with a slight annoyance brewing in the pit of his stomach, directed at his supposed friend, Jason cleared his throat once more.

“With all due respect, sir. I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.” He curtly stated, freeing his face of emotion and letting his lips pull into a straight line.

”Are you shitheads coming or what?! I ain’t got all day!”

As if sensing the compromised situation that Jason was currently caught up in, your voice then called through the cave from somewhere up ahead. Stupidly, the mere sound of it was enough to make his professional front falter.

Eric, who seemed to find this amusing more than anything, laughed, and spoke, “Don’t worry, Lieutenant. I’m not one to meddle with my sister’s love life.”

Jason could feel the back of his neck grow hot with embarrassment, even more so when Eric then reached out to place a hand on his shoulder.

“But a piece of advice?” He started, immediately continuing, “Don’t take too long. She doesn’t care much for waiting around for things that don’t lead anywhere. Shoot your shot, and make sure that you don’t miss. Because if the moment calls for it, I won’t.”

Ah.

There it was.

The sign that Jason had been waiting for to confirm to him what he had feared; that your brother had heard everything he had said about you. A threat of some kind had only been expected and although a lot milder than he would’ve expected from someone like Eric, Jason still took the same amount of offense that he would have if the threat had been more severe.

“Yes, sir.” Was all that he managed to get out through slightly clenched teeth, but his stare never wavered, and he managed to stay cool enough to give a nod of courtesy.

“Glad to know we understand each other.” Eric nodded back and smiled, squeezing his shoulder once before letting his hand drop back to his side.

Luckily, the conversation ended there, no more words being exchanged between the two as they moved to catch up with you and Nick, where you were now making a makeshift bridge in another cave.

It wasn’t long until you regrouped with Rachel and the rest, the woman in question not being so tough anymore as she begrudgingly admitted that they should’ve gone with Eric’s choice of direction from the start.

From then on forward, everyone stuck together and focused on nothing other than getting out of there, with the parasite-infested vampires hot on your trails and the unstable ruins that you were forced to climb posing just as big a threat to your lives as they did.

By the grace of everything holy, you miraculously managed to find your way back up to the surface and once up there, survived the final attack brought on by the eclipse. Salim went on his own way as your brother called for a pickup and before you knew it, you were all safely aboard the helicopters and on your way back to Camp Slayer.

Once arriving at the palace, you were almost instantly whisked off into separate interrogation rooms by people dressed in contamination suits, to be briefed about the events that you had just lived through.

A lot of arguing, three blood-tests and a few aggravated outbursts later, you were finally released to go clean yourself up, and even though the showers were only portable ones with no more than a showerhead and some plastic curtains working as a makeshift cubicle, you could safely say that you had never before felt as relieved to feel the heat of a shower as you did right then.

It pained you when you had to turn off the water and go back to the real world, but you knew that you couldn’t stay in your bubble forever and forced yourself to leave it despite your body and mind both desperately begging you to stay.

Getting dried and dressed was as painfully boring as it always was, and you were eager to get some long overdue rest. You weren’t sure you or anyone else would be able to sleep after what you’d just been through but nonetheless, getting to crawl up in a warm bed sure as hell beat being hunted by an alien species through an underground maze.

Even after your long, hot shower, during which you had cleaned yourself off with soap and shampoo not one, not two, but three times, you still felt dirty from all of the blood, mud and God knows what else that had been covering all thinkable parts of your body.

The dirty feeling left you feeling cold, and you couldn’t wait for the uncomfortable sensation to go away.

”Ah, crap. I’m sorry, I should’ve knocked.”

The sound of a voice suddenly echoed through the vacant bathroom, successfully pulling you from your deep set of thoughts and back to reality. Not having expected it, you jumped slightly in surprise, your hand automatically moving to the holstered gun that was resting on the sink beside you.

Whipping your head around to find the source of the disruption, however, you only found Jason, standing with his back turned to you, one of his hands shielding the side of his face and his head sheepishly hanging low.

Realizing that there was no danger, you let out a breath that you hadn’t even known you were holding and pulled your hand back from the gun, instead going back to getting dressed.

Stepping into your unlaced boots and pulling your sweater on over your head, you were done, grabbing the wet towel from the floor and throwing it in the trash bag beside the sink like you had been instructed to do.

”I was just finishing up, anyway. It’s all yours.” You told him as you collected your belongings – the few ones that they had let you keep upon your return.

”It takes a while for the hot water to come through so you might wanna let it run for a bit if you want it warm.” You added as you pulled your dog tags back over your head, and taking this as a sign that you were now decent, Jason slowly turned back around to face you, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

”Thanks.” He answered as he shuffled further into the room.

Keeping it simple, you offered him a nod and a tight-lipped smile as you passed him, and headed for the exit without another word.

Jason didn’t let himself look after you, nor did he make an effort to stop you. The atmosphere between the two of you had been tense and unpleasant ever since you’d come back to base, and neither of you were willing to admit to yourselves that the reason behind the drastic change was what went unspoken; not just the secret attraction, but most of all the fear.

What would happen once the adrenaline left behind from the recent events had died down? What would happen if one or both of you were unable to move past it? Would you still be as tempted by each other? Would you still be drawn to each other? Or was the only reason behind your sudden increase in attraction the fact that you didn’t want to be alone, that you wanted an escape?

Jason knew that he had been attracted to you since long before this day, but he had seen enough relationships go downhill as a result of trauma to know that the human mind was unpredictable and also the emotions that it felt, and he knew that there was no guarantee that he would be the same man as before once reality had settled in.

And you knew the same.

You both knew that getting romantically involved with someone who had just been through hell, when you had, as well, was a risk. Vices of escape were all fun and games when you were just escaping the trauma, but less so when you crossed the line between that, and needing an escape from yourself.

And yet, you couldn’t stop your body from literally whipping back around when your name fell from his lips, heart beating in your chest with an emotional whirlwind so mixed that it was impossible even for its host to make sense of.

”Yeah?” You asked, and cleared your throat to regain some of your momentarily lost composure, raising your eyebrows in question.

”Uh…” Jason turned to the sink and reached out his arm to grab something, turning back to face you a moment later with your watch now in his hand. ”You, uh, you forgot your… your watch.”

He cleared his throat, and you slightly raised your head.

”Oh, right.” You didn’t know why, but you felt relieved. ”Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it.” You forced another stale smile as you reached out to take the watch.

When your fingers brushed against his and the touch then disappeared just as quickly as it had been made, you realized that it may not have been relief, but rather disappointment, that you were feeling.

Whatever it was, you pushed the feeling to the back of your head and stepped back. “Goodnight, Lieutenant.” You offered him one last smile, and he smiled back.

“Goodnight.” He replied and, with that, you turned around and headed back the way you came in, listening to the sound of the shower being turned on as the door closed behind you.

Shoot your shot.

Your brother’s words echoed through Jason’s head. He clenched his fingers around the edge of the counter that he now stood leaning over and looked himself in the mirror, being met with his own glare as regret and self-directed annoyance flooded his body.

”Idiot. You had her right here. You could’ve done something. You should’ve done something. You’re a marine, for Christ’s sake, what’s wrong with you? Fucking pussy.”

You’re not us.

Your brother’s voice rang in your ears, repeating the words that he had told you down in the cave and sounding so clear that it was almost like he was right there beside you. You had never bothered going out of your way to pursue any type of permanent relationship, and your brother had always given you crap for it, telling you that life is too short to not take a few risks.

As if becoming a marine wasn’t risky enough as it was.

But granted, it did feel a lot worse when it was your emotions at stake. At least it did to you.

But your brother was right. You needed to put yourself out there more, you needed to break a rule every once in a while, and you couldn’t deny that it was infuriating you to no end to not know what was going on inside Jason’s head.

An annoyed breath forced its way out your nose at the mere thought of his constant shillyshallying. You knew that he was attracted to you, just like you knew that you were attracted to him, but even then, he hadn’t done anything except beat around the bush since you first met.

There was nothing you hated more in life than leaving things unfinished, whether it be business, personal projects, or anything in between. And when it came to Jason, not a single one of the few, brief conversations that you’d been able to hold felt finished. Even though you said goodbye, it always felt like something unspoken was left hanging around in the air, floating around your heads, taunting and mocking you.

You were getting riled up by your own thoughts and you didn’t know if it was because you were actually annoyed about the Lieutenant’s lack of initiative, or just because you were trying to gather the courage you needed to turn around and go back, and your body and mind’s way of doing so was to through flaring your temper.

Either way, it seemed to do the trick, as you came back to reality and realized that you were now heading back in the direction of the showers.

A normal person probably would have stopped outside and knocked or called out to make sure that they weren’t about to walk in on someone standing around in their birthday suit, but on this particular day, it would seem that logical thinking was something both you and Jason were lacking in.

And so, you didn’t even think twice before flinging the door back open and walking back inside, your eyes immediately finding their target over by the sink.

Jason’s eyes instantly caught yours through the mirror and he wasted no time in standing up to his full height and turning around to face you, a mixture of nervosity and mild surprise overtaking his features and triggering an automatic increase in heart rate.

His mouth opened to speak, but before he could get as much as a sound out, you beat him too it, wasting no time in getting to the point.

“I’ve either completely misinterpreted everything about you, us, and this, whatever this is, because I left the invitation quite open down in the caves and you have yet to even attempt to make a move on me. Or you’re just completely incapable of expressing what it is that you want, so here’s the thing, Kolchek. I sorta, kinda, maybe, might, slightly, possibly like you, and regardless of which one of the options that it is, I need you to pull yourself together and tell me what you want to say, because it’s painfully obvious that you do have something to say to me, and even though I’m a smart enough girl to figure it out on my own, I want you say it to my face, because I’m not doing this whole beat around the bush thing with you anymore. Okay?”

Jason opened his mouth once again, and then closed it, and opened it again, like a fish out of water. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but an outburst like that sure wasn’t it. It left him at a loss of words, like it would anyone, and all that he managed to get out under your burning stare was a small, quiet, and most of all pathetic:

“Okay.”

….

Silence fell over the two of you, the only sound audible being the shower that was still running by your side.

You crossed your arms over your chest. “Okay, you’ll tell me what you want or okay, we’re not doing this? You need to be a bit more specific.” You answered, maybe a bit too harshly.

However, before you could dwell on the tone of your voice…

“I want you. God, I’ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you.”

This time it was your turn to be taken by surprised. You were very well aware of what you had just demanded him to do, but a small part of you hadn’t actually expected him to do it.

Suddenly, your attitude was turning into a challenging one and as you uncrossed your arms, you raised an eyebrow as you asked, “So, so are you going to do something about it? Or am I going to have to lie to my diary and say that you kissed me when, in reality, you were too cowardly to follow through?”

“I’m not a coward.” He objected shockingly quickly, and it was clear judging by the way his jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed that you had struck a sensitive nerve.

You quirked an eyebrow at him to challenge him even further, and from that moment forward, everything happened very quickly.

Three long, determined strides was all it took for him to reach you where you stood and once he did, you wasted no time in raising your arms to greet him by grabbing on to either side of his neck and pulling him closer to you.

Your lips met in a heated kiss and as an automatic reaction, Jason’s hands came to rest at either side of your hips, so lightly that you could barely feel the pressure at all. And yet, it was just enough to get your heart racing in your chest.

It wasn’t until you were urgently kissing and gripping at each other that you realized just how much you’d wanted this to happen. You had known that you felt some kind of attraction for him, that much being pretty much inevitable seeing as he was the one person who was closer to your age and also happened to be your exact type on paper - that is, when he wasn't turning into a verbally challenged clutz who couldn't seem to get a single coherent sentence of actual value out.

But you had still denied yourself of anything pleasurable for so long that you hadn’t really realized to what extent those feelings of attraction had been brewing, nor had you realized just how starved you were of any kind of physical contact that didn’t include patching up bloody wounds or assisting someone in battle.

And opposite of you, Jason seemed to be coming to the very same realization, as he gradually started becoming more and more comfortable and with that also more daring, with his hands gripping at your hips with a bit more pressure, and slowly but surely making their way up your clothed sides.

Your body reacted the only way it knew how, with excitement tingling in your chest, churning your stomach and sending your heart into a hard an uneven beat, and quickly making its way down to the lower regions of your body.

You were no stranger to the familiar feeling, but it had been so long since you had felt it to this extend that you responded to it with an urgency you didn’t know you possessed, your hands moving from the sides of his neck and up to the back of his head, far enough for your fingers to find hair long enough to become lost in.

The feeling of your fingernails scratching his scalp as your hands wandered was enough to make him release a small groan into the kiss, and when you then took a firm grasp of his hair to lightly tug him even closer, he had to stop the movement of his own hands and squeeze where they currently resided on your waist in order to keep himself stable.

Without breaking away from the kiss, the two of you worked together to flip sides. With your back now turned to the sink, you slowly backed closer to it, taking Jason with you with every step.

It wasn’t long until you felt the hard surface press against the small of your back, and only then did you break away from the kiss, bringing your hands down from his head to instead place them on the edge of the counter.

You held Jason’s gaze as you raised yourself off the floor and onto the surface, and he watched your every move as you then proceeded to kick your shoes off to the side.

At that point, his previously braver front briefly faltered.

“We’re really doing this in here?” He questioned in a hushed and doubtful voice.

This time around, as opposed to any other time, you found yourself feeling surprisingly amused by the obvious fact that his otherwise macho bravado was nothing but a front that he put on to appear tough – clearly not being quite as tough as he liked to make himself out to be.

Quirking an eyebrow at him, your amusement showed through the small, teasing smile that was now playing on your lips.

“Unless you don’t want to.” You lightly shrugged.

“That a trick question?” Jason asked back, and you couldn’t stop yourself from chuckling.

“Just kiss me, you idiot.” You said and reached out in front of you to grab the front of his shirt, leaving him very little time to think of an answer.

He did nothing to try to stop you, though, giving in to you immediately and allowing you to place your lips back on his by meeting you in the middle.

Your hands moved down to where his were now grabbing the edge of the counter on either side of you and grabbed a hold of his wrists. With little to no struggle, you tugged on them to make his hands lose their grips of the counter.

Jason got the idea and allowed you to guide his hands to instead rest on either of your thighs. From there, you started to trail your hands up his thick forearms, picturing the black ink that adorned them behind your closed eyelids. His tattoos and forearms being two of your favourite physical attributes of his, this immediately succeeded in riling up your lust and need for him even more.

While your hands kept making their way up his arms, along to his shoulders, neck and eventually finding their way back into his hair, his hands slowly but surely began moving up the insides of your thighs as he regained some of his momentarily lost confidence.

As your movements once again became more urgent, his lips left yours to instead attach themselves to your neck; a surprising but welcome move that automatically resulted in your head falling back into the mirrored wall behind you.

His hands passed your hips and grabbed a hold of the end of your shirt, giving it the smallest of tugs to indicate what he was thinking. You wasted no time in responding, nodding your head and allowing him to pull the sweater over your head and discard it somewhere on the floor.

His lips returned to your neck and his hands to your hips just as quickly as they had left.

“Is this alright?” He asked you, hesitating at the line of your pants. The southern drawl dripping off his voice only poured more fuel to the fire burning in your stomach, even more so with the way it came out muffled from his face being pressed into the curve of your neck.

“Yes, just-“ You jumped slightly, hissing at the feeling of his fingertips brushing against your skin. “Fuck, your hands are cold.” You cursed.

“Sorry, sweetheart.” The chuckle that followed was so deep and amused that it sent a flurry of butterflies through your stomach, and the nickname that seemed to fall so easily from his tongue did nothing to help calm it.

But you stayed silent, focusing on controlling your successively quickening breathing while his fingers nimbly unbuttoned the front of your cargo pants and pulled down the zipper.

You automatically raised yourself off of the counter to give him enough access to pull your pants down your hips. His lips left your neck as he took a step back. Despite the loss of physical contact, you never let your eyes break away from the other’s as you individually kept working on discarding your layers.

You kicked your pants off your legs and watched with heaving breaths as Jason pulled his shirt over his head. Only then did you fail at keeping the eye-contact, your eyes instead traveling down to his now bare upper body.

With thick, tattooed arms, wide chest and shoulders even wider, Jason stood before you, his breaths just as ragged and urgent as yours already, even though you had barely even gotten started.

But no matter how attractive you found his build, there was nothing that did it for you as much as his next course of action did, your breath literally catching in your throat as you watched him unbuckle his belt and then proceed to yank it out of the loops with one swift motion, the long string of leather falling to the tiled floor with a clink.

“Fuck.” You cursed, breathing out in what you could only describe as amazement. “That was kind of hot.”

Your unexpected comment caused Jason’s eyebrows to shoot up. “Yeah?” He nervously but fondly chuckled, and you nodded your head, releasing another breath.

“Yeah.” You answered, and when you then reached behind your back to unclasp your bra, letting it fall off of your body, it was his turn to become stunned.

But he didn’t stand around for long, only long enough to take you in in your entirety before stepping back between your legs.

“You are so fucking beautiful.” He praised you, his eyes following the curves of your torso and chest, and his fingers gingerly following suit.

Hearing those words spoken in his Southern drawl was enough to send another flurry of butterflies through your stomach, and no more words were spoken as you pulled his face back to yours to reattach your lips to his.

His hands found their way back to your thighs, where his fingers copied their previous actions by trailing back up the inside of them. The feeling had been nice enough before, but now that there was one less layer of thick fabric between your skin and his, the feeling that it brought you was enhanced by a thousand, even more so when one of his hands moved up your side and stopped to cup one of your breasts.

Your nipples hardened at the feeling of his calloused fingertips brushing over them, and a moan uncontrollably left your lips at the sensation. As if your body was moving on autopilot, your legs instinctively moved to squeeze together, the heat between your legs begging for some friction and release.

Having had his other hand on the inside of your thigh, Jason didn’t miss this move of yours and took action, trailing his hand up to the fabric of your underwear.

As his hand pressed against your aching heat, you were no longer able to keep yourself collected enough to keep your lips on his, your head instead falling back against the mirrored wall once again as yet another moan escaped from your slightly parted lips.

“Jason.” His name slipped out before you could catch it.

Fuck. His body immediately reacted to it. He was so used to you calling him by his formal title or surname that the sound of his first name falling from your lips sounded damn near orgasmic and successfully added fuel to the already burning fire, urging him to move quicker.

Moving both of his hands to the line of your panties, he quickly pulled them down with your help, letting them fall to the floor like the rest of your clothes.

He brought a finger to the centre of your folds and carefully parted them, coming to find that you were already so ready for him that your arousal had escaped you and evenly distributed itself without needing any help from you or him.

As a result of your body’s eagerness, his fingers easily and effortlessly slid over the small bundle of nerves that was just aching for some kind of frictional release.

You had to bite down on your lip to prevent yourself from being too loud when he inserted a finger, and furthermore press your head harder into the mirror behind you when it got too difficult to contain.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jason mumbled against your skin as he kissed along the curve of your neck, and you nodded, using your legs to pull him closer.

Without saying a word, you moved your hands down to the line of his boxers and inched it inside, grabbing a hold of him with no hesitation in your movements.

“Shit.” He involuntarily cursed at the feeling of your warm hand wrapping around him and setting him free from the straining fabric of his boxers. His breathing increased in speed significantly and quickly as you gave him a pump, his hands hurriedly leaving your body to grab on to the counter-edge to hold himself upright.

With his head hanging low right beside your face, his warm and ragged breaths fanned right by your ear, and to see, hear and feel the kind of power you had over him only succeeded in turning you on more.

So, without further ado, you scooted further out on the counter and spread your legs, wrapping one arm around Jason’s shoulders to hold yourself steady, and using the other to help him line himself up at your entrance.

Neither of you being able to wait any longer, he slowly pushed himself inside of you.

Aroused as you may have been, you had still had very little stretching prep, and so you had to take a moment to adjust to his size, nodding your head once the momentary pain had disappeared to signal that it was okay for him to start moving.

And once he did, you couldn’t contain the moans no matter how hard that you tried.

“Shit, Jason.” You moaned in a borderline-whiny tone, and let your head fall back against the mirror once again.

There it was again; the sound of his first name falling from your lips with such neediness. He had never heard a sound as sweet as it before, and he wanted to hear nothing else for as long as he lived.

Breathing hard while slowly pumping in and out of you, he murmured into your neck, “Tell me how you like it, alright? I want to make you feel good.”

You nodded your head as to say “okay”, but you couldn’t muster any words.

Jason was so eager and nervous, and so incapable of hiding it, that his hands and breaths shook with every move and breath that he made and took. He mentally cursed himself for being so easy, begging to God that you hadn’t taken a mental note of your own, of how pathetic and willing for you that he truly was.

Had he been able to read thoughts, though, he would have known that you, luckily, hadn’t. You couldn’t think about anything in that moment, not even the feeling of his hands on your body. All you could think about was the sensation said hands left behind, his fingers and lips leaving burning trails of pleasure in their wake.

Contrary to his worries, he was already doing everything perfectly, touching and kissing you in all the right places, and hitting you in all the right spots.

Meanwhile, you tried to distract yourself from the intense waves of pleasure by grabbing on to anything you could find; his hair, his shoulders, his arms, and the back of his neck. Your wandering hands, the way you would squeeze his muscles and flesh and tug at his hair with your fingernails lightly scratching his scalp, was quickly bringing him closer and closer to the edge, much sooner than he would have liked.

So to assure that he wouldn’t leave you unfinished, he moved the hand that had previously been making its way up and down your side to instead focus on the place where you desired him most.

You immediately moaned when you felt his fingers brush against you and the pace of his rhythm increased, his hips snapping in and out of you. While one arm remained wrapped around his shoulders, your other hand rushed down to hold on to the counter’s edge to keep your body in place. And as the tension in the pit of your stomach intensified, you had no other choice but to lean forward and press your face into the crook of his neck to prevent any further sounds from slipping out.

Both of you were reaching your finish points judging by the way you were starting to shake and his movements were becoming sloppier, and before you knew it, an intense wave of pleasure came over you as you toppled over the edge, your nails digging into the skin of Jason’s shoulder as you came.

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed together as he focused all of his senses on you an you alone. He listened to the muffled moans you were releasing into his neck right by his ear, tasted the memory of your lips on his, and felt the way you were clenching and unclenching around him.

“Fuck.”

The curse spilled out before he could stop it and his entire body tensed up as he reached his own end no more than a few seconds after you had done the same, releasing into you with a guttural groan escaping his lips.

He rode his orgasm out and then he stilled, his entire body slumping against yours. His exhausted pants fanned across your skin and you brought your hands up to his hair, combing your fingers through the damp strands of brown in an attempt to still his tremble all while trying to catch your own breath.

Once a minute or so had passed, he finally raised his body from yours, your skin sticking together with sweat.

“I still have to take a shower.” He spoke, pointing out the very obvious.

You nodded in response, slowly straightening yourself up as the weight of his body disappeared from on top of you.

“Yeah, I think I might have to take another one.” You chuckled, tilting your head slightly as you looked at him.

”You don’t mind if I join you, do you? It’ll save time.” You asked, and all he did was shake his head and smile, holding his hand out for you to take.

You took that as another chance to admire the way his tattoos complimented his muscular arms, and accepted his outstretched hand, allowing him to help you down from the counter and over to the shower where the water had been running this entire time.

When you were finished cleaning up and getting redressed, the two of you turned off the lights and headed out. You almost felt like two lovesick teenagers when you had to sneak past your brother in one of the corridors and into your assigned sleeping quarters.

You had to admit that it felt weird sleeping next to someone after having slept alone for so long, but after getting settled beside each other in bed, you still - contrary to your previous belief - quickly and effortlessly drifted off to a peaceful sleep, both of you happy that Jason had taken your brother's advice to shoot his shot.

Tagged: @cheyenne-dunn-universe @thefictionalgemini @katnisspeetaprim @merrymarmalade @kade-is-gay @bow-to-fox

#jason kolchek x reader #jason kolchek imagine #jason kolchek #jason kolchek smut #jason kolchek house of ashes #house of ashes jason kolchek #house of ashes jason #jason house of ashes #house of ashes #house of ashes imagine #house of ashes x reader #the dark pictures anthology #the dark pictures house of ashes

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house-of-kolchek · 2 years

Text

Read My Mind (Part Two)

Jason Kolchek x Reader

Hello!! God it has been a long time since I’ve posted a Jason fic, I’m sorry for the wait!! I hope you enjoy this part, I’ve got a few more fics coming soon!

Part One

Word Count: 2.3k

MASTERLIST

Tags!

@kilchek @yellowroseskolchek @shinydixon @meadows-of-light @cherrypop-xoxo @tangytastyflatboard @kawaiiwitch224 @thedreamingfish99 @boristhepineapple

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Jason huffed, adjusting his grip on his rifle as he led the way through another tunnel. He was distracted. Really fuckin’ distracted.

All he could think about was your smile, the sudden softness in your voice as you’d talked Merwin down. You’d put on a good front in front of the Corporal. But you were used to that, he supposed.

Jason repositioned another camera, aiming it at yet another doorway, before a metallic glint caught his eye. The back of his mind flickered with recognition, as he focused on the grenade taped sloppily against the doorway.

“We should reset that tripwire,” he started, glancing back to Nick. “Give me a hand.” Nick kneeled next to the Lieutenant, huffing a breath through his nose as he carefully took hold of the wire.

“We’ve been in some fucked up situations before,” he mused. He wasn’t sure if it was nerves, or the sudden but clear realization that he likely wouldn’t make it to see the sun again, that had him blurting the first thing that came to mind.

“Never as fucked as this.”

“Well. If I gotta fight these things, there’s no one else I’d want by my side.”

Jason’s throat tightened, and he shook his head. Now was not the time to be getting emotional. He returned to his feet, passing the wire to Nick, fully prepared to lay on the hard truth: he couldn’t promise Nick anything. Friend or not.

You have people you’re close to. Don’t push them away.

There was that image again. Jason could see that defeat in your gaze, as you’d told him off. Before he could think, the words were spilling from his mouth.

“You know I’ve got your back, buddy. Come what may.”

He just barely caught the lift in Nick’s lips, and the slight drop of his shoulders as he stood. Jason felt a sudden swell of affection towards his friend, and he knew he’d made the right choice.

It felt good to be honest.

—

“Hold up. This looks like a good choke point. Any of those freaks comin’ up are bound to come through here.”

Jason took a second glance at the room. It was a narrow hallway, with a set of doors on each end and a line of pillars on either end. With a room like this, it would be easy to…

“Set some charges?”

Jason glanced back at Nick, a small grin forming as the Sergeant all but read his mind. He nodded, gesturing to each of the pillars surrounding them.

“Yeah. Let’s rig these pillars up for maximum coverage.”

“They’re more likely to see the tripwires though… you think those things can tell the difference?” Nick asked, and Jason hesitated. It was a fair point. “If we mine up the sides, we’re more likely to catch ‘em out. A smaller spread, but better hidden. What do you think?”

Jason sucked in a breath, giving himself five seconds to think. Those creatures were smart, they knew how to hunt, so it wouldn’t be all that far fetched for them to recognize a trip wire. But they also seemed to be missing eyes, if that corpse was anything to go off of. Would they even see the wires in the first place?

“Let’s go for maximum coverage,” he decided. “I don’t think those things can see in the first place.”

Nick hummed his agreement, muttering something about a “Salim,” and “echolocation.”

“What’s that?” he probed, and Nick shook his head.

“Nothing. I’m thinking the same thing.”

Silently agreeing to drop the subject, Jason moved to the nearest pillar, collecting an explosive from his bag and wiring it up to the faded stone. His mind flickered to you, and he wondered to himself if you were okay. Before he could picture all the gruesome ways you could have been killed, he turned to face Nick again, ready to spark up some idle conversation. His brows furrowed though, as he saw the distant look in his friends eyes.

“I can hear your brain ticking away,” he called, watching as Nick snapped out of his daze. “What’s going on?” He saw the heavy breath Nick took, and a new sense of dread began clawing up his spine.

Don’t…

“We should have given her a second warning.”

“Fuck man, I wish I hadn’t asked,” Jason sighed, throwing his head back and rolling his shoulders. This was the last thing he needed right now. To be thrown back into the cycle of guilt that had screamed through his mind since that day. “I’m through talking about this. That checkpoint was a prime target for suicide bombers. We had to act in the moment. We had to make a call!”

Jason was floundering, that he knew. He was making up a bullshit excuse on the spot, refusing to let the guilt he truly felt shine through. He was supposed to be the one that could read others, and put up a strong front as a leader. He couldn’t show that kind of weakness.

Maybe he was beginning to understand how you felt.

“It was the wrong call,” Nick spat, more to the ground than anything else.

Jason sighed, willing the lump in his throat to go away. He glanced over to his friend, who was still shaking his head. He rose to his feet, just in time for the Nick’s anger to snap.

“Why is it that no-one ever tells it straight!” he huffed, stepping up to Jason. “Everyone just makes up bullshit to get by!”

That one hit too close to home, and Jason swallowed another lump of frustration. He could feel his breaths grow short, as he tried to reign in his own frustrations. He had to be strong.

“Nick…”

“I mean, that’s why we’re in this sandbox in the first place, right?”

Jason gritted his teeth, staring daggers into the wall just over Nick’s shoulder.

“I need the truth, Jason. Shooting that woman messed with my head.”

Jason could still see the blood soaking through the sand, staining your hands as you pressed two fingers against the woman’s neck. He could see the defeat in your eyes, as you told him the bitter truth. He could see the desperation in your expression as you begged him not to follow in your footsteps, just like he was doing right then.

“Are you seriously going to tell me it didn’t mess with yours?”

“Fuck!” Jason cursed under his breath. He tilted his head back, sucking in a long breath before returning his gaze to Nick. He could see the frustration and pain behind his friend’s eyes, and the tension that rose in his shoulders at the small outburst.

“We fucked up,” Jason continued, his tone laced with defeat. “If we make it out of here, we’ll face up to that. If we die down here? Fuck, maybe it’s what we deserve.”

Nick was silent for a moment, taking everything in. He searched Jason’s eyes for a moment, before his shoulders fell again.

“Y’know, I was seeing Rachel.”

“Are you serious?” Jason asked. Nick nodded.

“Been three weeks.”

It had been three weeks since the checkpoint.

Jason wasn’t sure why you came to the front of his mind.

“It’s armed,” Nick sighed, brushing past Jason and heading towards the doorway.

—

You ran a hand through your hair, wincing as the strands tugged against your scalp. Merwin was sleeping restlessly across the room, mumbling under his breath and twitching every so often. He had been like that for the past hour, and while you checked his soaked bandages every few minutes, there was no way he was making it out. Not unless you got the proper equipment for stitching, and a hell of a lot of blood for a transfusion.

You let out a defeated sigh, blinking away the tears that threatened to spill. No matter how hard you tried to push people away, hide yourself from the pain that came with losing someone close to you, you could never seem to escape it.

“Fuck,” you sighed, pushing yourself up to your feet, and throwing one more look in the Corporal’s direction. Again, no change. With another sigh, you left the room, heading down the stairs towards the sound of Eric’s voice.

The Corporal was hovering over one of those monsters, analyzing its dead features with a disgusted curl of his lip. Your gaze slid over to the Iraqi soldier, his hands tied and his gaze hard on the two of you. As subtle as you could, you sent him a sympathetic stare.

“(Last Name), pass me the UV lamp please,” Eric ordered, his gaze glancing to you before he returned to muttering in his vocal recorder. You nodded, reaching for the item and handing it to the man. From the corner of your eye, you saw the soldier’s back stiffen, and he piped into the conversation.

“May I offer some advice?” he called, prompting Eric’s attention. The Colonel’s lips pulled back into a frown.

“You had your chance to talk,” he snapped, and you huffed a sigh. Men and their pride.

“Yes, but… the demon does not react very well to sunlight,” the man warned. Eric’s shoulders stiffened. “I would be very careful with that, if I were you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Eric snapped back, flicking the device on. You heard the man mutter under his breath, and a sudden sense of dread pooled in your stomach. You took a step back.

Eric sweeped the light over the monster’s form, nearly missing the sudden crackling sound that emitted from its skin.

“Eric!” you cried, reaching out to yank back on his shirt. He stumbled back just in time to miss the burst of flames that erupted from the monster. His shirt was slightly singed, and the look of shock on his face was unmatched as he turned to look at you.

“Um, thanks,” he whispered. You were just about to respond, when a sudden, shadowy figure brushed past, sending a surge of goosebumps up your arms. You whirled around at about the same time as Eric, your hand hovering over the pistol strapped to your leg. Eric reached a hand out to stop you, stepping forward into the dark temple.

“Kolchek, is that you?” he called, craning his neck to look past the tent. You looked after him, cursing yourself for allowing a sense of hope to fill your chest. When he received no answer, Eric glanced back to you. “I’ll go check it out. Stay here.”

As Eric jogged out to follow that strange figure, you shut your eyes, just for a moment. Regaining your resolve, you sucked in a breath, turning on your heel.

Right into the now untied solider.

“Jesus Christ!”

The man held a hand out to steady you, his eyes flashing with concern, which was quickly masked with panic. He stumbled back a step, bumping against the now charred table with his arms out in surrender.

“Please,” he begged. “I mean you no harm. I just want to get out, and get back to my son.” He searched your eyes, remaining perfectly still as you evaluated the situation. Though you knew it was against protocol, you felt a strong urge to let the man go free. You could see in his actions, his unwillingness to protest, and simply by the look in his eyes: he was telling the truth.

Maybe Jason was starting to rub off on you.

“Go,” you hissed, pointing towards his confiscated stake. “Get out of here before the Colonel comes back. And watch for explosives!”

The man’s gaze softened, and he nodded. In a rush, he scooped up his makeshift weapon, turning back to glance at you one last time.

“Your name?”

“(Name) (Last Name),” you replied, without any hesitation. If you were being honest, it shocked you how willing you were to answer the man.

“Salim Othman. Thank you, (Name). I won’t forget this.”

And with a final nod, Salim crept out of the tent, and into the shadows.

Just in time, of course, for Eric to return.

“I looked around, but I couldn’t see any- Where’s the Iraqi?” Eric nearly stumbled over his words, his face contorting with anger. You went rigid, your mind scrambling to find a believable excuse.

“I’m sorry, sir,” you started, knowing the respect for his rank would certainly be earning you at least one brownie point. “By the time I turned around he had freed himself and run off.”

Simply omitting a detail wasn’t technically lying, right?

“Are you serious?!” Eric cried, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “I left you for what - thirty seconds? - and you couldn’t even keep an eye on the one living prisoner we had?”

“Oh, sure, because leaving me with a flaming corpse and an armed man would naturally work out in my favour!” you snapped back, and Eric reared his head back. His expression held a strange mix of anger and shock, as he processed the words you’d just growled at him.

Fuck, your emotions were getting the better of you.

Eric opened his mouth to reply, his lips pulled back into a snarl, only to be cut off by a piercing yell. The voice echoed through the temple, and straight into your heart.

And before you knew what you were doing, you were racing towards Jason’s scream.

#house of ashes #house of ashes x reader #jason kolchek #jason kolchek x reader

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suvidrache · 1 year

Note

Tormenting Drake Merwin's s/o?

Tormenting Drake Merwin's S/O

age in bio when interacting. minors do not interact.

Word Count: 129 / Read it on AO3 / Wattpad

Warning: mentions of violence, also I tried making him a slightly better man <3

Drake is (name's) protective guard shark.

By messing with (name), you have now signed yourself up for death!

When Drake found out you were tormenting his significant other, he went straight to you and wouldn't hesitate to attack you.

He doesn't lay his hands on his s/o, but he has a love for violence and fighting, and he can now carry through with that enjoyment on to you.

While carrying through with his attacks, he would say all the (unable to be mentioned, but very terrible violent acts) he would commit to you.

Bold to assume that you would live.

If you're really lucky and manage to do so. Either apologize to Drake's s/o or never bother them again. Drake wouldn't hesitate to make your life hell.

#the gone series #gone #gone series #drake merwin #gone series drake merwin #the fayz #fayz #the fayz drake #drake merwin jr #drake merwin x reader #drake merwin headcanons #drake merwin scenario #drake merwin jr x reader #drake merwin jr headcanons #drake merwin jr scenario

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siren-queen-imagines · 3 years

Text

Near Death Confessions

My first Jason Kolchek story! I loved his character and the growth he showed, which made me love him so much more.

I also have been considering a part 2 and may take one or two requests (to see how it goes, since he’s become a muse for me). Also let me know if you wanna see more moments from the game in regards to this specific reader-verse!

I’ll keep y’all updated! I hope you enjoy!

Pairing: Jason Kolchek x Gender Neutral Reader

Masterlist

SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER FOR ONE OF THE ENDINGS!

(gif by me)

=================================

Violence was never really your forte.

Like everyone in your unit, you were trained to engage in combat. Despite being the medic of your team, you were taught how to handle yourself, not only by your training officers in boot camp, but also by your current team members Sergeant Nick Kay and First Lieutenant Jason Kolchek. Because of your time with them, you felt confident in your abilities to handle yourself should you ever need it…despite the fact that your instincts make you more likely to help others than hurt them, hence why you, as a doctor, were the medic for your team.

You thought that medical training and med school would keep you off the field…but you were considered combat ready due to your last tour at the beginning of the war and were assigned to Lieutenant Kolchek’s team, who was short a dependable, good medic.

Your training started from a stupid off hand comment made by Merwin. On the way back to base, he said something like, “It’s not my job to look after you, princess,” after you barely held your own against two men trying to actively kill you. Although he seemed to enjoy the fact that he had to help you and ever since then, you and him had this sort of back and forth antagonistic relationship.

After you got back at base, Nick approached you and asked if you’d like more training in hand to hand combat. You know, to brush up, which you gladly jumped at. What happened earlier that night made you realize that you needed a little extra training and you did not want to make it easy for anyone trying to kill you should it happen again.

Violence may not be your forte but war doesn’t care.

The other side doesn’t care.

Since you started training with Nick, you two grew closer. In the beginning, you were friendly and cordial but this extra time together allowed you to form a true friendship. Jason decided to help out as well, as he believed that as a leader, he should offer his help to better his team. Although, the friendship with him wasn’t as strong as yours with Nick. Jason seemed to be guarded when it came to you. It was a shame, you liked Jason. He’s a good man. And it didn’t hurt that you found him attractive as hell.

That accent of his was to die for. He had this little smirk that was so cute and sexy when you could pinpoint the mischievous glint in his eyes. And HIS EYES. His beautiful brown eyes that you could get lost in...and you had a few times.

Maybe you might not have been so subtle in the fact that you had a crush on your superior. But it doesn’t seem like he was very much into you considering how distant he is with you. Don’t get it wrong, he’s friendly, cordial, supportive...but he is with everyone. You are a team after all.

You sighed to yourself, shaking yourself out of your thoughts as you readied your med-pack for the mission at hand. Lieutenant Colonel Eric King, your CO’s husband, showed up 50 minutes ago, briefing us on the upcoming mission at hand: find and retrieve Saddam’s weapons hidden underground.

“Maybe when we’re done, I’ll let you spin me around a little.” You overheard Clarice, the girl who came with Colonel King, say to someone.

Realizing you tuned in and heard that at a weird time, you turned to look over and noticed she was talking to Jason.

“As long as you don’t step on my foot.” Jason replied before glancing up and looking over to you when he felt eyes on him.

Considering the tone she said it, you felt a pang of jealousy hit you as you turned back to what you were doing. She’d been here less than 24 hours and she’s already got Jason’s attention. What did you expect? She was pretty and from what you’ve gathered, had a quick wit. You liked her, which shouldn’t be surprising that Jason might too.

Ew, your inner dialogue sounds like a jealous high schooler.

In your peripheral, you saw Jason join Nick, talking to him quietly. Nick had been acting weird but you chalked it up to how he’s been coping with what happened at the checkpoint. After you finished up, you grabbed your vest and began putting it on.

“You ready for this, Y/N?” Jason asked as he walked up to you.

“Yeah.” You replied, not taking your eyes off of what you were doing. “I might not be needed but it never hurts to have a medic around, huh?”

“Exactly. I wouldn’t feel right leaving you behind anyway. You belong out there with us.”

You nodded and looked up at him.

“You really think he found something?” You asked, referring to Colonel King’s system that supposedly detected Saddam’s weapons silo.

“I hope so, like I said earlier, we need a win.”

“Yeah.”

“You okay? You look like you got something on your mind.”

“Nah, I’m okay. Long night last night. Couldn’t sleep.” You played off your, apparently, not so subtle jealousy.

“Hey, so I wan--”

“Download’s complete.” Clarice announced to Eric, interrupting Jason.

“Let’s get to the helos.” Eric said to the team, grabbing his case.

You heard Jason sigh, his glance following Eric has he walked towards the exit.

“Never mind. We’ll talk when we get back.” Jason finished with a half smile before he went to grab his rifle.

You sighed once more grabbing everything you might need. You didn’t want to overthink what he wanted to talk to you about but you could only hope it wasn’t anything bad.

______----------------

“Lieutenant Kolchek, why don’t you stay with doctor Y/L/N and help guard Merwin while Sergeant Kay and I check it out.” Eric commanded under the guise of a suggestion.

Jason looked behind Eric and watched you tending to Merwin’s wounds….god, he was covered in blood. Maybe the upside to being sidelined meant getting to spend more time with you.

“Understood, Colonel.” Jason replied with a nod before he went over to you and Merwin.

“How bad is it, doc?” Merwin asked you with a small grimace. Guess the morphine Jason and Nick gave him earlier is starting to wear down a bit.

“I’m trying to stop the bleeding so I can stitch you up, but I’m starting to think you’re bleeding on purpose to irritate me.” You replied with a ghost of a smile. You were worried that you might not be able to stop the bleeding and he would die because of it. You guys may have had an antagonistic relationship but it didn’t mean you wanted him to die.

“I told you, you should’ve left me.” Merwin grunted at Jason.

“I wasn’t gonna leave you behind.” Jason countered defensively. He stood by his decision.

“I could’ve taken down some of those bastards with me but you wouldn’t let me have that.”

“For the last time, I cou--”

Jason cut himself off when you looked over at him and shook your head as a quiet signal to stop.

“He made a choice. Let it go.” You lightly scolded Merwin as you went back into your medpack.

He wasn’t gonna stop bleeding but, fuck it. You were gonna stitch him up anyway, just to slow it enough until you could get back to base.

“Stop. Stop, Y/N.” Merwin told you as you were getting set up. “You’re just wasting resources. I’ll be okay.”

You paused for a moment. He’ll be okay? The hell kind of a joke was that? He lost too much blood and there is no way to do a transfusion to help him. As much as you wanted to yell at him for being so stubborn, you restrained yourself.

“I have to try, Merwin.”

“Don’t. Just wrap me up.”

You shook your head and sighed, looking over to Jason for help. He just offered you a small nod, basically telling you to follow Merwin’s wishes. You wrapped up his wound, silently thanking yourself for packing extra gauze. As soon as you were done, you stood up and walked over to the steps nearby with your medpack. You decided to take the time to clean the scrapes on your arms from the fall. Jason looked over to see Merwin resting, his eyes closed but his chest rising with each breath he took. He then walked over and sat next to you.

“You okay?” Jason asked.

“Yeah. I just wish he wasn’t so stubborn and he’d let me help him.” You started.

“No, I mean…” He motioned to your minor injuries.

“Oh, yeah. You?”

“Yeah, I’m good. And I don’t blame you, he’s too stubborn for his own good but he made his choice. I already took one away from him earlier, I thought we should let him have this one.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing the right thing by abiding by wishes like that.”

“I get it. I think you are. Everyone has a choice and you’re letting Merwin make his.”

“I still feel icky about it.”

Jason lightly smirked to himself. Icky. That’s cute.

“By the way, you wanted to talk to me about something?” You continued, starting to clean your wounds with hydrogen peroxide.

Jason paused for a moment. He wanted so badly to tell you how he felt about you. He felt the need to keep some distance from you because he knew couldn’t allow himself to get close to you. He knew that if he did, his feelings for you would grow and it would get to the point where he wouldn’t be able to control himself around you. With his position, a relationship with a team member was frowned upon and Jason took his job seriously. Holding back was easier but it wasn’t always the easiest choice. He’s always presented himself as held together with you but deep down, he craved more than just what you guys had right now.

You were attractive, warm, friendly, smart….he could go on forever about the good things about you. During training you, he caught glimpses of your personality and he loved what he saw. Your smile was amazing, he would find himself irrationally jealous sometimes whenever you smiled at Nick. He wanted that same closeness with you that you had with Nick.

Speaking of Nick, he was the only one that knew Jason felt this way about you. He tried to support Jason in keeping distance but he also encouraged him to tell you how he felt. Rules be damned.

But this talk, here and now? In front of Merwin? He couldn’t. He’d just decided in the moment back at base that he was gonna tell you and he didn’t want the possibility of rejection to happen in front of Merwin, who wouldn’t let him live it down if he witnessed it.

“Nothing to worry about right now. It’s not the best time.” Jason finally said.

“Uh, oh,” You lightly teased, mostly in an effort to keep your anxiety from seeping out about everything that’s been going on and what the talk could be about. “It’s not bad is it?”

“Oh, no. I don’t think so.”

You lightly smiled at Jason as you nodded. You got lost in your thoughts for a moment. Deep down you were hoping he would’ve told you that he had feelings for you and asked you out or something. But what did you expect, this wasn’t the exact place or time to be doing that.

You hoped Nick and Eric were okay.

Oh, Nick. You knew Nick wasn’t stupid, he noticed how you were with Jason. How distracted you’d get when he would get closer to you during training and the few times you would get lost in his eyes when he spoke to you. Your crush on the Lieutenant and his on you….it wasn’t so subtle...to Nick at least. He tried to feel out Jason about you and that’s when Jason admitted it. Nick would tell Jason he was being too stubborn and crazy not to at least try. Maybe it was the romantic in him but he wanted Jason to tell you or at least ask you out. Nick has even given Jason ideas for a first date with you if it were to happen before you guys went home. Nick even tried to get you to tell Jason. But like Jason, you were being stubborn...but yours was more out of the fear of rejection than rules. You didn’t always have the best luck in terms of relationships.

“You, uh, you got a scrape on your chin there.” Jason motioned to it.

He scooted closer to you and gingerly took the sterile pad and the peroxide from your hands before he used his index finger to tilt your head back. It felt oddly vulnerable to have your neck exposed like that.

“Being trapped down here, with those things...that wasn’t part of the plan. But we’re gonna get out of here, I promise.”

“You should be careful about making promises like that, lieutenant.” You slightly teased again, trying to keep your nervousness at bay by being this close to him.

“Yeah, well, I tend not to make promises I can’t keep.”

Jason used his thumb to straighten your head, leading to the two of you holding eye contact, his thumb not moving from it’s spot. You couldn’t help but notice this glint in his beautiful brown eyes. There was a fire behind them, a determination.

“Jesus Christ, Kolchek, will you two just kiss and get it over with?” Merwin complained from his spot, his eyes closed.

You and Jason looked over to Merwin incredulously, like both of you hadn’t separately considered it already in your minds. You definitely did...you wondered what those soft lips of his would feel like against yours. Jason couldn’t help but wonder if your lips tasted as sweet as he’d imagined. Your glances fell back upon each other, bashfully, you looked away as Jason shook his head and rested the hand touching your face at his side. Thanks, Merwin.

“Mailman two-one actual, this is dropkick…” Eric’s voice called over the radio.

_____----------

Holy crap, you were exhausted. You lost track of how long you’ve been down here fighting alongside Salim, a Republican Guard soldier, against those creatures. Considering all you’ve learned about them, you guys have been calling them vampires. Along the way, you had lost Merwin to a bullet fired by Salim’s captain, Clarice died after being infected, Eric was killed by the turned Clarice, and Rachel, who was infected, used a white phosphorus round to kill herself. You, Salim, Jason and Nick were all that was left.

Currently, you were trapped in a hut, topside. After everything, you finally made it out but the eclipse covered the sunlight. The vampires came out as soon as it got dark. You had no choice but to retreat to the nearby hut and those things were all over you. The sound of the vampires trying like hell to break into the hut, through the roof and the barricaded windows, as the four of you readied yourselves for when they eventually get in.

“How much time do we have?” Salim called out.

“You tell me, I don’t know shit about space!” Jason answered before you could, his rifle at the ready.

“Six minutes!” You replied to Salim. “Sooner if we’re lucky!”

You remembered seeing some of the maps in the briefing room and a sticky note about an eclipse expected to last about six minutes.

This was about to become the longest six minutes of your life.

Soon enough the vampires managed to at least peak in, grabbing and swiping at all of you. Gunfire sounded as Salim used the pipe he used as a spear in his possession. One of the monsters made a hole in the ceiling above Nick and grabbed him. You and Jason reacted quickly and grabbed his legs, before the vampire could take him completely. You both pulled, putting your weight into it before it finally dropped him, the three of you falling to the ground before you scrambled to get up and keep fighting.

“Hold your ground!” Salim called out.

”Push these motherfuckers back to hell!” Nick added.

“Last clip!” You told the group as you reloaded your rifle.

“Almost out!’ Jason joined in, also loading up his last clip.

“There has to be another way out.” Salim said as he looked around the hut.

Jason looked behind him, remembering there were ammo cases from earlier. As you and Nick continued firing, he rushed over to them and opened them.

“Are those flares? Where are the bullets?!” Salim exclaimed.

You looked over and sure enough there were just flares. Oh, yeah, you were all probably gonna die.

“Fuck it, we’ll use what we got.” Jason stated.

You finally ran out of ammo so you went over to the flares, Nick following right behind you. You both grabbed one and all of you lit them, pulling out your combat knives, standing closely together to keep a tight formation. This was your last stand.

“Hey, uh, Lieutenant?” You called out over the screeches and the sounds of wood breaking around you.

“Yeah?” Jason replied, his eyes on the barricaded door.

Now or never. Might as well seeing as this was probably gonna be it. You didn’t wanna die with a regret.

“Just in case we die here, I need you to know that I have feelings for you. I wish I would’ve acted on them before this because--”

Suddenly, Jason turned to you and cupped the sides of your face, careful not to burn or cut you, kissing you hard but passionately. It ended way too soon but what could you have expected in this life or death situation?

“Me too.” Jason told you before giving you another quick peck before the first monster burst its way inside.

“Finally.” Nick mumbled, readying himself as another vampire burst through the barricaded window.

“It’s been interesting knowing you.” Salim told all of you as the monster screeched from in front of him.

So many emotions ran through your body but the main one you felt was anger. This couldn’t be how it ended for you...how it ended for Jason, Nick and Salim. Not after everything you guys have been through down in the cave and temple. Not after you had just admitted to Jason everything. That minimal killer instinct you worried about earlier? Not so minimal. You felt the adrenaline rushing through your veins and you realized that you knew you were gonna do whatever it took to make it out of here alive; whatever it took for ALL of you to make it out of here alive.

You’ve all lost enough. Granted these things were terrifying but you were tired of being scared. Anger is a real motivator for you, apparently.

It all happened so fast. Each of you took on a monster, fighting with everything you had in each of you and using the knives and flares the best you could. That training from Nick and Jason? Really came in handy.

You laid on the ground, preparing to fend off a swipe from the claws of the vampire above you when it suddenly burst into flames. Their cries seemed impossibly louder than their screeches. You had never felt more relieved to see the sun again.

That was the longest six minutes of your life.

You remained on the ground but you moved to sit up moving closer to the wall for support, more exhausted compared to how you felt when you got back above ground. Your whole body hurt, but you did it. You made it. Salim made it. Nick made it. And Jason made it.

You rest your head on the concrete wall behind you as Jason tiredly moved to sit beside you, Nick doing the same. Salim was nearby, resting the same way, not moving from the spot he was in when the sunlight came back.

“I need to see my boy.” Salim told the three of you after a moment. He moved to stand before grabbing his trusty pipe. “A souvenir.”

You couldn’t help but smile at that, relief flooding your entire being. Nick and Jason nodded in agreement with Salim, faint smiles on both their faces. Salim had made it to the front door, ready to leave when Jason called out after him.

“Salim, wait.”

Jason got up and headed to Salim. It took you a moment but you decided to follow after them so you could say goodbye. You were definitely gonna feel sore after some rest.

“Good luck, brother.” Jason continued. “You wish Zain a happy birthday from me.” He held his hand out to Salim.

“Thank you, Jason.” Salim replied, shaking Jason’s hand.

Jason looked over to you when he saw that you followed.

“Thank you, Salim. For everything.” You told him, offering your hand as well.

“Thank you too, Y/N. Take care.” He shook your hand too. “Goodbye, my friends.”

You and Jason watched as Salim turned and walked away. You watched as Jason turned to face you, his hands cupping your face.

“You mean what you said back there?” Jason asked.

“Yeah. I’m sorry it took a near death experience for me to stop being such an idiot.” You replied.

“How about I take you out on a date. As soon as this is wrapped up or we get back to the States. Whichever comes first..” He suggested.

You smiled and leaned into his touch.

“I’d like that.”

Jason lightly smiled before he leaned in, kissing you deeply.

“You know I’m still here.” Nick called out from the other room.

You pulled back from Jason, laughing at what Nick said.

“I think he’s lonely.” You said.

“Yeah. Five hours until we get out of here. Don’t wanna leave him alone too long.”

_________----------

The sound of the helicopter woke you from your slumber. You lifted your head to see that you fell asleep on Jason’s shoulder and Nick on yours. You smiled and gently tapped on the side of his face.

“Wake up. Time to go.” You told him.

Nick sat upright, running a hand over his tired face as you gently woke up Jason.

“Calvary is here.”

“Good. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Jason said.

You all stood up, your bodies screaming at you in pain. Despite it all, you walked to the door and there it was. The helicopter you waited five hours for.

“This is Mailman two-one actual.” Jason stated over the radio. “We have eyes on and are clear for evac. Over.”

As the helicopter landed, soldiers came out and began their sweep of the perimeter. You, Nick and Jason walked past them as they cleared the landing zone, following you three back on the helicopter. The three of you sat next to each other, further sealing that the nightmare was over.

Now they just had to debrief their superiors and CENTCOM on what happened down there.

______-----

“Look, I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself,” You stated tiredly. “We don’t know exactly what those things are.”

“But you knew how to kill them?” The man sitting in front of you in a hazmat suit and gas mask asked you.

“We didn’t. We figured it out after Salim told us how.”

“Remind me, why did you, Sergeant Kay and Lieutenant Kolchek ally with an enemy combatant?”

“You’re kidding right? Those things would have killed us all if we didn’t work together.”

“Since he knew how to kill them, didn’t you consider that he might’ve been playing you?”

“No. He fought for his life the same as the rest of us. If he was tricking us, then why were his allies all ripped to shreds?”

“And Lieutenant Colonel King?”

“Again, one of ours was infected. She turned and killed him. I tried to save her but…”

“But what?”

You heard a female voice in the background, getting closer with each word.

“Y/L/N, Y/N. Team medic and doctor. Joined Lieutenant Kolchek’s team earlier this year.” The female voice finished as they came to a stop at the entrance of the area you were sat

“She was too far gone. If I would’ve tried to operate, her skin wouldn’t have held the stitches and she would’ve bled out and I didn’t have the right equipment. Besides, there was no point since there was no way to determine exactly where the parasite was located.” You finally answered the man in front of you.

“And why’s that? Couldn’t you have asked her where she felt it?”

“Yeah, cause she would be able to talk to me through the unimaginable level of pain she was in.” You responded sarcastically. “Even when it briefly subsided, cutting her open was too dangerous due to how fast her skin was necrotizing. Like I said, I didn’t have the right equipment so her last moments would have been more miserable than it needed to be.”

The man leaned back in the chair with a sigh. You glanced over at the two people in similar wear as they lingered at the entrance. Without a word, they walked away as you heard her move on to Jason, who was in the area next to yours. You ran a hand through your hair and sighed. You were tired as hell.

“Alright, Dr. Y/L/N. You know the drill. To be safe we’re gonna have to quarantine you, Sergeant Kay and Lieutenant Kolchek for monitoring and until we can determine if you show no symptoms or signs of infection.”

“Yeah.” You hated it but it was protocol. That’s why they were wearing protective gear.

“In the meantime, we’ll be running blood tests to start off. Seeing as you were present for Colonel King’s autopsy on one of the creatures, we’ll need further testimony from you during your quarantine.”

“Fine.”

______-----

The Aftermath…

#jason kolchek #jason kolchek x reader #Jason kolchek imagine #house of ashes imagine

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