#Not sure what the pairings here are yet I kinda saw this by accident editing something else and got sucked in but theyre still a trine

[reidgraygubler]

trouble (matthew gray gubler/fem!reader)

Title: trouble

Request: requested by anon

Couple: matthew gray gubler/fem!reader

Category: smut (*gasp* i know...) w/ a side of fluff

Content Warning: sexual content (penetrative sex, unprotected sex (be safe buddies), fingering, car sex, choking kink, daddy kink (But as a joke), masturbation, slight edging (i guess that’s what it’s called)), kinda sub!reader, kinda dom!mgg, swearing, sexual innuendos, teasing, pissed off matthew

Word Count: 4369

Summary: Reader and Matthew are going out to a dinner party with the cast of Criminal Minds. After some suggestive comments and innuendos and actions (done by reader). Matthew teaches Reader a lesson in the back seat of his station wagon.

A/N: in celebration of hitting 200 followers, i decided to pus my first smut here :) although it was a request and i was going to post it either way. this was the request i got and when i saw it i got more than excited and my mind ran wild with it! matthew 10/10 calls his partner princess in this one-shot. it’s a little bit rougher than i was expecting, but i kinda lost track of my thoughts and just went for it. thank you so much to that anon that sent this in! if you have a request or an idea, send it in! and check out my masterlist!

6/1/2021 Edit: I no longer write rpf smut. this was written before I made that change. 

~*~*~ THIS DOES CONTAIN 18+ CONTENT! ~*~*~

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Oh boy, it was just one of those days… I could just feel it in my body that I was going to be an asshole today and nothing anyone could do could stop me from that. My sassy mood would be the one thing that gets me in trouble today, and I think I’m honestly okay with that.

I walked into the bedroom, wearing nothing but my undergarments (which consisted of my personal favorite black/mint lingerie), and tan stockings. Matthew was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying his shoes. I walked over to the closet, right past him. We should and are getting ready for a dinner party with his friends from Criminal Minds. Should being the key-word there. I loved messing with him like that.

“Woah,” he spoke ever so softly. I stayed facing the closet, but a smile grew on my lips. I gently swayed my hips as I went through the dresses I had hanging. He was staring, I knew he had to be staring. I pulled one dress out, not really thinking it’d be the one. 

“What should I wear,” I asked out to the room. The sounds of his shoes hitting the wood flooring was the answer I got instead of his voice. I pouted as I dropped my head to my shoulder, my hair hitting my arm. I jumped as his icy cold hands and arms wrapped around my middle. His face was pressed into my neck. He exhaled deeply before kissing the base of my throat. I smiled as he swayed with my movements.

“I think you should go like this. Show you off to all my friends,” Matthew hummed as he dragged his hands to the front of my hips. My hands stopped on two separate dresses and clenched the fabric in my fingers. “I think they’d enjoy that… I know I would,” he added, his thumbs playing with the lacy edges of my panties. I took a deep breath and stepped back, so I was flush against his body. 

“Matthew, obviously I can’t just go in my underwear.” I scoffed as he pushed me so there was a small space between us. I sighed deeply as he stepped away from me. “I’ll figure it out,” I rolled my eyes as he retreated to the bed. I filed through my dresses again before pulling out a black cocktail dress that I knew would drive Matthew crazy during the night. I dashed off to the bathroom to finish getting ready. “Zip me up?” I asked as I stepped back into the bedroom and stood behind Matthew. Shuffling came from behind me before he zipped my dress up.

“Ready to go?” he whispered. His breath hit the shell of my ear, causing me to swallow roughly. 

“Almost. Let me get my things together and I should be ready,” I sighed deeply. It’s going to be one of those nights, I just know it. Matthew pressed his lips to my cheek before walking away from me, again.

And that was my cue. I was quick. I’ve never been so fast to get ready for an event. He was probably getting out into the car as we speak. I grabbed a tube of lip gloss from the bathroom and tossed it into my bag before slipping a pair of plain black heels on. And then, I left the house.

And, as per my guess, Matthew was already sitting in his station wagon, waiting for me. I shuffled to the passenger’s side of the car and pulled the door open.

I looked over at Matthew as I slipped into the car. He was looking at himself in the mirror of the visor. I swallowed roughly as my eyes trailed from his perfectly sculpted face (lingering for a moment on his lips), down to his neck (where I would love to leave love bites), down his chest (and even though he was wearing a suit, I wanted to push off his dress shirt), and finally, down to his lap (a lap I would just love to sit on). And he was just there… Sitting there, doing his thing like I wasn’t imagining wanting to rip his clothes off to have sex with him right now. 

He dropped his hands from his face and rested them on his legs. I stared for a moment at his hands and their placement on his legs. I could feel my heart pick up and my head getting mildly dizzy. I took a deep breath and shook my head as I looked up at his face.

“Mm, now that’s a lap I could sit on,” I grinned at Matthew as I buckled my seatbelt in. The thought of grinding my ass into his crotch made me giggle lightly as I stared at him.

Matthew gawked as he looked over at me, his hands resting low on the steering wheel. I smiled as I folded my hands over my lap. I could feel Matthew’s eyes still on me as I looked out the window. 

“What did you just say?” he asked as he slowly started the car. I hummed before looking over at him. He was still staring at me with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Hm? Oh! I said are you ready? I can’t wait to see Kirsten and AJ.” I smiled as I looked at him. He raised an eyebrow, but his expression was now amused instead of shocked. At least he’s amused now… 

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what you said, Princess,” Matthew glanced at me as he started his car and pulled out of the driveway. I couldn’t tell if he actually meant to call me that pet name, or if he was just teasing. Either way, he knows it gets me going. 

“And, Aisha! Oh! I miss her!” I clapped my hands together. Matthew seemed to enjoy my excitement at seeing his friends and co-workers. It’s been a while since the wrap party for the show, so it’s been a while since either of us had seen them. “I still owe her $10 for that prank she helped me play when I visited the set that one day,” I grinned at Matthew.

“Yeah, sure, because stealing and hiding my fruit roll-ups is a prank,” he rolled his eyes as he glanced at me. I smiled and nodded. “Finding them a month later though was quite a pleasant surprise. I will admit that,” he laughed lightly.

“Listen, Matthew, you were the one who invited me to set. It’s not my fault I got bored while you were filming. Someone had to keep me entertained. I’m sorry it was Aisha who took that job. We had fun that day,” I laughed as I turned to face him. I crossed my legs as I looked at him.  I pulled my purse off my body and put it in the backseat, accidentally hitting Matthew in the face. “I’m so sorry.” I looked at him with wide eyes. He looked at me with a playful irritation on his face.

“Accidents happen, just don’t let it happen again,” he glanced at me. I smiled and nodded. 

  “Won’t let it happen again,” I looked out the windshield.

The drive to the restaurant was in a comfortable, yet somehow tense, silent. I couldn’t help myself when it came to making a comment or innuendo of some sort. Matthew didn’t seem too crazy bothered by it, if anything it looked like he enjoyed it. Of course, I knew I needed to stop before we went in. So, I stayed silent when he pulled into a parking spot. 

“You ready?” Matthew asked as he pushed the visor down. I reached back for my purse and pulled it in the front. I “accidentally” hit Matthew in the back of the head with my bag as I pulled it onto my lap. Oh, no, the first time was definitely an accident. The second time was 100% on purpose. No accident this time.

He dropped his shoulders and looked over at me, annoyance on his face. I looked down at my lap and bit my lips to refrain from smiling. Oh boy, I wonder what he’s going to do. Surely he won’t yell at me.

“Choke me, daddy,” I very jokingly teased as I looked at Matthew. He looked at me with shock on his face. I smirked as I began digging around in my purse for lip gloss. When I looked back up, Matthew threw his hand over my neck and pushed my head against the headrest. I widened my eyes and looked at him. I was relieved that he was just holding his hand there, not applying any pressure. But part of me really wanted him to do it. “I was joking,” I stated in a tone that said I wasn’t sure of myself. 

“I’m not so sure you were… Princess,” Matthew smiled at me before removing his hand and turning back to the visor. I pouted at the lack of his touch and looked at him. I moved closer to him and looked up at his face. “Can I help you,” he looked away from the tiny visor mirror and down at me. I smiled and nodded before puckering my lips. 

“Please,” I whispered and batted my eyelashes at him. He laughed before kissing my lips lightly. I pouted as I turned back in my seat. I glanced at Matthew and noticed that he was still fixing his mess of hair in the mirror. I turned back to face him, grabbing his hand again. He glanced at me for a moment before looking back at his reflection. I slowly brought his hand back to my throat and looked at him.

I swallowed roughly as I stared at him, keeping his hand on my throat. Matthew just continued to mess around with his hair. “Are you busy with my hand,” he asked looking at me. I pouted and pushed his hand away from me. 

“No, I’m not,” I muttered before looking down at my phone. I looked at Matthew and pouted. “But I’d like to be,” I glared at him as I placed my hand high on my bare thigh. 

“Hold on, what do you think you’re doing,” Matthew asked as his hand shot out to grasp my wrist. I smirked and looked over at him, pushing his hand off mine. 

“Well, I wanna have fun before we go in and you won’t have fun with me. So, I’m gonna do it myself. Unless you want to change your mind,” I snipped back as I brought my hand to my panties. I honestly should’ve just forgone the underwear tonight. I don’t know why I didn’t. I could feel through the thin fabric that I was wet. He didn’t even do a damn thing to get me as wet as I am. But here I am, nearly sitting in a puddle. I suppose he just has that effect on me.

I looked at Matthew as I slid my hand into my panties and pressed a finger into my center, collecting some wetness on my finger. I gasped and lightly closed my eyes. I slowly moved my finger around my clit as I looked back at Matthew. He was silently watching me for a minute. The way he looked at me told me he was pissed. I've never seen him so mad before. I let out a soft moan as I pressed my head into the headrest.

“Matthew,” I whimpered as I looked at him. He shifted slightly in his seat as he looked back at me. I slowly circled my finger around my clit as I locked eyes with him. My breathing grew labored as I brought my free hand to my breast, kneading it over my shirt and bra. Just as I started to pick up speed, Matthew’s hand grasped my wrist and stilled my movements. I looked at him, alarmed and frustrated. He seriously did not just do that.  

“Get in the backseat, we’ll have to be quick,” he muttered as he yanked my hand from my panties. I looked at him with wide eyes. He was looking at my wet finger before putting it in his mouth. I took a deep breath, feeling more overwhelmed by the second. “Go on,” he half-ordered as he nodded to the back seat. “Don’t make me say it again,” he muttered when I stayed frozen in my seat. I nodded before getting out of the front seat and trying to move fast to the back. 

I sat in the middle of the bench seat and shimmied out of my panties. Matthew was quick to sit beside me in the backseat. He didn’t even give me time to understand what was about to happen. That’s okay, I just know I’ll get what I want.  

He gently pushed me so I was lying across the bench and he hovered over me and in between my legs. One of his knees stayed between my legs, making it so I couldn’t press them together for any sort of pleasure. Part of me hated it when he was like this, but another part loved it. He knew that too. 

“You are being such a bad girl,” he whispered, bringing his hand back to my throat. I gasped and pressed my head into the seat. I looked up at him and nodded, telling him it was more than okay to do this. He gently and carefully put pressure into his grip as he stared down at me. I struggled slightly to breathe as I locked eyes with him again. “Touching yourself in the parking lot before we go into a dinner party… With my friends nonetheless,” he kept his voice low. Matthew brought his other hand down between my legs, resting it at the top of my thighs.

“I’m sorry,” I struggled to speak as I threw a hand over his one on my neck. He cocked his head slightly as he stared at me. 

“You’re sorry, Princess?” he questioned, slowly moving his hand closer to my center. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as he moved my panties to the side. I tried to swallow roughly and nodded. “Sorry just isn’t going to do it,” he spoke, causing me to open my eyes. 

 I tapped my fingers on the back of his hand, silently telling him that I really needed air. His eyes flashed slightly with concern as he removed his hand. I took a deep breath like it was my first time breathing. It was like fire in my lungs as I inhaled and felt like I was mildly high as I exhaled.

“I won’t do it again,” I whispered as I looked up at him. We both knew that I was clearly lying when I said that. Any chance I get to act like this, I’ll do it. A small smile twitched on his lips as he inserted a finger into my center. I gasped and closed my eyes as he pumped his finger in and out of me. 

“I don’t believe you,” he whispered, pushing his hand into my hair. I stared at him, shock on my face. “You know you’ll have to be punished for that. Right, Princess,” he asked as he rubbed my clit with his thumb.  I whimpered and bit my lips together before nodding. “Mm-hmm, use your words,” his words were low. I swallowed roughly and stared at him.

“Yes, yes, I know. I know,” I spoke fast like if I didn’t speak fast enough I wouldn’t have words to say. I brought my hands to his belt buckle, going to undo his belt. I yelped when he grabbed both my hands with his one free hand. He held my hands above my head and smiled down at me.

“I’m in charge here, Princess, you know that,” Matthew moved his thumb faster. I wiggled and nodded. He leaned down close to my ear before whispering, “You don’t get to come till I tell you you can. Okay?” his tone was mildly teasing. His breath hit the shell of my ear, causing me to shiver slightly. I took a deep and shaky breath as I stared at him, a certain excitement setting in my belly. I was okay with it, honestly. 

“Matthew,” I whined as I inadvertently bucked my hips to his hand. He pulled his hand away from my center, causing me to whine loudly. I stared at him in protest. “Yes, I understand,” I cried as I stared at him. He smiled before sticking his fingers between my lips. I sucked them clean, free of my arousal, as I stared at him. He smiled at me before pulling his fingers from my mouth and placing his hand on my jawline. 

“Good girl,” he whispered. But the way he said it told me I wasn’t really a good girl. No, I knew I wasn’t a good girl. However, I was getting what I wanted, so who’s really winning and in charge? I just needed to be like this more often.

Matthew removed his hand from my face and down to his belt. Somehow, he managed to get his belt buckle undone with one hand, and managed to undo his pants. I looked down as he pulled himself out of his pants and boxers. I whined and tried to pull my hands. My hips ground into the seat beneath me to get some sort of pleasure. 

“Wanna touch you,” I cried as I pulled my hands from his grip. He laughed as his grip on my wrists got a little tighter. “Please,” I whined looking between his face and down at his length. “Matthew, please,” 

“You should have thought of that before that stunt you pulled,” he whispered before stroking himself a few times. I let out a loud whine and wiggled in my spot. He groaned slowly before lining himself up to my entrance.

 I’ve never wanted to touch this man so badly in my entire life. I wanted to run my hands in his hair, tugging at the hair on the back of his head. I wanted to drag my hands all over his chest, leaving red scratchy marks in their wake. And I wanted to wrap my fingers and hands around his cock. He is killing me right now. 

The head of his cock was pressed against me, causing me to inhale deeply. He smiled before slowly entering me. I struggled to stay still and quiet as he slowly bottomed out. I swallowed roughly as my breathing became ragged. 

“Oh, Princess,” Matthew mocked as he looked down at me as he slowly started moving his hips. I whimpered as I continuously tried to pull my hands from his grip. A smile twitched on his lips again, further frustrating me. Bastard knows how to mess with me and I hated it more than anything in the world. 

Matthew slowly, and carefully, picked up the pace of his hips. The way he brought his lips to mine made me feel dizzy. He knew how to kiss, with lips like his? Of course, he knew how to kiss. He carefully bit my lower lip before kissing his way down my jaw and to my neck. He left a small love bite on the nape of my neck, making it difficult to breathe. This level of excitement would kill me.

“Fuck,” I cried, throwing my head to the side. Matthew laughed and shook his head. A moan so loud, I swear it came from the pit of my stomach, came from my lips. He laughed again as he looked down at me

"You need to be a little quieter," he whispered into my ear. He clamped a hand over my mouth and nose to silence me. I whimpered against his hand and nodded. 

He has to know how close I’m getting. I was about to be in more trouble than I already am. He keeps playing me the way he is. If he did anything else, I would be screwed. No, no wait. I already am screwed, or being screwed. 

“You getting close,” he grunted. I sighed and nodded, trying to hold back a moan. His face twitched as he smiled at me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to look too long at him. I knew if I kept my eyes on him I’d break. I can’t break now. He’s right though, I am getting close. 

I nodded, as if my answer would give me what I wanted. He smiled before pressing his lips to mine in a rough way. When he finally pulled his hand from my wrists, I pushed my hands through his hair and kept them firmly placed on the back of his head. He groaned as I tugged lightly on his hair.

“Mmm,” I looked up at him as he pulled his head away from me. I bit my lips together and nodded. I wrapped my legs around his waist to pull him closer to me. My heels dug into his lower back as I gripped his tie with one hand. 

Matthew hooked his arm under one of my knees and lifted my leg slightly to get a better angle. I cried when a burn started to grow in my hamstring, but also when he pressed deeper into me. I closed my eyes and pressed my head into the seat. I could feel myself getting closer. Maybe he forgot what he said?

And then he stopped his movements. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, feeling anger grow suddenly on my face. Matthew was looking down at me with a smile on his lips. Although, I knew it must’ve been hard for him to stop. He was just happy to see me suffer. 

“I hate you. Please, please,” I pulled on his tie to bring him closer to my face. Matthew smiled at me before pressing his lips to mine. I whined against his lips. He laughed before slowly moving his hips again. “I’m so close,” I managed to get out through pants. 

“Yeah,” he asked the obvious. I screwed my eyes shut and nodded. I’m sure if I had it in me, I would have been more than sarcastic. But I couldn’t even begin to try. I’m sure he would keep teasing me if I was sarcastic, so my best bet was to either stay quiet or let out a grotesque sound. I went with the latter. That seemed to please Matthew. 

“Promise you won’t do that again,” he brought his hand to push my hair away from my face, before resting it on my cheek. I swallowed roughly and nodded. “Uh, use your words, Princess,” 

“I… I promise…” I spoke, my voice was soft and shaky. I pressed both my hands flat on his chest as I looked up at him. He smiled softly and nodded.

“Come on, come for me,” he whispered, keeping his hips moving at a steady pace. After a moment, I felt my body snap and tighten around him. I threw my arms back around his neck as I buried my face into his body. I shouted his name when I reached my high. My body arched up into his, and he held me close.

Matthew’s movements faltered slightly and a groan fell from his lips. I could feel him release inside me as he rode out his orgasm. Oh, that bastard. 

He gently rested me back down on the seat. I looked up at him and laughed, bringing my hands to rest on his cheeks. He looked down at me, smiled before laughing.

“I don’t know what’s so funny,” he mused as he moved away from me and sat at the way opposite end of the seat. I stayed lying down, watching as he tucked himself back in his pants.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” I smiled at him, watching as he went to the front seat. He moved a few things around before coming back to me with a handful of napkins and a pack of wet wipes. “I think I might have to break my promise and do that again,” I laughed at him again. 

“Well, now we’re late, so I hope you’re happy,” he mumbled as he cleaned between my legs. I flinched at the coolness of the wipes. When he finished cleaning me up, as best he could, he grasped my hands and pulled me so I was sitting up. I looked at him and smiled. 

“Yeah, I got my fun,” I kissed his lips. I reached upfront for my bag and pushed Matthew out of the car. I quickly fixed my hair in the reflection of the window before following close behind him. 

Of course, when we entered the restaurant, loud chatter came from the far side. Everything told me that it was Matthew’s friends doing all the talking. 

“There he is!” A familiar and friendly voice shouted as we got closer to the table. I stood beside Matthew and smiled at him. “With his lovely girlfriend,” 

“Kirsten! It’s great to see you,” I smiled at her when I saw who was talking. I walked around to embrace her. Shemar whispered something to Adam before looking over at Matthew, then at me, and then back at me.

"So sorry we're late," Matthew spoke as he pulled a chair out for me. I glanced at him before sitting. He sat beside me and smiled. "I forgot something at home and had to turn back to get it. And then the traffic here was awful." The lie he told was so easy. I'm impressed he told it so easily. 

"And I needed to change. There was a stain on the front of my dress." I looked down at my dress that I’ve been in since we left the house. I did not change... 

“You’re both walking like you just had sex,” Shemar looked between Matthew and I. I looked up at Matthew before looking at the table. I could feel my cheeks warm up. “You didn’t,”

“Yeah, we… we just had sex.” I muttered.

taglist: @boiled-onionrings​ @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto​ @spencer-reid-enthusiast​

[imaginethatneathuh]

Death: Mr World - American Gods

Mr World x gn!reader, ex and abusive relationship

You ran from Mr World and he wants you back.

Part of @dragon430’s Tarot Troop. Some parts were edited by her, too.

Requested by Anon - Hi! I just found the Tarot Card thing and I was wondering if you could do Death for Mr. World ...

TW/CW: Car accident, abuse, domestic abuse, fear, PTSD, anxiety, paranoia, dehydration, hunger.

Word count: 12.5+ K

This was very triggering, that's why it took so long for me.

•

Hands stuffed in pockets, you walked down the concrete sidewalk. Pulled up, the hood of your dark hoodie obscured you from view. It was only a small comfort knowing that it was more difficult for something like a camera to pick up on your face.

A street light flickered above you as you passed by.

Remembering the effects the New Gods could have on technology, you turned around, looking for one of those weird “boxes'' they used. But the street lights all stayed on and none of the boxes materialized.

Stopping for a few moments more, you looked around just in case someone was there and you just couldn’t see them. You mentally cursed the loud chirping of the crickets. Even if someone was there --- you weren’t sure if there was or wasn’t --- you wouldn’t be able to hear them over them.

Finally, with one last look, you turned back to your back and continued down it.

As you approached the small apartment complex, you searched for lights in the windows. Occasionally, a neighbour or two would stay up until the wee hours of the morn. Tonight though, everyone seemed to have gone to bed except for you.

Carefully, you climbed the stairs to your flat. The hair on the back of your neck raised as the cold breeze passed by.

As you got to your floor, you looked down and around. It wasn’t a quick one look-see and done kinda deal. You analyzed everything, half expecting someone to jump out or come around the corner. Everything from the flicker of the old wall lamp, to the shaking trees, and the swarming insects around light was scrutinized.

Despite the months of being away from him, he was always in the back of your mind. You knew, despite being miles away from where he had you last, he could find you and bring you back under his thumb. He was more powerful than you ever imagined. He had eyes and ears everywhere. Here, even with no security cameras and out in the middle of nowhere, you knew he could still get to you. The trees may be plentiful and the people few and far between, but he still had power

No one jumped out, so you went to the door with your heart pounding in your chest.

Still scanning the hall, you patted yourself down in search of your keys. You couldn’t tear your eyes away just in case someone unwelcomed showed up.

You fumbled for your keys, too fearful of the unknown to search for them properly. The thought of someone or something popping out of nowhere took all your attention, the fear forcing you to scan the hall again and again.

Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw something in the shadows.

Whipping your head around to get a better look, your eyes widened as if they were trying to soak in as much of the area as possible. The possibility of your ex or his lackeys being right around the corner froze you in place. One of your hands gripped your keys while the other stayed tensed on the doorknob of your flat.

Quietly, you breathed and tried to calm yourself, but kept your eyes wide open. As you concentrate on your breathing, knuckles paling, your shaky, uneven breaths become even again.

It was just your imagination, your mind playing tricks on you. That was all. No one was there. No one at all. You were safe. He couldn’t get you here.

Eyes still glued to the shadows, you yank open the door and rush inside, slamming the door shut. Once inside, You pressed your body against the door, just in case someone tried to push it open, and deadbolted it as fast as you could manage without looking at the locks. The shadows did not move as you stared at them through the peephole on the door.

Stepping away, you take a few gasping breaths, shoulders and jaw tensed. Your heart pounded heavily in your chest.

Every time you left the flat there was a risk that your ex would find you. Any reasonable, sensible person who knew your ex would tell you leaving your flat was a stupid idea, that there was too much of a risk in leaving. But, you couldn’t stay inside all the time just because he terrified you. You had to live your life, not live in fear. There had been far too much of that.

You looked around the small flat and moved toward the windows, unlocking and relocking the windows.

Placing a hand over your heart, you breathed deeply in and out. You’d found it to be the best way to calm yourself over the past few months. Now, within the safety of your home, you could relax.

Turning, you found your way to the sofa and fell upon it.

The flat’s door stood opposite of you and you stared at it, expecting someone to start banging or barging in at any moment.

A backpack filled with your things lay next to the sofa. Not much was in it. Just some clothes, toothbrush and paste, and other such necessities. No unnecessary items.

The fridge sat mostly empty and the bedroom lay unbothered as if no one had entered it since the last tenant, and even the bathroom had little in it, just a bar of soap that hadn’t fully dried yet and its bag. The flat had barely been lived in. Hopefully, you’d soon have the courage to change that.

After many hours of paranoia, you fell into a restless, fitful, nightmare-fueled slumber. Even as you dreamt, he did not let you be.

•

A loud knocking woke you from a nightmare you couldn’t remember after you got up from the sofa.

At that moment, as you walked over to the door still dressed from the day before, things almost felt normal. It was as if the last 6 years hadn’t happened and you weren’t terrified and paranoid he’d find you.

Every last shred of that feeling dissipated after you looked into the peephole.

There, on the other side, stood two men in black and white suits. Both had an earpiece and sunglasses. They looked straight out of the Men in Black movie you remember watching when you were younger.

Your mother loved that movie. As did you.

Sadly, they were not the Men in Black from the movie. They were a different sort. The men who worked for your ex, Mr World.

Stepping away, you blinked as your heartbeat and fear steadily rose. Your breathing became shaky.

He’d found you.

“Mx L/N, we know you are in there,” one of the men said. “We just want to talk. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Instead of responding, you ran to your sofa and threw the backpack on.

Outside, the two men had a conversation.

Your flat was on the first floor. It would be a quick two-story drop.

Scrambling to the window opposite the kitchenette, you opened it as quietly as you could.

The men knocked again. “Mx L/N, please open the door.”

Remembering the bar of soap in the bathroom, you stepped inside and grabbed it. You slipped the bar into the bag and stuffed it into your pocket.

It seemed completely asinine to grab it, but you didn’t want to leave anything behind. Especially not a brand new bar of soap.

You lifted yourself up the window so you could get out feet first. Going headfirst at any height could lead to serious injury, or, ya know, death.

“Mx L/N?”

You looked back at the door breathing heavily before looking back at the window.

For a moment, you thought about just giving in to him. Letting him keep you locked away and make you live in fear of him for the rest of your life. It would be so much easier. That or just killing yourself.

But you couldn’t do that, not when you had come so far. Not when you had almost enough to get out of the country and never see him again. Not when you could be free of him and the U.S. as a whole.

You didn’t know what had so attracted him to you, but you wished that whatever it was would stop existing.

“Mx L/N, please open up!” The man sounded more urgent now like he knew what you were doing.

Gripping under the window, you pushed yourself out. Instead of letting go immediately, you hung on. You dropped a little so you could get a better grip on the bottom of the windowsill. Swinging side-to-side, you set your sights on a nearby balcony.

Even though the sound of your heartbeat flooded your ears and the fearful doubts filled your mind, you could still hear the shaky, unsure breaths you were breathing. You breathed in through your nose and out through your mouth, closing your eyes, before swinging to the neighbour’s balcony and letting go.

The balcony was situated over another tenant’s old sofa. They’d put it out a few days ago and had yet to throw it away.

You landed with a forceful thud onto the sofa, even moving it a bit. It didn’t do much but it was better than concrete.

You pushed yourself up and turned, only to find a man in black with his gun out. Looking the other way, his partner came around the corner, his gun also raised.

“Mx L/N, we were given instructions not to hurt you, but we will if we have to,” one of them said.

You looked between them, warily.

They seemed to be twins. Everything down to the last detail was identical. Must have joined together and gotten paired up. Who better to trust in the field than your brother?

There was nothing but woods behind you. If you made a break for it, the best they could do was shoot an arm or leg, maybe a shoulder if they were brave. It’d slow you down and you’d need medical attention, but you’d live if you didn’t bleed out first.

One of the twins put his gun away and slowly approached you. “Please, we just want to talk.”

It was obvious he was trying to get you to trust him, but you wouldn’t fall for that again.

You took off running.

The other twin aimed but his brother chastised him.

•

After running through the woods for a while, you climbed up a tree, out of sight. If the men tried to follow, they, hopefully, wouldn’t look up.

As you fell into the almost bowl-like middle of an old oak, you breathed heavily and tried to relax.

You knew he wouldn’t leave you alone for a while. But it had been months. Months. Why was he still chasing? Was it because you knew what he was? Who he was? He had told you many secrets that he probably wouldn’t want anyone else to find out, usually when he wasn’t who he told all the others he was and was, instead, himself. But, you didn’t want anything to do with him or his world. You wanted a new start, a new life.

You waited in the tree for hours, thinking about him and the new life you’d start somewhere else in the world. Maybe Canada, Scotland, or New Zealand. Someplace like that. Somewhere that wasn’t the U.S.

Slowly, you fell asleep.

•

When you awoke, it was late. The full moon was at its peak and the stars were out bright in the navy sky. They all had much to show the world. But, more importantly, it was light enough for you to leave.

You couldn’t go back to your flat. It was too dangerous. You’d have to just pick a direction and keep moving. Hopefully, you’d find someplace then.

•

You had to admit, this was the first time you’d ever come out to these woods since you’d started renting here. It was definitely pretty.

The brown leaves littered the forest floor, but not in an ugly way. It was rather beautiful. The leaves almost looked like rich, dark soil in the night’s late hour. If it weren’t for the fact that you knew they were leaves by their crunch, you would have thought the forest floor had no grass. The leaves reminded you of a time long past, a time of innocence you no longer possessed.

With a smile, you jumped on a group of leaves making them crunch slightly. It was rather satisfying. Sadly, you knew you had to keep going and playing with the leaves just wasn't an option, so you trekked on.

Despite knowing you had to hurry to find safety, you still allowed yourself to enjoy the moonlight as it gave the forest an almost otherworldly, effervescent glow. Funnily enough, it felt more familiar than the word of concrete and metal you came from. It felt safe and comforting.

Twigs snapped beneath you every once in a while as you walked. You gripped your backpack’s straps tightly, occasionally looking behind you.

A part of you wished for this to be over, to be safe and sound elsewhere. Not awake in the middle of the night, walking through the woods on an empty stomach.

While looking behind you, you took a misstep and fell.

You groaned. Leaves stuck to your now dirt-covered hands and you pushed yourself up.

As you looked up, someone came into view.

A new stint of fear shot through you as you scrambled backwards.

“You do not need to fear me,” the person said. “I mean you no harm.”

As the moonlight cast down upon her, you studied the young maiden. What seemed to be a golden wreath of sorts sat upon her head, like a crown.

“I heard your prayer for safety, young one. I only wish to guide you to it,” she said, nearing closer.

Despite her soft words, you doubted her. You knew what she was and, in your experience, their kind never gave anything without wanting something in return.

She knelt in front of you. “My name is Soteria. Will you let me help you?” Soteria stood and offered you a hand.

Unlike other gods you’d met, she seemed kind. She didn’t have the same feel as the others. No malice or anger or lies.

Even though your paranoia screamed no, you couldn’t help but take it.

She lifted you up and gently touched your cheek, looking deep into your eyes. It was rather uncomfortable really. Her hand fell.

“Travel straight that way,” she said, pointing to her right. Her gaze followed her arm. “And you will find safety.”

You nodded, gratefully.

“Young one,” she said, turning back to you. “No harm shall fall on you if you keep this with you.” The goddess took your hands into hers and placed something in them. “You will survive and you will persevere.”

“How do you know?” You asked.

“Believe it and it will be so, my child,” she said, cupping your cheeks with a smile.

•

You pushed yourself off the forest floor and shakily rose to your feet.

“Must have really hit my head,” you mumbled to yourself.

You hadn’t realized you were tightly gripping something cold and sharp in your hand until it began to cut into your skin.

Taking a look at the foreign but familiar object, your sight is met with a metal circle hung from a chain, the face of Medusa filling the frame. Moonlight glinted off the metal, shading her horrific, severed head. Running your thumb over the pendant, you noticed her snake-like head raised from the circle. You could even feel the raised blood falling from her stump and the fangs of Medusa and her snakes. Said snakes had minute scales engraved into them. The gorgon's mouth hung wide open like a snake’s with flesh between the top and bottom at the corners of the mouth. She hissed, baring her fangs, at an unknown attacker along with her forward-facing serpents. Her slit-pupilled eyes spoke of the fear and anger she held before Perseus cut her head from her body. On either side of the pendant, golden laurel sprigs created a sort of half-wreath. You ran your thumb over the gold as well. The detail of the leaves was incredible. Tiny, minuscule veins wound through them. Small gems you didn’t know the names of decorated the sprigs, clustered together to resemble flower buds. It was a beautiful, albeit peculiar, necklace.

Upon remembering what Soteria said, you put the necklace on and gripped the pendant tight. It was strangely comforting.

You took a deep breath, turned to where the goddess had pointed and marched on with a strange, newfound confidence and determination. Knowing that a goddess was behind you and the Roman Medusa hung around your neck renewed you.

He wouldn’t get you. You wouldn’t let him.

•

You didn’t know how long you walked, but the moon had set and dawn had broken.

Birds, the noisy things, squawked and sung and annoyed the ever-living daylights out of your tired self.

Still, it was a better sound to be around than the New Gods and the shite they were always talking about.

The Technical Boy in particular. Him and his talk of being better than the Old Gods. But, he seemed to be the best of the bunch. Sadly, that’s not saying much.

Media was a snake who told you the prettiest lies and World, despite saying he cared for you (never love, only care), preferred a pretty lie over the ugly truth, telling you whatever would keep you the happiest and controlled by him. It took you a long time to admit he was manipulative, but once you settled that with yourself (not an easy task) it was slightly easier to see his lies and manipulative tendencies.

The Technical Boy didn’t give two shites about you, and, thus, didn’t care to lie. He always told you exactly what was going on. He was also, usually, really fucking blunt. The dude had no filter.

Eventually, your tired legs and sore muscles screamed at you to take a break. The dryness in your mouth and rumble in your stomach asked the same of you.

But you couldn’t. Not yet, at least. Your mind told you to keep going, that relief was just around the corner. And, you believed it. Besides, if you passed out now, who’s to say the fumes wouldn’t run out while you were resting? Or worse yet, someone aligned with World would find you.

A car rushed by, a flurry of leaves trailing behind it.

You clambered up the ditch, mud and leaves furthering to dirty your clothes.

Not to say they were clean before your escape. Too much could happen in the time it took to clean a load of laundry.

You walked along the road. Cars passed you occasionally, but it was far too early and the road was probably a ways away from the complex. That complex was also pretty far from any city.

•

Exhausted, thirsty, and hungry, you prayed you’d be able to stop soon even just for a minute or so.

As you walked, the faint outline of a building stood up ahead.

You sighed in relief.

Maybe there will be people there. Ones not attached to him.

All you could do was hope for that and maybe some water, that’d be nice, too.

•

As you got closer, you realized it was a motel. A Motel America with its neon blue and red. It, faintly, reminded you of the U.S. flag. That was probably the point of it.

You stumbled to where an attendant sat behind a desk. They didn’t notice you.

“Hello,” you said, voice raspy. “How- How much is a room?”

They looked up and their jaw dropped. “Are you okay?”

‘Must be worse off than I thought,’ you thought.

The floor under you swayed and you struggled to keep your footing.

“Mx? Are you okay?” the attendant asked again. “Do you need an ambulance?”

You shook your head. “No. Just- just a room. Please. Please don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

They nodded and grabbed a key, handing it to you.

You fumbled for your bag and tried to pay, but the attendant shook their head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Just go.”

You mumbled thanks and stumbled away, rubbing your necklace.

“Call if you need anything,” they shouted after you.

A bout of relief spread through you and you thanked the attendant in your head. You also thanked Soteria. She was probably the reason you’d even got here.

•

The smooth, clean blankets covered you, wrapping you in their warmth. It didn’t matter that you were still wearing dirty, grimy clothes and hadn’t taken a shower in over three days. For once, you felt clean, and most importantly, safe.

Your muscles ached as much as your stomach growled. The emptiness of your stomach reminded you of your current lack of adequate resources. Sure, you had some cash stuffed away in your backpack, but not enough to last long.

Someone gently shook you awake.

With a groan, you buried your face in a pillow.

The person shook you again.

You turned to them, only to find the attendant from last night.

“Morning,” they said. “My shift’s been over for a while, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

You pushed yourself into a sitting position with more effort than you should need. “I’m fine.”

Your growling stomach betrayed you.

The attendant looked down to your stomach then back to you. “Sure about that?” They asked, eyebrows raised. “I got an extra sandwich in my bag. Want it?”

You nodded but refused to meet their gaze.

It wasn’t that you wanted to take advantage of their generosity, but you were starving.

The attendant slowly backed away like you were a wounded animal. They pulled something out of a bag and tossed it to you. “I’m Sammy, by the way.” Sammy pointed to the bathroom. “There are cups in there if you need them.”

“Thank you,” you said. “I won’t stay much longer. I have to keep moving.”

Sammy nodded.

You got the feeling they understood your position. Maybe that’s why Soteria had directed you here.

•

Night had fallen and the waning moon filled the sky with her beauty as her beautiful wives twinkled with her, though they did not shine with her same might.

You stepped outside your room onto the concrete walk, fiddling with the gift from Soteria.

Though you may not have been able to wash your clothes, a nice shower, some food, water, and rest did you wonders.

Sammy peeked out of their place and waved.

You waved back before setting out on the road.

There was a long journey ahead of you.

•

A fluttering of butterfly-like creatures caught your attention. Turning to the sound, a box sat with the creatures hovering above it. They disappeared when you saw the box.

You had been looking out for one of those.

World and the others had a particular fondness for them.

Your breathing quickened and you slowly stepped away before you started running down the road, your backpack bouncing up and down as you went. Though your muscles still ached, you pushed through the pain.

You couldn’t let this happen. You couldn’t go back. You couldn’t be trapped with them again, with him again. You had to keep running. You had to get away.

In a foolish move, you looked behind you only to see it gone.

When you looked back, headlights blinded you, stopping you in your tracks. You covered your face, wincing from the bright light. Stepping back, you realized it was Technical Boy’s limo. As you, again, stepped back, you knocked into something. Slowly, you turned around and looked into the faceless thing the New Gods called one of The Children. It grabbed you by your arms, holding you still.

Instinctively, your hand went to the necklace as you panted, staring at the Child. It had barely been a day and you already clung to it like a koala on a tree.

A flood of light and smoke came from the limo, bringing your attention back to it.

The door opened and someone, no, two someones stepped out.

A scowling Technical Boy and a pleasantly, fakely smiling Media stood up and faced you.

“Y/N, darling,” Media said, flourishing her arms out. “It is so good to see you again.” She wagged a finger at you. “You’ve been very naughty. Running away like that and all.” The goddess smiled at you. “Mr World has been very distraught over your absence. Oh, how he loves you so. The two of you are like Cesar and Cleopatra.”

Technical Boy snorted. “You mean World’s a creep and helped create a false narrative surrounding--”

Before he could complete his sentence, Media slapped him upside the head.

“Hush,” she hissed.

The boyish god winced and rubbed his head.

Media approached you, still all fake smiles and pleasantries. “Darling, Mr World really does miss you terribly. I’ve never seen him quite so distraught! Please, come home. We, well, Mr World, can take good care of you. You can be happy again. Just come home.”

“He wants me back?” You asked.

Media readily nodded.

“Then he should come get me himself.”

A smirk crept on Technical Boy’s face but he pushed it away. “Look, I admire your determination and tenacity, I do, really, but come on. He’s making life a living Hell for us. Just come back. I’m sure he’ll do better by you or whatever,” he said.

Your gaze shifted to him, eyes shining. “You know nothing of a living Hell,” you said, your voice breaking. Tears threatened your eyelids at knifepoint.

“Not helping,” Media sang with a strained smile at Technical Boy.

He looked down and rolled his eyes.

“Look, darling, I know Mr World can be difficult--”

You cut her off. “Difficult? Difficult!? You think he’s difficult?” You asked. “No, he’s fucking insane and manipulative. I want nothing to do with him or any of you. Just leave me alone.” Your tears cut through and spilt down your face.

Media opened her mouth to say something but closed it, not knowing what to do.

Technical Boy made a dismissive wave at the Child and it stepped away, letting you go. He carefully stepped toward you.

“I don’t like you,” he said. “I don’t know why World does. I don’t get what he finds so fucking interesting about a pathetic, squishy, easily killed human. But I know he wants you back and has spent every second he can trying to find you.” The god stopped in front of you. “He’s obsessed and, yeah, he’s manipulative and probably insane. That’s World for ya.” Technical Boy placed a hand on your shoulder. “Just come back, maybe punch him in the face, demand some shit or whatever. I don’t care. But World is fucking riding us like you used to ride him. He is up our fucking asses all day and it’s driving me insane. Please, for the love of fucking God, just come back before I lose my shit.”

You wiped away the tears and looked the arrogant son of a bitch in the eyes. “Go fuck yourself, Technical Boy.”

His hand fell from your shoulder. He turned back and shrugged. “I tried.”

It was obvious, even to the most socially inept, that he didn’t really care about you.

In the distance, a man struggled to maintain a straight line as he drove. Liquor bottles clink against each other in the backseat, and the passenger seat and floor.

Media stepped forward. “I understand your uneasiness, Y/N, but things can be different.”

The car got closer, swerving around. No one seemed to notice.

“No, they can’t,” you said. “He will never change.”

Technical Boy, who had been scrolling through his phone, looked up. He spotted the car and straightened. “Um, guys…”

“Not now,” she said, raising her pointer finger behind her at him.

Technical Boy slipped his phone away. “But--”

“I said, not now!” The goddess turned around to glare at him.

“Yeah, but there’s a fucking car!” Technical Boy said, pointing at the oncoming car.

You swivelled around, taking a look around the Child. Headlights filled your gaze, and, for a moment, you understood what it felt like to be a deer trying to get across a road. By the time you recognized what was happening, it was too late; you couldn’t get away.

The last things you felt was the Child’s body slamming into yours and the distinct feeling of dread.

You were going to die.

There was also a sense of relief, knowing that you would die free and not chained to him.

•

The sound of beeping woke you. The feeling of another warm body against yours was unsettling when you did wake. As you opened your eyes, your blood ran cold.

World was holding you, partially on the bed with one of his legs hanging off.

“Hello, my dear,” he purred. “It’s good to see you awake.”

You pushed him away and tried to sit up.

“Oh, no, no, no, we will be having none of that now, my dear. You are far too injured.” The well-dressed god pulled you back toward him, but you did not relax.

Slowly, he pushed you back into a lying position and kissed your forehead like a child. He even dared to pull blankets over you. World sat onto the bed and faced you, gently reaching out and stroking your cheek.

Some part of you wanted to react, to vomit or push him away, but you couldn’t. Every fibre of your being told you not to do anything to make him mad. After 6 years of that keeping you alive, the idea had become ingrained.

“I almost lost you, my dear,” World said, quietly. “The thought of never seeing you again was unbearable. I’m so glad to have you back, safe and sound beside me.”

Though he seemed to actually mean it, with shimmering eyes and kind movements, you couldn’t trust him now any more than you could any other time. It was all a facade, a carefully crafted one at that. He had manipulated you before and would do it again. This time, though, you wouldn’t let him, no matter what he did. This snake would no longer charm you.

Despite it being a majorly bad idea, you had to ask the question that had been running through your head since you’d run the first time.

“Why?” You asked, quiet as a mouse. “Why do you want me so badly? I don’t understand it.”

His hand traced a path to yours. “My dearest, you know better than to ask something like that. A partner like you best kept with their mouth shut and a pretty smile on it.” With his free hand, he tilted your chin upward, possessively smiling down at your frowning face with malice.

“That’s not an answer,” you said.

World’s smile became strained as he tried to hold back the urge to smack you. You could tell by his eyes that’s what he wanted. There was dark anger behind them. Instead, he chuckled lightly before roughly grabbing your jaw and bringing you in close. “It’s the only one you’re getting, my dear.” He leant in close, any semblance of a smile falling away, and looked into your eyes. “If you ever,” he said, trembling with rage. “And I mean ever, leave like that again, I will not be so kind as I am now. Do you understand me?”

Against his hand, you tried to nod, any form of confidence fading from you. In his hands, or hand more like, you were like a tiny, weak child all over again.

He roughly shoved your face into the pillow and it stayed there as you were too afraid to look back at him. You bit your lip and screwed your eyes shut, trying not to whimper or cry.

World stood. “Technical Boy,” he said.

The tech god slowly walked in, keeping his eyes on the ground. Even he was somewhat afraid of World. Technical Boy stood near the door, not daring to walk in any further without permission.

“Wassup?” He said, popping the p.

World glared at him, disapproving of his casualness, from the opposite side of your bed.

Your head still firmly placed on the pillow, you opened your eyes to look at Technical Boy.

He had a rather odd style choice that you’d become fond of over the years. Today was no different.

Today, he seemed to have a hard-on for neon. Neon yellow and orange shoes with shiny spikes around the soles. A multi-neon-coloured jacket that looked like someone took a paintbrush and just started painting diagonal lines in a thousand different neon colours. His pants were awful, too. Every type of neon colouring on it, just like his jacket. Neon pink suspenders hung from his trousers and a neon blue t-shirt with a giant, pixilated, neon green thing on it. It was one of those spaceships from Galaga Shooter from back in the 80s or whenever. You couldn't remember what they were called exactly. Maybe it was just spaceships from Galaga Shooter.

His hair was, much like his clothing, a weird story. Along the pulled-back sides were two metal pieces on both sides, going from the front all the way back. Maybe they connected around the back of his head. The top had pieces wrapped into little bowls all the way down the middle. On his shoulder was a braid pulled out from the back. More neon stripes decorated his hair, from bowls to braid.

World looked to you. “Technical Boy will be looking after you until you’re all better and you can come home properly.” There was plasticity to his voice that you’d only become recently aware of before you’d run from him. World walked around your hospice bed and stopped next to Technical Boy on his way out. He turned slightly, the tech god mirroring his action, and whispered something you couldn’t hear before leaving.

As World left, you watched the tensed Technical Boy with curiosity. He looked back at you, his eyes meeting yours.

“I guess we’re going to be spending a lot of time together,” he mumbled. The god looked around and found a chair.

As he pulled the chair to sit next to the door, you struggled to sit up.

“Don’t even think about trying to run,” he said. “I ain’t like the Spooks or the Children. I’m not stupid nor easy to manipulate or overpower. You running will only hurt yourself and piss World off.” He sat down and leant back into it, staring at the ceiling. “Why the fuck is he so fucking interested in you, anyway? You’re not that special. Don’t get me wrong, you’re attractive in a simple, human-ey way, but you’re not, well, you’re not geometrically perfect, or close to it, like, say, Jensen Ackles.”

“I wasn’t going to,” you said, finally in a sitting position. “I know there’s no point now.” You wryly chuckled, tears slipping from your eyes. “Fuck,” you mumbled.

Technical Boy watched you, uncomfortable. He wasn’t good with emotions, especially not others’. “You good?”

You wipe away your tears before looking over at him. Deftly, you flip him off. There was nothing Technical Boy could do to you that would hurt more than knowing you were, once again, trapped under Mr World’s thumb.

The god rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone. If he was going to be stuck here, he might as well play some games.

You look around the room, crossing your arms and rubbing them. It was a plain, white, rectangular room with your bed, a chair, and a nightstand. Otherwise, it was barren. The most interesting and colourful thing here was Technical Boy’s awful outfit, which looked, strangely, stylish on him, and the blankets on your bed. Their colours were stark in contrast to your hospital gown with the polka dots and barren room. The top blanket looked like a hand-stitched quilt with an array of warm colours and black decorated with images of cats and witches and other things like that. The others were larger child-like blankets with Bob the Builder, Care Bears, and other things like that on them. You ran a hand over the top one, enjoying the stitching and cloth running under your fingertips.

“World had those brought for you,” Technical Boy said, not looking up from his phone.

Your blood ran cold and your hand froze where it was. Slowly, your hands receded and you pushed the blankets away. Knowing that, even now, World was, in a way, touching you freaked you out. You needed to get away from it. You needed to get away from him. Barely registering what you were doing, you kicked the blankets over the edge bed and pushed yourself away from them and into the pillow behind you.

The quilt and childish blankets cascaded to the floor, unceremoniously falling into a heap.

The tech god looked up from his phone and stared at you as you curled up and hugged your knees, staring wide-eyed at the blankets. He continued to watch as you began scratching at yourself, trying to get the feeling of World off you. Technical Boy didn’t intervene until he noticed you bleeding.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, the god got up and walked over to you. He sat on your bed and grabbed your hands.

Out of pure instinct, you thrashed in his grip as he tried to calm you down. You could hear someone calling for you but you couldn’t stop yourself. He was here and he was going to hurt you.

“Y/N,” Technical Boy yelled over your panic. “Stop it. You're hurting yourself.” You continued fighting against him, kicking and thrashing. “Fuck’s sake, I need someone in here!”

Nurses came in and held you down before one stuck a needle into your arm and you passed out.

•

A year and a half ago

You lay in bed, texting a friend, one of the few World let you have. Smiling at your phone, you pulled a blanket over you, a quilt with sock monkeys on it.

World entered and took off his blazer, setting it on a fluffy chair. He rolled up his sleeves to the elbows. “Hello, my dear,” he purred, watching you.

You looked up and smiled. “Hi, bossman.”

He smiled, leant over you, and kissed your forehead. “Have you been good today?” He asked.

You shrugged and took one of his hands into your free one. “I did what you asked if that’s what you mean. I haven’t been out all day.”

“Good, my dear. Good,” he said before sitting on the bed and caressing your cheek. “I don’t want anyone else taking you away from me.”

“I wouldn’t want them to, love.” You smiled, gazing into his eyes.

As World started to say something, your friend texted you back a meme. Because of the addictive nature of technology, your head snapped to your screen. You laughed.

World’s eyes hardened. “Who are you talking to?”

“Just a friend.” You shut your phone off and tossed it to the side. You could worry about responding later.

“Just a friend, huh?” He asked. “A friend that makes you laugh?”

His sudden change in attitude threw you off and you sat up more. “Well, it was less my friend and more a meme he sent me.”

“He?” World growled.

He seemed to grow bigger, or maybe you were just pushing yourself into the bed more.

“I- I’m sorry,” you stuttered out. “I thought you said he was okay to talk to.”

World gripped your wrists, kneeling on the bed, and pushed you down. “I told you not to leave the house.” He jerked you off the bed and began to drag you out of the room in your underwear.

“I didn’t. I swear I didn’t. I was just talking to him,” you pleaded as you tried to stand. His grip tightened and began to hurt. “World, love, please, stop. You’re hurting me.”

Just as you had managed to get in a crouching position to stand, World yanks you down. You land with a thud on the cold, wooden floor.

“Hurting you? Never, my dear. No, I’m just punishing you for disobeying me.” He stood over you, his fists clenched.

“I- I didn’t. I didn’t go outside.”

That only seemed to piss him off more.

“I said not to leave the house. That means technologically as well. You disobeyed me, my dear. I really didn’t want to do this, but you’ve given me no choice.”

•

Present Day

You woke up in a fetal position in bed. Clenching your fists, you willed yourself to forget about the nightmare. Shakily, you pushed yourself up, blankets falling off you. A part of you expected, when you looked at them, you’d find the ones World had gotten for you. Instead, you were greeted by a different set, the top one with a close-up of a bunch of wolves perched atop a cliff with a forest in the background on it.

“I had one of the Children get some other blankets from a nearby store,” Technical Boy said, glued to his phone. “I didn’t tell it any specific type of blankets to get, so it just grabbed some. Hope you like wolves.”

Assured in the knowledge World hadn’t had a hand in getting these, you laid back down, pulling the blankets over you. You squeezed your eyes shut, breathing heavily, and curled back into a fetal position.

•

Weeks passed and you slowly healed. The Child that you had been in front of when the car struck had partially protected you, so you were better off than if it’d rammed into without any sort of cushioning. Still, rehab was fucking painful.

Technical Boy mostly said nothing, preferring his tech to others, particularly you. When he did speak, it was sarcastic and filled with a feeling of superiority. It tended to get on your nerves. But it was better than the alternative. Occasionally, he’d get a text and he’d be out the door faster than the Flash going at light speed. It was rare but still, you dreaded those texts because he’d always leave one of the creepy Children behind, or several depending on how he was feeling.

You’d talk to Technical Boy, of course. Well, not specifically to him, but you’d talk aloud to kill time. It was mostly rambling about one thing or another. Sometimes you’d talk about your parents and family, other times you’d talk about random things you’d learnt over the years. On very rare occasions, maybe once or twice, you’d talk about World and what it was like with him. It was nice, just talking without anyone listening but someone still being physically there. You knew he didn’t care and he probably wasn’t listening, but that didn’t matter to you. You just wanted to talk. Sometimes, he’d stop scrolling or playing a game for so long you thought he was listening. Thankfully, he was just reading something when that happened. Talking “to” Technical Boy was like talking to a brick wall in the best way possible.

Now, you laid in bed, throwing things at the ceiling, head relaxed against the headboard. You closed your eyes, groaning.

Out of pure boredom and nostalgia, you remembered a school play you’d been forced to do; The Wizard of Oz. You had played the Wicked Witch of the West for the second half of the play. Despite the rather enjoyable performance, you did hate the green face paint you’d had to wear. It didn’t feel good against your skin. As you remembered the play, you began to think about the song Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead that your Mum had always teased you with. That and the whole “I’m melting scene”. The song rang through your head as you tried to remember all the words, but the same lines repeated over and over again.

“Ding-dong! The witch is dead. Which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding-dong! The Wicked Witch is dead,” you sang, very much off-key but with a childish enjoyment.

Technical Boy joined in with his eyes still glued to his phone. “Wake up, ya sleepy-head. Rub your eyes, get out of bed.”

“Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead!” You both sang out, Technical Boy was much quieter than you.

Your head fell forward and you giggled to yourself, covering your mouth with your hand. Technical Boy, unused to the sound, looked up at you, the edges of his mouth twitching up. But, when you looked at him, he looked away, his lips straining into a white line as he tried to cover up the smile. You curiously watched him for a while like you were waiting for him to do something. Upon deciding he was too boring to do anything of note, you started humming Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead to yourself. The song had ingrained itself into your brain.

Technical Boy typed something into his phone before speaking. “I can play it out loud if you want.” He showed you his phone’s screen.

You couldn’t tell what was on it as it was too far away, but you assumed it was Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead. “Sure. If you want.”

He pressed play and turned up the volume, but the noise was minuscule. Technical Boy gave it a confused look, frowning, and mouthed a “what the fuck”. For a few minutes, you watched him fuck around with his phone, trying to solve the problem.

Eventually, he turned to you. “Sorry. Volume isn’t working as it should. Must be some sort of hardware issue. I’ll take a closer look later.”

You considered, for a moment, that maybe Technical Boy wasn’t as good with his tech as he liked to boast. Then you remembered that TECHnical Boy was a TECH god and this is probably happening because he wants it to, on some level. You internally laugh at the thought.

‘Maybe he really hates that song,’ you thought.

“It’s fine. Maybe we’ll both be able to hear if you get closer,” you said with a small smile.

You could have sworn he was blushing at that moment. That was definitely peculiar. Your mind must have been playing tricks on you.

Technical Boy scratched the back of his neck, looking away from you. “Yeah, sure. That- that could work.” He got up, shuffling his sneakers along the tile.

As he neared your bed, he rewound the video and started playing it. Instead of sitting on the bed, he awkwardly stood there, holding his phone closer to you.

You laughed lightly before patting the bed. “You can sit down, you know that right? I’m not as easily broken as you might think.”

“I don’t think you’re easily broken at all,” he mumbled as he sat down.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Technical Boy drug the timer back to the zero second mark, replaying the video.

You shuffled around, listening to the song, before getting closer. Your chest pressed against Technical Boy’s back as you rested your chin on his shoulder. Surprisingly, he was very warm.

You’d expected him to be like his domain, cold and calculating, but, you supposed, he’d always been very angry and loud, just like the other part of his domain. You smiled softly, recognizing the duality to him. The angry, emotional, loud human-dominated Internet and the cold, logical, data-processing technology-dominated, well, tech. Then, you remembered how phones and computers were. It had been so long since you’d had one, it was like a far off memory. But, all technology tended to warm up as they were used and cooled when they weren’t.

You nuzzled into his strangely soft sweater, your cheek pressing lightly against Technical Boy's neck. Blood rushed up to his neck as his heart beat heavily, you could hear it more than you could hear the music. It was very calming. Though the rapidness of the beat was slightly concerning. Usually, humans have really fast heartbeats wasn’t a good sign, but he wasn’t human so maybe it worked differently.

Technical Boy glanced down at you, trying not to disturb you. A soft smile spread across his face. A blush did the same thing over his cheeks and his ears tinted pink as your hands found their way to his side.

You sighed, content, as you relaxed.

You hadn’t meant to get so physical with Technical Boy, but it felt nice to feel someone else’s warmth for once. To even be near someone again without fear of getting hurt was a huge relief. Though you knew if World ever found out, he’d kill you both or worse.

At the thought of the cruel god, you reached for where your necklace used to be. Instead, you grasped at nothing. The reminder that World had taken your necklace made you feel empty and cold even with the heater named Technical Boy letting you hold onto him. Your eyebrows knitted together as sadness filled your heart, weighing it down. Still holding nothing, you pressed your face into the tech god’s shoulder.

Technical Boy gently reached for the hand still on his side. He grasped it and pulled it around his stomach, gently rubbing your knuckles. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, just as surprised by his own concern and gentleness as you were.

If it had been anyone else, he would have pushed them away, but this was you and, after all the weeks you’d spent rambling, he felt like he knew you better than World did.

To be fair, most people probably knew you better than World did.

Still, Technical Boy had started to understand why World wanted you so badly. You were so human and so sweet, laughing at your own jokes and, in a way, treating him like a pet like always humans tend to do with technology. The way you so easily spoke to him about whatever was on your mind and the way you smiled even when you weren’t doing anything, was so human and he found that, despite how he had always viewed humans, he liked that about you. He wouldn’t say he felt anything stronger, but he did like it. Maybe more than he should.

You tiredly looked up at him, lips grazing his sweater (Technical Boy found himself wishing he wasn’t wearing one) and gave him a strained smile.

“I’m alright, I suppose,” you said. “I’m just wishing I still had my necklace. It helps calm me down.”

Technical Boy nodded, his phone turning off.

You didn’t know if he did that or it did it by itself.

“What’s it look like?”

His gaze seems to drop to your lips before darting back to your eyes, but you can’t be sure of yourself.

You shrugged. “Head of Medusa and gold sprigs of laurel shooting out from the pendant.”

Technical Boy nodded, mentally putting a yellow sticky note on a rough image of the necklace he had in his head with “find” written in red on it. “Sounds cool,” he said, meaning it but sounding rather casual about it. He mentally facepalmed.

You nodded, still touching the place the pendant once hung in front of.

Technical Boy noticed your despondency and put the yellow sticky note and the necklace under important.

You trailed your free hand down Technical Boy’s back, nails sending tingles all over his body.

This was something you both needed, but both rarely got.

Physical touch is the hardest thing you’ve ever come by, especially after meeting World.

As for Technical Boy, he was a lonely god surrounded by cold fellow New Gods and unfulfilling worship. Though he was necessary for the U.S. to function, the people’s belief in him wasn’t really belief IN him. It was a belief that technology is going to solve everyone’s problems. They do not view him as a deity and they do not know he even exists. It’s a sad thing for a god to be worshipped but not known truly within their worshippers. If that wasn’t bad enough, the other gods like Media and World didn’t really like him and they did nothing to hide it.

He glanced at you again. You caught it and smiled softly, wrapping your other arm around him, enjoying the warmth of him and the feeling of another being. The god leant into you, rolling his head back and closing his eyes. His hands found yours and he absentmindedly rubbed them.

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled.

Technical Boy snorted. “Why? You’re not doing anything wrong.”

“It’s just-- You’re Technical Boy. You don’t like humans, so you probably aren’t the biggest fan of this.” You shifted slightly but still held him close.

He turned to look at you. “If I wasn’t okay with this I would make it known. I tend to do that.” A slight, itty bitty smile surfaced. “I can show you if you want? Trust me, I can be really loud and annoying.”

You pulled away, covering your mouth as you laughed.

Technical Boy’s smile widened and there was a strange light to his eyes as he watched you.

You couldn’t help but smile back.

“Ya know, I’m really touch-starved, so, trust me, I’m enjoying this,” he said.

Silently, you reached for one of his hands and held it in your own. “So am I, to be honest. World was never really one for touching. I was often pretty lonely…” You trailed off, eyes wandering. “It’s not much like that now, though. Even with him looming over me, at least you’re here.”

“Yeah, I am,” he said. Part of him wanted to kiss your cheek, but his far more logical side decided that would be a dumb idea. Instead, he squeezed your hand and smiled. “Don’t think I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

All you could do was smile.

•

The Child sat there in Technical Boy’s chair like an action figure not in use.

Laying on your stomach at the end of your bed, your head sat on your crossed arms as you watched the empty, motionless creation.

Technical Boy had gotten one of those texts and had to leave. One of the Children had taken his place.

Ever since that conversation a few weeks or so ago and all the touching that happened, the tech god had opened up a little more, willingly joking with you and talking. You’d finally gotten to know more about the god. Turns out he was moderately decent sometimes.

You continued staring at the Child, your head falling to lay down. Blowing out a breath of air, you flipped over and stared at the ceiling.

World, thankfully, had been too busy to stop by in ages.

Sometimes, you’d learnt, you were fine with his name and existence being mentioned. Other times, you weren’t. Sometimes, you were scared, but his presence didn’t make you freak out. Other times, it did. The whole thing was pretty inconsistent.

You’d missed Technical Boy. His presence had a calming effect on you to a degree you didn’t understand. Still, when he laughed, you smiled with pride. When he smiled at you, your heart clenched in your chest. And, of course, when you caught him stealing a glance at you, you could practically feel the blood rushing to your face.

The sound of the door unlocking and opening made you jump and you quickly turned to see who it was.

Silently, you hoped it was Technical Boy and feared it was World.

A familiar face walked in with something in his hands.

“Tech!” You smiled and sat up.

He grinned at you before slipping whatever was in his hands behind his back and walking in. Realizing the Child was still there, he gave it a look and it got up. It left and shut the door behind it.

“I got something for you,” Technical Boy said, turning his attention back to you. “I think you’re really gonna like it.”

Head tilting with curiosity, you look at him. “What is it?”

He chuckled and sat down on your bed. “You’ll have to open it and see,” he said, pulling a small box from behind his back. He handed it to you.

Gently, you took the box and opened it. Inside sat a shell-shaped compact mirror. Though definitely disappointed, you were more confused than anything. You took it out and examined it.

“Why did you give me a mirror?” You asked.

Technical Boy’s grin grew. “Cause, without it, you wouldn’t be able to see what I’m about to give you.” He slipped behind you on the bed and opened the mirror over your shoulders, placing it in your hand. “Now, close your eyes and don’t open them till I say,” he whispered into your ear.

You leant back into him, enjoying the closeness. Though you were reluctant and a little confused, you closed your eyes anyway, deciding to trust Technical Boy.

You listened as shuffled around. A sudden and strange, though familiar, feeling of something settling around your neck made you tense, but that tension faded quickly.

“Okay,” he said. “Open ‘em.” Technical Boy’s head settled on your shoulder and he wrapped his arms around your waist, watching you in anticipation.

Just as you began to open your eyes, he stopped you. “Wait, hold up.” You felt one of his hands cup yours as he adjusted the mirror. “Okay, now.”

You opened them, greeted by a view of your necklace shining in the bright, artificial lighting. Your jaw drops as you stare at the terrifying face of Medusa. A warmth finds its way into your heart as your open mouth turns into a grin. Gently, filled with disbelief, you reach up and touch the pendant. Realizing it was truly there and not an illusion or something, a weight lifted off you, knowing you hadn’t lost it. You sighed in relief and clutched the pendant, closing your eyes.

Out of excitement, you turn around and wrap your arms around Technical Boy, hugging him tightly.

For a moment, he doesn’t know what to do. He knew you’d be happy but he hadn’t anticipated this. Remembering all the fanfics, posts, shows, and movies put on the internet, he realized hugging back would be a smart option. That would definitely help with keeping his blush hidden. He hugged you back, nuzzling into your neck.

As you pulled away slightly, you looked at him, still smiling.

He shyly smiled back.

You knew he blushed rather easily, but the sight of his face so flushed and ears so pink was a little shocking. It was still cute, though.

You fell back into him and rested your head on his chest.

Technical Boy squeezed you tight, resting his head against yours. He closed his eyes, finding himself able to relax with you.

A few seconds of silence passed before you decided, on a random whim, to kiss Technical Boy’s cheek.

He froze.

If he was pink before, he was Hot Tamale Red now.

You giggled lightly before beaming up at him.

Honestly, you couldn’t say why you did it. All you knew was that it felt right.

The door to your room slammed open and World appeared. Both you and Technical Boy snapped your heads to look at him, eyes wide.

You scrambled away from Technical Boy and off the bed, eyes going wide at the sight of your terrifying ex.

"And what exactly is going on here?" World asked. He stepped into the room and glared at you

The tech god got off the bed and put himself between the two of you, pulling World's attention away from you. The last thing he wanted was for you to get hurt, especially because of him. He didn't care if he got hurt. Technical Boy was a god; he could handle it. You were human and World had already done enough.

"Nothing much," he said. "Just talking."

World got closer.

Your heart pounded against your chest. The familiar fear of his presence shaking you to your core.

The way he approached reminded you so much of how he used to right before he laid into you, all height and glaring. He was going to hurt you again. Or Technical Boy.

Gods, Technical Boy. You didn't want him hurt. He'd been so kind to you over the last few weeks and had really come out of his metallic and rude shell. The thought of him regressing and being cold to you again sickened you.

"It seems as though I've caught my beloved and you doing much more than “talking”," World hissed.

Out of pure fear, you hide more behind Technical Boy, placing a hand on his bicep.

"Y/N hugged me," the god said, maintaining eye contact with World. "That's it. They were thanking me."

World took off his fedora, his long coat hanging off his shoulder. "For what?" His head jerked unnaturally.

"For being here when you weren't and for getting them their necklace back," Technical Boy said.

You hadn't noticed how tense he was until World was nearly on top of the two of you. He was just as scared as you were. Technical Boy breathed heavily through his nose but refused to flinch.

World pointed at your necklace and growled, "You shouldn't have that."

Your hand shot to your necklace, clutching the pendant in shaking fingers.

"And who are you to dictate that?" Technical Boy asked.

World, angered by Technical Boy's insubordination, walked to him and looked him in the eye. "You will leave if you know what's good for you, Boy," he said unwaveringly. "And, if you know what's good for them." World turned away, his fingers trailing across the end of your bed. "Unless, of course, you want them to receive the worst possible treatment for their injuries."

Technical Boy's eyes went wide and his jaw tensed. He looked to you.

You didn't want him to go. You didn't want to be left alone with World. You didn't want to left alone at all. Despite that, you also didn't want to end up in a dark room to die and you didn't want Technical Boy to feel guilty if that happened.

Turning to the tech god, you nodded toward the door, mouthing the word "go".

He hesitantly tried to say something, eyes glistening with sorrow and guilt, but didn't, defeated.

As he left, his heart heavy, you gave him a pained smile and wave. Once he walked through the doorway, your smile fell and you wrapped your arms around yourself. You already knew what World was going to do.

He turned to you, scowling.

•

Outside the room, Technical Boy stood, already hating himself for leaving you to deal with him alone. The number of times World had hurt him because he wasn’t perfect or didn’t do what World wanted exactly as he wanted it done and had the shite beaten out of him for it was astronomical. He’d always wished Media had done something about it when it happened, but she never did. Now, he had done the same thing to you.

He heard you yelp and the distinct sound of a body hitting the floor. Your cries echoed in his ears as World beat you. Though the door was shut, it did nothing to mask what he was doing to you. Technical Boy could faintly hear him saying this to you. He couldn't fully make them out, but he knew, in his heart, they were as vicious and violent as he was.

It took all of the tech god's self-control not to rush back in and protect you. He'd shield you with his own body if he had to.

Sadly, the god knew you'd only be worse off if he did. So, he sucked it up and walked away, fists clenched.

He had to figure out a way to get you out of here before World made sure you'd never go anywhere again.

•

You laid in bed, curled up with the blankets Technical Boy had gotten for you. The cloth felt soft and strange against your skin like you weren’t used to the feeling of safety and warmth around you. Even though you’d been using them for months at this point, the blankets still felt foreign. They were better than any World could force on you, at least. And, they reminded you of Technical Boy.

Since the day you told him to go, you hadn’t heard a peep. It was like he vanished from your like.

Honestly, you were worried about him and thought about him a lot. You had no idea if he was alright or not. Unfortunately, you'd experienced just how cruel World could be when he was angry; your face and body were plenty of evidence of that. Though Technical Boy was a god and World couldn't kill him, you feared for Technical Boy's safety. Over the years you'd been with World, he showed an apathy toward Technical Boy, if not hatred for him. He'd been violent with the tech god before. You knew he would be like that again on a whim. That's all it ever took; a whim.

The door to your room opened.

Tensing, you pulled your blankets closer. You shook slightly, closing your eyes and letting out a fearful breath. A free hand laid where the pendant of your necklace should be.

You'd been expecting him to come back to teach you another lesson. World had come every day since he's taken Technical Boy off "Y/N duty".

Slowly, you steadied your breathing and opened your eyes. A part of you hoped he'd find no joy in it today, that he'd grow tired of you and toss you aside. Even if you ended up dying, it'd be better than living in fear of World for the rest of your life.

"Y/N," a familiar and gentle voice said.

You wiped the blanket off and turned to look at the speaker; Technical Boy stood there with bruises on his face. They didn't take away from how happy you were to see him.

The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile, but his eyes screamed of pain. "Hey."

Of course, World had hurt him. You knew he would. It was World. But, that feeling in your chest, the feeling of your heart squeezing, the feeling you'd felt when World showed up randomly early on, the feeling of relief and love filled you as you looked at the tech god.

Without hesitation, you pushed away from the blankets and scrambled off the bed, not even thinking about them falling to the floor. You didn't give Technical Boy a second to breathe as you pulled him into a tight hug. Nuzzling into the crook of his neck, you screwed your eyes shut and breathed him in.

After the initial shock, Technical Boy slowly hugged back. He tested his head on your shoulder, breathing heavily. "Are you okay, Y/N?" He asked, pulling away and cupping one of your cheeks. His soft eyes searched yours.

You chuckled, tears of joy pooling at the corners of your eye. “I’m-- I’m better now,” you said with a smile.

Technical Boy relaxed a little, but still, his eyes stayed trained on your face. His fingers ghosted over your bruises and split lip.

It made you wince.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Did he do this to you?”

You looked away, not wanting to see the hurt in his eyes. "He cause those?" You asked, turning back and gesturing to Technical Boy's face.

For a beat, there was silence. Without having to say a word, both of you knew what happened.

You pulled him into another hug and he quickly reciprocated.

"I can't stay long. World doesn't even know I'm here right now. I hope he doesn't, anyway." Technical Boy pulled away and smiled at you. "I'm going to get you out of here, and soon. I promise." His eyes drifted to your chest, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion before turning into anger. "And I'm going to get your necklace back from World."

You looked down, putting a hand over where your necklace should be. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a necklace.”

It wasn’t, in fact, just a necklace. It was a gift from someone who actually, selflessly cared. Though you hadn’t talked to Soteria since you’d gotten the necklace, you knew she had been watching and trying to keep you safe. You knew it in your heart of hearts, in your essence, in your very soul itself. Maybe it was a want to have someone on your side or blind stupidity, but you had an unending faith that she was with you, that she was protecting you and guiding you even now. It was that faith you clung to when World would come in. It was that faith that kept you sane. Even before Technical Boy had been sent away, it was that faith that helped you get through even the worst days where your mind would plague you will horrible memories of World and your life with him.

Technical Boy shook his head. “It’s not just a necklace. It’s your necklace. It belongs with you, not him.”

You smiled softly at him, relishing in his gentle touch.

“I’m going to get it back for you and I’m going to get you out of here, so be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, okay?” He asked, looking into your eyes.

You nodded before hugging him again.

Real, genuine, caring contact with another being, no matter how artificial, is the only thing you wanted at the moment. Everything else be damned.

•

The door to your room opened in the night. No light shone in as all was quiet. It was past midnight. Of course, all was quiet. It’d be weird if it was loud and noisy.

Laying in bed, you slept as soundly as you could with the constant threat of World looming over you and plaguing your scarred mind.

Technical Boy looked back into the dark, empty hall before slipping into your room.

His own fear and doubt squirming through his mind and infecting him. Around every corner, his heart had beaten loudly in his chest as he could never be sure someone was just around the corner. Though the god knew how to manipulate technology, even recreate and control it to a certain extent, he was still afraid that World would pop up while Technical Boy had blinded himself by taking the cameras offline. It felt wrong to not be able to see everything through the cameras. It was too late to take it back though.

“Y/N,” Technical Boy said as he gently shut the door. When you didn’t respond he got close to your bed and nudged you. “Come on, wake up. We need to go.”

You groaned quietly and tried to pull the covers over your head but Technical Boy stopped you. He pulled them off the bed and stared at you.

You whined, trying to curl up, but the god wasn’t having any of that.

“Y/N, get the fuck up or I swear to God I will throw you over my fucking shoulder,” he said putting his hands on his hips.

You groaned again and flopped to your back. “It’s late.”

“I know,” he said. “Now let’s go.” The tech god pointed at the door.

You sat up, back stiff, and stretched. “Outside?”

He nodded. “I said I’d get you out of here, didn’t I?” Technical Boy smiled before offering you his hand.

The two of you shared a smile. Just as you reached out to take his hand, you remembered World and froze.

“What about--”

“Don’t worry about him,” Technical Boy said. “I’ve got a plan. Right now, we need to go.” He grabbed you and pulled you from the bed.

•

Outside the compound World had been keeping you in, you stared at the night sky. The beautiful blues and blacks melting together, and the points of white stars twinkling high above. You never thought something could be so beautiful. The stars danced in your eyes.

Technical Boy, holding the door to his limo open, stared at you like you stared at the sky.

Feeling his eyes on you, you looked to him and gave him a soft smile.

If it wasn’t so dark, you could have been sure of whether or not he was blushing. Instead, the darkness hid his embarrassment for him as he turned away from you.

“Get in,” he said, gesturing to the limo.

You nodded and walked over. Before you slipped inside the bright automobile, you gently kissed Technical Boy’s cheek.

He stood there for a moment, stunned as the tips of his ears turned pink. Swallowing hard, he gets into the limo, sitting next to you.

•

Standing in the busy airport, you looked around, clutching the carryon bag Technical Boy had packed for you.

Patiently, you waited for the tech god to appear. He had to get some things in order before your departure.

When he did appear, he seemed nervous, scanning the crowd with fearful eyes. He stopped in front of you, still scanning.

You understood his fear. It was a similar kind to what you had felt when you’d run from World.

Gently, you touched his arm, tearing his attention from the crowd. You gave him a gentle smile.

The god softened and weakly smiled back.

“Thank you,” you said.

Technical Boy shrugged, looking down. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is to me.”

•

On the plane, a child kicked your seat from behind and the man at the end of the row was talking loudly on the phone. You felt bad for the grey-clad man sitting between the two of you. He was getting it far worse than you.

Looking away from the commotion, you watched the people outside the plane scramble around and grasped the necklace’s pendant.

You were so close to freedom. Close enough to taste it. Or maybe that was just the aeroplane smell.

Despite still being in the U.S., you smiled. Even if the plane crashed, you wouldn’t be stuck with World. Even if the plane gets redirected somewhere or there’s a storm and the plane has to make a landing, you could still stay away from World long enough to get another ticket out of here. It would be a terrifying ordeal, but you could do it. Even if, worst comes to worst, World finds out and finds you again, you knew you could find a way out of his grasps again.

And if none of that comes to pass, you leave the U.S. for good, and never see anyone here again, you knew you could be happy. Maybe find someone to settle down with or get an animal or something. Maybe find a good job that you can mostly enjoy that isn’t totally soul-crushing. Maybe, if you’re really lucky, you can get a few hobbies that bring you joy like nothing ever could.

If you’re lucky that is, but you’ve never really been that lucky. Who knows? Maybe that will change.

[mouse-fantoms]

Reach For My Hand, ‘Cause It’s Held Out For You

Read on Ao3!

Tagging (just who I thought would be interested from the post this spawned from): @tmp-jatp @lydias--stiles @1neverendingstories1

More Than A Band but Jatp edition

A top priority when having 90's boys come into your life is of course showing them what they missed out on. It started with Julie putting together a playlist for them.

Another order would be teaching them the terms nowadays. Someone hadto tell Alex that you don’t say ‘periodt’ at the end of every sentence. That though, was a priority for another day.

After showing them music they missed out on, movies were next. It made sense since some of the music she had put on the playlist were songs from movies. She obviously couldn’t show all the movies they missed in the past 25 years, but there were a few that they’d probably like.

Their weekends, so far, had involved Julie setting up the living room for the perfect movie watching experience. A few pillows here and there on the comfy couch, could never go wrong with blankets, a fresh buttery bowl of popcorn, just the essentials.

They were all on the couch, finishing up the rest of Camp Rock. (Luke was immediately hooked on the summer camp with music concept.)

Julie was curled up with a blanket at the end of the couch. Luke was next to her, then Alex followed by Reggie.

“You seriously don’t want a blanket?” Julie asked Luke. She had her knees pulled to her underneath the fabric of warmth.

“I’m telling you I’m not cold.” He repeated another time.

She would have thought it might have just been a ghost thing if it wasn’t for Reggie and Alex constantly tugging at the blanket they shared for blanket space.

“I need it more!” Alex pulled the blanket towards him.

“You have a hoodie on!” Reggie pointed out.

“...I still get cold.”

Julie and Luke rolled their eyes at the pair and were instead more interested at how Mitchie was going to do at the Final Jam.

“Wait, she's singing that song? Wait!” Luke scooted to the edge of the seat, being glued to the tv. “Please tell me he has to recognize it’s her who sang in the beginning. She’s the one!”

Alex put a hand on Luke’s shoulder and pulled him back to the couch.

“I’m sure he will buddy.”

It wasn’t until after the number that Luke noticed Julie dozing off next to him. She’d shake awake a few times when she’d hear the high notes in the music.

“You know we can call it a night if you’re getting tired.”

Her arms came out from under the blanket when she stretched her arms and yawned, “No, no, no, I’m not. I haven’t even shown you guys a favorite of mine yet and I said we’d get to it tonight.”

Once the movie finished she grabbed the remote and went to find one of her favorites.

“This one,” she was interrupted by her own yawn, “is about a band. They form when they’re all in detention together.” A look played on Luke’s face. She sighed, not wanting to be right with an assumption, “...Is that how you guys-”

“No but could you imagine how-” Luke turned to the unamused faces of Alex and Reggie.

“It was always us getting him out of detention.” Alex informed.

She opened her mouth looking to the one in question. “What would you do?”

“He could never put away his journal during class.” Reggie answered.

“It was better than writing on the corners of my papers.”

“How would you get him out of it?”

“Well if the book wasn’t at the teacher’s desk anymore than… no evidence for detention.” Luke summed up.

“Which meant a lot of talking to the teacher while they got it back. ‘Alex, we want you to talk to her.’ ‘Pretend you have a question.’”

“The other option was you guys joining me.”

“Yeah we tried that, they never could give it to Reggie.”

Julie looked curious at the black haired ghost. “Why?”

Alex answered, gesturing to him. “...It’s Reggie.”

“Yeah, can’t argue there.”

She turned her attention back to the tv and brought up the movie.

“Lemonade Mouth? What kind of name is that?” Judged Luke.

Julie laughed to make it even. “What kind of name is Sunset Curve?”

“The kind of one you don’t come up with.” Reggie informed.

“When we were starting out,” the guitarist took the lead in explaining, “we’d play at this street corner. I guess people started liking us and would say to check out the guys at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Curve Street. Then it just kinda meshed into one with people calling us Sunset Curve.”

“We kind of just went with it.” Alex shrugged.

“Funny, well, you’ll see why they’re called Lemonade Mouth in this.”

She put the movie on and the boys seemed instantly intrigued. It wasn’t until fifteen minutes in that her eyes started to feel drowsy. Maybe Luke was a little bit right, but maybe if she just rested her eyes for a second she’d feel better. Maybe if she just made herself comfortable on the pillow to her right, she’d feel better.

“Luke, can you turn it up a-”

“Can’t.”

“What?” Alex looked at him.

“Can’t move.” He repeated, shifting his eyes to the left.

Alex looked behind Luke to try to see if he could see what he was talking about. He saw Julie’s head closer to Luke. Sure enough, when he looked past him he saw Julie with her head on his shoulder.

“Hgh,” the blonde huffed, “fine I’ll get it.” There was no point in arguing so he instead went out of his way to reach diagonal to grab the remote that was on the coffee table.

It wasn’t tell near the ending of the movie when they eventually dozed off too. However they did catch great songs before they did. Classics such as Turn Up the Music, Determinate, Somebody and a song called More Than a Band, She’s So Gone were a few they caught before they went off to dreams.

~~~

She tried her best to not worry her boys. When she tried though, all they did was.

They knew something was off when she didn’t stop by to tell them bye before she left for school. Also when Luke paid her a visit during school she just seemed detached. Reggie noted Ray seemed off and Carlos for that matter too.

The ghost was hanging around with Ray in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for Carlos before he left for the morning. Reggie leaned against the archway to the dining room, watching Ray as he cooked scrambled eggs on the stove. Carlos came down the stairs, his bag slung over his shoulder, and came around to the stool of the counter.

“Do you know what we’re having for dinner?”

Ray looked over his shoulder, as he dumped the pan of eggs on a plate, “You haven’t even had breakfast yet.” He chuckled, setting the plate in front of him and opening the drawer to give him a fork.

“I know but…” He trailed off, taking the fork that was put next to his plate, looking to his dad in hopes he got what he was meaning. From him touching the ring on his ring finger, he got the memo.

“...I can talk to your Tía about bringing something over for tonight.” There was a light nod of his head. Carlos shared the same nod as he dove into his eggs.

Meanwhile Reggie leaned at the archway, suddenly now understood.

~~~

She hadn’t talked to them much the whole day. The studio that turned into her home didn’t feel like much of one today. Just a reminder.

After dinner, she found herself going up to her room, changing into her pajamas and finding comfort on her bed. She sat crisscross, her hand drawn to the scripture necklace she wore. She didn’t appear to catch the familiar poof sound until she looked to the left from seeing something in the corner of her eye appear. She saw her boys, looking sympathetic.

It was like they were a reminder. The reminder that they were here but… she wasn’t.

Luke stepped cautious, taking a seat on the mattress at the foot of her bed. “...Guessing movie night is postponed tonight.” He tried to make conversation.

She answered by turning on her side away from him, her necklace still in her hand, not realizing her foot had accidently hit Luke in the thigh when she turned over. Usually it was a nice reminder when they touched, today though, was not one of those times.

Luke looked to his friends standing opposite of him. Their expressions looked the same as his, wanting a suggestion of what to do, he looked back to Julie.

She was rubbing her fingers across her necklace in the silence until there wasn’t any.

“I can’t pretend,” she was caught off guard by his singing and what it sounded like, “to know how you feel, but know that I’m here and know that I’m real.”

Real. That word got her to look through her curls at him. He looked at the other two to join in.

“Say what you want,” Alex sang, stepping towards her bed, “or don’t talk at all, I’m not gonna let you fall.” He knelt down to be eye level.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you,” Reggie joined Alex in kneeling next to her bed, “my shoulders are small but you can cry on them too. Everything changes but one thing is true, understand.” He looked to Luke to take the part.

“We’ll always be more than a band.”

They weren’t just singing lyrics. Even when she turned over to face them, they carried on.

“You used to brave the world all on your own.” Alex continued.

“Now we won’t let you go.” Luke added.

“Go it alone.” Reggie followed.

“Be who you wanna be, always stand tall.” Luke leaned in a little towards her, smiling at the two words, remembering the song they finished writing together. She smiled back, not being able to help herself. “Not gonna let you fall.”

They sang together, looking and smiling as they did. “Reach for my hand cause it's held out for you. My shoulders are strong, but you can cry on them too. Everything changes but one thing is true, understand. We'll always be more than a band.” They looked to her to continue.

With a wide smile she followed, “I never knew you could take me so far.” The proud smiles on them were hard to miss. “I’ve always wanted to hope that you are the ones I need.”

They repeated the chorus together, harmonizing, voices blending beautifully. “But one thing is true, understand.”

“We’ll always be more than a band.” They dropped out to let Julie finish.

She couldn’t help but look at her boys, proud smiles plastered on them as she looked at each.

“I didn’t know you guys stayed up to watch that.” She found the words to say.

“You said it was a favorite of yours.” Reggie shrugged as if it was obvious.

“You can’t go wrong with a band.” Luke summed up.

“Also Luke couldn’t move so that’s another reason we stayed.”

She let out a light huff from Alex’s statement. She grabbed her necklace again, looked down at it then back to them.

“...Thank you guys. We’ll always be more than a band.” She dropped the necklace and opened her arms, inviting them.

They made a hug with two people kneeling on the floor, work. She might not have been there but she sent the boys to her daughter. Maybe a reminder wasn’t always bad to have. This would be a reminder that they were a family. Family first, band second.

[kikis-writing-world]

#1 from Fluff with Poe? :) ❤️ thank you!

Thanks so much for the prompt! I definitely started writing this and went “No, stop. It’s supposed to be fluffy!” when I realized it was going kinda angsty... so I hope the change in direction is better. Hope you like

#1: “Is that my shirt?” “You mean our shirt?”

Pairing: Poe Dameron x GN!Reader (There is description that the reader is smaller than Poe, based on the shirt not fitting and there is one moment that the reader looks up at him, but other descriptions)

Warnings: None? I mean, be ready for some light thirtsting over Poe’s happy trail but otherwise... not proofread or edited as usual.

Something caressed your cheek, rousing you from your sleep. You grumbled, snuggling deeper into the pillow beneath your head. A deep chuckle beside you was accompanied by the same caress, lower on your face. Another on your jaw, and then down your neck. The tingle of stubble trailing along with the lips that were kissing you. Warm skin. Soft, damp curls. Clean smell of citrus scented soap with an underlying metallic tang that never washes out of the pores of your pilot.

“Poe…” You breathed, a smile growing on your face. You wanted to be annoyed you were no longer asleep but as far as wake-ups go, this was a pretty good one.

“Good morning,” he sang against your skin. His voice was far too clear, telling you he’d probably been awake for a while. Damn him being a morning person.

“Mmm, what time is it?” You asked, not wanting to open your eyes to check the chronometer yourself.

“Early.” His nose nuzzled the pulse point of your neck, making you sigh dreamily. “Wanted to say goodbye before I had to go.”

“Go?” Your smile dropped a fraction.

“Don’t worry, just a quick supply run. Remember?” You had forgotten, your brain not yet awake enough to remember yesterday’s conversation. Supply run to Naboo. X-wings accompanying the ship to avoid any pirates or trouble with The First Order. Poe was good at charming merchants down a few credits. Standard stuff.

“Are you taking my droid?” You asked, your sleepy smile morphing into a smug grin. You two bickered often over who was BB-8’s favorite, an ongoing running joke from before the two of you had even gotten together. You knew Poe and BB had a bond you couldn’t even touch, but the way Poe groused anytime you tried was hilarious.

“You mean my droid?” Poe scoffed, but you could feel his lips curving into a smile against your collarbone.

“Our droid.” You conceded.

“Yes, I’m taking our droid.” Poe sighed. He pulled away from your skin only for his lips to press to yours. You moaned softly in protest - he tasted like toothpaste and you were sure you had bantha breath - but he didn’t seem to mind.

You blinked your eyes open when he pulled away, finally seeing his handsome face. It was still dark in the room, only a small lamp shining from the corner. Freshly showered and bare chested next to you, the dim light sparkled off the chain hanging around his neck.

“Be safe.” You told him, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

He leaned into your touch. “Always am, sweetheart.”

“Liar.” You teased.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back by tonight.” He promised, turning his head to kiss your palm. You figured he caught sight of the time as he turned, swearing under his breath and kissing your forehead before springing off of the bed. He must have stayed snuggled with you longer than he meant to, you realized happily. As much as you didn’t want him to be late, it was nice knowing you had that effect on him just as much as he had on you.

You watched through tired eyes as he finished getting dressed, his pants hung low on his hips before he fastened his belt. He grabbed a shirt, barely having it over his head before he was making his way to the door.

“Love you.” You called after him as the door slid open.

“Love you too.” He answered, already dashing through the hall.

You grabbed his pillow, hugging it to your chest to breathe in his familiar scent as you fell back asleep for a few more hours.

--

Poe was already out of the ship when you saw him, laughing as he walked alongside Snap towards the lockers. Despite having heard the run was successful you looked him over from afar, scrutinizing for any injuries. It wouldn’t be the first time Poe got into a scuffle that didn’t impact the mission - or that he’d been injured and no one wanted to be the one to tell you. No visible blood. He wasn’t limping. No marks on his face aside from the light marks where the helmet had pressed into his skin, already fading away as he carried his helmet under his arm.

“Did he give you any trouble, Snap?” You teased as you fell into step with the pilots.

“Not this time.” Snap laughed.

Poe transferred his helmet to his other arm, leaving the arm nearest you free to wrap around your shoulders. “Do I have to remind you that I’m the commander here? I don’t answer to him.”

“No, but you answer to me.” You smiled brightly up to him, “and Snap reports back on all the stupid things you do when I’m not around.”

“Traitor.” Poe hissed, no real anger in his tone.

“Keep me out of this.” Snap held his free hand up in surrender. The three of you laughed, Snap nodding at you both before splitting up to head towards his locker while you followed Poe to his.

He hung up his helmet while you started detaching all the pieces of his harness and flight vest. There was something intimate about helping him out of his gear. You didn’t get to help him into it often - he was either leaving too early or in a rush to head out - but you loved to help him out of his flight suit at the end of a mission. 

He was silent, letting you take the lead disrobing him. You knew he loved it just as much as you did. It helped bring his head out of the sky and back to the ground. Helped disengage the part of his brain that thought as Commander Dameron: making split-second decisions, fight or flight, what was best for his squadron, best for The Resistance. For a few minutes, he got to forget all that and just be your man.

With his vest hung up, you unzipped his flight suit and pushed it off his shoulders. As it fell to his waist, you stopped.

The white fabric was pulled taught over his shoulders and chest. The shirt didn’t meet his pants, a strip of tanned skin showing. His soft, but firm tummy, his belly button, the dark trail of hair disappearing under the waistline of his pants.

“Is that my shirt?” You asked, trying to figure out why this shirt was so small on him.

“You mean our shirt?” He grinned triumphantly.

You stared up at him blankly for a moment in disbelief. “Please tell me you didn’t risk cutting off your circulation all day just so you could get back at me for my comment about BB-8 this morning.”

“No,” he laughed. “I grabbed it by accident and didn’t have time to change. The payback was just a perk.”

“Was it worth it.” You sighed, shaking your head at this dork. Your dork.

“My arms hurt.”

“Okay, let’s get you home.” You winced, hurrying to get him out of the flight suit.

[pattswriting]

unnoticed | newt x reader

title:unnoticed

pairing: newt x reader

type: fluff/kinda angst

warnings: mentions of blood, suicide, guns

prompt: everyone around you notice your affection and feelings towards newt, exept said boy.

songs recommendetions: miss americana & heartbreak prince by taylor swift, i wanna be yours by arctic monkeys, if i could fly by one direction, fine line by harry styles, i love you by billie eillish, mirrors by justin timberlake, sweater weather by james harris

a/n my first newt imagine, i tried my hardest! sleep well, have a good day and drink water!

edit: i posted it on my main blog before, thought it might be better on here.

***

NEWT didn’t notice. He never noticed the glances you’d give him, longing stares or how sparkles formed in your eyes, whenever you saw him. But Frypan did. He always watched your person in front of blonde boy, thinking how he could be so blind, when it was so obvious.

“He’s such a slinthead” said Fry one day at the bonfire. You furrowed your eyebrows looking at your friend. “ I mean, you give him those eyes and he still reminds blind”. You didn’t say anything. Just glanced at Newt, again.

HE didn’t notice. He never saw how you managed to fix your hair or shirt, when someone said he’s coming towards your way. But Winston did. And never lost a chance to laugh at you or tease, because he knew what was going on.

“You literally look the same everyday. He’s seen you like this million times. It’s like your hands have magic inside of them, that will make you look like a princess, suddenly.” said Winston as Newt went back to work.

“Slim it, Win” you said embarrased knowing, that it was riddiculous. But you couldn’t help it. Newt had that effect on you.

CHUCK got used to your talk, eventually. After two years, he got used to be greeted in the morning with little morning and question if he saw Newt. When it was dinner, he got used to your drooling over second-in-command. Or when you were pranking Gladers, he knew you will immadietly say to not doing anything to Newt. And, of course, he knew at the bed time, you would say how much you liked him.

“I’m telling you (Y/N), one day you will get married and have seven children” said chubby boy resting next to you.” Why so much? Having to take care of sixty boys it’s enough” you said and both of you laughed. He really did wish you a good life with blonde boy.

BOY found himself watching you, closely. He saw your panicked eyes, your shaking hands. Your faster breathe and how you were practically running from one place to another. Alby didn’t want you to see Newt, like that. He also knew the said boy didn’t want either.

“You’ll be okay Newt, everything will be alright. We will fix you. I will fix you. I promise, just don’t leave me, please. I can’t...I can’t loose you. Not you.” you keep saying as you and Minho tried to bear boy’s wounds. His leg was broken in three places and blood streamed down his face.

“It was an accident. Please, don’t worry” Alby said after you treated Newt. You shaked your head, tears kept coming down from your eyes.

“I perfectly know, Alby. I know, what would get him to be injured like that. It’s not nothing. We have to take care of him. Be there for him. I swear on my life, he will survive and he will live happy life” you said with determination. Alby knew since then, that you would give up your own life for blonde boy. You almost did.

BROWN-HAIRED BOY thought it must feel amazing. To love someone this much. To feel pure happiness and love to one person. Thomas was fascinated by your feelings. He always caught himself thinking, how is it, that his best friend doesn’t feel this energy coming from you.

“How does it feel like?” he asked one night, when it was your guys turn to watch the surrodings at the Scorch. You looked at him confused. “To feel so strong emotions and yet, never saying anything” he added. You were silent for a moment. You didn’t know either.”There wasn’t really time to acknowledge it. That’s all.”

YOU were terrified. First you were running from Grievers, then WICKED and now, the Cranks. You asked yourself, when will it stop? But whatever happened, you always were able to hold Newt’s hand. Or his arm. Or part of his shirt. Even when there was some peace, you still had the urge to touch him, somehow. You needed to feel him. To know, he is right beside you. He is safe. 

MINHO noticed it. Every time. At first, he thought it’s odd. But then, he realized how you felt. Wondered, what was on his best friend mind. 

“ It’s kinda cute, you know” he said, while you all were sitting at the Cliff watching Aris and the girls. ”You hold hands so often, I’d think you are dating”. Newt laughed it off and let go of your hand, just to elbow you with a smirk.

“We got these shunks to think we’re a think, (Y/N). The best irony in my life” blonde boy said shaking his head. You didn’t say anything, just smiled at all of them. They looked at you sympatrically. What could you say? 

THE GIRL was smirking, whenever she looked at you two. You were blindly in love with the boy, standing next to you. There wasn’t a moment where you weren’t next to him. Either it was your group discussing rescue plan for Minho or working or eating, your place was next to him.

“Sometimes, I think it’s creepy.” said your best friend sitting along with you at the sand. “What is?” you asked with a smile. She smirked.”How you always are by Newt’s side. It’s probably nothing weird to both of you, but from ours perspective, it really looks amusing, even” she answered, looking straight at you. Blood rushed to your cheeks as you laughed.

“Yeah well, I can’t help it. It’s something that feels right, you know? Like, it should be like that.” you said. Your gaze went to find blonde boy talking with Thomas. Brenda followed you, couldn’t help but smile. She really, really prayed you would confess your feelings finally. From what you and others have been saying, among Minho, Thomas and Fry, you’ve been in love with Newt what it seems, for three years. It pained her to know, how deep you had to hide it. She also felt furious. Not at you, of course. At the boy, who was painfully obvious to your feelings. He didn’t notice small details, that showed how much you loved him.

“I CAN’T SHUCKING BELIEVE IT” said Gally when you walked side by side through the tunnel. He wouldn’t admit it, but felt disappointed and kind of surprised. He knew you and Newt for so long, saw your eyes, your smile, your body language. The way you acted around blonde boy. You had to be goddamn stupid, to not know that you were in love. And yet, you didn’t say a single word. And Newt didn’t see any of that.

“You really want to tell me, that you and him are still friends?” boy looked at you with disbelief. You turned behind to see, if Thomas and Newt don’t hear you.

“I guess. I mean, we always were friends.” you said quietly. Gally rolled his eyes.

“ It doesn’t mean you have to remain like this forever.” he commented with cheesy smile. You laughed and shook your head. “I’m not sure if this is a moment and place to confessions.” you said after a while.

“You’ve been saying it for a years now. It’s been cute at the beginning, seriously. But now, it hurts doesn’t it? What I am saying is, you shouldn’t waste any time. You might not have it a lot.” said Gally with symphaty and worry in his eyes.

“What are you talking about?” you asked not knowing how to proces his words. He didn’t say anything. Part of you didn’t need him to.

SHE looked sadly at her old friend. They didn’t have to tell her. She knew. Newt was infected. She glanced at you. You were looking at him with teary, worried eyes, clinging onto his arm, like always.When she was in WICKED, she couldn’t help but wonder, if she didn’t betray Thomas like that, would two of them be like you and Newt?

“He’s the love of your life, isn’t he?” she asked, getting your chip out of your neck. You didn’t say anyting. There was nothing to say.

“The serum you have….It won’t save him. You know that” you remained silent. Tears came to your eyes but you didn’t say anything. Thomas noticed the change in your facial expression. “I think that’s enough.” he said getting you away from her. He knew exactly what was that about. Of course he noticed. But him? He was to busy with his thoughts. Thoughts that were killing him, slowly.

“PLEASE (Y/N) JUST LISTEN TO ME” raven-haired girl practically yelled at you. “You know he doesn’t have much time. But I can help him. We can save him. I just need to test Thomas’ blood.” said Teresa pleading with her eyes towards you. Normally, you would laughed at her face. But this time, it was different. It was about Newt. You looked at him, almost crying. He was already looking at you, shaking his head. Without breaking the stare, you asked a question:

“Will you save him?” your voice was shaking, you saw how Newt looked at you  confused. You felt Thomas sharp voice; “You can’t be serious, (Y/N)”. You still were looking at Newt. You hoped your eyes would tell him something, your lips weren’t able to.

“I know together, we will”

***

AND that’s how you were running again. But this time, with needle in your hand and Teresa by your side. Corridors were almost empty, just doctors evacuating. Every guard was now just were The Ivy Trio was. That’s why you found them without any trouble. They noticed you straight away but obviously, guards did too. You reached the boys and started running together, as bullets were flying to your side. You were so determineted, so thankful for Teresa’s resarch that you didn’t feel bullet which was now lower your ribs.

“Newt I got it, I got the cure.” you half-shouted when you all were in the room. They all looked at you like you were crazy.”Me and Teresa got it, you just have…” then you felt pain all over your body. Your legs were wobbly, head dizzy and you dropped to the floor.

“Bloody hell, (Y/N)! You’re bleeding!” said Newt kneeling next to you. You looked at him confuesd. “So what? Newt, didn’t you hear what I said? We have te cure. You’ll be okay”

“You literally was shot and even then, you still worry about this shuckface.” said Minho with disbelief. You just looked at blonde boy with the biggest smile despite the pain, killing you inside.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” said Newt taking the needle from your hand and putting it to the pocket. You didn’t look happy like few seconds before.

“What the hell? You have to take it, now.” you said completely ignoring Thomas and Minho who were now, breaking the big glass in front of them.

“(Y/N), are you insane? Your life is on an edge and you are asking me, to take the needle? Shouldn’t you worry about yourself first?” he said trying to stop the bleeding. Teresa slowly put you on your legs, as you had to jump.

“When you love someone more than yourself, you care about them more.” you mumbled. He just looked at you. Still, you thought, he didn’t notice..”

“Are you sure about that?” asked Minho looking at Thomas worried.

“Not really.” said boy. Newt frowned.”Great. We’re all bloody inspired”

As he said that, door opened. The four of you looked behind, you too tired to well, actually care. Then you felt youself falling down and then, into the unconsciousness.

AS YOU OPENED YOUR EYES, you were convinced that you died and are in some kind of after life. You stand and went outside. The first thing you noticed, was ocean. You smiled and walked towards it. Your mind was so mesmerized, that you didn’t notice Newt’s big smile when he saw you are awake. This time you didn’t notice. As he walked as fast as he could, to be by your side. How he ignored Minho’s snarky comment “about time, shank”. How he shoved everyone from his path, just to get to you. How his eyes were ony on you. How he sat by your side, not saying anything. How the minute he looked at you, he remembered your words about love. How he mentally punched himself in the face for not noticing your signs. Finally realizing why Gally was so pissed at him. Why Thomas smiled at him like that. Why Minho gave him speech about being slinthead. Why Frypan laughed at him. Why Brenda was smirking when she saw him heading to you.

“I know it now, love. I noticed.” he said looking at you. You were already looking at him. With those eyes. This smile. You reached his hand and interwined your fingers together.

“Thank you for saving me. For all these years.” Newt said kissing your knuckles. You chuckled.”Of course, Newt. You know I will always do that.”

He was by your side. All was well.

[kenmas-consoles]

HAIKYUU X READER PURGE KARASUNO EDITION

"₦Ø₮ ɆVɆⱤɎØ₦Ɇ ₵₳₦ ₥₳₭Ɇ ł₮"

PROLOGUE:

It felt like any other day, for (Y/n) atleast. Walking the streets in such an ungodly hour should be a sin but the team had morning practice and this week she was assigned with key duty. With eyes lidded and a limp to her step dragging her body along the concrete pavements the girl could easily be mistaken as a corpse. This wasn't exactly uncharacteristic of her as she's normally this way after pulling all nighters on the day before morning practices. The last time this had happened Tsukishima had practically scrunched his nose in disgust towards his classmate and team manager seeing how much of a sleep deprived zombie she was.

A gust of wind sped past that made the girl shiver, cursing herself for not bringing a jacket she folded her amrs together.

"Oh, it's (Y/n)-chan!" Hinata said as he saw the girl sluggishly walking. He rode up to her in such inhuman speed flailing his arms a little bit to catch her attention.

"A simple hello would be nice, it's too early to make this much noise." The girl said burrying her face into his back as the boy offered her a ride on his bike.

"E-eh, sorry (Y/n)-chan I was jusy excited." The boy replied stiffening at her touch as well as making the tips of his ears go red, 'I've never been this close to a girl before' he thought only making his face burst with the same red hue. He silently thanked the gods she was practically half asleep and behind him.

"4:30 is way too early to be at school and practice is an hour later," Getting of the bike the female had whined stretching her arms crickets could be heard chirping in the background and the morning breeze had caused her to involuntarily shiver yet again.

"I didn't think I would get here this early normally I'd make it here by 5 on foot" the girl mumbled, puffing her cheeks as she said so.

Still somewhat sleepy she rubbed her eye and looked at the boy who was parked his bike at the bike rack by the school's entrance "Why are you up this early though?"

"Hmm," the boy put a finger on his lips, "No particular reason, I couldn't really sleep last night either maybe because I was excited for today's practice. Something big is happening today and I feel it in my bones."

While the girl had smiled at the boy's enthusiasm and her luck that they were able to cross paths today she let out a sleepy yawn.

"(Y/n)-chan sure is tired, were you not able to sleep last night too?"

The girl shook her head in response. Hinata then crouched down before her with his back facing her and offered her a ride on his back. After a bit of convincing the pair made their way on to the gym, with (Y/n) on Hinata's back.

★彡★彡★彡

It was currently 6:52 and practice is now ongoing, and had been for almost an hour or so.

Right after the pair had made their way to the gym Kageyama was unsurprisingly the next person to arrive, the boy being a little bitter Hinata arrived first. The other members soon filled in one after another some more lively than the rest.

Now the girl sat on the bench as the boys did their drills. Takeda-sensei couldn't make it to morning practice today as the school board was having a faculty meeting at this hour as well. So here she was inbetween Yachi and Kiyoko watching the boys practice.

Daichi had proposed a mini-game between the team and as soon as he said it the boys had already split into two seperate teams and started a rally as a way to conclude training.

Kageyama was extremely out of it during the game, his serves had less power in them and his tosses lacked accuracy (nothing the team would notice but still). 'Something doesn't feel right, was it the Mackerel this morning? no no no it couldn't be maybe it was because I wasn't able to wash my pair of favorite kneepads' he thought.

"Kegeyama!" Nishinoya had called signalling him that the ball was being passed to him so he had assumed a setting position, jumping he felt the ball fit perfectly in his fingers flicking his wrist he tossed it to the otherside of the court where Hinata was ready to swing.

'Crap, it's low' The boy thought as the ball had left his fingers watching at how the trajectory was down by atleast 18 degrees. Hinata was ready to spike, he felt the surge of adrenaline kick in as he stretched out his hand. He felt a jolt as the ball collide with his face instead of his palms. It all happened too fast for anyone to register, Hinata was soon found on the floor face first hurt, confused and ready to fight Kageyama.

"Hinata!" Daichi had shouted.

"A-are you okay?" Asahi asked as the whole team had circled around the boy who was still laying face flat on the floor.

"He's silent. . .

Ryuu do you think he's dead?!"

"I would be surprised if he wasn't" a certain megane snickered.

"Now now let's not jump to conclusions, Hinata are you alright?"

The boy groaned in reply refusing to sit up.

(Y/n) stood up from her spot and inspected the orange haired boy. The boy had an obvious red mark on his cheek and a growing spot by his forhead and nose, it was only a matter of time before it started bleeding.

Daichi sighed watching (Y/n) escort Hinaya towards the other managers he looked towarss his team, "looks like this is the end of our morning practice, In the mean time the rest of you can do cool down stretching individually and leave. Hinata would be taken to the nurse's office and Suga and I are going to the teacher's lounge to talk to Takeda-sensei about the new training schedule and updates on this mornings practice."

On the otherside of the gym (Y/n) stood by Yachi who was tending to Hinata who had his nose pinched with a tissue. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima stood a few ways from them snickering at the boy's predicament while Kageyama was silently sat next to Hinata.

"Ano, Hinata-kun I think it's best to go to the infirmary now, your nose is bleeding quite a lot." Yachi said scratching her cheek.

"A-ah you're right."

Noya bounces in with Tanaka and Ennoshita in tow, while Narita and Kinoshita finish up their stretching.

"I'm coming with you!" Noya declared, "I need to ice up and bandage my arms too, plus what kind of senpai would I be if I didn't accompany my kouhais to the infirmary." Noya said with an intense aura that nearly blinded Yachi that had left Tanaka laughing.

Kiyoko had volunteered to go to the Infirmary as well to request for a first aid kit as these accidents have been happening quite frequently these days. This had only caused Noya to sky rocket since he'd get to be within a foot radius with his beloved Kiyoko-san.

Daichi, Asahi and Suga stood by the entrance looking over at the team. Suga let out a playful exhausted sigh watching at how loud and energetic Noya is even after morning practice. The boy was laughing with his arms spread looking over a star strucked orange haired boy while Tanaka seemed to hype them up as well (Y/n) and Kageyama looked geniunly confused with Ennoshita face palming behind them. It was a sight to behold, truly it was.

"Sure is energetic, huh?" Daichi said.

"Well, I wouldn't put it pass him, he's always been lively." Asahi said meekly using a finger to scratch his cheek sweatdropping at the scene before him.

With his hands on his hips, lips twisting to the side, "Kinda envious actually, I feel like some old dude now especially when I'm with you slovenly bunch." Suga replied.

"Suga you aren't even old" Daichi said sighing at how dramatic the setter has been lately, ignoring his latter comment the trio exited the gym heading towards the teachers faculty. Hinata, Nishinoya, Yachi and Kiyoko left the gym as well to pay a visit to the infirmary not long after the trio.

7:23

The rest of the volleyball club still stayed by the gym, the door closed, shoes sqeaking and balls being hit could be heard from the gym. None of the boys even bothered to change out of their gym attire yet and class was about to start in an hour.

"Daichi and Suga aren't here right?" Narita asked picking a stray ball.

"Nope, they went to see Takeda-sensei, I'm sure they already left for class after." Ennoshita replied also taking a stray ball and placing it inside the cart.

"I don't think so, they left their bags here." Narita said using his chin to point at where their bags were, by the bleachers along with a few of their teammates belongings as well as a napping (Y/n).

7:30

The lights glowed dim and flickered this caused the group of males to stop their ministrations.

"Did the lights just go out for a second or was that just me?" Tanaka asked aloud.

"I bet it was nothing," Yamaguchi said dismissively, as he was about to practice another float serve the lights went out.

"Who turned out the lights"

"Shit"

"Is it a black out"

"Do you think something happened to the main building??"

Narita takes initiative to go towards the door to check, waning to see if they were the only ones affected from the cut off in electricity.

"Do any of you have flashlights"

"Use your phone"

"It honestly isnt really all that dark you guys are exaggerating"

Narita grabs onto the sliding handle and tugs at it, jerking it with a little more force but to no avail.

"Guys. . . we're locked in."

Kageyama's faced twisted as he ran over and started pulling at the sliding door hoping it would budge but after his actions proved to be uneffective he hit the door with a loud bang.

"Shit" he whispered.

The lights then started to flicker on and off, a loud alarm blaring from the intercom and announcement speakers outside. A wave of panic coursed through the students in the gym.

"

ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴄɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪʀᴇɴ, ᴀɴʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ, ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ, ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʟᴇɢᴀʟ ꜰᴏʀ 12 ᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴏᴜꜱ ʜᴏᴜʀꜱ. ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ, ꜰɪʀᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴍᴇʀɢᴇɴᴄʏ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ ꜱᴇʀᴠɪᴄᴇꜱ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴜɴᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ 7 ᴀ.ᴍ., ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴜʀɢᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇꜱ. ʙʟᴇꜱꜱᴇᴅ ʙᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ɴᴇᴡ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ꜰᴀᴛʜᴇʀꜱ ᴀɴᴅ, ᴀ ɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʀᴇʙᴏʀɴ. ᴍᴀʏ ɢᴏᴅ ʙᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ."

"What the fuck"

Ḯ̸̡̡̨͙̹̞̟̞̃̊̎͆̔͗̚͝ť̴̢̢̫̭̙̞̱̆́̇̌̉̔́͝͝ ̶̺̊h̶̠̫͉̲̘̔̅̑͛͠ͅͅả̷̢̳͚̦̽̓͒̃̾̋̈́͜s̵͙̱͙͒͆ͅͅ ̵̧̝̭̫̟̫̝̎̈́͆̈́̑̕͠͝͝ḇ̶̙̄̌͝e̶̦͘g̵̛̟̖̉̀̋̄͜ụ̵̡͖̘̹̖̘͔̆̀̆̂̓̊̒͛n̷̨̪̆̅͒̇͛͆͝

Next

[itscookieoverlordtoyou]

40 Questions — Meme for Fic Writers

Don’t you sometimes see those ask games and wish you could just fkg do them all? On this sunny Saturday, we make our dreams reality lolol

1.  Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Short fic, I usually get a small scene I want written so I write around it, plus I love short stories with interesting punchline.

2.  Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Probably, I don’t know them all ^^’

3.  Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Writing about stuff that disgust me I guess.

4.  How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Like 5-6? I want to write about a restaurant but set in a world where people have powers I think the combo could be very funny. The main character has the power of insight, the plonge is a giant pool where you swim around cleaning. Backstories of characters with shitty and amazing powers and how they ended up here. Rival to lover character that has the power to see into the future.

5. Share one of your strengths.

Dialogues, subversion, and humor; classmates often said I have a touch to spin a sad story into something positive/happier.

6.  Share one of your weaknesses?

I get tired when I describe something for longer than 4 sentences.

7.  Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“In what kind of trouble have we walked right into?”, I ask my companions as they’re idly fixing their attire. Together, we’ve face many perils and this mission ranks among one of the most dangerous. Yet, the others had been…how should I say it…professional! Rescuing kidnapped princesses, vanquishing terrifying monsters, quests to restore mythical artifacts, save nations from insidious plots. Oddly enough, “Does this dress make me look fat?”, is not the answer I’m looking for.

Ribbon in my hair is the first time I wrote about my knights, I first dreamt about them when I as 18, my boyfriend at the time called my idea stupid and my world building pointless so I only started writing about them when I was 21. Now I write about them a little bit every year :)

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“Do you really want your last words to be complaints?”

“I die as I lived.”

“Will we become a fruit tree?”

“I don’t think so, it’s never been the case for my ancestors.”

“I’d love it if we could turn into a banana tree.”

“I’m not from the southern regions, plus I like apples more.”

“Just imagine, our fruits could have been banana flambée”

This death scene was a big finale to a story I wrote for a class in Uni, a story of war between clan of forest and volcano people, of the supposedly brutal death of a Goddess, of a mysterious apple tree whose fruit give vision of the past. I should revisit it.

9.  Which fic as been the hardest to write?

My analysis on D’Artagnan and the figure of the hero. Granted it’s an essay for school but I deeply loved it. I was too afraid to write or ask for help from the professor in charge of me (which made our relationship tense ^^’) but when I did, it was beautiful and I was very proud got 89% :D

10.  Which fic has been the easiest to write?

A play called Adelaide where an old couple reads their old fairytale book about a Prince on a quest to save a Princess. They bicker about the other misreading the story but we finally get to the part where the Prince tosses the princess apart to get a better view of the dragon of which he falls instantly in love. The book is actually their wedding album.

11.  Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

It’s one of my passions, but it’s not something I think I could live on so I delegated it to my hobby.

12.  Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

The wedding scene in Shrek 2, my mind was blown when I saw it in theaters and when I need inspiration to write, I rewatch it.

13.  What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Presentation is important. If trying to read you gives people headaches, they’ll stop. Choose a nice big font, space with paragraphs, be mindful of your spelling and missing words. Read out loud because some things written are bad said.

14.  What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

I must’ve been lucky in this regard, I don’t think I’ve ever received advice that made me go NO, but I did have to listen/read stuff that made me gag.

15.  If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

I would love to the Adelaide acted out, some adjustments would be required because I’m no expert in play writing but I think I’d be great.

16.  If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Luyenor’a and Taram, names are placeholders as of now but they’re two of my knight, being the “only pairing I’m allow to write about forever” means I’d get more knight shenanigans done.

17.  Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I’m doing bullets point of what I want to happen and write stuff without much order. Some days I have no inspirations for what goes in the beginning but have loads for a later point. I surf the wave when it presents itself.

18.  Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

Word on my computer, a notebook in my bag, the note app in my phone.

19. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

I have little trinkets all around my computer to invite inspiration.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

Freshly woken up, having eaten, drinking something sugary and sometimes apple cider because the alcohol help lower my inhibition.

21.  How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

I read out loud at least once the whole thing, helps with missing words but dude I reread my stuff on ao3 and always find mistakes still ^^’

22. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).

I’m not going to put here because it’s in French and I don’t want to translate now but I wrote Vision of a world, mine when I was 16 and damn was I already depressed then?

23.  If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

The Princess and the Soldier, some gay fairytale I think my first one, I’m sure I can do better bow

I also have one about a janitor and it’s a murder mystery I could redo

24. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?

Once by accident, I was so angry I never rewrote it.

25.  What do you look for in a beta?

I don’t really use beta (beta reader right?) but I guess I’ve had like 3-4 when I was in Uni and had to read people’s wip and they read mine. They’d talk about what they liked, links they noticed, things that seemed weak or to change

26.  Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?

I usually just point out the stuff I like

27.  How do you feel about collaborations?

For a class in college, we had to act out a play we wrote collectively. Ten sketches written in pairs/alone. I made sure I was alone so I wouldn’t be saddled with someone else to write my sketch

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

I don’t follow fic writers; I just am in a mood for a ship and read what’s available. I do like my friend @alumort ‘s fics tho ^^

29.  If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

There was a Phineas and Ferb fic focused on Perry I really loved. Their world building was something I’d never seen and they abandoned the story, so I did fanfic of a fic. Never dared to post it anywhere I mean it was their world to begin with.

30.  Do you accept prompts?

Of course, when inspiration is given I accept

31.  Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I don’t care about canon but I do love using it when there are little trivia to enrich the character.

32.  How do you feel about smut?

Love to read it sometimes, would love to write it. Some I’m like………….youveneverhadsexhaveyou…………………

33.  How do you feel about crack?

Love it!!!!!!!! I’m too self-conscious to write it tho. Oh maybe that could be a never before written trope I could try?

34.  What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?

Rape I can’t, dub-con where underlying requited feelings exist but anxiety™ don’t let the characters express them but they’re drunk so it surfaces is okay

35.  Would you ever kill off a canon character?

Hell yeah! I do when/if the death makes sense (I am still pissed at Kishi for Neji)

36.  Which is your favorite site to post fic?

Ao3 is where I post,I used devianart when I had one

37.  Talk about your current wips.

Marry Me for the Love of Cake: God I’m so sorry to the few people who followed it, I said I’d pick it up before the end of 2019 and well……I have the ending in bullet points

Yours, with Love: I hope I’ll finish it…I have most of the ending in bullet points

I guess I’m into rom com at the moment lolol

38.  Talk about a review that made your day.

I made my best friend read All this for a Roll Cake, and she laughed so much at my work, I took a picture I look at from time to time to remain humble.

39.  Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

Thankfully I’ve never received a rude review. My professor once told me it seemed kinda unnatural how unlucky my protagonist was vs. how lucky his love interest was (All this for a Roll Cake) but that was the whole point of the story so I just ignored her.

40.  Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

Writing this I realised I lost my final version of All this for a Roll Cake T^T so I guess I’d rewrite the ending I have of the before the last version I still have.

Well this was fun ^^ got to revisit my works and remember many beloved pieces of fiction I wrote, I look forward to my next projects

[zeitgeistghoul]

Caustic Ties (1/2)

Pairing: Axel x F!reader

(for you, anon! thank you for the suggestion! I apologize for taking so long in getting this up, i’m working two jobs this summer and it eats up most of my free time. i finished this weeks ago, but just now sat down to edit it. chapter 2 is in the works, thanks for you patience :) )

Axel was sprawled lazily over one of the many couches that sat in the X-Mansion’s common area, tuning in and out of the long talk Wade was currently giving the team. Domino kept trying to tell him to wrap it up, but Wade would shoo her away and continue rambling, earning exasperated sighs from the other members. It’s no wonder Cable never wanted to come to these meetings. This place would be a fiery pile of ash by now due to the time-traveler’s short temper and distaste for Wade’s antics. Axel’s found his eyes wander to you, the newest member of the X-Force crew. He watched as you tried your best to stifle a giggle as Wade began flailing his arms to emphasize whatever point he was trying to make with this announcement. He watched as you put a hand over your mouth to hide your grin. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. You had only been here for a day and you were already getting the full experience of Wade’s ridiculous pep talks and the antics that went on in the mansion. Axel didn’t know much about you, as it was technically your first day on the team, so he still hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce himself. He had heard from other members of the Force that you had the ability to transform your arms and legs into tentacle-like tendrils. He hadn’t seen a demonstration yet, but was sure it was avant garde like the rest of abilities held by his team members. That would definitely make missions more interesting. He wondered if you had chosen a name for yourself yet. 

“Yo, Barf Boy, I’m talking to you!” Wade’s voice roused Axel from his thoughts. He turned his gaze to Wade, who now had friendly arm around you. “You’re in charge of the new kid around here.” Axel sat up from his position on the couch.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. “I’m no babysitter.” Wade laughed obnoxiously. 

“Well, now you are!” he said enthusiastically. “Starting today, you’re Y/N’s mentor! Meeting adjourned.” The team filed out of the room before Axel could even open his mouth in protest, leaving you and him to stand there together in stunned silence. What the hell had he just been thrown into?

Axel stood on the training grounds watching you spar with Domino. He observed that you were quick on your feet and incredibly skilled in combat already. You hadn’t even used your ability yet. You ended the spar quickly, gently pinning Domino down. She let out a hearty laugh.

“Damn, newbie, you know what you’re doing!” You stood up and held out a hand to help her up, which she accepted. Domino dusted herself off and motioned to Axel. “Your turn!” Axel was reluctant to take on the role of mentor, but it didn’t look like he had much of a choice in the matter. Everyone else was too busy with their own duties or missions to be helping a new trainee get her bearings for hours each day, so he was their best bet. Axel walked over to where you were standing and faced you. 

“Ready?” he asked. The nod you gave him in return signaled the beginning of the spar. Axel threw a swift punch to your left, which you dodged without hesitation. Your fist barely grazed his cheek as he avoided the punch you hurled back at him. Axel grinned. “Not bad, but let’s see that power of yours.” You shook your head. 

“I don’t want to use it unless I have to.” you said. “It’s weird and kinda gross, if I’m being honest.” Axel laughed.

“Well, sweetheart, I spit up acidic vomit, so I think we’re both a little gross and weird.” Your eyes widened as he sucker punched you in the gut, causing you to stumble backwards. “Now, let’s see it.” The spar continued on with punches and kicks being thrown in all different directions, but you still refused to use your ability, no matter how many taunts Axel threw your way. He finally managed to kick your legs out from under you and you crumpled to the ground. Axel pinned you on your back, your faces inches apart from each other. 

“Pretty good, sweetheart, but it looks like you still need some wor-.” Axel’s sentence was cut off by one of your arms shapeshifting into a tentacle and wrapping around his torso. He could only watch helplessly as you lifted him off of you and flipped him around so you were now straddling him on the ground instead. All he could do was stare back up at you, silence falling over the both of you as his gaze met your E/C colored eyes. He must have looked visibly stunned, because you began to giggle.

“I told you I didn’t want to use it!” you said sheepishly, slowly getting up off of him and offering your hand to help him up. Axel begrudgingly took it. Beaten by his own student on the first day, how ridiculous. He watched as Domino ran over to congratulate you on your victory, your face lighting up in a smile. After Domino was finished gushing over you, you approached him and held out your hand to shake his own.

“I’m really excited to learn from you, Axel.” you said. Axel shook your hand, feeling how firm your grip was. You were determined. He could already tell this was going to be one hell of a ride.

Everyday afterwards, Axel would train with you on the X-Mansion grounds. He noticed you were improving rapidly with each session and you took his feedback seriously, something he wasn’t expecting. He had helped you condition and strengthen your arms and legs so you could lift heavier objects with your tentacles and have more stamina when using your ability. You had even received a specially designed battle outfit for missions that accommodate your tendrils in a way that wouldn’t destroy what you were wearing in the process. Wade would come observe you on occasion and gush about how well you were doing, as well as propose to work on a move where you would catapult him and the other Force members into enemies by hurling them around with your tentacles. Axel shut that plan down before it could go any further, much to you and Wade’s dismay. 

Axel would never say it out loud, but he secretly loved being your mentor. He surprised even himself in thinking this. You were always so enthusiastic about learning new strategies and moves, as well as a fast learner. You proved to be a worthy opponent and Axel was never bored when sparring with you or bitter when he lost to you afterwards. The two of you spent several hours out of the day together and it honestly felt like he was hanging out with someone he had known for years. He wasn’t one for close, meaningful relationships and considered himself to be closed off, especially when it came to women. There were reasons for this, of course, but he didn’t want to relive that now. He was always so surprised with how genuinely kind and understanding you were, as you were always asking him if he was okay after a particularly rough training session even though you were pretty beat up yourself. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but he definitely acted differently around you. He was often hyper-aware of what you or what he was doing. He would feel an unwanted twinge of jealousy when he saw Wade put an arm around on your shoulder when talking to yu or when you laughed at something he said. It felt like Axel had just completely forgotten how to act around you, no matter how hard he tried to push his feelings back down where they came from. When the two of you brushed hands by accident when putting away equipment after a training session, his skin practically lit up in flames. He had hurried out of the storage room without word, leaving you confused. Training with you had become difficult as well, since it involved close contact. Axel would toss and turn at night, his mind racing with these strange thoughts and feelings. He was never the type to become attached, so this was a first. How was he supposed to deal with this? He couldn’t avoid you, you were his student for the time being and that wouldn’t work, period. He could have Domino or someone else from the Force take the reins and train you instead, but you were so close to being finished that it almost didn’t seem worth it. The best solution was to attempt to create some distance after you were done training with him and you had gone on your first official mission. This seemed like the most logical solution, for now, at least. He would start to further the gap between the two of you, beginning tomorrow.

[alaynes-writings]

The Mikaelson ball

Summary: The reader is a witch and friends with Damon. They attend the Mikaelson ball together to find out what Esther is up to. But the evening doesn't go as planned.

Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x reader

Set in: Season 3, there aren't any spoilers for TVD but I guess it makes more sense if you already watched it

Word count: 3,150

Warnings: alcohol, Damon has anger issues

A/N: It's finally done, it took ages to edit it, so thanks to my beta readers @queen-of-all-the-fandoms and @jinxeshisu. It's my first fic written for a different fandom than Hamilton, so if you have the time to leave feedback, that would be very nice. And for all those who are waiting for Fake relationship Part 2, I'm working on it. Anyways, enjoy!

                                                              ---

You hated it the second that you entered the mansion. Damon had told you that it was a ball, but you thought he might have just exaggerated as he often did. Yet when the two huge front doors were opened by two butlers and you stepped into a huge hall with chandeliers, you knew he had been telling the truth.

“Did I promise too much?” He questioned, his voice dripping with sarcasm. You were too overwhelmed to answer right away. You felt like you had entered a different world. Women with elegant dresses, men in tuxedos, waiters with champagne and classical music playing softly in the background.

“It’s horrible.” You answered and Damon smirked.

“I know, but it’s only for tonight.”

You followed him through the room and he handed you a glass of champagne. He chugged his down in a single sip and you frowned.

“Don’t start like that. I don’t want to deal with you drunk tonight too.”

He ignored your protest and grabbed another glass.

“I can handle myself. Just do what you’re here for and we’re good.”

You took a sip of your champagne and tried to swallow your anger with it. Now was not the time to start a fight. Damon was your friend and you knew that he was having a hard time after everything that’d happened. You knew that he just wanted to protect Elena, but since she was with Stefan again, he was insufferable yet you had been unable to deny his request for your help. So here you were at the Mikealson mansion for this stupid ball, wearing this huge dress that you already hated.

“I’ll search for Stefan. Just do your witch stuff.” Damon instructed and moved to leave but you grabbed his arm.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” You could see that he was already angry, trying to hide his feelings, his pain.

“Don’t worry.”, he answered and you hesitantly let go of his arm. You felt a bit exposed as he left you alone and disappeared in the crowd. You finished your champagne and started to wander through the hall.

The reason why Damon had asked you to come with him tonight was because he was suspecting Esther, the mother of the Originals, to plan something and he wanted you to find out what it was. Since you were a witch too, it would be easy to learn something about her magic. But what he didn’t know was that your powers had been limited for the last weeks. Before you arrived in Mystic Falls, you had had an accident when practising and since then it was harder to use your powers. You hadn’t told him because you didn’t want to cause another problem, but now you had to get it together. If Esther was really planning something you had to find out what it was.

You wandered around, trying to sense traces of her magic, but you couldn’t focus. Too many people were talking, too many sounds distracted you and soon you got frustrated. What kind of witch were you if couldn’t do this simple thing?

You sighed and leaned back against the wall behind you. You watched as people walked past you and picked up bits of conversation. It was mostly gossip and irrelevant stuff and it only increased your dislike for all of this.

“Found anything yet?” Damon’s voice brought you out of your thoughts. By the tone of his voice and the look in his face you could see, that he had a fight with Stefan. Or Elena. Or maybe both.

“No not yet.”, you answered.

“It can’t be that hard, Y/N. What are you even here for?”, he snapped and this time you couldn’t hold back your anger.

“Goddamnit Damon. You don’t have to take your anger out on me. Why don’t you do it yourself if it’s so easy?”

As you moved to leave he tried to grab your arm but you pulled away. “Just leave me alone.”

You hurried to disappear into the crowd, but he wasn’t following you. You needed space to think. You made it through the other end of the hall and started searching for a bathroom. Somewhere in this house had to be a place where you could have five minutes of silence. The further you got away from the great hall the fewer people encountered you.

Suddenly you noticed a room next to you, probably an office, but behind it was a balcony with a little stone bench. You looked behind you, but no one paid attention to you, so you quickly sneaked through the room and to the balcony.

You sat down on the stone bench and sighed at the cool evening breeze. You couldn’t hear the sounds of all the people here and finally it was quiet. You took a few deep breaths and closed your eyes.

This time you could feel something. Around the house seemed to be a ban, some sort of protection spell and a relieved laugh escaped you. Finally you could feel something. But that was not really suspicious, why wouldn’t she protect her house? So you tried to concentrate on the inside of the house, but everything was dark and you pressed your lips together in concentration. It was like a glimpse, like a small flame in absolute darkness, but for a second you felt like you found something and in the next second it was gone and you gasped for air. Your hands were shaking and you felt so frustrated. Why couldn’t you just do it? You hid your face in your hands and tried not to start crying. Not now, not here.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

You flinched and almost jumped off the bench when an unfamiliar voice reached your ears. You turned around to find a man standing in the doorway of the office, now giving you an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to scare you.”

It took you a second to find your voice again and you just stared at him for a moment. He was dressed very elegantly, his suit was definitely expensive and you couldn’t deny the fact the he was rather handsome. But you also felt a sense of danger. He was not human. Was he one of the Originals?

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t paying attention.”, you eventually answered.

A small smile appeared on his lips and he nodded.

“Very well then. I just saw you here outside and you seemed upset, so I wanted to make sure you are okay.”

You forced a smile on your lips. “I’m alright. I just needed a break from all the bustle inside.”

He chuckled. “I understand. Even I am not used to it after all this time.”

So he really was one of the Originals? He must have noticed your confusion because he took a step closer and introduced himself.

“How rude of me. I’m Elijah Mikealson. Who do I have the pleasure with?”

“Y/N L/N.”, you answered.

To your surprise he actually seemed really nice. You didn’t know what exactly you expected from an Original, but certainly not this.

“May I?”, he asked and gestured to the free space on the bench.

You nodded. “Sure.”

He sat down next to you and you couldn’t help but take a closer look. You had never met an Original before and you were curious about him. He was so old and strong but the man next to you looked like any other person in this house. The only thing that was different was your instinct, that somehow sensed that this wasn’t a normal man.

“You are here with Damon Salvatore, right?”, he asked and you nodded.

“Damon and I are friends. We kinda… got into a fight I guess.”, you explained, without giving away too many details.

“Well he can be… exhausting sometimes.” he said and you huffed.

“Indeed he can. Sometimes it feels like he hasn’t learned anything in his 179 years.”

Elijah seemed surprised for a moment and you quickly tried to clarify.

“I know about… all of the vampire stuff.”

“I see.” A small smile formed on his lips. “But you are not a vampire.”

You shook your head. “No, I’m a witch.” Or at least you had been. Something changed in his eyes and you noticed that maybe it seemed a bit suspicious to him, that Damon brought another witch to town, just when the Original family was back together.

“Don’t worry, I’m not another attempt to kill you. Or your family.”

He let out a laugh at your outspokenness and you couldn’t help but grin too.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to accuse you of anything.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. If I were you, I would have done the same.”

“So you know about all of the things that happened in the last months?”, he asked and you nodded.

“Damon told me about it. Pretty stupid idea to be honest. But also typical for him.”

“I assume you know him very well then?”

He seemed really interested in what you had to say. Sure, maybe it was because he just wanted to make sure you weren’t a thread, but after the last weeks with Damon it was just nice talking to someone who just gave you his full attention.

“I guess. We’ve been friends for a while. We don’t see each other that often but we stay in contact. But when he told me what happened, I thought it would be better if I come here. If I had known that I would end up here, I’d probably have thought about it twice.” The last sentence just kinda slipped out and in the next second you noticed how offensive it actually was.

“I mean – it’s not horrible here or anything, just - “

Elijah seemed pretty amused about your attempts to take back your words and he chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry. To be honest, events like this are also not really my kind of thing. But our mother insisted.”

“Well, I guess even for an Original it’s hard to say ‘no’ to their mother.”, you teased and he laughed.

“Yes indeed it is.”

You really enjoyed the conversation, even though some alarms were ringing in the back of your head. Next to you was sitting one of the oldest and powerful creatures on the planet, but for some reason you weren’t scared.

“Elijah, there you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

You both turned around at the voice to find a blonde girl with an astonishing green dress in the doorway. That must be Rebekah, Elijah’s sister.

“What’s wrong Rebekah?”, he asked, but his sisters attention was already elsewhere. On you, to be specific. She mustered you for a moment and then glanced at Elijah, before a grin spread on your face.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt your rendezvous. But it’s about Kol.”

You didn’t really know how to react to her assumption, but you felt your cheeks getting red at her comment. Elijah sighed and stood up. Apparently this wasn’t new to him.

“I’m sorry, but I have to take care of of this. It was a pleasure meeting you. Enjoy the rest of the evening.”

You nodded and he left with his sister and you noticed that she was already whispering something to him as they left the office. What an interesting family.

You stayed outside for a few more minutes, before you got cold and decided to go back inside. It was time to tell Damon what you knew and then go home. You were exhausted.

You made your way back to the hall, where all of the people had gathered and you noticed that some sort of announcement was about to be made, because the siblings had gathered on the stairs, alongside with their mother.

“Good evening.”, Esther greeted and immediately it went quiet. You hadn’t really seen her all evening, but now even you could sense that she was a powerful witch. You felt so small in her presence.

“I’m so happy we are all here tonight. My family is finally back together and we are here to celebrate that. And what celebration would this be without a dance? Please take your partners and follow us into the ball room.”

The guests started applauding but to you, this was definitely a signal to leave this place. Not that you couldn’t dance, you just didn’t like it that much. You spotted Damon on the other side of the room and quickly made your way through the crowd. He was holding a glass of champagne, god knows how many he already had.

“There you are. Found anything?”, he asked, not even looking at you.

“No. But there’s something we need to talk about.” you said, determined to keep this civilized. No more fights tonight.

“If it’s about alcohol, spare it. You’re not my mother.”

“That’s not what I wanted -”

He didn’t wait until you finished your sentence and just kept talking.

“Stefan already does it. Elena does it. I don’t need you to do it.”

He was really angry. You could hear it in his voice. What had happened with Elena?

“Damon - “

He shook his head and you went quiet. One more thing and he would explode. And you didn’t want to be anywhere near him when he did.

“Fine.”, you said after a few moments of silence. “Do whatever you want Damon. But don’t let your anger out on me. You can talk to me when you’re normal again. And sober.”

With that you turned around, not waiting for an answer and left. You understood that he was going through some tough stuff, but you would have needed him tonight too.

You were so caught up in your thoughts that you almost knocked someone over when you turned around the corner. It was Elijah, who quickly steadied you, so you didn’t stumble in your heels.

“I’m so sorry.”, you apologized.

“Are you alright?”, he asked for the second time this evening. He almost sounded concerned, he must have noticed the anger and disappointment in your face.

“I’m fine. Just…”, you trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

“Damon?”, he asked, finishing your sentence. You nodded.

“I’m sorry. Do you want to go somewhere more quiet?”, he asked but you shook your head. You didn’t want to ruin his evening by forcing him to listen to your problems.

“That’s a nice offer, but no. Also shouldn’t you be in the ball room with your family?”, you asked. He smiled softly.

“Don’t worry about that. Actually I wanted to ask you for a dance, but since you seem very upset that would be very impolite.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. “Me?”

Before he could explain further another voice interrupted.

“We’re leaving Y/N.”

Damon’s voice echoed through the hall. He was still upset and when he approached you, there was a coldness in his eyes that you hadn’t seen before. But his whole behaviour this evening had been horrible and with that he had crossed a line. You had tried your best to remain patient, but now you were done.

“Well Damon, you can leave if you want to, but I’m staying. I’m sure you will find the way home alone.”

He didn’t stop at the warning tone in your voice and reached out to grab your arm, but suddenly Elijah stopped him.

“She said no.” Even though he remained calm, there was a clear warning behind his words. You glared at Damon.

“Leave now.” If you had your magic you would probably have thrown him across the room.

Damon ripped his hand from Elijah’s grip and left without another word. When he was gone, you let out a breath and visibly relaxed. You felt weirdly weak without your magic.

“Are you alright?”, Elijah asked carefully, concern shimmering in his brown eyes. You nodded and a small smile tugged at your lips.

“Seems like you had to ask me that question a lot for one evening. But it’s okay. Thank you.”

He smiled softly and it was quiet for a moment before you realized that you were still standing in the now empty hall, while everyone else was in the ball room. Now that Damon had left, you felt like a lot of pressure had been taken from you. Maybe it would be the best to get a little distraction before going home.

“So, you kinda promised me a dance?”, you asked, a small grin on your lips.

He returned it and held out his hand. You took it and he led you to the ball room. Music was playing and people were already dancing some kind of waltz.

“I’m not the best dancer.” you said, suddenly feeling nervous. Why did you agree to this? “So maybe don’t expect that much.”

He must have noticed that you felt insecure, because he smiled reassuringly and his brown eyes looked at you so softly that you felt your heart flutter.

“I’m sure you’ll surprise yourself.”

He put his hand on your waist and you rested yours on his arm. At first it felt strange being so closer to each other when you barely even knew him, but when he started leading you through the dance you felt how you got more comfortable. He was a good dancer, it seemed so effortless and after a few minutes your nervousness faded away and you started to actually enjoy yourself.

When he twirled you around you couldn’t help but giggle.

“See?”, he asked, a small smirk on his face. “You’re doing great.”

“Well, it seems like a have a really great partner.”

He laughed and you felt like it was the first time this evening he actually meant it. When he had told you earlier that he didn’t really enjoyed those festivities you hadn’t paid much attention to it, but now he seemed a lot more relaxed. Just as you did.

When the music ended, you almost felt disappointed that it was over so soon. You felt a bit out of breath, but good. Maybe the evening hadn’t been that horrible after all.

Elijah pressed a soft kiss on the back of your hand before he released it and you felt your cheeks heating up.

“Thank you. For everything.”, you said. “But I should leave now.” You couldn’t just run away from your problems. Damon and you had to talk about a lot of stuff.

“I understand.” There was his smile again and you wondered if everything that Damon had told you about the Originals was actually true. Elijah had been so nice this evening, that it just didn’t fit with the ruthless killer that Damon had told you about.

“I hope I will see you again.”, he said and it almost sounded like a question, so you nodded, returning his smile.

“I’m sure we will meet again.”

[neganandblake]

I think I liked you better when you didn’t have a knife in your hand, Peaches... Chapter 41 - A bedtime story

When Blake finds herself sold out to the Saviours by her abusive fiancé, she realises that she's certainly not on her own anymore and finds an unlikely friend in Negan. And Negan does NOT like men who beat their girlfriends, one tiny bit…

[Blake gives Mia a bath before bed, and lucky for her, Negan is on hand with the warm milk too... contains-FLUFF/ DADDY NEGAN]

Chapter 41 - A bedtime story

Blake sat on the edge of the bathtub staring down the toddler who was currently splashing around in an inch or two of warm water, giggling and babbling to herself.

The caramel-blonde woman was absolutely enamoured. She knew that.

But Blake still knew that all this, it was only for tonight. Then tomorrow the Saviours would go out again and look for Mia's family.

For having a family…having children in this world…..well, it was a pipe dream…something she knew would never come true. Not for her…

Blake had miscarried twice.

Once, a long time ago, just a few months after she had met David….

Back then, it had been a stupid mistake, and the pregnancy hadn't lasted long. The doctor's had said it was just how things went sometimes. And that had been that. Just a blip on her life…but nothing that she wouldn't get through.

But her second time was about three years into her relationship…when many of her friends around her were falling pregnant themselves…having kids….having the perfect little families.

Blake had wanted that too…and it had happened by accident…surprising both her and David….

But she had been happy…excited…yearning for this kind of life…

But Blake had been just coming up to her second trimester when it had happened again…..…..blood…...a panicked rush to the hospital…and then…

...nothing…

….just a feeling of hollow emptiness….

….of impossibility.

David, of course, had told her it was for the best. That they would never have been able to afford a kid anyway, not before he had gotten his art studio at least.

So they had never tried again….Blake knowing that it would probably never happen anyway….and David asking her to make sure she was taking her birth control pills properly.

But Blake had never forgotten what it had feel like to run a hand over her belly….to feel something growing inside her...something that was hers…that was special….

But she knew it was likely to never happen to her again. Not that she would ever risk trying anyway.

God knows what would happen if you miscarried in the world in the state it was…and Blake just gave a hard gulp, trying not to dwell on it, as her fingers now trailed through the clear water on the bottom of the tub.

She shook herself. She needed to stop this. Dwelling on a story that had long since passed her by.

She had more important things to think about now.

Things that were here, sitting beside her.

Blake peered down at Mia giving a small smile, and lifting her hand, stroking back her tiny tuft of mousy-hair.

She was the sweetest thing, peering up at Blake, her mouth fixed into a tiny O-shape.

But before either of them could say another thing, there was a sudden creak from across the room and a tall, dark figure appeared in the doorway.

Blake smiled as she looked at him, in that dusty old leather jacket of his, sloping into the room, Lucille now oddly absent from his hand. But instead he carried a small plastic cup and placed it down onto the counter beside the bathroom sink.

"Warm milk," Negan said, throwing Blake a look in return. "Seein' as I'm practically your fuckin' errand boy these days."

Blake poked her tongue out between her teeth, before biting her lip.

"Practically?" she teased.

Negan grinned, flashing her his pearly white line of teeth and coming to lean up against the sink, gazing down at them.

Blake felt her heart pounding in her chest.

It had been just a few short hours ago now that the pair of them had been about to make out against a wall…..and yet now, Blake saw something different in Negan. Something that pulled at her stomach and caused a small lump to appear in her throat when she thought on it.

But she hurriedly pushed these thoughts from her head…

Life just wasn't that kind….

"Y'know I'm kinda pissed that you ain't in that bath naked, too, Doll-face," uttered the tall-dark-haired Saviour, causing Blake to tilt her head, narrowing her eyes in his direction amusedly.

She gave a meaningful tut, tucking a strand of long, caramel hair behind her ear.

She shrugged, glancing down at Mia who was trying to peer over the edge of the bathtub to sneak a covert peek at Negan.

"Well I had no one here to scrub my back….so….." she uttered trailing off and giving a faux-sigh, smiling to herself as she did so.

But Negan just chuckled.

"Shame, because I could easily have done that for you this mornin' Peaches," he said in a growling voice, staring over at her. "But you decided to make a quick fuckin' getaway…"

Blake wrinkled her nose.

"Maybe another time then," she said, in a goading voice, licking at her lips and stroking the top of Mia's head once again.

The teeny girl looked up at Blake at the contact.

"Miwk?" she asked, staring up with wide, blue, questioning eyes.

And Blake's smile widened and she looked up at Negan, giving a formal-sounding cough.

"Well, now if you'll excuse us," she said to him with a small nod. "Us ladies have to get dried off and into our jammies, before we have our milk. Don't we, Sweetie?"

"Yesh, then stowy?" uttered Mia in return, placing her bathwater-wet fingers to her mouth and gaping up at the blonde woman.

Blake melted.

"Mmmhmm. Then you can have a story," she said in a mild tone.

Negan, a few feet to the side of the pair of them, merely gave a big roll of his eyes, but took the hint, pushing himself away from the sink and stalking back into the bedroom.

But Blake stared after him, as he disappeared around the doorway.

She smiled, pulling at her lips with her teeth once again and smirking.

"Hey!" she called on through to the tall, dark-haired Saviour after a long second or two had passed. "You got any more t-shirt's I could borrow?"

But this time, she would not be the one wearing one of them…..

Blake had quickly got Mia dried off, let her drink her warm milk, and shoved one of Negan's reluctantly-lent, white t-shirts over the toddlers' head.

The garment had swamped her even more that it had Blake, and the baby-girl had taken a long ten minutes or so to settle, being far too excited as she was plonked on top of Negan's four poster bed haphazardly by an already exhausted Blake.….

Mia had giggled and laughed as she had stood on top of the mattress, bouncing up and down on her chubby little legs and proceeded to bend over, showing both Negan and Blake her bare little butt in the process.

But Blake, as cool as she was, had laughed and scooped the little girl up into her arms once more, as Negan had lingered a little way away, near to his sleek leather couches, watching the pair of them.

"Come on. Into bed," Blake had commanded in a firm tone, pulling back the covers neatly, before plonking the tiny girl down onto a pillow.

Negan tutted.

"I swear to fuckin' god, Peaches," he said having -now retrieved Lucille once again, pointing it at Mia. "If that kid pees on my fuckin' sheets…"

But Blake just rolled her eyes, kicking off her own shoes and coming to sit on top of the covers beside the toddler.

"Shhhh," she said in a teasing voice, flashing him a look before turning back to the baby-girl beside her. "Let's just ignore grumpy old Negan shall we?"

But at this, Negan merely huffed, as he had done a lot today, and promptly turned on his heel marching out the door, pulling it loudly shut behind him.

Blake smirked to herself, before turning neatly to Mia.

But before Blake could utter a word to the tiny girl, she had sudden piped up shyly.

"Why Eggy gone?" he asked, her tiny paw, clutching at Blake's leg.

Blake gave a small bemused frown.

"Eggy?" she asked in a gentle voice raising an eyebrow.

But Mia merely pointed to the spot that Negan had vacated just a second or two ago.

"….Eggy!" she repeated with a little more urgency.

But Blake grinned.

"Do you mean…Negan?" Blake asked her.

And Mia just nodded.

"Eggy!" she said giggling and placing her pointing-hand to her mouth naughtily.

Blake pursed her lips together.

Oh, she was never, ever going to let that drop, that was for sure!

"Well Negan's gone downstairs I think," replied Blake, explaining. Although she wasn't actually sure where the dark-haired saviour had stalked off to…

…to his wives perhaps….(but that thought only caused to make Blake's stomach churn with jealousy)…

…or maybe to take his irritation with her out on some poor Saviour somewhere…. (that could be likely)….

…..but Blake knew he would probably be back….at some point at least….

"Ca' I av' stowy?" repeated the little girl yet again in a shy little voice, shuffling into Blake slightly and nestling her head into Blake's side.

And Blake at this couldn't help but give a gulp and place her arm closely around the teeny toddler.

The girl had obviously very hurriedly gotten over the fact she had been sat in a vent for several hours earlier today. Making herself completely at home here, as though she had lived at the Sanctuary for years.

Kids were often resilient like that.

More than adults or Blake herself was, anyway…

"Ok…yeah….a story…" she muttered slowly, looking about, as Mia gave yet another yawn.

Negan had a shelf full of books over on the far side of the room, but Blake, as comfortable as Mia now looked, didn't want to disturb her, so glanced to the side, suddenly noticing a copy of Sport's Illustrated 'swimsuit edition' magazine, sitting on Negan's nightstand.

Blake rolled her eyes, but reluctantly pulled the tattered old mag towards her.

She hurriedly skimmed forwards a few pages, hastily avoiding the images of scantily-clad women in bikinis, and instead found a page full of text with a couple of photographs of motorbikes and players from the NHL.

And with that, Blake began to read.

"Welcome to Friday night at Hammerjacks, and Al Lefratee could not be more at home. In fact, when he was not cranking a 110-plus-mph slap shot past a wincing overmatched goalie he was here…" Blake read in a hushed whisper, knowing that what she was reading wasn't so important, it was more the tone of voice she was using.

And Blake had barely got to the fifth sentence, when she heard Mia, now snuggled into her, let out a snuffling sigh and smack her lips quietly.

And with that, Blake silently closed the magazine and peered down at the toddler in her arms not daring to make a move…

…for the teeny, baby girl, was now sound asleep….

Negan strolled down the gloomy corridor, with Lucille swung up over his shoulder, his teeth gritted together as he walked.

A fucking kid?

Seriously? She had to be kidding with this.

I mean, what the fuck did he fucking look like here?

Completely gullible, and pliable as shit, was what he looked like!

Why was it always the same with her?

How the fuck did she managed to always get him so impossibly wrapped around her little finger?

Here he was, leader of the fucking Saviours, being easily taken for a ride by a goddamn princess. And not in the way he had wanted either.

That's was Blake all over. Oh-so wholesome and perfect on the outside but he knew her true side. That side that didn't take any shit from anyone, least of all him.

Negan could feel himself falling deeper and deeper for her.

But that was not who he was.

He had come here…after Lucille, looking for nothing but an easy screw. Which, of course he had gotten at the first sign of danger.. It was funny how women could be drawn to a man in power….(men too of course)….but Negan had picked up his wives here and there….each of them willing and wanting….but none of them fitting the bill quite like Lucille had.

Negan hadn't truly appreciated what he had until she was gone.

But now Blake was here and had come into his life, shaking and tearing everything up like a hurricane….making his days drift by much quicker that they had in a long time.

But as much as he liked her…she did drive him fucking crazy…

She had this hold on him. She was his weakness by a country fucking mile. And Negan knew it was probably not gonna end well for both of them. For when did anything ever go right in this world anymore?

This life was shit-show for everyone. And even Negan, as in-power as he was, could see that.

There would be no happy ending for him, for Blake, or for that little girl….and that was just how it was in this life these days….

The dark-haired man let out a puff of air as he sloped down the hallway, running a free hand over his tired face.

He had just been downstairs making sure Arat and her team knew the score. They were to get back out there at first light and find that kid's people. And when they did, that would be the end of that.

The kid would then be gone, and Blake's attention would be firmly back in him. Where he wanted it to be.

He, of course, hadn't forgotten what they had been up to before that kid had turned up.

Negan could have taken her right there….up against that wall…..and it had been perfectly obvious she had wanted him as much as he had wanted her.

…just the way she had pushed out her chest…practically whimpering and mewling beneath his touch…

Negan grinned to himself as he ascended the last few steps back up towards his quarters.

Maybe if that silly kid was now asleep, then the two adults could carry on where they left off….

Negan could feel himself begin to stiffen inside his pants at just the thought of him bending Blake over the back of his couch, inside that room and fucking her…just like that….with her purring his name and begging for release.

But the dark-haired Saviour almost rolled his eyes, smirking to himself and shaking his head, knowing full-well it was unlikely Blake would ever beg him for anything…

He placed his tongue to his teeth, thinking on her…as he approached his door and turned the handle….his dark eyes gazing about…as he entered the room…

Hoping to find the caramel-blonde woman in some sort of compromising position…perhaps in his shower again….or in her underwear…

But as Negan gave the door a small shove and peered inside, his eyes suddenly landed on two figures, curled up into one another on his bed….

…..both of them fast asleep….

Negan stopped in his tracks, his lips parting as he took them in.

There was Blake, lying on her side, fully clothed, with one arm thrown gently above the kid's head, as the teeny girl snuggled herself close to the tall, blonde woman.

He could see that their eyes were both closed…chests rising and falling gently…with slow, deep breaths fluttering from their lips…

Negan slowly lowered Lucille from his shoulder….

….and he could even seem to help it, as his lips curved up into a smile, and he gave a couple of slow blinks….staring at the pair, absolutely enamoured.

Fuck…

He was done for….and he knew it…

And it was a long, long second before the tall, bearded leader of the Saviours finally rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself, before tearing them away….and moving over to his squishy-leather sofas….placing down Lucille against his armchair and shrugging off his thick leather jacket.

"Jesus, sleepin' on my own couch in my own fuckin' room…" he said in a low, grizzled voice, tutting, talking, really, to no-one but himself. "The things I fuckin' do for you, Peaches."

And with that, Negan shook his head, grinning to himself, before flopping down onto one of the couches, rolling his eyes once again….

….as Blake and Mia slept soundly just a few feet away from him…

...never even hearing him come in…

More chapters soon! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged.

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[canaryatlaw]

alright. so today. pretty good. I forget what time exactly I got up, it was around 11:30ish. our dopey golden retriever, who’s not supposed to be upstairs, nudged the door open to get into my room, and then the door closed behind him and he couldn’t get out, so he started barking and I’m like BUDDY I’M TRYING TO SLEEP but I had to get up and let him out, so I was pretty much awake from then on. Had a bagel for breakfast because New York, then started working on editing my poverty law final before sending it in. I didn’t end up changing too much, just edited a few words and added an additional sentence here and there. It ended up being 13 1/2 pages, and I was pretty satisfied with it, especially given how troubled I was about the first question. so I sent it in and was officially done with the semester 🙌🏻 fucking finally, although last year at this time I was still in Chi taking my last final, so I’m glad I got an extra week at home, even if I had to work through some of it. Around 3 or so I headed out to Sally’s quickly because I need to dye my hair again soon (last time I did it was mid-October, and the color is still holding pretty good but my roots are grown out quite a bit) and I needed more developer. Accomplished that rather quickly, then headed to Target to accomplish a few things, namely to pick up a prescription, try to find a few more clothing items because I’ve realized the amount of clothing I brought on this trip is sorely inadequate to what I needed, and then get snacks and drinks because our house never has either. Prescription was easy enough, went to the clothing section and snagged a justice league t-shirt, but then saw these awesome gryffindor and wonder woman jacket and sweatpants set and they were SO great but of course they were all primarily made out of polyester so I couldn’t get any of them (though maybe that’s a good thing, because I would’ve been way too tempted to buy all of them, and lord knows I don’t actually need more clothing). I picked up a few pairs of yoga pants/more sturdy leggings that should be of help in the coming days. Then I headed to the food section and stocked up on snacks before heading home. Had dinner, then started making the dough for the gingerbread cookies I’m making, because it has to be refrigerated over night. I’ve used this recipe for the last two years and it’s consistently very good, the original calls for a full tablespoon of both ground ginger and cinnamon, and they are a bit bitey, so I prefer to make them with half a tablespoon of each which still has plenty of spice but isn’t quite so powerful. That didn’t take too long, and I just chilled out for a bit afterwards before deciding to do some prep for another set of cookies I can hopefully make tomorrow. This recipe called for oreo cookie butter, which, as the name suggests, is the oreo version of the biscoff based cookie butter every knows and loves by now, so I went to make that. I had seen several recipes floating around a while back that can basically be used for any type of cookie, generally blended with oil of some sort. a lot of them used coconut oil, but I really don’t like the taste of coconut oil, so I searched for a different one and wound up with one that used shortening (which worked because I already had to buy it for a different part of this recipe). so I dumped it all in the food processor, and it took a while and a bit of encouragement, but it came out quite nicely. Hopefully I’ll be able to get both batches of cookies done tomorrow, and hopefully start doing some exercising now that I’m actually done with finals. the rest of the night i just kind of hung out, and when nobody was around I turned on the mid-season finale of Designated Survivor from last week that I missed, and WOW DO I HAVE FEELINGS. first off, the medical neglect of a child from a religious perspective of course pissed me off for obvious reasons, and I’m of course bothered by the idea that it pushes forth that children are basically property of their parents whom the parents can do whatever they want to, even if it results in their death (also, I really don’t understand the biblical extrapolation that would lead one to believe the bible condemns blood transfusions??? like that’s some serious twisting of scripture right there). but at least that was solved perfectly because Kirkman is the bomb, but then of course there was the ending, where (spoiler ahead, obviously) the first lady was unceremoniously killed in a car accident and I was just....ugh!!!! I was really mad, because I LOVED Alex as a character, she was such a kickass female lawyer who got shit done and I’m really sad to lose her. I’m sure they’ll get some good plot lines out of it as a result, and I did read that it was because the actress wanted to take another opportunity, so I can’t be too mad at the showrunners about that. poor Kirkman, though. that’s awful. I hope it means we get to see more of the kids at least now, because I miss them being around. Anyway, by the end my dad was watching it with me, and when it was over he suggested we watch some superheroes (he’s a super casual viewer of Supergirl and Flash, and hadn’t watched anything since we watched a few Supergirl episodes over thanksgiving) so I started showing him the crossover, and we got through the first two episodes. I was interested to see how he’d react, and I brought up a few comments about how some people were not pleased with the plotline. my dad was born in 1946 (yeah, he’s old, I know), literally right after world war II ended, and when his father returned after fighting against the nazis. he didn’t seem to bothered by it though, he just kinda said “bad guys are bad guys” which I guess is how he sees it. I definitely was laughing to myself a LOT during the early Alex and Sara scenes, because I know that makes him feel so uncomfortable and I derive much entertainment from that, lol. but yeah, watched the first two episodes and we’ll probably pick up with the last two tomorrow night (when I’ll get to see him react to Leo and the Ray, which should be very entertaining). And yeah, then I went upstairs and started getting ready for bed, and here we are. At some point during the day my throat became really raw and I started coughing a bit, definitely not bronchitis level coughing (yet, anyway) but it’s like I have to be very conscious of my breathing so I don’t irritate it and set off another coughing fit. sigh. hopefully it’ll pass soon. Anyway, it’s past 2 am now, so I think it’s time I went to bed. Goodnight my dearies. Talk to you soon.