#Three-Step Ladder
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#Step Stool#Step Ladder#Folding Stool#Portable Step Stool#Kitchen Step Stool#Compact Ladder#Lightweight Step Stool#Folding Step Ladder#Two-Step Stool#Three-Step Ladder#Multi-Purpose Step Stool#Household Ladder#Non-Slip Step Stool#Adjustable Step Ladder#Space-Saving Stool#Metal Step Stool#Safety Step Ladder#Reach Step Stool
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bh!Eclipse "asked to reach the top shelf" meets "can't reach the lowest cupboards without folding like a paperclip" - @clxckwork-sun-n-moon
Yeah, I mean, there's a reason SI is laughing here after Eclipse "gets on his level" - man's too tall, he'd need to lie down to get close
But shenanigans are so very fun, so:
vs
It's called symbiosis <3
bloodstain fool by naffeclipse and og detective au by sunnys-aesthetic!
#answer let luce#clxckwork sun n moon#dcamv#sleuth jesters#bloodstain fool#my art#wait did i tag that other ask with my art tag. squints#the router idea i had before already so it had to jump in for the top shelf thing#bc YEAH MY ROUTER IS AT THREE METERS HEIGHT IM SCARED OF FALLING THE LADDER IS WOBBLY AND EVEN WITH LADDER I CAN BARELY REACH#IM SHORT YOUR HONOR#but yeah it already happens a lot lmao#i go grocery shopping with someone taller they get grumpy over not finding something but me; eye contact avoider N°1; looks down -#and BAM who wouldve thunk! lower shelves exist!#they *always* say smth like “No wonder I didn't find it/ you found it”#I'm not even mad bc yeah I do be looking down a lot.#eye contact avoidance. bad balance need to watch step. sky too bright. many reasons#okay these tag rambles are getting long lmao#enjoy <3#menace4menace
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guys I just survived a ladder that wanted to kill me. cheers
#context- I work odd jobs in film production a lot. I recently picked up a new part timer filming high school football games#this particular one was an hour and a half away so needless to say I was already mentally preparing for a LOT#and I got there and the spot where they wanted me was on the ROOF of the press box. which I knew beforehand#what I did NOT know beforehand was that the only way up or down was a ladder that pops down from said roof#which would’ve been okay but I was carrying three equipment bags like a pack mule#so I climb the ladder and even that was fine until the top step#I faceplant straight onto the roof because there is a barrier that’s like a foot long between the ladder step and the roof floor#so. rough start. but the view is great and once I’m up there it’s kinda fun#until. UNTIL. I wanted to go pee because again. hour and a half drive to get there.#said barrier made it so you have to climb down to get to the ladder step and railing and I pissed around playing chicken with that thing for#for an HOUR playing chicken because I could not fucking handle it#so I get through the first half okay but decide that I’m booking it to the bathroom the second halftime starts#and I forced my fat arse over the ledge and I figured out a grip on the trapdoor thing that helped keep me from falling#and I felt like I’d just made a person break cause like. I genuinely was not sure how the fuck I’d make it down for a bit#after that? might’ve been the high of Doing The Scary Thing but the rest of the time I had fun#I got a nice coach in the press box to help grab my bags as I handed them to him so I could climb down to leave#drove an hour in pitch darkness on country roads to my boss’s house to drop off the footage then 20 minutes home and now#and now I think I could sleep forever and ever but I fuckin did the thing
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WANTING MORE THAN WANTING.
My body slopes toward a sliding –
it is the pull of the inevitable;
the want, more than wanting.
It looks at me like a lover
and beckons the soft parts of my arms.
My insides are emaciated.
An invitation to sickness
awaits me, pulsating and crawling
and starting at the toes.
I pull at it; inside of me.
I sleep in order to wait,
to marry myself to it.
My strong appetite is aroused
and I seek the submerging;
pain evaporating under its touch.
I see the halting signs
and avert my seething heart –
I betray myself.
-embolalia
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i saw a tiktok of a heavily pregnant woman saying “maybe i dont give him butterflies anymore but i do give him high blood pressure” then they walk by their S/O with a latter and power tools. and i have been thinking about how the guys would react ever since
Oh, anon. This is so cute! I love this. I know the trend you're talking about, but I feel like I haven't seen it with pregnant women specifically, but I find it even more hilarious if it is. I had a lot of fun with this one. Thank you for sending it in!
For the masterlist and how to submit your own request, click HERE
Task Force 141 x Female Reader
Content & Warnings (MDNI): swearing, dad!141, pregnancy, married life, parenthood, domestic fluff
Word Count: 800
ao3 // taglist // main masterlist // imagines & what if masterlist
John Price
“Get off the ladder, cabbage.” John exhales, trying his best to keep his voice calm.
You’re standing just high enough on the ladder to rest your pregnant belly on the top rung. John stands directly behind you, both hands firmly planted on either side of you against the rail. It’s not to support the ladder but to catch you if you fall. A potentially likely possibility since you’re carrying extra weight in front of you. You could easily tip back enough to lose your balance.
“I’m fine, John,” you reply, continuing on as if he’s not worrying.
It’s maddening how relaxed you are, like the potential factor of danger is a completely foreign concept.
“Please,” he emphasizes. “Get off the ladder.”
“Why?” you ask. “I’m more than capable.”
“You are,” he agrees. “But you’re also pregnant.”
“So?”
“Cabbage,” warns John.
“Fine,” you exhale.
John keeps his hands on your hips the entire time. When you’re back on solid ground, some of that tension melts away, but his heart still thumps quickly.
You lightly cup his cheek, batting your eyelashes at him. “Were you worried about me, John?”
John places his hand on your belly. “Worried about all three of you.”
Kyle "Gaz" Garrick
Kyle sits at the kitchen table, sorting through the mail. With a heavy sigh, he opens the energy bill, removing the paperwork, reading over the breakdown of energy usage for the month.
From his peripheral, Kyle notices movement. Glancing away from the itemized bill, Kyle’s gaze softens when you walk into the kitchen. You’re pregnant, close to your due date. Even waddling around, Kyle can’t seem to keep his hands off you.
He leans back in his chair, appreciating you for a few languid seconds, then his heart drops into his stomach.
“Damn it all. Put that down, love.”
Kyle shoots out of his chair, trying to calmly but quickly make it over to you.
“I’m fine,” you insist, attempting to walk by. “I can assemble it.”
“No.” Kyle’s tone is firm but gentle. “Give it here.”
His heart is pounding, anxiety spiking from not just the power drill you carry, but the cardboard box full of wood you’re attempting to guide down the hall.
“You sit here.” He points to the chair. “Sort the mail. I’ve got this.”
You slowly ease down into the chair, and Kyle breathes deep, trying to calm his nerves. “Bloody hell, woman,” he mutters.
John "Soap" MacTavish
He hears your footsteps first, and then your voice as you curse under your breath.
Johnny lounges on the sofa, reclining against a fluffy pillow. At his feet are his two-year old twin daughters. On the television, a Bluey episode plays. The girls aren’t watching. They’re smashing their dolls together and running them over with the yellow toy excavator.
Sitting up, Johnny glances over the top of the couch
At first, he smiles. Then frowns. Then launches himself off the couch.
“Put it down,” commands Johnny. “Drop it.” He steps on a doll and winces, wobbling slightly.
You turn toward him, pregnant belly coming into view. You’re carrying a ladder, the large one, and you’re not supposed to be lifting anything over a certain weight.
“Down,” he repeats. “Put it down.”
You roll your eyes and turn away. Johnny makes it to you quickly, grabbing the ladder and placing it on the floor.
“What are you thinking?” he asks. “You’re bloody pregnant.”
“Don’t yell at me.”
“I’m—I’m not yelling,” soothes Johnny, cupping your face in his hands. “But you gave me a right scare, yeah?” He kisses your forehead. “I’ll take care of it. Go sit with the girls.”
Simon "Ghost" Riley
Simon is curled up on the sofa, a precious bundle in his lap. His two-year old daughter rests her head against his chest, gaze focused on the colorful pages.
“He started to look for some food,” reads Simon from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “On Monday he ate through one apple.” His daughter traces the outline of the apple, and then runs her finger over the caterpillar. “But he was still hungry.”
As Simon turns the page, he hears your soft but determined footsteps. He briefly looks away from the book, his gaze falling on your belly, round and full of his child. Inwardly, he smiles, knowing that the family you’ve created together is about to grow by one.
“On Tuesday he ate through two pears,” continues Simon. “But he was still—”
His voice disappears, and his stomach flips, blood pressure spiking as he watches you turn the corner. You have a step stool tucked under your arm and a drill in your hand.
“Goddamn it,” he mutters, lifting his daughter out of his lap and placing her on the sofa. “Daddy will be back shortly, doll.”
He kisses the top of her head, and then takes off after you. With the added weight, your steps are slow, and it only takes Simon a few strides to walk past you and cut you off before you make it to the nursery.
“What are you doing?” he asks, reaching for the drill.
“Hanging a painting,” you reply like it’s no big deal.
Simon sighs. “Give it here.”
“I can do it,” you insist, turning away from his reaching hands.
Simon plucks the drill out of your hand and holds it out of reach. “Give me the step stool.” With a pout, you surrender it. “Gonna give me a bloody heart attack.”
taglist:
@glitterypirateduck @suhmie @z-wantstowrite @kylies-love-letter @keiva1000
@iloveslasher @ravenpoe67 @sadlonelybagel @nishim @arrozyfrijoles23
@voids-universe @itsberrydreemurstuff @sageyxbabey @glassgulls @miaraei
@weasleytwins-41 @eternallyvenus @chaostwinsofdestruction @cherryofdeath @ninman82
@fern-reads @waves-against-a-cliff @beebeechaos @smileykiddie08 @whisperwispxx
@jianyi22 @sethell @atpeacee @konigssweatyhood @dreamingoftomorrow
@katerinaval @morguethemagpie @galactict3a @sarah-the-bird-nerd @mikachu-bitez
@unclearblur @kurochan3 @sans-chara @hisuccubus @all-by-myself98
@km-ffluv @thriving-n-jiving
#task force 141#task force 141 imagine#task force 141 fluff#tf 141#cod 141#dad!141#dad!soap#dad!ghost#task force 141 x reader#task force 141 x female reader#simon ghost riley#john soap mactavish#kyle gaz garrick#john price#ghost cod#ghost call of duty#soap cod#soap call of duty#gaz call of duty#gaz cod#price call of duty#price cod#simon riley x female reader#john price x female reader#kyle gaz garrick x female reader#john soap mactavish x female reader#cod imagine#call of duty fanfiction#call of duty fic#ghost x reader
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Hellooo, I have a requesttt. Bully!Geto & bully!gojo x reader please!!

𝐚. 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: didn't know how to tackle this, but I think I got it >:3
⊹ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Geto + Gojo x afab/fem! reader - explicit content; minors DNI - modern au! college setting; satosugu + you are juniors - sex in shared space; college dorm - fingering (f! receiving) - breast fondling + nipple play - oral (m! receiving) - facials - clitoral play (pinching and swiping) - Eiffel Tower/spit-roasting position - slight degradation - pet names (baby, crybaby, cutie, good girl, plaything, pretty girl, sweetheart) - unprotected sex (doesn't shoot inside, tho) - mention of tears and drool.
⊹ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.4k

“—Gaaahh!! N-Noo, shtop! No more, no mo—Oooh!”
“Aww, don’t go cryin’ on us yet; let’s see how much this pussy can cum!”
“Satoru, keep playing with their nipples; they keep gripping my fingers like crazy…”
Being bullied seems to be an everyday thing for a wimp like you—especially in the hands of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.
What kind of person lets two of the hottest guys in the school bully them? You’re practically nearly a full-ass grown adult; you shouldn’t be letting people push you around like it’s middle school! And yet, you can’t seem to bring yourself to stand for yourself, too meek and reserved to step up the ladder of confrontation, even if it’s from people who’ve tormented you most of your life.
Gojo and Geto have been your bullies for nearly your entire academic life, starting from first grade. To say that your life was hell on Earth was just the surface, coming home in tears and wishing to disappear every single day. The emotional toil was too much to bear, so much so that you did everything in your power to make sure you didn’t end up in the same high school as the two, a task that you’re proud to act on as making friends and getting through the final four years of your primary education became easier to accomplish.
However, this fulfillment was thrown out the window when you walked on campus grounds and discovered that after two years, your bullies had transferred to the same college as you! Not only in the same place but in the same dorm section and sharing the same class—had the world gone mad?! Just when you have accepted this new chapter in your life to start anew and fresh, these two spin back and the pool of anxiety swallows you back up and pulverizes your heart. There was no way for this situation to be envisaged.
“Ohaaa!! Shtooop, t’ooo fasst!!”
And now, they have new methods to diminish your dignity.
Against your comfort, you and the two were assigned a spreadsheet to work on and have it done by Thursday, so you three were supposed to be working in the living room of their dorm apartment. Nevertheless, you don’t think lying on the couch with your back to Gojo and Geto between your legs has anything to do with the assignment…
You were squirming, Gojo’s slender hands cupping and fondling your chest, tips of his fingers tweaking your nipples roughly so that you whine helplessly. Legs spread open for your panties and bare cunt to be exposed when you were stripped from your leggings, and Geto toys your private part with his fingers. The sensation of his middle digit inside you was hard to believe, like the howl from curling onto the upper wall of your vagina.
“Uuuwww, ohmyGoooood…!” You throw your head back to the shoulder of the white-haired one whose forefingers circle the buds of your mounds. “W-We can’t be—hic—doing this…”
“Ehhh, c’mon, baby,” hearing Gojo talk to your ear so close has to be something out of a dream or nightmare. “Who says we can’t play with our favorite person, huh?”
You gulp at the lick of your earlobe. “Because…we have work to d—Aaahh!”
“Don’t think about that assignment when I’m busy shoving my fingers in you,” Geto reminds you, the pace of his digit increasing and the scrape of his fingertip having your toes curl. “Doesn’t the pretty girl wanna play us like old times?”
A hand grabs his wrist, yet that does little to hinder the raven-haired one’s diligence within your leaking chasm. “B-But…We can’t!” Jesus, it’s tough to think adequately the more Geto pushes and pulls his finger, brushing it up against your texture. Tears welled up in your eyes, your body sore from their constant touches.
“God, still cryin’ from being teased, huh, crybaby?” Gojo chuckles while cupping your cheeks. “Still a cutie, though…”
No way, there’s absolutely no way! You had to be dreaming because there is no way you’re awake to see the day Gojo is kissing you! Biting your bottom lip and shoving his tongue inside, your brain practically explodes as you moan in his mouth, and your slit contracts the rub of Geto’s finger. Did you just cum from a kiss?!
“Oh wow, they’re spasming like crazy,” Geto chortles at the sight of your legs trembling and your genitalia fluttering around the digit. “Cumming from a kiss, huh? Heh, so easy to mess with.”
Your response was deterred to that of imperceptible wails, crying into Gojo’s pillowy lips as he sucked on your tongues to hear you sob more. This was so unfair; this situation was not in your favor once you were dragged into their apartment.
Not even in the next phase of this meet-up.
Your clothes are discarded from your body to the living room floor, mounting on the couch on all fours, Geto to your front and Gojo to your back. The three of you are too far gone to think about the damn assignment—your frame too occupied by their cocks to evade them so.
Soapy lips suck on the dick of the dark-haired other, puffy cheeks making room for the limb burrowing inside your mouth. He fucks you orally with vigor, snapping his hips to your lips as your head pounds with every jab to the back of your throat. You’re not left with a second to breathe calmly, his girth overwhelming.
“Fuuuhhck, Jesus Christ,” he curses, grinding his pelvis and moaning at the feel of your tight throat. “Such a good girl, sucking me so well; got the mouth of a great cumslut.”
“Has the pussy of one, too!”
The words burn your ears, coming from behind as the guy with snowy hair plunges his length into your vagina. His hands are situated on your waist to keep you on him, the curve of his cock scratching your sweet spots too accurately that you’re forced to scream on the other’s shaft.
Gojo throws his head back with a sigh, “Fuckin’ shiiiit, this pussy…clamping on me so hard, you wanna milk me dry?” He bends down to your ear, “Want my load so bad like a little whore?” Squeezing on him was inevitable, making him hiss. “Fuck! Don’t do that…”
“Damn this throat, man,” you peer up to Geto. Your eyes have already released the tears stricken down your face, the lower part of your face all hot from the frequent hits. He chortles, “You look so good all messy like that, sweetheart…Holy shit, you looked so fucked out.”
Of course you were; they’ve been toying with your body for ten minutes with no rest! Your frame was aching so bad, sobbing because of the cock busying your throat and the dick grazing your G-spot. It was too much to catch up with, especially when Gojo sneaks a hand to your clit to rub and swipe. Your eyes roll to the ceiling, and a scream is muffled, your figure submitting to the pinches on your sensitive pearl.
“Wanna cum?” Silver brows trench together at the clamp of your walls. “Do it, cum on my dick, you nasty crybaby.”
More tweaks to your clitoris coincide with the erratic pistons of Gojo’s thighs, and you have no choice but to climax once more. Your cunt tightens around his cock with every hit of your orgasm, and he makes sure to get his raw cock out of you to ejaculate his milky fluid onto your back, painting your skin with his load.
The same goes for Geto as well, who grabs your head and roughly pulls himself off to paint your face with his essence. You whimper with every quiver and addition of his sperm, spurting to your forehead and decorating your cheeks to slide down your chin. You never felt so dirty in your life, your tongue accidentally tasting it from licking your lips. “Good girl,” he compliments with a teasing pinch to your cheek.
Gojo rubs his length on the cusp of your butt. “Man, cutie, you keep driving me crazy.” His fingers aimlessly play with your clit. “Now I really can’t leave you alone…”
Dread weighs your bones at his words, and you can only question how you can survive these upcoming semesters with these harassers. And now that they’re hooked on you, this fresh new start has become much more suffocating…

© 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐲2024 – reblogs and comments are appreciated wholeheartedly ☆ header edit done by me + dividers by @/animatedglittergraphics-n-more.
#𝑯𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒊 ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔: 𝑺𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒔#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jjk x reader#jujutsu kaisen smut#jjk x you#jjk smut#jjk x y/n#gojo x reader#gojo smut#gojo satoru x reader#gojou satoru x reader#gojo satoru smut#geto x reader#geto smut#geto suguru x reader#geto suguru smut#getou suguru x reader#jujutsu kaisen x you#jjk imagines#anime smut
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procedures

[ID: Three panel comic with crudely drawn stick people.
Panel 1: A grayscale stick person wearing an oversized t-shirt featuring a flag with red, green, blue and black stripes is looking down and talking.
Pseudoally: "I want you all to know that you are still valid in the confinement pit. You have my support. I will write strongly worded letters about the need for air conditioning in the pit."
From the pit: "There's a ladder right next to you!"
Panel 2: The view switches to showing the pit from above, ladder and all. The pit contains a variety of chromatic people, including a small one with a mint green propeller hat and one with animal ears.
Pseudoally: "Look, I know it looks simple for me to just take this ladder and pass it down into the pit. But there are procedures here."
An orange square-headed person: "It is simple!"
Pseudoally: "No because you see, ladder allocation has to be done through the system. Properly."
A dark blue person with lime green legs: "They dug the pit without even caring about the system!"
Panel 3: The pseudoally pontificates from on high while the orange person watches in the foreground. A moss green person wearing a bandana and a pink person with a light blue jacket and bright orange, triangular anime glasses are passing a ladder down into the pit.
Pseudoally: "Look, I really wish there was something I could do but- hey what are you doing?"
Moss Green: "Helping."
Pseudoally: "I don't think extreme methods like this are good for the movement!"
Anime Glasses: "We don't give a shit. Step aside."
End ID.]
Start - Previous - Next
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Residuals Pt 3
Ongoing Series
Synopsis: You and Robby spent seven long years together until the day it ended. You’ve done your best to create space; to become invisible. You can’t miss what you don’t see. Unfortunately, the universe (Gloria and the Board of Directors) seemed to have missed the memo.
Pairing: Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch x Reader
Genre: Established previous relationship, slight age gap (by about 15 years give or take), a little bit of tension mixed in with a little bit of hate yearning, cause she’s a saucy angsty fic ok
A/N: Screaming at the top of my lungs because you have all been so incredibly lovely and sweet. I appreciate every single one of your comments, reblogs, and your excitement over this spur-of-the-moment series idea. Honestly, I can gush forever. Thank you! This chapter is centered around a little extra backstory on their relationship (briefly). I noticed it's around ep. 4 when everything starts popping off in the show (and I have scenes already pre-written cause I’m excited!) so I hope the story stays entertaining and true to showing slow insights into characters, their flaws, and being human. As always, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. Much Love. Jenn
Thank you to the bestie @viridian-dagger for humoring me and checking all of my work. Thank you for helping keep me sane.
Words: 7208
Previous I Next
You remembered with agonizing clarity the last day you’d seen Robby. You could recall down to the very marrow of the hour how you’d watched him grab his backpack and head out the door.
If you weren't careful, your subconscious loved to dredge that particular memory up in frequent rotation.
If you weren’t careful, always on mental high alert, the memories came violently to the forefront demanding that you remember what it felt like to walk the halls of your home in nothing but his shirts. It had you up late in the middle of the night writing a list of all the achingly obvious differences between the empty bed you now slept in and the one you’d shared with him. How his large frame curled against your back or how his nose pressed into the crook of your neck before he woke you, trailing kisses down your collarbone.
Sometimes, Robby held you so tight you’d jokingly ask if he was trying to morph together like The Thing.
You’d gotten used to the quiet in your home. The lack of security knowing another person was there. You’d learned to portion down your meals, so you didn’t make some on accident for two, or three when Jake was home for the week. You did laundry less and didn’t have to fold as much. There was no one to help you build furniture or tear it down. The trash was handled by you and only you. Dishes sat questionably for longer in the sink than they should’ve. There were no hands on your hips to keep you steady as you demanded to be an independent woman and use the step ladder to change broken fixtures and lightbulbs. No car rides with blues gently playing through the speakers with his hand on your thigh.
No. You were reminded every minute of every day since you’d left of what you lost. What you chose to leave behind.
The day you left you’d waited in the hall. In the past, before the pandemic, before the world went to shit and stopped making sense, Robby waited for you to send him off. You’d bring him his backpack full of protein bars, a homemade sub sandwich (if he ever got to it), and instant coffee packets when he didn’t. The moment you were close enough for him to grab - to touch - Robby would reach for you.
Before Robby, you didn’t know what it felt like to be worshipped; to be craved and wanted so badly that they couldn’t wait for the moment they could touch you. The safety of trusting someone because they loved you without pretense allows you to be comfortable enough to be good, bad, weird, and everything in between.
“You’re my favorite person.” He’d told you this randomly, while you’d both been curled up on the couch. Your cheek pressed against his chest. You heard the slight change in rhythm before he spoke. It was an answer to a question you’d asked weeks ago. One he refused to answer because “What are we in junior high?”
You didn’t believe in fairytales or the idea of perfect relationships. You believed in what someone’s actions said about them when they tried to cover them up with words. You didn’t know what it was like to have someone choose you, all of you, until Robby.
Whenever he had the chance, Robby was always touching you - light traces of fingers that drew aimless doodles in your skin while he read. His hand glided across your back as he passed you in the kitchen or the hallways at work. Once Robby learned how much you loved having his hands on you, he found ways to use them all the time - in ways that made you feel secure and others that were far from innocent.
But out of everything, Robby always made sure you were taken care of and, most of all, loved.
Usually, when Robby departed from the house, he used his large frame to crowd into your space. Possessive hands snaked around your waist to pull you flush against him. Every time, like clockwork, you eagerly respond to his touch. Your neck already falling back just enough for his mouth to slate over yours.
Those memories of better days, days where you didn’t have to question if he still loved you, are what made the last day so hard. You stood there, silently hoping that he would turn around. That Robby would just stop putting in his air pods, looking everywhere but at you, and finally acknowledge you. You didn’t want your last fight to be what you remembered - the words you’d hurled at one another with tired vehemence the final thing you heard.
You just wanted him to love you like he used to. But the problem was, you weren’t sure if you could love him how you used to anymore either.
“I think you should take Kiara up on her offer, Michael. You need to speak with someone even if it isn’t her.”
“Jesus,” he huffed. A hand scrubbed at his face before latching behind his head. His eyes screwed tight as if he could simply blink the conversation away. “Here we fucking go again.”
“Yes, here we go again. We wouldn't have to keep doing this merry-go-round around the issue if you would just admit - “
“Admit what?” His voice rose in challenge, and it took every ounce of you not to return it. “You seem to want me to say I’m broken so you don’t have to be the only one.”
“That’s bullshit,” you scoffed, pushing your dinner plate further down the table.
You weren’t hungry anymore.
“It’s not bullshit! I’m not the only one in this room who won’t be honest with themselves.”
“That’s real rich coming from you, Michael. If you think that’s true, look me in my eyes and admit you don’t feel some type of way since he passed. And I never once fucking said that you were broken - “
“That’s the point! You don’t have to. I can see it in the way you look at me. The way you talk to me. It’s like no matter what the fuck I say you don’t believe me. You just want me to be depressed like - “
“Like what, Michael.”
The room went glacial cold. Your eyes turned to slits as you waited for him to finish his sentence. A piece of you prayed he didn’t because you didn’t know how much more you could take before you finally broke.
“Like you,” he sighed, voice defeated as if he hated saying it as much as you hated hearing it. “You haven’t been the same since -”
“Shut up.”
“- it happened and I’m sorry. I - I wish I’d been there - “
“I said shut up! Jesus, just stop talking!”
The venom in your voice was toxic. It had your arm lashing out and shoving the plate of food off the table. The sound of tableware clattering and glass breaking dimmed the flash of anger enough to be embarrassed at your outburst. You hadn’t meant to do it. Just like you hadn’t meant to do a lot of things since Adamson passed, since the pandemic, and…since you received the news.
It was written plainly in the silence held between you. The unspoken depression from two different spectrums left you both unable to help the other. Neither of you knew how to bridge the gap your stubbornness bred.
Doctors were historically the worst patients because of that very reason. Pride. You used to believe Robby and you didn’t share an ounce of it between you, but you’d been wrong. You forgot you were both human and flawed.
“I just want to help you, Michael. Please. Ever since Adamson passed and - and what happened - “
“He doesn’t have anything to do with what happened! What happened fucking happened because it’s nature. It’s - it just wasn’t our time. You’ve got to stop beating yourself up for something you have no control over. How many times have we told our patients this?” Robby looked up from his hands and you wished he hadn’t. His watery eyes were close to spilling; the tsunami of pain was all-consuming and when he whispered your name before he spoke again, you wanted to shatter. “You’re killing yourself from the inside out with this self-hatred.”
How many times have you been told that exact thing? It was an unfortunate natural process. It just ‘happened’. Every word is sterile and scientific which makes you feel less and less like a person. And what about the news that came after? Was that natural too?
Maybe you were the one who was broken.
“Adamson happened too, and you haven’t been the same since we lost him. You’re on edge more, Mike. You snap at work and home. You’re closed off. You’re so desperate to put it under the rug that we only focus on me? Bring up my faults so we can bury yours.”
A sneer pulled up his lips as he turned away from you. His eyes scan over the shelves and furniture in the room - looking everywhere but at you.
“You just want to help me? That’s what you keep feeding yourself but in reality, you just want me to be who I was before this. I don’t know if I can be that man again and when I tell you that, you act like a fucking child going around slamming doors.” Shame flushed up your face, turning your cheeks red with embarrassment. You’d done that and worse. You thought you could wait whatever this was out until it got better. But it wasn’t better. It was worse and you were so, so tired. “You want to focus on me but what about you?”
“You aren’t the only one hurting - that lost someone. You left me! You fucking left me to deal with it all on my own. Where the fuck were you when I needed you?”
“I’ve been right here with you!” Robby shouted back. “I’m right here with you, baby, but you don’t fucking see it. You won’t let me in.”
The tears you struggled to contain escaped in one shaky exhale. You carried around so much of your shame and guilt - tried repairing the cracks with quick fixes so Robby wouldn’t see because the last thing you wanted was pity. You didn’t want the confirmation that you were irreparably broken.
“But you’re not here. Are you? Not really.”
The earlier flash of rage was extinguished with each word. This job was a marvel and a curse. It took and took without forgiveness. Sometimes you’re fighting to save people who don’t want to be saved; who’ve never known the support and love they needed to believe they were more than their demons. Who wanted to succumb to a brief drop of loneliness in the ocean of a lifetime. Or you saw the ugliness that people did to one another and left you having an existential crisis if someone’s bad choice made their life unworthy of saving.
Robby dealt with all of these things daily. He shouldered them for every friend in the hospital. For every patient who needed the strength of his resolve and the care he delivered. He gave all that and more during the pandemic and now he’d given so much that there wasn’t much left to tend to himself.
Robby used to lean on you for just about everything. Sometimes, your talks were gradual - opening up little by little until everything was exposed. Other times, they came in bursts. A rush of words said too fast because if neither of you just ripped the band-aid off and said it, nothing would ever get fixed. Now all of that came to a screeching halt. You didn’t know what he was feeling anymore or thinking. He shut you out in so many ways. You tried to break through and failed.
You both stood at separate spectrums of grief and neither of you knew how to reach the other anymore.
“I can’t do this anymore.”
You hadn’t meant about your relationship. You wish you could’ve said that - informed him that the despair and betrayal of your own body left you in a place of purgatory. The pandemic stripping you bare and raw pressing salt into every wound. How was Robby supposed to love you if you didn’t know how to love yourself?
But it’s not how it sounded leaving your lips. It’s not how he took it as you watched his shoulders deflate. The emptiness that hollowed out his eyes in protection and left them empty as you felt.
“No one is forcing you to stay.”
You never did get to tell him you saw him - saw that he’d been there waiting for you to open up. He wasn’t who he was, but he’d still tried the best he could in whatever ways he could. In the end, you believed you deserved punishment.
Maybe that’s what losing Robby was - the universe's way of dishing it out for a wrong you never knew you committed.
It felt suffocating; your chest caved to create a black hole of grief that felt never-ending. You watched as the pandemic tore him down piece by piece - shredding him to ribbons. So many lives were ravaged by the virus with no way to combat it. You remembered the overwhelming, crushing feeling of seeing dozens of patients lining hallways because there were no more beds. Every doctor, nurse, RTs, and CNAs struggled to care for every patient and be with those in their final moments because the families couldn’t. It was chaos. It was frightening. It felt like it would go on forever. The last thing anyone expected was for Adamson to get sick. For the virus to infiltrate his body and claim his life.
Robby had run outside, tearing off his hazmat suit. Unable to breathe around the soul-crushing grief that constricted the air from his lungs. He’d crumbled like a house of cards as you held him in your arms, but he wasn’t allowed to grieve. He was a doctor, you were still a fucking doctor, and neither of you were allowed to grieve. You needed to compartmentalize; sew up the fraying edges of your grief and go back inside and be the doctors everyone needed.
It was agony watching what came after. The way he struggled day and night to get any amount of rest while wrestling with his demons. The guilt kept him up at night and woke him screaming covered in a cold sweat. Eventually, he stopped sleeping in bed with you all together. Slowly, you saw him less at home and only at work. You watched while the anxiety ate him alive and transformed him into someone you could barely recognize, and you felt helpless against it. At any moment, the pain in your chest would swallow you whole.
And just when you thought, given a few months, you’d be able to find new joy in your life, it all came crashing down again.
So, you waited in that hallway. You waited for any sign that you should stay. You waited to see if you’d change your mind and begin to be honest with him. You waited for him to at least turnaround and look at you - for the recognition of the life you’d had months before to flash in those beautiful brown eyes. You waited in the hallway even after he’d left - waited for your tears to dry before you went upstairs to pack up your old life and find a new one.
You’d expected a lot of possibilities when Gloria brought you back down to the Pitt. You considered all the variables and the endless amount of what-ifs. It felt inevitable for you to end up in this very situation; him being the attending, in charge of the Pitt, and overseeing a case. The only thing you hadn’t accounted for was how the heat of his body pressed against your back made you forget how to breathe. Your mouth suddenly dry and your heart pounded violently against the ache in your chest.
Was Robby even aware of what he was doing? You could practically feel him take a breath he was so fucking close. Fuck, you wanted to scream and you almost did when you felt his gloved hand move across your lower back as he stepped around you. The old desire to touch you every chance he could was a surprise to you both when the reflex made its appearance. It must have been a mistake - a subconscious tick because old habits can die hard. It was the only thing that made sense. You fought the urge to mouth a, ‘What the fuck?’ at him. Did he even realize what he’d done? If he did, he was damn good at hiding it.
You needed to get your shit together. You brought him in here for your patient.
“Allan,” you began to introduce him and found you had to clear the warble from your voice. “Allan, this is Dr. Robby. He’s the attending doctor here in the emergency department. Robby, this is Allan and his mother, Rebecca.”
“Pleasure to meet you both. Now, Allan, why don’t you tell me what brings you in today?”
Once Robby agrees to your use of wire cutters to remove the key rings, conferring on medications during and after a take-home prescription, you immediately go to work. It took a few extra minutes of explaining to Allan (and his very traumatized mother) that you would be as gentle as possible, but the longer the key rings stayed on to cut off circulation, the higher the chance of necrosis would occur. You also promised him lidocaine to numb the area. Lots and lots of lidocaine.
You’d just signed off on discharge paperwork and spoke with him one last time about maybe just buying what he wanted to try next time. It was not only the safer option but probably more fun and less mortifying than having his mom bring him here.
You stepped out of the room and made your way up to Dana’s desk. While you’d been in the room doing minor surgery to metal keys, you’d heard a couple of new traumas that arrived through the ambulance bay. The one that unfortunately had stuck with you was the nineteen-year-old kid who’d been found unresponsive. Nineteen. Two years older than Jake.
For years you tried to make sense of how it was possible to become so attached to a son that wasn’t even yours. You didn’t give birth to Jake and missed the beginning stages of his life. You met him at his ninth birthday party and thought he would automatically hate you. Instead, he asked you questions about superheroes and if you had a favorite wrestler.
The relationship between Robby and Jake’s mom had been hard to navigate. Harder when you came into the picture because all mothers are understandably weary of unknown variables and people around their children. You did your best not to step on any toes and bided your time until Jake’s mom trusted you - felt comfortable enough - with your presence to allow Jake to stay over when he asked Robby.
You went on field trips as a chaperone when Jake asked, helped him build science fair projects, and tried your best to play basketball with Jake and Robby. You were better at three-pointers and playing horse than the original two - on - two. Jake chose to see you as another parent. His mother decided to let you be a part of his life and knowing Robby, loving Robby, brought you all together. You were forever grateful to both of them for it.
But seeing cases like this one - hearing about them - caused a cold sweat to spread across your body. Jake was a good kid - a smart kid but even smart kids could make mistakes.
You pulled your phone out of your back pocket and continued moving towards where Dana sat front and center in all the chaos. She was currently on the phone but her eyes tracked you as you made your way towards her.
Quickly, you unlocked your phone and went to your messages. You tapped on Jake’s name.
Mom v2.0 ~ Hey kiddo just checking in. Everything good?
You were about to lock the phone and put it away when his reply came back at lightning speed.
JakeTheRipper ~ Hey! Ya everything’s 👍🏽 I’m coming by the hospital later to get tickets from dad. Be cool to see you. JakeTheRipper ~ if you can! JakeTheRipper ~ if you have the time!
You and Jake never lost contact with one another after you and Robby split. It’d been his golden rule and who were you to break rules, especially golden ones? But you hadn’t seen him since he was fifteen. The last weekend you spent housed up in the house - his teenage self picking up a dark cloud stole the warmth from the home.
He’d asked to see you a few times since then but you were always busy. Always unsure if you were overstepping. But you were here now and he said he was coming here anyways so -
“What’s got you smiling all goofy?”
Dana’s question sent you crash landing back into the present. You were standing directly in front of her seated position, phone in one hand and wire cutters in the other while a perfectly arched brow did most of her questioning.
“Ugh, it’s nothing,” you replied, tucking the phone back into your pocket.
God, you were acting suspicious. Be natural. Be cool.
“You got a boyfriend or something?”
“Oh, god no, no, no.”
You were throwing in way too many no’s.
You felt like you were under a microscope when Dana’s eyes narrowed in on you like this. A cold sweat was going to happen any minute now.
“There aren’t that many things that make women smile at their phones like that.”
“Memes make people smile at their phones because they’re witty and funny. A good deal on a pair of shoes, funny videos of animals, or cute babies…anyway,” you mumbled before handing the wire cutters over the top of her computer. “Ron the maintenance guy should be coming by to pick these back up. If I miss him, can you let him know I appreciate him letting me borrow these?”
“Did you tell him what they were gonna be used for?”
“Oh, god no, and please Dana don’t tell him I used it to cut key rings off a patient's penis.”
“You mean he didn’t know why you were asking for them?” She laughed. Dana fucking laughed and it eased the tension from your shoulders tenfold. “I think at least owe the man some kind of lunch, don’t you?”
“Ugh, well, I disinfected them. Twice? Does that count?”
Another bark of laughter came as she shook her head in disbelief. She was still smiling when she reached out and took the cutters from your hand.
“Aren’t you supposed to be up in triage?” Langdon asked, sliding in on your right.
“Did you come all the way over here from your spot in hell to ask me that, Langdon? Are we slacking off today or willfully choosing to be lazy?”
Langdon shot you a sarcastic smile before he reached over to grab a tablet and handed it over to the med student who’d been with him before. Her dirty blonde hair was slicked back into a tight ponytail and her glasses gave her an almost childlike demeanor that was only enhanced by the excited way she bounced on her heels. Her hand shot across the counter in way of introduction.
“Melissa King - everyone calls me Mel.”
She was so eager - sweet - that you almost warned her to be cautious in the Pitt. It tends to eat the good ones alive.
“Dr. Fullerton,” you replied, taking her hand briefly. “I remember you from earlier. Hopefully, Langdon is taking care of you and isn’t showing you what not to do during a residency?”
“Ha, that’s very funny, Fullerton. How long has it been since you’ve been down here? You’ve probably gone soft with all the babying they do upstairs.”
“Out of the two of us, Langdon who is still in their last year of residency and who is a board-certified doctor?”
“You know what I smell?”
“I don’t smell anything,” Mel interjected, thin lines of confusion creasing around her eyes.
“No, I don’t mean - it’s metaphorical, Dr. King.”
“Okay, kids that's enough. Robby sees you two both standing here bickering, you'll both be in trouble.”
“Is that your way of telling us to go back to taking care of the board?” You asked.
“No, it’s my way of telling you both to get the hell away from my station. Now shoo both of you,” Dana retorted, using a stack of patient demographics to swat at Langdon and you.
“I’m going, I’m going,” you surrendered, backing away.
You were mid-turn when an enthusiastic wave from Dr. King was thrown your way.
“It was nice to meet you. Again,” she excitedly called after you.
She seemed too pure to have picked the Pitt. Everyone had their reasons for doing residencies here and, hell, you believed med students should be mandated to work at least one full rotation in an emergency department to truly learn. Mel, however, made you just want to protect her from the harsh realities of a place like this. It could be soul-crushing and there is no way to prepare yourself for when it happens.
“Likewise, Mel. If you ever want a break from ER Ken you’re more than welcome to come find me.”
“She’s good where she’s at, Fullerton.”
You didn’t bother giving a retort; you and Langdon could keep up the verbal back and forth the whole shift. You were only a couple feet away when you heard Dr. King state, “She seems nice.”
“Yeah. She’s alright. A little unhinged, but alright.”
Each word had been pulled like teeth from him; admitting you weren’t the absolute worst thing in the world, or at least inside this hospital, you knew made Langdon grumpy. Those few words left a sour taste in his mouth admitting anything nice about you, but it was enough for you because it meant one thing for you. There was hope that today wouldn’t be a total disaster after all.
It was a busy morning but mornings were always busy in the Pitt. There shouldn’t have been a reason the hum of panic constantly buzzed behind his ears. It only grew louder the closer he got to the pediatrics wing of rooms. The bright colors blazed out into the hallway; all greens and blues. Animal motifs meant to instill comfort instead summoned what he’d struggled to keep buried.
Dana already caught him helplessly trapped outside the room. The memory of that day - the last day with Adamson - flashed vividly like every nightmare he’d had of that day since. Robby had been so engrossed in the recollection of monitors blaring and Princess shouting for him to do something, “Robby we’re losing him,” that he wasn’t able to shake the feeling of dread off.
He knew Dana noticed. The way her eyes craned over his shoulder to take in the peds room was the only confirmation he needed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. When do I ever make you worry about me?”
“Are you kidding?” Dana chuckled. “All the time.”
They both knew he was lying. Robby never did confirm it when Dana asked, but he didn’t need to. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be fine or even close to simply being okay. Even after four long years, Robby found he still sought Adamson’s advice. Moments in the Pitt he swore he could hear him directing the room; asking questions to challenge Robby because “a doctor never stops learning.”
He missed being able to confide in him. The expectant look on Adamson’s face when Robby asked about situations in his life where he was at a loss of what to do.
Robby needed to change the subject - and lead Dana down a safer path of questioning that he could handle. If he could keep himself away from that room he should be okay. He could handle you being here and everything else if he didn’t have to step foot in that room. He should’ve known there was no safe space where Dana wasn’t going to bring you up. Robby could see the hard exterior she tried to keep up to defend against your presence was beginning to crack.
Maybe so was his.
“The two of you looked cozy earlier.”
“Dana, you know I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
“Uh-huh.”
Her voice oozed a playfulness that edged towards teasing.
“But there is no universe where you and I talk about this.”
“I was just making an astute observation.”
“I would appreciate it if you maybe observe somewhere else. We have eleven more hours of this shift to go and I’d rather not have to spend it talking about her.”
“Yeah, because you’re allergic to talking in general.”
“Well, that’s just not true. I’m allergic to people I don’t want to have a conversation with,” he pointed out.
She tried to shake the smile off her lips. Her palm lightly smacked at his shoulder which caused his smile to rise in response.
“You’re such a smart ass.”
“I try my very best,” he mumbled as he leaned down towards the computer.
He’d just grabbed his badge to swipe past the electronic monitor to unlock the computer, placing his arms to brace on either side of the keyboard when he felt her presence eclipse to his right. Dana was leaning over the counter divider. Her arms hanging over waiting for him to look back up at her.
“Something else I can help you with, Dana?”
“Just wondering if you’d be more talkative if you knew Fullerton was all smiles earlier. She had her phone out. Seemed to be textin’ someone.”
Robby could feel his eyes narrow in on her position. He shouldn’t care - he shouldn’t fucking care - because you were the one who left. What did he care if you were dating anybody? It’s been two years. The chances of you dating were astronomically high; shit, he’d attempted it a while after you left. Instead of taking care of himself because, “You look like shit,”, as Dana lovingly told him, he’d done what 95% of the population does: he ran from it.
Heather Collins was an R2 at the time. She was funny, intelligent, witty, beautiful, and he’d fucked it up in record time. All the things you’d thrown at him about being shit at taking his own advice, hiding from his problems, were true. When things took a turn he’d lock up. Collins noticed the cracks and mentioned them enough he countered with argument after argument. The worst part was he was harboring a love for someone else that was gone. You can’t love someone else, give them the love they deserve, when you’re buried ten feet deep for someone else. She deserved better than to be a rebound - better than what Robby could’ve given her because no matter how amazing she was he still thought of you. Heather deserved more than to be a body to bury his sorrows in. He tried dating again a year later but that had also gone up in spectacular flames. Robby couldn’t keep the ghost of you from haunting him.
He tried to act like he didn’t care - that Dana’s words weren’t threatening his last proper brain cell for the day. By the look on Dana’s face, he did a shit job of hiding it. So what if you were with someone? He shouldn’t even care.
“Did she say who she was talking to?”
Why the fuck did he ask that? Dana didn’t necessarily answer him as much as she chose instead to grin. A silent, ‘Gotcha’ flashing that he absolutely hated. He’d walked right into it.
“Surprise, surprise. I thought she’d be one of your allergies.”
A huff of laughter rushed past his lips that he tried to cover up with a cough.
“You’ve got a mean streak in you.”
Dana patted his arm before she retracted back inside her bubble. The phone went off in record time to pull her safely away from having to hear him complain. She gave him one last thumbs up before her back faced him, completely ending the conversation and forcing him back to the open file on the screen.
He enjoyed the quiet for all of a millisecond before he heard -
“Hey, fruitcake.”
God, take him now. Robby chose to ignore her. Ignore her like every other time -
“Hey, I’m talking to you, fruitcake.”
“Myrna,” he bit out. “I told you a hundred times my name is Dr. Robby.”
He expected her to argue about nicknames and their usage. It’s usually what happens when he advises her that maybe she’d get better treatment if she’d use real names. That isn’t what he got.
“Do you wanna see my vagina?”
Robby’s eyebrows ran towards his hairline as he replied, “I've already seen it. And once was enough, thank you.”
“And what about mine?”
Robby knew that voice. He’d know it in any lifetime, through space and time; Robby would know your fucking voice anywhere. He turned to his left and there you were with your elbows and back resting against the counter. You’d leaned close enough so that your words were for him and him alone.
Robby wanted to humor himself that it had to be his imagination. The flash of something dark, ravenous, and achingly familiar he saw in your eyes must have been his subconscious going haywire. It wasn’t until he watched recognition dawn of what you said, the way you’d fucking said it, crest over your face that Robby knew he hadn’t made it up.
The heat of embarrassment had you straightening up beside him. He could see it in the light tinging of your cheeks, the anxious beat your fingers rapped on the counter. You weren’t looking at him now but he wished you would.
And then the memory of Dana saying you’d been caught smiling at your phone reared its evil head.
Mine.
He couldn’t keep the word from forming in his head. You’d been his for so long and those words of yours meant to tease and force him to give you a response. Robby wanted to tell you that no, once wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
Mine.
The last few months of your relationship had ended in flames but the rest. What about the rest of the many years you’d spent together? They’d been spectacular. The best memories he had you were a part of. The attempts at gardening and doctoring up sick animals. The way you’d dance to his records as you danced through every room while you dusted. The sounds of yours and Jake’s laughter mixing from the kitchen table going over homework.
He could remember the way your hands fisted the sheets as his hands hooked under your thighs to bring you closer to his greedy mouth. Your slick drenching his face, his beard, stubble - whatever phase he was in with or without facial hair. Robby loved it when you began to let go; body melting in his hands as your fingers wound themselves tightly in his hair to pull him closer, deeper. Robby could get drunk off your taste, the soft keening breaths that came ragged and shaking from your chest. How your body trembled as he worked each finger inside you until your back arched beautifully off the bed.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine….
He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t fucking care, but he fucking did.
“What can I do for you, Dr. Fullerton?”
Robby grabbed the PPE gown from beside the table before he went to his full height. From this advantage, he could faintly make out the dying hint of a flush on your cheeks.
“I was talking here first, Sugar tits.”
You pivoted to glance around him and waved at Myrna who waved back with her middle finger.
“Myrna, always a pleasure. I think that’s my third finger wave today,” you muttered the last part to him.
“Dr. Fullerton.”
“Right, right. I wanted to see if I could borrow one of your med students. Central 3 and 4 have two patients, males twenty-three and twenty- four in age. Both were at the same BBQ and believed dumping liter fluid on a fire was a good idea.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, they look like human marshmallows right now. One has second-degree burns while central 4 has, what I believe, might be second degrading into three.”
“Do you need me to come take a look?”
It felt like a reasonable question. He was attending and usually, all consultations like this went through him for an opinion. He’d just done it with her half an hour ago. It shouldn’t be a big deal -
“Oh, no, no. Thanks but I think I got this.”
“Oook. If you got it, why do you need a med student?”
“I figure it would be a good teaching moment for one of them on treatments of burns and how to assess the level. I’ve already called surgery for a consultation on central 4. Plus, there’s no available nurse to help me attend to both.”
Robby tried to keep the scoff from coming out. He shook his head and went to move around you, shooting Myrna an irritated glance that hopefully she caught as his nonverbal way of telling her he didn’t want to see her the rest of the day.
“So, you are saying you need help, you just don’t want my help.”
God, he sounded like a petulant child. By the look on your face, you’d agree with that statement.
“Robby, I know you’re busy - “
“I’m not busy,” he cut in.
“Robby, the parents of the OD teen are here.”
Dana came from behind the station, her eyes glancing between the two of you.
“Okay, park them in Trauma 1. He’s not back from CT yet. I’ll be there in a minute. You can borrow Whitaker,” he directed at you.
He had to move. There was still the floating face patient in trauma 2. He needed to find out if they’d been able to prep for a safe intubation and if not, they were doing a solid alternative. Langdon was there with both interns. Robby could trust him. He should’ve been more worried about himself because as he passed by you on his way to trauma 2, he felt his body dip towards you. The jealousy rushed up like a lance piercing his heart as he remembered Dana’s words. The idea that you’d moved on, that someone else had taken his place, threatened to remove whatever sensible bit of himself he had left.
“And don’t pull your phone out on the floor. It’s unprofessional, and I won’t have it in my department. You can step outside like everyone else.”
You didn’t look at him as he spoke. You didn’t even snap at him or give him any hint you’d heard him. Robby knew you’d heard him, but your eyes were solely focused behind him. It was the spot he’d just been standing - the spot Dana now occupied.
There should’ve been some satisfaction in watching Dana’s face crumble like this. All the earlier anger dissipated back into a playful, if not biting, rhetoric that gave you some hope the day wouldn’t be your version of Dante’s Inferno.
But Robby’s comment…
Only one person saw you on the phone earlier. One person who’d asked about who you’d been talking to while you’d read Jake’s texts. You’d been so ready to shout at Robby that it was Jake, his son. It might have given you some retribution but why should you have to explain anything to him? He was acting like a jealous significant other, not a damn boss. The way he’d pressed himself against you earlier; touching you as if half-possessed.
You weren’t helping, were you? The minute the words had leapt from your mouth you’d wished you could take them back. You shouldn’t have said it and yet, you did. You fucking did and now the wanton look he’d given you was forever etched into your brain.
You were an idiot.
An even bigger idiot for thinking Dana would’ve left anything between you.
“You just couldn’t help yourself. Could you?”
“Kid - “
Dana took a step forward ready to explain. You didn’t have it in you to listen. When the phone went off in her hand you found your way out and took it.
“Do you know where I can find Whitaker?”
“He had a patient around the North-East hallway.”
“Thanks.”
You heard her call your name. Not Fullerton, not kid. Dana said your name and for the first time today, you wished she’d stuck to calling you an asshole.
You followed Dana’s instructions and moved toward the hallways. You weren’t sure how long you’d be searching for him, but luckily it wasn’t long. On the opposite side of the hall, you watched him wheel a patient out of 17 North and into the halls. Whatever the patient said stopped Whitaker in his tracks - both grateful and surprised all at once. You waited a few minutes longer for him to enjoy a good moment with his patient (because sometimes it didn’t always go like that) before you made your way around to get to him.
“Whitaker!”
“Uhm, oh yes. Hi, Dr. Fullerton.”
“I have a couple of burn patients in Central 3 and 4; second to third degree. Dr. Robby said you’d be able to assist if that’s alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. I would. That’d be awesome. Thank you.”
He was so earnest it was endearing. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s go remove some dead tissue.”
You took the lead in showing Whitaker to the rooms. You were trying to make polite conversation. It only seemed fair to take a small interest in what motivated a young doctor to get into the field of medicine, of saving lives. Basic questions such as those were able to tell you a lot about who someone was and if they held enough compassion to be around people during their most vulnerable times.
You did try your best to keep your attention trained on the work. It was your turn to be a teacher, and you wanted to do it well. You didn’t have an excuse why you looked toward Trauma 1. No excuse at all why you watched Robby speak to the kids' parents looking defeated before they’d even begun. There was even less of an excuse for when Robby looked away from them, his eyes searching until he found yours, that should’ve made you want to forget these last two years. You hated the old impulse to run to him - to care for him. The last time you’d seen Robby looking desperately close to combusting like this it’d been a few doors down standing outside pediatrics.
Looking at him now, Robby seemed ready to quit, and it wasn’t even close to 8:30.
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As always, thank you all so much for reading!! Comments and reblogs are always appreciated!
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Tag list: @whatdoesntkillyoumakesyoustrange
#Residuals#ongoing series#the pitt#the pitt hbo#the pitt fanfiction#michael robinavitch#dr michael robinavitch#dr robby#dr robinavitch#michael robinavitch x reader#dr michael robinavitch x reader#dr robby x reader#dr robby x you#the pitt x reader#dr robby x oc#michael robinavitch x oc#michael robinavitch x you#noah wyle#saucy angsty babies
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Writing or saying the truth is equivalent to death, since we cannot tell the truth. It is forbidden because it hurts everyone. We never say the truth, we must lie, mostly as a result of our two needs: our need for love and cowardice.
Hélène Cixous, Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing
#writing#expression#language#truth#lies#love#cowardice#quotes#Cixous#Hélène Cixous#Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing
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Neglected!Marine!Reader x Yandere!BatFamily
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
A/N: I’ve been holding on to this one. Army Dreamer sent me an ask and this is what came out of it. I know you probably wanted Army, but I just thought Marine cause of an old COD OC I had and this fricken spiraled. I was gonna make it a three part series, but that would take too long and you deserve it now!
A/N: Frick forgot the warnings. My bad!
Warnings: GN!Reader, Yandere themes, bodily injury (to reader), mentions of death
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
You've been living with the Wayne since our mother and step-father died. You've constantly been ignored and belittled by the family. The most common bully being Damian, your younger half-brother. After constant harassments and being called weak by pretty much everyone for years, you sign up for the Marines after a recruiter comes to your high school and gives you and your classmates the selling points.
But, fuck it, you don't care. Gets you away from everyone. And, it's one of the most difficult military branches so an even bigger fuck you to anyone who thinks your weak after this.
It takes two years for you to get somewhere comfortable. You're not flying up the military ladder, but you’re a damn good officer in the METOC moving to South Caroline. And, a 12 hour drive and 2 hour flight from Gotham. Neither which you have ever taken.
You don't bother contact home. You don't bother going home for holidays and Christmas. You send Alfred a card occasionally with some of your other single and lonely military friends in it. Y'all make them really funny too.
It's through these collected and hilarious cards that you get rediscovered. Not by the family, but by the media. Apparently, not only did your silly photos go viral, but your friends damn military tik tok did to.
("Why'd you join the marines?" "It was too dangerous to be a stripper in Gotham." "Why'd you join the marines?” “I have daddy issues and wanted to get yelled at by someone who cared.")
The family which had still been ignoring you or completely forgot you up to that point was absolutely fucking baffled.
Bruce was imediatly calling Kate.
(“Why didn’t you tell me they joined the military?” “I was Air Force. Not in the Marines. How would I have known?”)
Media is now constantly harassing the family because like, “Hey! Your kid disappeared and joined the military, and you said nothing and now they're roasting you online for the entire world to see.
Bruce is making calls. Tim and Barbara are now trying to hack military stuff. Only for your barracks friends to troll the absolute shit outta them and on government computers to boot.
Eventually Stephanie finds out you’ve been sending cards to Wayne manor of you having fun and doing stupid shit with friends. (Things that you should be doing with them, because holy fuck are you funny as shit.) All addressed to Alfred. Bruce asks if you ever sent anything to him, which was a flat no.
Jason is just baffled. This was nothing he expected. You used to be so soft and squishy, now there's videos of you lifting and doing fun shit with friends and you're shooting guns like a badass. So proud of you.
Cassandra is reading everyone's body language, but yours just looks carefree when she sees your videos and photos, she wants to feel like that. She wants you to help her feel like that.
Dick is distraught. You could have join the circus! But the military? Yes, you're a badass now, but still! He's delulu in thinking that you would have wanted to follow in his footsteps. Acting like he wasn't always busy or spending time with Damian.
Duke is just wowed. You joined the military. You DNGF. You are badass without having to wear any hero costume. Cool shit. Top tier.
Stephanie is just amazed. You had all this personality and she had no idea. You were just living your best life without the wight of the family or our father, and holy shit did she want that for herself. Teach her your ways.
Barbara is amazed, too. This was the most normal form of rebellion anyone could do in this family. Yet, no one expected it and you did it. She would have expected you to become a villian or gone rouge, but instead you joined the military. Color her surprised.
Tim is pissed. Everyone wants you back, yet there is no way to get you back. You knowingly or unknowingly made it nearly impossible for them to get you back without the military and government getting involved. He's pissed about the challenge, and now he's obsessing over all your old manerisns and the photos and videos. (He has the cleariest picture of how you really feel, but he doesn't care that it might be broken or negative. He's obsessed all the same.)
Bruce finds out your active duty and freaks the fuck out. Something could happen and you could be deployed and killed. His worst fear is you being killed. It was bad enough when you were in Gotham and fragile. But, now your military and you think you’re strong. But, you’re not and now you could die at any moment.
Damian is shellshocked. You technically proved him wrong. And, he sees the media's reaction to you. Some people are actually praising you for your service. You left and made yourself strong and made a new family. You didn't bother fighting for this one because you didn't think they were worth it. You didn't think he was worth it. It hurts, but not in away that makes him angry. In a way that makes hs insecurities flare. He wants you to come home now, so he can prove to you that he is worthy. That he is sorry.
Getting you home is near impossible. You have a specific roll that you've trained for, and are on active duty. Your a military dog on a leash the bat family cant control.
It's Kate the gives them the horrible idea. If they got you discharged from the military then you would have to come home. The only problem is an honorable discharge would still give you the means to avoid them, while a dishonorable discharge would make you absolutely hate them and they don't want that. (Plus the media would constantly harass you and them.)
So they decide to get you a medical discharge.
But, they can't hack into things and make anything up, though. And, all your physicals and mental check ups were sound. You have a more administrative position, but accidents happen all the time. Bruce has to make a few phone calls, but your active duty gets you sent out into the field. On a military operation that called for your expertise. (His anxiety is spiked through the roof and he has League Members on standby if something goes wrong.)
Kate also made a few phone calls. You ended up being deployed to assist the National Guard near your area. Only while doing your duties, you and your squad trigger a trap and you lose your hearing in your left ear and your left leg is wrecked. A few of your team mates are killed. (Bruce is pissed at Tim, Dick and Jason for that specifically.) Some lost limbs or now have memory problems. Eveyone in the squad is down and out.
You try to support the surviors as you all recover, but as soon as you’re better and given medical discharge the family snags you. Dragging you back to gotham before anyone can say anything. You try to fight, but the loss of hearing messes with you and the still fresh injury makes you weak once more. Plus, there's more of them than you.
When back at the manor, the family uses PTSD as an excuse for the lack of public appearances, and make many donations to VA hospitals and campaigns for retired and injured members of the military. (They even pay for what the military won't cover for your friends and anyone else they injured in the incident. Bruce has some guilt over you getting hurt that he tries to get rid of by doing this.)
Instantly, Stephanie and Dick coddle you. And, an insane amount.
Jason tries to treat you how he did before since he's so awkward and you punch him in the face in return. Not taking that from him anymore. And, he fucking respects you more for it.
Tim ironically enough, begins to emotionally manipulate you with finesse. He's studied you obsessively, yet somehow you’re still surprising him every now and then.
Barbara gives you space, she can tell this has all been a lot and of everyone she probably understands your injury best.
Bruce bounces between trying to coddle you and give you space. Unintentionally treating you like a child.
Cass is just silently there all the time, almost always watching. She can tell you're overwhelmed and pissed, but you’re still so peaceful to her. Not asking her to talk or forcing her away.
Duke is the most chill. Sucks they had to nerf you, but still your fun to hang out with despite the injury. You developed some military humor and it is hilarious.
Damian, avoids you until he finally breaksdown. And it's not pretty. He finally confesses how guilty he feels. That he is sorry. That he actually didn't want to have to hurt you, that he is a terrible brother and a horrible hero. he never shouldve called you weak. (And, you forgive him, because he was a child. And, because out of everyone he's the only one to apologize and confessed to what they did.)
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
A/N: I’m typing up like three stories at once, and my ask box is filled. Absolutely slammed. Last time I went on an answer spree I burnt myself out. Hopefully this will hold y’all off while I finish up Smalltown! Part 8, Pregnant! Part 2, and a partial Part 2 to the SugarDaddy Tony thingy. (I don’t know where that came from, but I’m happy y’all liked it. The original man for the SugarDaddy/Older!Husband was Philip Graves. lol)
#luluramblings#yandere batfam#yandere batfamily#batfam x reader#batfamily x reader#yandere dc#yandere batfam x reader#yandere batfamily x reader#platonic batfam
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Thinking thoughts about fae!Reader who looks just like a normal person, not a trace of magic in their appearances, not a smidge of glamour the rest of their folk use routinely.
Fae!Reader who crosses paths with 141, their eyes warm when they sell a handsome man with Mohawk a sketchbook in a tiny town somewhere in the middle of nowhere, when the lads are out there.
Fae!Reader who follows the taste of their bonds, who feeds off the “thank you, bonnie!” from a friendly Scot, their eyes shining for a single moment before they are normal again. Regular. Human.
Fae!Reader who meets the even friendlier sergeant right after, their fingers itching to trace the smooth expanse of his dark skin, to sink in teeth into the muscular forearm.
To see if the man bleeds as pretty as he looks.
It’s a different city and a different time now, their hook sinking into the soft underbelly of man’s genuine gratitude when they help him to pick up spilled groceries.
Fae!Reader who hunts Price down, two steps up on the ladder, their excitement vibrating so hard that part of their human, regular appearance start to melt off.
They meet him in a different place again, they get a short “thank you, love” — off-handed and hardly warm, for a cup of coffee they serve him.
But it’s still a thanks, it’s still another hook.
It’s still a debt.
Fae!Reader who comes to Price in dreams, their face always murky, their appearances ever changing, their weight on his hips making him ache for things he shouldn’t. Coaxing out a plea from him, getting their fill of his desperation, kissing the man stupid and leaving before sunrise.
Fae!Reader who now is three steps up, leaving them with the last one.
With Ghost’s heavy presence, with Ghost’s watchful eyes and iron all over the body. This one could be tricky.
Ghost, who knows that they will come — who have seen the dazed look in his captain’s eyes, the way Johnny itches for something and doesn’t remember what for, the way Kyle develops strange hungers he can never sate.
Ghost who bumps into you himself, ‘accidentally’ dropping your coat off the back of their chair in a bustling cafe, murmuring “here ya go, luv” when he picks it up and gives it back.
Fae!Reader who tilt their head to the side and murmur “thank you”, Ghost’s fingers lingering on your shoulders when he puts the coat back on them.
Cold outside, luv, wouldn’t want you to freeze when you are so far away from your court. Following them to the edge of the world.
Bond snaps in place like a tight golden lace, when fae blinks at him astounded, their eyes shining for a second too long, their human face starting to melt just above their left brow before they pull themselves together.
Simon knows he needs to be careful. Simon knows that fae are petty, that fae are dangerous, that fae hold grudges for as long as they live.
And they live forever.
But Ghost hums under his breath and pulls away finally, turning his back to the creature that haunted his whole team for the last three years, weaving themselves inside them.
When pretty fae comes back Ghost is already waiting for them — tugging them out of their shadows, biting down on their neck and holding them down.
You hiss at him, shadows curling around Simon’s ankles, threatening to break them in half. But Simon has the shadows of his own.
Ghost tuts at you like you are unruly pet being ridiculous, leaning in to lick your blood off, low growl rumbling in his chest. Fuck, that’s even better than he thought it’s going to be.
You are half dazed and half mad, when he pushes your back to his captain’s chest. John’s smoke curling like a live thing, John’s fingers angling your head up, thumb prying your mouth open.
Bad bad idea it was to come to them yourself, to make them want and yearn and wait.
Soap smiles, light bending around him, his eyes impossible blue of mountain springs, his teeth just a little too sharp.
His fingers getting into your hair, getting himself just a strand, just enough to tide him over while L.T. and captain take their fill.
Didn’t you know you need to be careful, bonnie?
Fae are petty, after all.
Fae are vicious.
Fae are dangerous.
Kyle’s fingers tug your shirt off, big palms of his coming up to your chest, stars dancing on the edge of his irises, his smile stretching a little too wide to be human.
Fae hold grudges for as long as they live, darling.
And they live forever.
#fae au#call of duty#cod mw2#girl.snippets#tf 141 x you#tf 141 x reader#task force 141#poly 141#simon ghost riley#kyle gaz garrick#john soap mactavish#captain john price#simon riley x reader#kyle garrick x reader#johnny soap mactavish#soap x reader#john price x reader
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Burgandy Swim Cap
triathlon!Aaron Hotchner x fleabag!reader Genre: meet-a-cute but you're mainly just ogling at Hotch as he swims in a speedo. Summary: You know those encounters that last, like, five seconds where literally nothing happens but still manage to blossom into a full-blown crush? Yeah. That. Partly because you're chronically single. Partly because you’re starved for attention. Mostly because you saw him in a speedo. A tight speedo. A tight, half-metallic speedo. A tight, half-metallic, very low-waisted speedo. So really, it’s not a crush, it’s cause and effect. Also… he’s a dad. Too. Warnings: objectification of the Hotchner body (called out twice for not having an ass, affectionately), implied age gap, sexual jokes and cuss words Word Count: 4.7k Dado's Corner: I genuinely don’t know how to tag the reader... but she’s giving me fleabag energy… so, uhmmm, let’s roll with that. Huge thanks and smooches to @hotchology for developing and proofreading the snippets I dropped in your dms at 11 pm unprompted 🧎♀️
masterlist(s)
It’s not your fault you’re staring out the cafeteria window that just so happens to overlook the pool. You’re literally facing it. What else are you supposed to do - dislocate your neck inhumanly to look the other way?
That window was meant for people-watching.
Specifically, for anxious parents to spy on their kids mid-paddle without interrupting the lesson every time little Aiden coughs. It’s not your fault you’re childless and currently repurposing the feature to ogle burgundy-swim-cap guy in lane four.
You’re just… respecting the building’s original design intent.
You needed the distraction. Desperately.
Because beside you, your friend is once again delivering the extended director’s cut of that five-minute interaction with the guy she’s allegedly, absolutely, 100% over.
The conversation happened three months ago.
You know this.
Because she has broken it down line by line for three months.
Every pause. Every blink.
So maybe you are a bad friend. Possibly a terrible person. Because while she unpacks every microscopic detail of his “Oh, I’m sorry I stepped on your toe”, you’re mentally calculating burgundy-swim-cap guy’s exact height.
From twelve feet up. Through water. And glass.
And okay… maybe it’s not just the height.
Maybe it’s also the length of his... arms.
Arms.
His arms.
Long, sinuous things slicing through the water like art. Like poetry. Like that one ballet you pretended to enjoy but secretly napped through.
This is different. This is science. You’re just appreciating form. Physics. Hydrodynamics, anatomy, geometry… all the -ometrics.
You’re not objectifying. You’re observing. A selfless academic pursuit, really.
Especially when he glides under one, two, three lane dividers in a single breath, back muscles shifting and flexing with each kick.
And God… his back. You can’t stop staring at it.
Wide. Solid. Disproportionately large, especially considering the man has absolutely zero ass. None. Negative ass. Just ten uninterrupted feet of legs. Stunning.
But it’s the manners that do it.
Because the moment he reaches the ladder and sees the lady from lane one headed there too?
He pauses. Actually waits. Even though he got there first. Doesn’t try to squeeze past her or pretend he didn’t see - no, he stops.
Gives her space. Gestures her to go. Looks away, even.
Eyes politely drifting up the tiled wall, to the stands below you where the suburban invasion of moms has taken hold, to the bright flags swaying just behind the cafeteria window -
Until he lifts his head a little too high.
Fuck… did he just catch you mid-stare? You can’t tell. The goggles - those hideous, mirrored cheap goggles - reflect everything and nothing at once.
Maybe he sees you.
Maybe he doesn’t.
Maybe your face is just a blurry little ghost in his periphery.
Either way, your entire body goes hot and rigid. You peel your eyes away - casually, discreetly, nod to your friend to pretend you’re still listening to her - but not entirely.
You still watch. You have to.
Because he’s about to rise from the pool. And you need to see it.
For research purposes.
For the sacred cause of scientific accuracy. You have to confirm if your earlier measurements were correct the moment he steps out of the water.
They weren’t.
Because he’s bigger. So much bigger.
You can’t tell exactly by how much, though, because the moment his biceps flex - thick and veiny - as he hauls himself up the ladder, your brain just… packs its bags and leaves.
Bye.
All higher function is instantly rerouted to the way the water clings to him - refuses to let go, even gravity is struggling to move on.
(Honestly? Fair. You wouldn’t want to let go either… you’re actually kind of jealous.)
Jealous of how those droplets trace his body - how most of them drip obediently, following the grooves of his muscles, but some linger. They pool in the thick mat of dark curls across his chest, clinging for dear life.
And why wouldn’t they? He’s covered in them.
A slick, glistening mess of wet hair clings to his pecs - dark curls matted down and glinting under the pool lights, looking so soft and stupidly biteable you could probably get arrested just for thinking about it.
Then the curls start to gather. Real organized.
Forming this tidy relatively thin line that runs straight down the center of his chest, gliding over the elegant suggestion of abs - not shredded, but sculpted. Classy, if that’s even possible.
The line of hair dips past his belly button and practically screams into your long-gone neural functions: lick here.
(And you would. With honor. For science. For the flag.)
Because then the trail spreads at his waistband, curling out along his obliques, a pair of sirens luring you to the main event: his very, very low-waisted speedo.
Duo-chrome. Black and something... metallic. Wicked.
The black half pretends to behave.
It lies to your face, “Look at me, look at me,” it says. “I’m discreet. I’m functional. I’m keeping things tasteful.”
But it’s a filthy little traitor. Because right next to it, the metallic side is doing everything but staying subtle. It wasn’t camouflaging a damn thing.
Topography: fully visible. The contour. The definition. The godforsaken outline.
Traceable. With a pencil.
Or your tongue.
Preferably your tongue.
Preferably slow. Possibly kneeling. Definitely grateful.
Because whatever anatomical miracle is happening beneath that lycra – truly might be the eighth wonder of the world built between two hipbones.
These are sickeningly good dick proportions.
Burgandy Swim Cap guy peels off the ugly goggles.
Be fucking damned. That is a hell of a face.
The suction rings frame his eyes - tender little indents where he clearly strapped those goggles too tight.
He’s a try-hard.
A confirmed overachiever - you can tell. It’s in the way he did those laps earlier - efficient, ruthless, mechanical - and in the speed too. Like every stroke was on a timer. Like there was something at stake.
Is burgundy-swim-cap guy training for something?
Maybe he’s a professional swimmer.
Maybe he’s training for a triathlon. The 2012 Olympics in London. A shot at some world record no one else cares about.
Maybe he’s an eldest son.
Maybe he’s got a dad who never said “I’m proud of you” without a follow-up critique.
Maybe he’s still trying to earn praise that never came.
Maybe it’s daddy issues - maybe it’s mommy issues. Issues… in general.
Maybe he’s spent his whole life needing to be exceptional just to feel enough.
Maybe he’s been through a heartbreak. A divorce. A loss.
Maybe he just has a lot of feelings and refuses to talk about any of them unless he’s actively swimming them to death.
Or maybe he’s just that guy - the kind who doesn’t do anything unless he can do it at 120%, even when no one’s watching. Especially when no one’s watching.
Maybe he holds himself to impossible standards because he doesn’t know how not to. Who swims like this because it’s the one place he can fail in private.
Who knows. Who cares.
He’s just a guy.
A man.
A stranger you’ve never even spoken to.
You don’t know his name, his voice, anything.
And yet, there’s something about him.
Something in the slope of his nose, in the way his flushed cheeks are still chasing the rhythm of his pulse, in the rise and fall of his chest. It’s not bodybuilder-big, not exaggerated - but it feels massive.
Maybe it’s just because it’s him.
Because every breath he takes stretches that hairy chest just a little wider, a little broader, until the space around you feels like it’s shrinking, like there’s not enough air left in the room that isn’t his.
You’re fine. You are totally fine.
You’re also clenching your thighs for absolutely no reason. None.
Until - he removes the burgundy swim cap.
Now you do have a reason.
Because beneath it is this obscene head of raven-black hair.
Thick. Damp. Unruly.
Some of it’s clinging to his forehead, but the rest is sticking out in a thousand different directions like it doesn’t give a single shit about streamlining or aerodynamics.
He looks deliciously messy.
But he doesn’t let it stay.
No, he runs his hand through it almost immediately, slicking it back, a man who cannot stand the chaos of hair across his eyes, he can’t stand being out of place.
Control freak. Freak in general.
That tracks.
Still hot.
Hotter.
And still, he doesn’t play to the crowd.
He could - he should - scan the room, make eye contact, maybe throw in a wink or a casual flex. He could at least give a nod to the fact that half the people on this side of the glass are currently 1,461 words deep into mentally drafting smutty fiction with him as the main character.
But no.
He just looks down, slides into his pathetic little (from where you’re standing… sitting.) pool slippers, and rushes toward the changing rooms like he’s late to something.
A loser. An absolute loser.
It’s the hottest thing you’ve ever seen.
You’re completely captivated - so much so that, when your friend finally finishes her emotional postmortem and disappears down the corridor toward the pool, you subtly change seats to get a better view of the hallway.
A strategic move, just in case burgundy-swim-cap guy decides he’s earned a post-swim coffee after all that aquatic foreplay you projected onto him from the safety of your horny little imagination.
Well. You’re getting coffee, at least. You deserve a reward. A hot, mildly burnt one.
You’ve been through a lot.
Except it’s possibly the worst line you’ve ever stood in because you had the genius idea to go for caffeine at the exact same time the children’s swim class ended.
Now you’re trapped - shoulder to shoulder with a damp, shrieking mob of underdeveloped humans all demanding hot dogs, pizza, cheeseburgers, and, from the look in one child’s eyes, possibly the cashier’s soul.
You’ve entered a purgatory of sticky fingers and pure indecision, where time slows and the line somehow clogs even more with every passing second.
It’s not their fault - children are absolute demons in Crocs. They don’t know what they want. They pause. They backtrack.
One child is negotiating for “just the cheese from the cheeseburger, but on a hot dog bun,” and you are watching, in real time, the unraveling of Western civilization.
…You hate that you respect the innovation.
It’s fine. You’re fine.
You just really, really don’t want to miss Burgundy Swim Cap Guy if he happens to pass by - maybe in jeans, maybe (if there’s any justice left in the universe) grey sweatpants, or a hoodie two sizes too big.
Something casual. Unassuming.
Something that dares to cover everything you now know is under there - and somehow makes it worse.
Something that’s the reason your mouth is dry and you’re stuck in this line, mentally begging for something warm to wrap your lips around and feel vaguely hydrated again.
You’re trying to be patient. You’re trying not to hate the one kid crying because his juice is too red and his dad fumbling with his wallet.
You’re a monster. The worst kind of person.
These kids are innocent.
They’re not responsible for the slow-burn, will-they-won’t-they fantasy you’ve constructed entirely in your touch-starved brain - just to distract yourself from the fact that you haven’t been held in actual, human arms in months, your last situationship ended because they “forgot they weren’t single,” the closest thing you’ve had to intimacy this year was a barista remembering your name – once - and, okay, technically there was also that one time a man with a van asked if you “liked adventure,” but you don’t count that unless you're feeling especially pathe-
“That’ll be $2.50,” says the cashier.
Snaps you instantly back to the cruel reality where the only thing you're taking home tonight is a stupid plastic bracelet that’s already cutting into your wrist and the lingering scent of disinfectant.
(Good luck taking that away.)
You hand him a twenty.
He looks at you, deadpan, like he’s about to ask if your sad little wallet also holds the answer to the mental math problem he just did in half a second - the kind of calculation only a man with a degree in math or engineering could do, now tragically stuck working in a depressing public pool cafeteria.
Not even a cool street café. No latte art. No jazz music. Just chlorine and despair.
You give him a sheepish half-smile.
The twenty is all you had.
Okay - technically you had 50 cents too.
Maybe.
In loose change that’s probably fused with gum wrappers and lint at the bottom of your bag but explaining that feels like a one-way ticket to having a burnt cappuccino tossed in your face.
It’s 2011. Surely cafeterias still carry change.
…Apparently not.
“Card?” he asks.
You have exactly $1.78 on your card. You know this because you checked this morning, like the responsible adult you pretend to be.
This is bad.
This is humiliating.
This is the exact kind of character-building moment that turns into a core memory your brain will randomly replay at 3 a.m. for the next seven years.
The kids behind you are screaming. (Except one. One child is calmly and confidently negotiating a pizza-inside-a-burger situation with his father, who looks like he lost custody in the divorce and also in this conversation.)
And then there are the dads, too. You can feel them. Judging you.
You don’t even need to turn around.
Which is a shame, really. Because you love dads. You’re hopelessly, helplessly, filthily attracted to dads.
Hot dads? Daddy dads? Men with crow’s feet and deep voices who say things like “I’ll take care of it” and mean it? Slightly emotionally unavailable men with strong forearms, guilt complexes, and unresolved trauma they process exclusively through precision lawn edging and Sunday barbecue duty?
Inject that straight into your bloodstream.
You want them tired. You want them emotionally repressed. You want them to carry patio furniture like it weighs nothing and grunt when they sit down. You want to be a problem.
But these dads?
Their suburban dad disapproval is so potent it might as well be playing on loop over the intercom right between announcements for lost goggles and swim meet fundraisers.
These dads would ask about your five-year plan, nod thoughtfully, then ghost you via a LinkedIn message.
These dads are not for you.
These dads can go.
And so you panic. Sweat. Freeze. Until-
A hand.
A large hand.
Chubby-fingered, hairy, left-handed and wrapped in the crisp white cuff of a very expensive white shirt, peeking out from an even more expensive black suit jacket.
There’s a Rolex on his wrist. A real one.
That same hand, gentle and unbothered, slides a credit card (which looks comically small in those thick fingers, by the way) right into the reader, where $2.50 is already floating on the screen.
“I got it,” says a voice.
Oh.
Oh no.
It’s deep. Unreasonably deep. The kind of voice that should be illegal before noon.
And soft, too, absurdly soft for how deep it is because the vibrations travel straight from your ear to your… there. There, there.
You turn. Slowly.
And there he is.
A man.
(Surprise!)
Not just a man – a Man. Capital M, bolded, underlined, possibly trademarked if your bank account could handle the licensing fee.
He’s in a suit. In a full suit. Black jacket. White shirt. Burgundy tie.
You blink… wait is that- no way.
It’s him.
It’s Burgundy Swim Cap Guy.
Now in Burgundy Tie.
He matched.
Goddamn it. What a loser. What a hot, meticulous loser.
Oh, Burgundy Swim Cap man.
Yeah, let’s get that correction in there. Man.
Because up close, in proper daylight and expensive tailoring, he’s clearly way older than he looked in the pool. Deliciously older kind of old.
… And here you thought he was your age. (You were wrong. Again.)
All the better.
You barely recognize him in this polished version of himself - drenched in a cologne that costs more than your monthly grocery budget and somehow isn’t obnoxious.
It’s that expensive.
It’s not that aquatic bullshit guys in finance wear.
No. It’s warm. Inviting. Woodsy. A little smoky.
Expensive in the way that makes you want to bury your face in his neck and inhale until you black out while pretending you weren’t about to fall in love over his clavicle. (Yeah… too specific?)
And beneath it - just a trace - chlorine.
God help you.
You’re going to die here.
He even has a cowlick. A perfectly smoothed cowlick.
The kind that clearly took time, effort, wrist action, and probably a round brush.
He blow-dries.
He has a routine. A regimen. He has systems.
He’s probably terrifying in the morning. The kind of man who folds things. The kind who knows where his passport is right now.
Now, now.
But now he’s looking at you, brows thick, slightly furrowed.
Do you have something on your face? No. Can’t be.
No, you’ve just been staring at him like a feral raccoon. You still haven’t spoken.
…right.
“…Thank you,” you manage, barely audible - just as his phone starts ringing in his jacket pocket.
Drowned out by technology. Your gratitude swallowed by a default ringtone, who would have ever guessed.
He pulls the phone out, and just before he lifts it to his ear, you catch something - someone’s voice on the other end. A name? His? Yes they’re calling him it must’ve been his. Something clipped, ending in -chh or -shhh.
Josh?
Oh. Huh.
…Kind of disappointing.
You thought his name would be more... posh. Like something that comes with personalized cufflinks and generational trauma
….but Josh? That’s a guy who texts “you up?” at 11:48 PM from his blackberry pearl.
You hoped for more… syllables.
Whatever. What really surprises you is that Burgundy Swim Cap Man-slash-Josh-slash-Posh doesn’t say a word during the call. Not one.
He just holds the phone to his ear and stares - intensely - at a spot inside the glass food display. Not blinking. Not moving.
You’re genuinely concerned for the sandwich he’s glaring at. (It’s about five seconds away from bursting into flames.)
And you - you ache for that stare.
You want it on you. Burn it into your skin. You’d commit actual, punishable crimes for that kind of violent visual attention.
“Garcia, send me the files. We’ll brief the team as soon as I arrive,” he says - voice all business, clipped, calm, so authoritative it almost makes you bite your lip on reflex.
Then the phone disappears back into his pocket like it’s never existed, and without missing a beat: “An Americano, please.”
…Why doesn’t this surprise you? Could he be any more predictably boring? Go on, order a plain bagel and a side of unseasoned guilt while you’re at it.
But his eyes flick to the pastry shelf instead.
Brows furrow, slightly, sexily, offensively; he’s clearly doing some kind of emotional calculus about whether his swim earned him the moral right to a treat.
(He probably didn’t get many growing up.)
“And, uh… can I get the rainbow muffin to go?” he says, pointing with his chubby index finger toward the kids' menu.
You follow it (like an idiot).
And there it is. The muffin. Rainbow-sprinkled. Rainbow dough. Probably tastes like chemical vanilla. Pastel wrapper. Comes with a bubble blower, too.
A muffin. With a toy.
…This man.
You hate him. You want him. You’d marry him on sight.
He picks up the phone again. Dials. Calm. Efficient.
“Hey, can you pass me to Jack?” he says.
The frown - just a flicker ago, all sharp lines and no-nonsense jaw - melts. His face softens like he’s been flipped to a different setting and you actually flinch a little because how is that the same face?
“Hey, buddy.”
Oh. God, his voice. It goes soft. Stupidly soft.
“I’ve gotta be at work a little earlier today,” he murmurs, gently gripping the phone. “But I got you something… did you finish your homework?”
May you be absolutely, irreparably damned.
He’s a dad.
“Good job, buddy. I’m coming home soon, okay? Got you a surprise,” He glances down at the rainbow muffin. A little fond. A little sad, even. “Yes, you can do movie night with Aunt Jessica if I don’t manage to be there tonight…”
You wander how many other movie nights he missed.
“Yes, buddy,” he chuckles (you want to bite through drywall), “No, I didn’t forget the popcorn this time. You can have them with Aunt Jessica, she knows where they are… Yes, with salted caramel too. But don’t eat too much, alright?”
He pauses. Adds, with a soft little dad scold, “Make Aunt Jessica have some too this time. Save a few for Daddy, okay?”
Daddy.
Your knees give out.
No, not literally. You keep standing. But spiritually? Morally? Muscularly? You’ve dropped to the floor.
And then, casually, cruelly, he reaches for his coffee. With his ringless - yes, ringless - hand.
Not that you’re thinking about it. Not that you noticed. Not that you checked. Twice.
“Alright, buddy, I gotta go,” he says. His voice lowers again, not serious, just softer. Like he doesn’t want to hang up but he’s used to having to. “I’ll see you tonight. Be good, okay?” And then he smiles. To his phone. Like his whole face is a love letter.
Dimples. Of course. Of course this man has dimples. A loser dad with dimples.
“Love you too, bud”
And that’s it.
Phone call over.
You should walk away. You want to walk away.
But now you’re locked in that awkward limbo of mutual acknowledgment - the cursed micro-social contract that binds all humans in public spaces: you made eye contact, you must now exchange a minimum of one sentence to confirm shared reality.
He turns to you.
You are sweating. You are visibly short-circuiting.
No one is saying anything.
Fuck.
You shouldn’t have listened to his very personal call to his very personal son.
You shouldn’t have looked.
You shouldn’t have stared so hard you could recite the ingredients list on that muffin.
Fuck.
His shoulders look even broader in the suit.
Not just handsome - no, broad. Imposing.
Too bad the slacks are hiding his massi-
“The bubble blower’s for my kid,” he says, suddenly.
A preemptive strike. A full-grown man in what has to be his mid-40s, clarifying that he is not, in fact, personally invested in aquatic toy acquisition.
Funny, though - he didn’t feel the need to defend the rainbow pastry.
Interesting.
Bad for him.
“The muffin’s for the dad instead?” You nod toward the sad pastel pile in his hand.
(You’re a bit of a mean flirt - not because you’re heartless, but because it’s the only way you know how to hold on to a little power when someone makes your brain turn to mush.)
If you can’t stop yourself from falling for them, at least you can make sure they’re a little off-balance, too.
“If the dad’s lucky, he’ll probably get just a bite,” he replies, deadpan - like, completely expressionless except for the slight raise of his eyebrows at the end. You don’t even know where the voice came from. His mouth barely moved.
…Ventriloquism, probably.
Then he glances down at the linoleum floor. Smiles, almost shy.
“My son has a sweet tooth.”
Fucking hell.
This man is gushing about his kid to a total stranger in a pool cafeteria. No hesitation. No shame.
You are two seconds away from him flipping open his photo gallery and showing you twenty-five nearly identical pictures of a child covered in chocolate frosting, all while holding the phone in those massive hands.
God, his hands.
You really need to stop noticing them.
“Get a muffin for yourself too,” you say, tossing it out like a joke. Half-meaning it. Mostly-meaning it.
He chuckles, raises a hand, shaking his head. “Oh no…”
“Scared of food coloring?”
“No, no,” he laughs again. “Just…” He shrugs. Doesn’t finish. Leaves it there, hanging.
Is it because he doesn’t think he deserves a little treat?
Or because he’s afraid of getting that crisp, probably dry-clean-only shirt stained with rainbow frosting?
“How much is one rainbow muffin?” you ask the cashier.
(You two are best friends in your head now.)
He barely looks up. Dead inside. “One seventy.”
(This friendship might be one-sided.)
You blink.
$1.70 for frozen dough and a toy that doubles as a choking hazard… meanwhile, your cappuccino cost more than a gallon of gas.
Fucked up economy for real.
Then you glance at the cashier’s hands… he’s already typing it in.
Okay. Take it back.
That’s the real sign of late-stage capitalism: rainbow muffin doesn’t even require your consent to be rung up… but hey, at least you can afford it.
You’ve never been happier to be $1.70 poorer in your entire adult life.
You pull out your card.
He notices.
He pulls his, too.
Two cards. One slit. (Now this reminds you of your browser history from last night-)
“No, please, I got it,” he says - again.
Oh no, a damsel mustn’t pay for herself. (You hate him. You want to climb him like a tree.)
Watch her do it anyway. With confidence and $1.78 in her account.
You both arrive at the card reader at the exact same time.
Hands bump. Wrists brush. The tension is… stupid.
It’s awkward. It’s ridiculous. It’s… romantic?
Maybe.
Or maybe you’re just touch-starved.
Still-
You win.
Swipe clean. Transaction approved.
Victory, feminism, and low blood sugar all in one swipe.
“Enjoy the bubbles,” you say, smiling as you hand him the pastry and the overpriced soapy water.
He takes it, eyes flicking between you and the muffin, and for a second he gives you that look.
That slightly tired, slightly amused look men give right before they tell you you’ve done something reckless. Or charming. Or both.
He looks like he’s about to scold you. Fatherly. Disgustingly (hot).
He doesn’t.
“Sure,” he says, deadpan. “I’ll cherish them.” (Who even uses ‘cherish’ in the 21st century?!) And then, at the very end of it, a smile. Small. Real.
He opens his mouth again, “I-”
A breath.
“I have to go.”
One last smile. Quick. Tight.
And he’s already turning. Already halfway to the exit.
You stare.
Helpless.
Unwell.
For a second, you hope this modern-day Cinderella in a suit might drop one of his wildly expensive Italian leather dress shoes so you’ll have something to hunt him down with across D.C.
Track him by scent and shoe size.
But no. The shoe stays on.
He probably triple-knots them like the terrifying overachiever he is.
He does stop, though - just for a second - to check the time on his very expensive Rolex.
Hot. Unforgivably hot.
This brief, chaotic muffin-flavored detour has probably set him back exactly one minute and twenty-one seconds, and you know he’s internally recalculating his entire schedule down to the microsecond.
And yes, the panic is subtle. But it’s there.
In the clench of his jaw. The twitch of his temple. That microscopic furrow in his brow that says: How dare I entertain myself with flirtatious nonsense when I have 7,000 emails to check by 5 P.M.
Incredible. You’ve rattled a man with a watch that costs more than your rent. You’ve won.
You are going to be insufferable about this when your friend finishes her class.
Forget “stepped on your toe” guy. That man is dead to the narrative.
This dad is going to be the main character of every single conversation you have for the next four months.
You will tell her everything. Every glance. Every gesture. The muffin. The bubble blower. The nonexistent ass. From the moment you first locked eyes with this burgundy-swim-cap man named-
“…Aaron,” the cashier mutters.
You blink. “What?”
“That’s his name,” he says flatly. “Aaron. He comes here a lot.”
The cashier really doesn’t get paid enough for this.
Aaron.
Wow.
Two syllables.
“FBI,” he even adds casually, like it’s no big deal, as he hands a slice of pizza tucked inside a cheeseburger to a damp-haired five-year-old.
So.
Aaron owns a pair of handcuffs.
Government-issued. Handcuffs.
That tracks.
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#aaron hotchner#hotch#criminal minds#aaron hotchner x reader#hotch x reader#aaron hotch x reader#fleabag!reader
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Sylus saying reader is short/too short and we say put some inches into me then?
omg my first request and it's a little scandalous! happy to oblige :) honestly, i got a little carried away with this one. not sure if it's exactly what you were looking for, but hope you enjoy. thank you for the request! word count: 1.5k content: just suggestive, use of kitten and sweetie, short reader hehe, reader can be gender neutral and non-mc
︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶ ୨♡୧ ︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶ ୨♡୧ ︶︶︶ ⊹ ︶︶
You were sure that Sylus placed his most used cookware in the highest cabinets just to make it difficult for you to grab. To be fair, most of your adventures in his kitchen resulted in burnt ingredients, hand cuts, or just plain bad food. You were determined, however, to surprise him with a decent home cooked meal. Three times this week you had practiced cooking baked scallops in your own kitchen. It was Sylus’ favorite dish and also the bane of your existence.
The first two times you made it at home, it was completely inedible. The third time it actually tasted decent, but there was still room for improvement. You were sure you would get it right this time, especially with the state of the art cooking appliances in Sylus’ kitchen.
None of that mattered, however, when you couldn’t even get a baking dish down from the cabinets. Since Sylus was so tall there was no step ladder in sight. You stared up at the stack of baking dishes and silently cursed your parents for passing on their lack of height to you.
There was no other option as you were the only person in Sylus’ residence. Just as you began your climb onto the counter you heard a throat clear behind you.
“What’s going on here?” The deep timbre of his voice never failed to send a chill down your spine.
You slid off the counter and turned to face Sylus. “Why are you back so early? I thought you were going to be out most of the night.”
“Last time I checked,” Sylus began to walk towards you, “this is my home. I don’t think I’m required to announce when I’m coming and going.”
The closer he got to you, the deeper the blush grew on your cheeks. He hadn’t even said anything flirtatious or suggestive. Just his presence flustered you and he knew it.
“Of course you don’t. But now you’ve ruined your surprise.”
This made him quirk an eyebrow, “My surprise?”
Sylus was now right in front of you. You stood with your back to the counter and peered up at him. ‘Damn tall people.’
“I was going to cook you dinner.” You reached behind you to grab the recipe sheet and hand it to him. “Baked scallops. Your favorite.”
His grin was wide, filled with unadulterated joy. These were your favorite smiles to get from him. Though he never said it, you were pretty sure you were the only one who got to see them.
Sylus looked over the recipe sheet and tapped you on the head with it before placing it back on the counter. “That’s very thoughtful of you, kitten, but you don’t have to do that.”
You narrowed your eyes at him and crossed your arms across your chest. “I know you’re saying that because you don’t think I can cook something edible.”
“Can you blame me, sweetie?” He gently placed his hands on either side of your face and brushed his thumbs across your cheeks. “The few times you’ve tried to cook with me, it didn’t really end well.”
You swatted his hands away. “I’m aware of that. But I’ve been practicing.”
“You’ve been practicing?”
“Yes, you can drop the skeptical tone.” You pulled your phone out of your pocket and scrolled through your photos. When your last try had turned out decent, you decided to snap a photo. It certainly wasn’t restaurant quality presentation, but you can tell that the scallops are well cooked. You showed the picture to Sylus.
He looked at the photo and then back at you. “That’s not bad. I guess I’m willing to risk it. How long until it’s ready?”
“I haven’t even started.” You pointed up the the high cabinet where the baking dishes were stored. “You keep your dishes way too high up.”
This made Sylus chuckle, “I have to keep fragile items out of harms way. Would you like some assistance?”
“Yes, actually, I would like that.”
His large hands grabbed your shoulders and turned your around. Before you could ask what his intentions were, he grabbed you by the waist and lifted you up.
“What are you doing?” you shouted.
You could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, “Put your feet on the counter, kitten.”
You did what you were told and Sylus’ hand rested on your ass, presumably to hold you in place.
The contact burned into your skin through the fabric of your shorts. “Somehow I feel like you have ulterior motives. You could’ve just grabbed it yourself.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” His hand gave a gentle squeeze.
You tried to compose yourself as you grabbed the baking dish from the cabinet. “You can let me down now.”
“Lean back and I’ll grab you.” Sylus stretched his arms out and you slowly lowered yourself down to be cradled by him. He gently placed your feet on the ground and leaned into your neck, placing soft kisses across the length of it.
It was completely unfair how easy it was for him to make you melt. You knew you had an effect on him has well, but he was able to keep it together more masterfully than you. Just once you wanted to see him flustered.
You gently pushed on his shoulders, removing his lips from their exploration of your neck. “Maybe you should keep your baking pans in a lower cabinet.”
“I’m sorry, kitten. Sometimes I forget I’m not the only one using these spaces anymore.” Sylus ran his hands up and down your arms. “And the person sharing them with me has such a small reach.”
The smug grin on his face told you he was intentionally pushing your buttons. “I’m not that short. You’re just freakishly tall.”
“Freakishly?” He raised an eyebrow. “No need to be hostile. I’m always happy to lend you my extra inches to reach the places you can’t.”
You couldn’t keep your eyes from widening. The way he quirked his head when he noticed your expression made you wonder if he realized exactly what he just said. Sylus was no stranger to innuendo but he usually shot for something classier and less obvious. This wasn’t exactly his style. Then again, he was hardly naive and much more skilled at keeping his composure than you. Perhaps it was intentional after all and he was feigning ignorance.
Well, two could play at that game. You couldn’t let this opportunity pass you by. Usually when Sylus said something suggestive you would blush and change the subject. Now was the time to be bold if you wanted to get a reaction out of him.
You tucked the baking dish in your hands under one of your arms and ran your free hand behind Sylus’s neck, lightly dragging your nails up and down. “If you take me to your bedroom you can show me just how deep your extra inches can reach.”
There it was. It was slight but it was unmistakable. Sylus’ eyes widened just a bit, his shock at your response momentarily visible to you. He shook it off quickly, however, and dipped his head with a chuckle. “My, my, my. You have gotten bolder, kitten.”
You fought the blush rising in your cheeks now that Sylus’ composure returned to him and shrugged. “I figured it was a good chance to give you a taste of your own medicine.”
“I like it. And you know what?” Sylus grabbed the baking dish tucked under your arm and placed it on the counter behind you. “I think I’ll take you up on your offer.”
His arms caged you in between him and the counter, his face mere inches from yours. “What do you mean?”
Sylus’ voice was a low, hot, whisper against your skin. “Why don’t we skip dinner and spend the rest of the evening in my bedroom. That’s what you really wanted, right?”
“N-no!” You grabbed the baking dish from behind you and held it up in front of you like a shield. “I worked way too hard to learn this recipe. We are not skipping dinner.”
Sylus placed a chaste kiss on your cheek. “Okay, kitten. We won’t skip dinner. I would hate for your hard work to go to waste.” He backed away from you, eyes still locked on yours. “Besides, scallops are a great aphrodisiac.” He grinned at you and began walking out of the kitchen. Over his shoulder he called back, “Let me know when dinner’s ready.”
You stood in place for a few moments, your face moving from blushing to completely red. You had wanted to be bold, to make him feel this way. With hardly any effort at all Sylus had flipped the script on you. Now you were left wondering if you had started something you hadn’t intended. As you began working on dinner you couldn’t keep your thoughts from wandering to you and Sylus in his bedroom. You hadn’t planned anything for desert but perhaps you’d have some after all.
#request#ask#love and deepspace sylus#love and deepspace#sylus#lads sylus#sylus qin#lnds sylus#sylus x reader#sylus fluff#sylus love and deepspace
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Mrs. R Part Two
Part One | Part Three
Notes: Hi welcome to part two okay love you bye
Not beta-read.
Warnings: Angst; fluff; all that good stuff
Summary: You can’t remember the last time you and Robby were this close.
“You got any more lightbulbs in here that need changing?”
You lean in the doorway of the living room, watching Robby unscrew the old bulb and toss it onto the couch before lifting his hand to screw in the new one.
“I don’t think so. Unless you wanna go around and change a few preemptively.”
“Think we’ll just stick with this one for now.”
You bite your lip, glancing down at your bandaged hand and picking at a stray strand.
“How was the rest of your shift?”
“Oh, fine. You know.”
But you still don’t. You bite your lip, fighting back the argument as you pick at another stray strand.
“How’s the hand feeling?”
“Oh, fine. You know.”
You shoot him a coy smile at his sidelong glance. He shakes his head as he turns his attention back to the light, fitting the fixture back over the bulb. He climbs down from the step ladder, folding it, and leaning it against the bookshelf.
“Where was that, anyway?” You ask, nodding toward it.
“In the basement.”
“Ah. I don’t go down there much.”
“Yeah, the film of dust gave that away.”
Your smile widens at the tease, then falters as he turns away, dusting off his hands.
“Alright. I should head out.”
Your stomach twists as he straightens, heading for the door, and where he left his bag. “Oh?” You fight to keep your tone even as you straighten up. “I ordered pizza. Should be here soon if you’re hungry.”
“You’ll have leftovers.”
“Sure! Sure.” You tuck your hands into your back pockets, wandering after him as he reaches for his bag. “I could just um…Wrap it in foil…Stick it in the back of the fridge…Forget it’s there for a few days until I inevitably remember that it’s in there on Friday. Nuke it, gobble down a couple of slices, give myself food poisoning, and then I’ll, uh…” You smile as he turns to face you again. “I’ll see you back in the ER.”
--
“Does it bother you that they still call me that?”
“Call you what?”
“Mrs. R.”
You catch the slight delay in his movement, the pause in raising his beer to his lips. His eyes stay set on the tv, and you watch the flash and flare of the screen's glow lighten and shade his face. For as long a day as he’s had, it should be easier to read his expression—or maybe you’re more out of practice than you realized.
But you know that he heard it. It’s not as if he can pretend that he didn’t hear Evans or Langdon say it. You hadn’t gotten a good look at him when they’d had though not for lack of trying.
“Why would it bother me?” He finally asks.
“Because we’re not married anymore.”
“You change your name yet?”
You turn back to the tv as Robby’s head turns. It’s your turn to fall silent, to take a sip from your beer.
“It’s a lot of paperwork.” It’s the lamest of excuses. It’s not a complete lie, but it’s not the entire truth, either. You hear Robby huff a soft laugh through his nose, and you can’t help the embarrassment that pulses through you. You push the feeling down, leaning forward and setting down your beer.
"You want that last slice?” You glance toward him and find his lips pursed. He wants to say no, but you’re positive he barely had anything to eat that day.
“You wanna split it?” You correct, already taking up a knife to cut it down the middle.
“If you really want it, you can—”
“Oh, shut up and eat the slice, Robinavitch,” You lean back, holding it out and raising your own slice to your mouth.
“Half slice.”
“You’re way too particular for this late in the day. Did you get all hangry on the ducklings?”
“...Not on the ducklings.”
Your brows rose at the admission as you tore off a piece of the crust, popping it into your mouth.
“Wanna talk about it?” You asked after a moment.
“Nope.”
Figures. You couldn’t even bring yourself to be wholly disappointed. But he’d come over, he’d changed your lightbulb. He’d stayed. Months of not seeing one another and now this. It felt like two steps forward and one step back…Though, for what it was worth, that was still one step forward.
--
You chalk it up to muscle memory. A late-night hazy wake up, an infomercial droning on the tv, and Robby's head in your lap. You manage to nudge him up, shut the television off, and find his hand to lead him to your bedroom. He doesn't gripe or grumble. His movements seem as automatic as he strips down to his underwear and climbs into bed with you, each on your own sides.
You think, as you sink into the pillows, that you’re almost glad Robby is too tired to gripe or argue that he should be going back to his place.
And you think, as sleep takes full hold of you, that you feel his hand curl around yours under the sheets.
--
You wake up to the steady thump of Robby’s heart beneath your ear, and the rise and fall of his belly beneath your arm. You don’t open your eyes for a few moments—you don’t dare. You can’t remember the last time you and Robby were this close.
For the last few months of your marriage, the two of you hadn’t slept in the same bed, and with the separation and divorce that had followed, your physical connection had ceased to exist.
The closest the two of you had gotten was when he’d bandaged your hand at the ER the day before.
Of course, that same hand is now throbbing.
You wince, wiggling the fingers a little and holding back a hiss of discomfort. Damn, you should’ve taken some Tylenol before you went to bed last night. You just hadn’t been thinking about it. You reluctantly push yourself up, sliding out of bed as gently as you can, wary of waking him.
You freeze as he shifts, watching him roll closer to the warmth you left behind and pressing his face into your pillow. You relax as he settles, and turn to your closet, sleepily fishing out your favorite hoodie and tugging it on over the PJs that you hardly remember changing into.
--
By the time you hear Robby coming down the hall, you have 500mg of Tylenol in your system, and coffee has nearly finished brewing. You glance back in his direction as he comes into the kitchen. You’re chagrined (but not surprised) to find him fully clothed.
“Morning,” You greet. His answer is to take two mugs down from the cabinet, setting them by your wrist on the counter.
“Sleep okay?” You prod. Robby leans against the counter beside you, and you glance up, watching him scrub his hand across his eyes.
“Yeah,” He finally admits. “Thanks for letting me crash.”
“Sure,” You shrug. “My fault, anyway. I talked you into staying for pizza.” You pick up the coffee pot, filling both mugs. Robby mutters his thanks as he takes one up, drawing in a sip. You let the silence settle back in, but you can only handle it for so long: “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“About what?”
“About whatever it is that’s been fucking with your sleep lately.”
“Do you wanna talk about why you haven’t changed your name yet?”
It catches you off-guard, and you whirl around to face him.
“I told you, it’s a shitton of paper work—”
“If you’d started when we filed for divorce, it would be done by now.”
“Well if it bothers you that much, why didn’t you fucking say so last night?”
“I didn’t say it bothered me, I just find it weird—”
“It isn’t that weird—And how the fuck did we get on to me? We’re supposed to be talking about you.”
“We don’t have to talk about me.”
“Yeah, we fucking do. Something is off with you, Michael. You’re not sleeping, you’re snapping at people—I get that you’re under pressure—”
“You don’t get it.”
“Alright, maybe I don’t know how it feels, but I can see how much it’s fucking messing with you—”
“Forget it—”
“Mikey, c’mon, just talk to me—”
“Let it go!”
The snap and bark of his voice startles you, and you unthinkingly take a couple of steps back. You become more aware of the way your face is crowding with heat, your heart pounding in your chest. You turn away from him, shoving your hands in your pockets and curling your good hand into a fist. You’re not gonna cry, not when he’s right fucking there. He’s going to leave, anyway.
You hear him push out a weary sigh, chased by the sound of him putting the coffee mug down. He’s going to put his hoodie on and just fucking go—
“Hey.” His hands curl around your shoulders, and he sighs again as you shrug him off. You step away, turning back to your mug and taking it up. Maybe you can take a big gulp and pretend that your eyes are tearing because the coffee’s so hot.
You feel the heat of him as he crowds up behind you, his hands landing on the counter and caging you in. You open your mouth to tell him to back off, but fall silent as he gently nuzzles his temple.
“I’m sorry,” He murmurs. “I know you’re just trying to help.”
“And I know you’re a closed book, so why do I fucking bother.”
Robby inches closer, curling his arms around your middle.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to take this stuff on.”
“I don’t feel like I have to, Michael.” You turn in his arms, meeting his eyes despite the tears lingering in yours. “I’ve only ever asked because I want to, because I’m not okay if you’re not okay.” Your throat grows tight as you admit it, and you blink rapidly as more tears well up. You drop your chin, closing your eyes as you shake your head, fighting to steady yourself.
Robby lifts a hand to cup your chin, thumb sweeping tenderly over the apple of your cheek as he tips your head up. You sniffle as he presses a gentle kiss to your forehead, then rests his forehead against yours.
“You shouldn’t still worry like this.”
“I know.”
Robby tips his head, nose gently nuzzling against yours. You can’t help but chase the touch, a few tears escaping and slipping down your cheeks. You each go still as your lips brush, then stop just a hair’s breadth from one another’s. Robby’s breath puffs warmly across your mouth, and you feel his chin tip up just a touch more.
“Don’t,” You breathe, then hurry to explain—”Don’t do this if you’re just trying to fix it.”
For a few harrowing moments, neither of you move; you hardly breathe. And then Robby’s hand lifts to cup your other cheek, thumbs gently disrupting the few tear tracks. He brushes tender kisses to your closed eyelids before his mouth descends tenderly on yours. You shiver, curling your hand in the fabric of his shirt and drawing him closer, until he’s pressing you fully against the counter. Your lips part and your tongue teases gently against his, his beard brushing pleasantly against your skin.
The kiss breaks slowly, with Robby stealing another two languid pecks before resting his forehead back against yours, his hands smoothing over your shoulders again, fingers rubbing across the familiar fabric.
"...Couldn't find that last hoodie, huh?" He asks knowingly. You bite the inside of your cheek to keep from breaking into a guilty grin.
"Misplaced it."
Robby hums knowingly before he dips his head, giving you another tender kiss.
"How's that hand feeling?"
You grunt, raising it and wiggling your fingers.
"Better now. Hurt like a bitch when I woke up, so I took some Tylenol."
"Good." Another peck before he draws away, and you reluctantly let him go. You expect him to head into the front hall, to grab his backpack. But he goes into the living room, taking up the stepladder. You frown, straightening up.
"Where are you going with that?"
"To check the other bulbs."
Next Part
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#Mrs. R#Michael Robinavitch x Reader#Michael Robinavitch x You#Doctor Robby x Reader#Doctor Robby x You#Dr Robby x Reader#Dr Robby x You
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Hi! This is my first time requesting anything so I hope I'm doing this right, was wondering if u could do some george hcs of being his gf while he plays in the charity match? Thank you xx


thank you so much for the request!! I hope you enjoy:)))), a bit suggestive at the end..... more coming soon;)
poor baby is so nervous in the weeks leading up to it
"i would've rather them ask me the day of." "you wouldn't have been prepared." "I genuinely couldn't care less about preparation; the suspense is killing me."
He's dialled in every second, whether that be the sidemen Instagram or the whatsapp group chat
"you do know they've already announced you, right?" "yes, darling, but what if they change their mind or something???"
and you better believe when the fellas streamed discussing the lineup, he had it, volume blasting, on your bedroom tv, knee bouncing.
"you're going to be riding that bench mate," "shut the fuck up, Christopher."
chris and arthur give him so much shit for how he's acting
"arthur, you weren't even invited. you're not a part of this!!!" "Bit harsh, mate, no?" "They're scared they'll hurt your ever-so-fragile ego if they don't invite you back." "alrighty then..."
practically begs them and you despite your plans with the other wags to let you be there on training day.
"she'll be well behaved, simon, i promise." "i don't think I'm the one they're worried about..." "we'll bring the leash just in case," "STOP FORCING THE PET PLAY NARRATIVE, GEORGE CLARKE."
he has an eye on you the entire day, introduces you to everyone you haven't met yet, and makes sure you see all the defending he does or the goals he makes. Clearly in search of much-needed validation
"is this your missus, clarkey?" "oh yeah, ginge, this is [name], my wife." scoffing, you hold up your ringless hand, "that's news to me."
"did you see that, holy shit," he says in a pile of limbs on the grass, "I did, yes, but lets not kill ourselves before you've even touched the pitch."
all of a sudden, the morning of match day, he wakes you up dressed in his Sidemen FC zip-up, feeling scarily indifferent about being in front of millions, playing with some of the biggest social media stars.
he kisses your cheek before stepping out for team breakfast. "are you sure you're okay?" two nights prior he was quite anxious about the crowd or disappointing anyone, but now he's just chill.
"im fine, baby, excited but im not freaking out anymore," he shrugs toying with his vlog camera settings, "Well, I've got breakfast with liv and sab in a bit, text me okay?"
You receive a kiss on the corner of your mouth, followed by a salute, and he's off
Throughout the time before the match, you're shooting him endless messages of encouragement and well-wishes, he's quick with thank you's and assurances that he's okay, just footie with his mates, he insists
The crowd erupts with screams during their walkouts, you're aware of the amount of support your friends and boyfriend receive on the internet, but the energy in the stadium seemed to be something otherworldly.
He was benched for a bit, but when he was out there, he made his presence known. Anxiety and pride are the only things you find yourself feeling
especially the ladder when he scored his goal, despite his doubts that he'd be able to do so.
Once the celebrations calm down, one of the girls speaks up, "Someone's getting it tonight," with wagging brows. you don't answer, but the irrepressible smirk on your face says everything you refuse to.
Before you know it, it's over. The match goes into penalties for the first time ever, unfortunately, Sidemen FC loses because of one missed penalty.
There are no hard feelings as 4.7 million pounds and counting was raised and split among three charities. Unless Chris, Deji, and Danny's bragging rights are brought up
You find him in the showers after most everyone's left to change and freshen up for the afterparty. He's a sight with his towel hanging low on his hips, seemingly typing up a text; it takes a lot of restraint not to jump on him right there.
your phone chimes with his notification, he smiles when he finds your eyes, "Don't go getting any ideas, i don't think i'd like to be banned from Wembley." you scoff, jokingly offended, "how dare you assume I'm thinking inappropriately, just wanted to see my man,"
"told you id meet you in the lobby. you're very impatient," simple words, his pretty eyes, and a hand squeezing your hip have all words dying on your tongue
They quickly return when his wet hair soaks both your neck and top. "George," you gasp, doing your best to put space between the two of you, not really caring when you fail and are lifted up onto the communal sinks, "Now whos getting ideas?"
#george clarkey#george clarke#georgeclarke#george clarke x reader#george clarkey x reader#george clarke imagine#george clarkeey#george clarke fluff#george clarke fics
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